Fran Magazine: Best of 2023 Extravaganza
The best of the best of 2023 lists, from the friends & family of Fran Magazine
Goodbye to 2023
This year sucked!! I’m so happy it’s ending. As the year drew to a close and I was forced to suddenly reflect on the past twelve months, I was happy and grateful to look forward to doing one of my favorite things: sending a four paragraph email to the Fran Magazine inner circle to ask them for their best-of lists from the past year. The criteria was simple(ish): I reached out to a lot of returning favorites, past contributors, and anyone who isn’t paid to make a top ten list whose opinion I trust. Not limited to genre or or medium, it was once again great to think back on what was actually good this year. Because this issue of Fran Magazine once again exceeds email length boundaries (hahaha), please open it in a separate browser window or in the Substack app to enjoy the list in full. I am so grateful to everyone who wrote in with what got them through the year. And I hope you are too!
Formatting notes: Names are listed alphabetically by first name. All lists this year were unranked, though a few people made notes of the order in which they are meant to be read. Hope this isn’t confusing. If it is, we’ll try a new system next year.
BDM
Best Three Hour Cult Ritual: The Eras Tour. I went to the Eras Tour, and I went to the movie, but I also watched a truly horrifying number of the fan live streams. I’d like to say that I won’t be watching them when Taylor Swift is off in Tokyo and it’s like 5:00 am my time but unfortunately I bet I will.
Best New-To-Me Non-Fiction Book: Jeanine Basinger’s The Star Machine. I read this at the beach and now it’s about ten percent of my personality. It’s just so smart and so insightful and I think of it all the time and it’s the kind of book I hope to write.
Best Non-Alcoholic Wine: Lautus Sparkling Brut. Tastes like a nice dry Prosecco. I tend to steer people away from non-alcoholic wines but this, while more expensive than a nice dry Prosecco, is a superior boozefree experience.
Best New Novel: Paul Murray’s The Bee Sting. I’m actually supposed to have a lengthier treatment of this elsewhere so… that’s all I’ll say!! Runners-up: Birnam Wood (Eleanor Catton), Y/N (Esther Yi).
Best Little Treat: Chobani Dairy Creamers. They’re so good man.
Best Unessential Purchase: “Women’s Cozy Skirt” from Kotn. I got this in black and have worn it constantly since. It looks good, it’s comfy, you can throw it in the wash, and I want the other colors.
Best New-To-Me Movie: Satoshi Kon’s Perfect Blue. Creepy creepy movie that I think has only become more insightful since its release. My only regret is screening it for some people and forgetting to mention that it’s very upsetting.
Best Life Hack: Buying vintage slips. I can’t wear bras anymore but that’s okay because you know how in L’Avventura Monica Vitti is changing and she’s just wearing a slip under her skirt and sweater? Still works.
Best Hotel: The TWA Hotel. It’s got a bar in an old plane and it has a little shrine to Howard Hughes. What more could you want from a hotel?
Best Dog: My dog, Boswell. He wins in this category every year and cannot be stopped. Your dog wins too of course.
Ben Empey
A few weeks ago, #Fran mentioned that we were doomed to disagree about every movie this year, so here is a list of movies we disagreed on, ranked by how wide the chasm is between our opinions.
The Zone of Interest. I don’t really remember exactly what Fran said about this but I know that I liked it quite a bit more. I am a Jonathan Glazer stan from way back, but the adoration from the Oscar bloggers circuit had me worried. In fact, I think what the Oscar bloggers praise about the film has nothing to do with what’s good about it (they didn’t understand it lol). It’s formally very surprising given the premise.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning, Part One. Has the juice!! Action sequences wonderful!! Cut the exposition of the first half hour and you’d have like the best of the franchise.
Napoleon. It’s actually really funny, on purpose, and the violence is graphic, yay!
Saltburn. Now, I don’t think Saltburn is GOOD but I really don’t get the hate, aside from the idiotic ending. I thought Promising Young Woman was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, and this is quite an improvement imo. Overdetermined direction and written for shit? Yes, those criticisms are valid… but Jacob Elordi is in it.
NYAD. Now, I don’t think NYAD is GOOD either but I had the time of my life watching it. I laughed so much! Jodie Foster actually good.
Maestro. For the sake of my sanity, I placed a moratorium on discussing this film ever again. And I will keep it that way.
And, quickly, here’s a few we did agree on:
Asteroid City
Ferrari
Killers of the Flower Moon
May December
Passages
All of which we both LOVED 💜
Happy New Year, Fran Magazine!!
Blythe Roberson
Matisse footwear vegan cowboy boots. “Line dancing” became my entire personality in 2023, and these boots, which are probably made out of fossil fuels but are incredibly comfortable, are perfect to spin and stomp in. Everyone asks me how long I was line dancing before I got these boots — I actually got them three months BEFORE I started line dancing, ever heard of foreshadowing?!
Troye Sivan’s “Got Me Started” music video. Now that I’ve spent a few months addicted to learning simple choreography, I’ve convinced myself I can learn any dance despite having no movement training or understanding of how various parts of my body are connected to each other. The first dance on my list is the one from this music video, for a perfect song off a great album!!
The Re-Recital, hosted by Stephen Lurie. Being comfortable with being bad at things is the path to happiness, I THINK, and that was kind of the premise of the Re-Recital, where people showed off skills (piano, flute, avant garde saxophone) they learned or returned to as adults. I’ve never been at a party filled with more joy.
Infinite Life, the new play by Annie Baker. Annie does not miss!!
“Runner Up” by Al Olender. When I first saw Al perform this song I was immediately like “I have to buy a hat from this woman.”
Time Ain’t Accidental by Jess Williamson. I am a huge fan of Jess, this album fucking slaps from top to bottom, and the concert of Jess’s I attended this year at Levon Helm in Woodstock was extremely meaningful to me -- I saw Al Olender perform for the first time AND I met TWO hot people. What more can you ask from country music ?!
Swimming. I swam more this year — in Seattle near the houseboats, in a (nude) hot spring in Idaho, in my crush’s unchlorinated pool, off a beach on Long Island, off Rockaway Beach — than I have since I was a kid living across the street from a lake. How did I forget that there’s nothing better than being outside floating around?
“Personal Narratives” by Jesse Nee-Vogelman. Speaking of hot springs in Idaho, this short story is very funny and very perfect and one of my favorite things I read all year.
Blow Up Your TV: The 4th Annual Celebration Of The Life And Music Of John Prine. For the past four years, a grocery store in a town of 360 people in far West Texas has hosted a John Prine celebration and man, there’s something magical about people coming together to play John Prine under a sky full of stars in the middle of nowhere while a woman named Mary yells out burger orders. I highly recommend getting yourself to Marathon, TX in October 2024 for John Prine 5.
Eras Tour. Life-changing!
Brendan Boyle
Last year I listed ten film screenings because that’s what I built my life around. This year I had a harder time getting to the theater and more wonderful things happened outside it. So general life highlights:
Succession 4.6, “Living+”
Beach life with Bart + bachelor party crew
Mark’s wedding weekend and going “Wambsgans mode” at the club
Saturday lakefront runs
Gabi, Adam, and NYC friends over NYFF weekend
Austin visit to meet my baby niece
The New World (original cut) 35mm @ Music Box with Marsh
Losing ~35lb and becoming a “gym bro”
Cam
The Top 10 performances from Riverdale stars in 2023:
Gina Gershon in Thanksgiving. Gina did one season of Riverdale as Jughead’s long-lost mom, and I love that she’s at the point of her career where she can turn up in things and I’ll go, ”OMG that’s Gina Gershon!” Case in point: Her glorified cameo in the schlocky slasher.
Cole Sprouse in [REDACTED]. Cole has a role in this upcoming movie I recently went to a press screening of, and I think he’s kind of bad in it but I’m also in awe of how freaking nuts this movie is. I can’t legally say what it is yet, but you can do some research and figure it out if you’re curious.
Mark Consuelos on Live With Kelly and Mark. Turns out his greatest role yet is as a loving and supportive husband slash TV cohost to Kelly Ripa!
Raúl Castillo in Cassandro. One of the most handsome men to ever grace the screen, I literally have no memory of him on Riverdale, but I do remember him in the wrestler biopic Cassandro and, guess what? He’s so, so, so handsome in it.
Madelaine Petsch in the trailer for the new The Strangers trilogy. Cheryl Blossom was not-so-secretly the best part of Riverdale, so I’m eagerly anticipating the dawn of Madelaine’s “scream queen era” with this horror trilogy. (Which, btw are all supposed to hit theaters in 2024 — how is this going to work???)
Casey Cott in Broadway’s Moulin Rouge! I mean, I didn’t see this, but I know from Riverdale’s musical episodes he’s got pipes, so I assume he sang the hell out of “Elephant Love Medley”!
Riley Keough in Daisy Jones and the Six. Yes, Elvis’s granddaughter was in Riverdale, too — notoriously the worst episode of all! But how nice that she got to sing in this show and confirm, once and for all, that she is Elvis’s granddaughter.
Ashleigh Murray in The Other Black Girl. You know what, Riverdale really did Josie & The Pussycats dirty, so I’m relieved Ashleigh (the eponymous “Josie”) got a nice showcase in this wicked little thriller series.
Charles Melton in May December. Any Riverdale fan who tells you they knew Charles had this performance in him is lying. But we are so glad he did!
Lili Reinhart in that scene where she learns about the “quad” in Riverdale. Lili is an absolute queen and she nails this moment where she goes back in time and has to re-learn that she was in a fourway relationship with Archie, Jughead, and Veronica. God bless this stupid, brilliant show.
Caroline Golum
Making a movie with my best friend, fellow Fran Mag enthusiast/subscriber/contributor Tessa Strain
Doing a Q&A with Guy Maddin after a screening of his movie Archangel
Joining the Art House Convergence Google Group
Seeing Maestro at the David Geffen Hall with Fran and sharing a car back
Writing about Legally Blonde for Geoff Lapid’s Movie Diary™
Going to Palm Springs as an adult
Getting a major tune-up and upgrade on my bike for the first time in like 10 years
Programming a baseball film series at my day job
Fixing my own shower
Celebrating with loved ones in times of happiness/caring for loved ones in times of strife (tied)
Caroline
Top 10 birds and critters from my first year in LA
Three-legged coyote in Griffith (seen at both Vermont and Commonwealth Ave entrances to the park)
My landlord’s baby crow that lives in a hutch next to the pool. My landlord is mad at me because I keep asking him to fix the heater.
Night heron seen at dusk twice on LA River path in Frogtown (south of orange truss bridge)
Snowy egret also seen on LA River path in Frogtown (but north of orange truss bridge)
Pack of green parrots that scream near my boyfriend’s place in Highland Park
Blue herons walking in the mist near the Greek last winter during those rains that made everyone go crazy
Family of ground squirrels near Roosevelt Golf Course that everyone thinks are rats but they’re not rats, ground squirrels are their own thing
The red-eared slider turtles in Ernest E. Debs Park that a realtor at a Mt. Washington open house swore she is responsible for because she stole her ex’s turtle 30 years ago and released him into the park as an act of spite
That blue parakeet on my Instagram reels (I’m over 30) that screeches “WHAT YA DOING YUMYUMYUMYUM”
All of the ravens in LA. Big, beautiful geniuses
Claire Cohen
Five Best Coffee Shops In Brooklyn
Odd Fox (Bed Stuy). Little queer-owned shop that uses Parlor beans (locally roasted and IMO the best in the city). Limited seating, unfortunately. Grab a coffee to go, a box of beans for home, and some pronoun merch.
Head Hi (Navy Yard). Perfect espresso (they use Parlor beans). Also features a very cool rotating selection of art and design books for purchase. Drawbacks: closed on Sundays, no laptops.
Hamlet Coffee Co. (PLG). I have only been once but the flavor of this coffee really impressed me. Delightfully bright and rich. They also have a cute back yard.
Molasses Books (Bushwick). Cozy award winner. A tiny but well-stocked used book store that also serves coffee (and beer!). The coffee is solid but you are going for the atmosphere.
Devoción (multiple). This local chain has really popped off and it is clear why; the quality of their beans is excellent. Last time I bought a bag of beans and a coffee to go, the guy gave me the coffee on the house (at the Jay Street location). Thanks, you made my day!
Manhattan honorable mention: Bird and Branch (Hell’s Kitchen). This hole in the wall is an oasis from the stress of midtown. They serve their espresso with a seltzer chaser so you know they mean business.
Clare
Eastern Promises, David Cronenberg (2007)
Knowing there's an animatronic chicken in Five Nights at Freddy’s named Chica!
Using hypochlorous acid for acne, but NOT the Tower 28 brand. Also a product they use on horse wounds! #HORSEWOUND
Brook Lopez (for the majority of Fran Mag readership: that's a bball player! Crazy.)
When Taylor Swift sings “I'm lightning on my feet” during “Shake It Off (Taylor's Version)” and slowly lifts her leg like a flamingo
Da’Vine Joy Randolph
The ol Donyo Lodge LIVE Africam Wildlife Stream
Smiling with my teeth like Margot Robbie and saying, “I'm practicing my smile”
Lemonade: when's the last time you said, “I'll have a lemonade, please”?Try it.
Proton-pump inhibitors
Debi
Top 10 things I was very late to in 2023
The Replacements (1979). Listening to our best friend in the whole world Lin Brehmer’s memorial broadcast finally shook me loose from the vague but enduring memory of my humorless Pitchfork-pilled boyfriend or one of his humorless Pitchfork-pilled friends explaining “the ‘Mats” lore to me when I was 19! It's great to be alive!
Hoop earrings (2500 BC). After like 20 years of failed attempts, thank you to Gen Z and Nordstrom for giving me the confidence to find hoop earrings hat don't make me look like a weary Polish cleaning lady or fox Robin Hood dressed up like a fortune teller.
Going to Florida for spring break (1938). It turns out Ft. Lauderdale is actually a really great place to be in March when you are 35 years old and want to throw up on a boat and eat 100 oysters (not related). Inexplicably had one of my best meals all year at a speakeasy-themed cocktail bar in a strip mall next to a waxing studio.
Sneaky Pete (2015). I watched this for Graham Yost completionist purposes while waiting for City Primeval to drop and ended up enjoying it significantly more. Feels like it's due a revival for the new Marin Ireland heads and also old Justified heads interested in full frontal from Deputy Tim Gutterson.
20th Century Women, Mike Mills (2016). Fran Magazine Editor in Chief Fran Hoepfner told me to watch this in 2016 and I don't know why I never got around to it. Devastating to watch alongside Beginners (holds up) as an actual adult with aging parents and sort of miraculous to have these two different reverent but I don't think indulgent love letters to your parents that are only tangentially about how they messed you up.
Classical radio (1929). I put off becoming my father (proud owner of a Bach Off bumper sticker) for an honorably long time but WXQR is responsible for my Spotify Wrapped being 45% Ralph Vaughn Williams and my top 2023 hobby: guessing which 20th century English composers were fascists and/or perverts (Williams and Holst socialist sweeties, Grainger not technically English but both a huge racist and into S&M which should surprise nobody who's had to play Lincolnshire Posy).
Homemade chocolate chip cookies (1938). Full offense to all my friends and relations, I've never had one I thought was better than just okay, but Smitten Deb prevails again
Chicago Park District Swimming pools (1896). As a child of the suburbs it's so crazy that you can just walk in and swim for free? Embarrassing it took me 15 years to figure this out but also extremely brave of me to spend the summer getting dunked on by triathletes at lap swim twice a week.
Seeing Titanic in theaters (1997). My mom decided to become really strict about media consumption for exactly one year in 1997 and banned me from the two hottest 5th grade properties: Titanic and Dawson's Creek. Seeing it big and loud for the first time only confirms my fervent belief that Titanic is like It’s a Wonderful Life in that the older you get, the more you understand it’s a timeless statement about the human cost of capitalism!!!
Janet Jackson & Ludacris at Tinley Park (2023). lol
Elias ZX
Top 10 Rewatches of 2023
Life During Wartime, dir. Todd Solondz. Criterion Channel, at home, possibly the most overlooked film of the 21st century
The Ten, dir. David Wain. Birthday viewing at home, first rewatch in 6 years, was very worried it wouldn’t hold up but it does!)
Boogie Nights, dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. 70mm at Lincoln Center, people cheered when Philip Seymour Hoffman's character was introduced, it was very sweet.
Network, dir. Sidney Lumet. 35mm, seated next to a stranger at Nitehawk Wiliamsburg)
Little Shop of Horrors, dir. Frank Oz. Max, at home with Eleanor)
Autofocus, dir. Paul Schrader. Watched after waking from a dream where I rewatched Autofocus)
Josie and the Pussycats, dir. Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont. Prime, drunk on ‘family wine’ with Eleanor’s library school friends
AI: Artificial Intelligence, dir. Steven Spielberg. 35mm at Metrograph with Danny, saddest movie ever made)
F for Fake, dir. Orson Welles. Criterion, at home with Eleanor but she fell asleep.
Election, dir. Alexander Payne. Max, at home with Eleanor
Spirit of The Beehive, dir. Victor Erice. Criterion, in preparation for ‘Close Your Eyes,’ the best film of 2023
Emma Kearney
ten most romantic things of my 2023
The Philadelphia Orchestra. It’s romantic to love the city you live in, like at the end of Meet Me in St. Louis when everyone is still so happy they live in St. Louis and not New York. The Orchestra is a major reason to love Philadelphia.
Sir John Soane’s Museum in London (favorite museum in the world) and the cardinal direction signs I hung up in my apartment I got in the gift shop, based on the signs in the house. Another very “stand in the place that you live" reminder.
The Last Days of Disco, Whit Stillman. The best Regency romance I read/watched all year.
Ria De Arosa Mussels in Escabache Sauce. I’m not sure if tinned fish is still a hot girl thing (none of my business), but they are a romantic snack. I like eating these on top of salt and vinegar kettle chips.
A Day in the Country, Jean Renoir. This short/incomplete/unfinished film feels just like the kiss scene on the hill in Fiesole from A Room with a View, stretched and turned inside out.
Bleak House, Charles Dickens. I think perhaps I should have read this book instead of going to law school. Regretting grad school a little bit has a kind of romance!
Gris Charnel by BDK Parfums. Fig, when it is in a very green scent, feels like a warm weather smell. Gris Charnel is hefty and creamy enough to wear under a black turtleneck (the most romantic way to wear perfume).
The Wyckerley Trilogy by Patricia Gaffney. A lot of historical romance authors look to Jane Austen as their 19th century precedent. Gaffney looks to Thomas Hardy and it makes for something very special.
Mike Leigh’s Director's Commentaries. Specifically for Mr. Turner and Topsy-Turvy. Some of the times I felt most in the presence of love (of craft, of people, of capital-T, capital-W The Work) this year was listening to Leigh talk about making his movies.
My romance novel podcast, Reformed Rakes. I struggled to think of a tenth romantic thing (this is an invitation for romantic gestures to be done to me in 2024!), but being proud of something is romantic.
Fran Hoepfner
Bob Mortimer WILTY clips. He’s the funniest person of all time!!!
Season 3 of How To with John Wilson. He made the right choice to go out on top, but what a top he went out on!
Middlemarch, George Eliot. IYKYK.
Ryoji Ikeda exhibit at the Amos Rex in Helsinki. Because I now teach writing to artists (instead of writing to writers), I’ve spent the past year doing a crash course on the “state” of “modern” “art.” Suffice it to say, this is the best exhibit I’ve seen yet/ever, with data-verse 1 + 2 being the most awe-inspiring of it all. (Honorable mention: sushibar+wine in Helsinki where we had dinner right after seeing this exhibit… did not expect to have such great sushi in Finland but here we are.)
The Reputation segment of the Eras tour (both live event and filmed concert). Probably my album of the year also.
When I saw into Josh O’Connor standing alone in a Loewe sweater at the New York Film Festival and no one was talking to him because all the old people had swarmed Isabella Rossellini. Challengers opens in theaters on April 26, 2024.
Studio Nicholson Brown Meyer Trouser. I look insane in these.
The New Jersey bull that escaped slaughter. In case you don’t live in the NYC area or you’re unfamiliar with Newark Penn Station — a place I used to be 4-6 days a week for two years — then maybe this story of a bull that escaped a slaughter transport, got stuck in Newark Penn Station for an hour, and then got rescued and adopted by a New Jersey animal sanctuary escaped you. Don’t worry. Here is the bull, who is fine!
And who could forget: Maestro, Bradley Cooper (2023)
Frank Falisi
8 Great Double-Bills
The titular man-wader monster and 3/4 of the cast (The Boy and the Heron, Hiyao Miyazaki) / ~16 Great Blue Herons in flight (various highways, various US states)
Harry the grieving parrot (A Haunting in Venice, Kenneth Branagh) / the Curlis Lake swan who flies in circles by himself (Mercer Meadows, NJ)
A centrally-placed, non-metaphoric pigeon (Showing Up, Kelly Reichardt) / a centrally-placed, non-metaphoric pigeon (Prospect Park, NYC)
A duck who falls out of the sky onto an English woman's head (Animalicious, Mark Richards) / a haphazard Ring-billed gull doing dead-drops mid-air (walking to All My Sons rehearsal, NJ)
The existential agita emanating off a lifetime of sitting on an egg or baby (Mildred Pierce, Todd Haynes) / Amy Jr., the robin who hatched in a nest outside my window (Lawrenceville, NJ)
Gabby firefighters flapping their muscles (Will-o'-the-Wisp, João Pedro Rodrigues) / Northern mockingbirds congregating on the roof of a Honda (St. Marks Wildlife Refuge, Wakulla County, FL)
The Sable Island bird cadaver pile (Geographies of Solitude, Jacquelyn Mills) / a single dead Northern cardinal (under the leaves)
The credits-dancer roadrunner from Asteroid City who made me cry (Wes Anderson) / a Red-tailed hawk standing on sidewalk who made me cry (Mercer County Community College, NJ)
Frank M.
Getting Married. Shoutout Haley W, contributor to FranMag Best of List
The Microsoft AI Image Generator before it stopped letting you make pictures of Drake.
Avatar Way of Water. Saw in January, so it counts
Fixing my ice cream maker. Thank you Fran of FranMag for the Cream Cheese Ice Cream recipe
The NBA In-Season Tournament before the Pelicans got knocked out
Getting Scuba Certified. I am saying “hello” to the various underwater creatures
[SPOILER] The Hoffman reveal in Saw X (2023)
Homemade fries. Soak in ice water 30 minutes, dry with paper towels, fry at 275 til tender and lightly golden, freeze for 12 hours, fry at 400 til crisp. I’m eating with mayo, but ketchup works too.
New exclusive restaurant Orfeo. Opened by Me and Phil (1 seating, rare, more seatings to come in 2024???)
Geoffrey Lapid
Tessa's lasso. My wife decided to learn how to do lasso tricks this year, and every day she’d get out into our yard to practice. She got pretty good, it was really impressive! I tried to give it a whirl, but that shit is so hard.
I caught a foul ball. My decades long streak of going to baseball games and never catching a foul ball came to an end this summer. I can now confirm that catching a foul ball at a baseball game absolutely rocks. And since there were no children seated nearby, I didn’t have to give it up to be a good person.
It’s Sprite with grapes in it. This is the funniest video that I saw this year, and somehow it only has 158 retweets (at least at the time of me writing this)?? The way that it’s clear that they’ve already been in the middle of doing this for like 5 minutes before they even hit record, the way my dude’s face pops into frame at 0:35, the cadence, the rhythm, the phrasing, everything about it is perfect to me.
The Legion of Superheroes. I’d never really read a lot of The Legion of Superheroes, but this year I read so many of those comics, spanning from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. Something in my brain changed this year and everything that I thought was dumb about those comics (the garish costumes, the stupid names, the vast cast of characters, the extremely byzantine lore) became everything I loved about those comics.
Barry Lyndon, Stanley Kubrick. I finally saw Barry Lyndon this year after many years of everyone assuring me I would love it, and yes everyone was right and I loved it and now it’s one of my favorite movies.
Boy Movies. I started reading Allison Picurro’s Boy Movies, and it quickly became my favorite newsletter not named Fran Magazine this year. Allison’s writing is so insightful and funny, and every Boy Movies post was a true delight!
Soldering. My wife went to shoot a movie in New York for an entire month, which meant I had an entire month of letting myself become fully unhinged this year. During that month the best thing I did was teach myself to solder and do some simple electronics projects. I built a couple of amps and I made my own little noise synthesizer, I felt like a god.
William Friedkin’s interviews. I was really saddened by Friedkin’s death this year, especially once all the great clips of him being a real b in interviews started recirculating on the internet. My personal favorite is this one where he’s talking about using counterfeit money that he took from the To Live And Die In LA props
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. If I were Raskolnikov, I would have simply taken some cold medicine and gotten a good night’s rest.
All the Movie Diary 2023 special guests. I decided to bring back my blog this year, and it felt really great to get back into blogging after 5 years. Just like with MOVIE DIARY 2018, the highlight of MOVIE DIARY 2023 for me was all the wonderful special guests who absolutely delivered—I’m so grateful to all of them!
Haley W.
Love Island Season 10. People are complaining that the so-called “stan wars” are ruining the show, but I would argue they’re enhancing it. Tell me the double elimination wasn’t Love Island gold.
Shohei Ohtani strikes out Mike Trout to win the World Baseball Championship. Like Kazuma Okamoto said, it really was like a manga.
The hot defense attorney from Anatomy of a Fall. Great movie, great hot guy.
Return to Seoul, Davy Chou. She’s me if I was the Worst Person In the World.
Saws 1-7 and Saw X. Uncritical support to Jigsaw who has never killed anyone.
Showing Up, Kelly Reichardt. I liked the pigeon 🐦 and the orange cat 🐈
Watching Dune on my friend’s iPhone camera roll on mute at 25% brightness at a mostly empty tiki bar. The way it was meant to be watched.
The Lisa Says Gah tapas pants. Easily best article of clothing I own.
Killers of the Flower Moon. Devastated me.
Got married. Highly recommend if you’ve found the love of your life. You get to make all your friends and family listen to your favorite songs all night.
Harris Mayersohn
Eric Adams soundbites. Terrible human but funniest public figure of 2023. Favorite tidbit I learned this year: Adams says his favorite concert was a Curtis Mayfield show in 1990 where Mayfield never actually took the stage because he got paralyzed backstage before the show actually began.
Florida Panthers & Miami Heat Simultaneous Playoff Runs. Fandom is beautiful. I love my teams so much for real.
L’Assiette. Meal of the year. I've dreamt of the cassoulet most nights since.
The Mirage Factory by Gary Krist
MJ Lenderman’s “And The Wind (Live & Loose).” Aural catnip for guys who are me.
The Oscar Slap (2022). I’m still talking (and thinking) about it!
Our Home Out West. Going Schrader mode and shamelessly listing the work I’m most proud of making this year
Polly Platt: The Invisible Woman miniseries on ‘You Must Remember This’
This Screenshot A Man In Line At Tommy’s Airdropped Me. I went to get fries at Tommy’s one night and a guy behind me in line starts talking my ear off about a $2.99 burger deal. I didn’t want a burger but he insisted on airdropping me a screenshot of the promo he took a screenshot of earlier in the day. He didn’t realize his camera roll was open when he took the initial screenshot.
Jim
Here are my top ten jiu jitsu moments of the year. The jiu jitsu community is small and this is a permanent digital footprint, so it is perhaps a mistake to post some of these things but alas, what’s the worst thing that can happen when you say things about trained killers.
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. PJ Barch at QUINTET 4. Anyone who has ever asked me knows my favorite fighter of all time is the cig smoking, Gracie hunting, IQ wrestler Kazushi Sakuraba. Despite PJ’s clear attempts to take it easy on the ojisan in the opening minutes, he had to turn up the pace as Kazushi was able to escape his submission attempts, and miraculously the “Gracie Hunter” survived the eight-minute match, ending in a draw and both members eliminated from the tournament round.
Jozef Chen and his German coach Dima. Rookie of the year goes to nineteen year old Jozef Chen after his European ADCC Trial run, beating Tommy Langaker and Oliver Taza, but one of the most interesting characters to emerge from this story is his coach Dima. Listening to him explain technique breakdowns with a thick German accent is Brazilian jiu jitsu ASMR.
Jansen Gomes World Run. IBJJF World’s underdog Jansen Gomes beating favorite Tye Ruotolo and handing Tainan Dalpra his first loss in the same day.
Junny Nogi triple crown. Maybe it’s Unity bias as a student myself, but watching Junny win a no-gi triple crown (Euros, pans, and worlds) for the first time at 34 was heartwarming and inspiring. Huge shouts to Junny.
Gordon taking Ls. Imagine saying you’re doing the biggest sports marketing stunt ever and it’s just bringing a bottle of Proper Twelve out after another win. I know it’s old hat to talk shit about Gordon Ryan and that he would absolutely kill me IRL and I hope he doesn’t read this but many such cases of him proving to be unsavory online and in-person.
Craig Jones IG rant. See the post prior.
Weird Aiga tournament. Kazakh-based grappling promotion AIGA took some of the biggest stars in Jiu jitsu and pitted them against each other and Khabib Nurmogomedov’s sambo students. Wouldn’t you believe it, the people who don’t practice fighting with strikes beat the people who spend time worrying about unnecessary things like punching and kicking.
Ffion Davies winning absolutely everything. In the last year or so winning ADCC, Worlds, and Nogi Worlds at her weight and absolute is Roger Gracie level. Explaining in football terms that would be like if Deion Sanders won defense and offense player of the year against people twice his size.
Gunnar Nelson’s John Danaher story. Any insight into the innerworkings of our serial killer-coded Bill Belachik is a treat.
Mikey Muscmesci obliging Gantumur Bayanduuren. OneFC keeps the Japanese tradition of actually putting interesting events of different rulesets together on a single night alive. As the debate rages on in the jiu jitsu community as to what’s a bigger advantage, steroids or autism, I thought the debate between “leg locks don’t work” and walking normal for the rest of your life was previously settled.
Jo Barchi
A weird bad year!
listening to MJ Lenderman live album for the entire car ride from Chicago to Detroit on Thanksgiving with my Cousin Kevin. Have you guys heard SUV?
Finishing writing a book. That line from Frances Ha where she says “sometimes it's good to do what you're supposed to do when you're supposed to do it.” She's talking about reading Proust, but I still agree.
Seeing Bruce Springsteen on the day my Saturn return started with my best friend Russ. Bruce got on stage and immediately started screaming "ARE YOU LOOSE TONIGHT?" and did Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)
Falling in love. It's good and cool and I feel normal all the time.
Showing Up, Kelly Reichardt. I couldn't stop looking up at the sky after seeing this and almost got hit by five (5) cars.
Assorted favorite first watches of the year: Love & Friendship, Eastern Promises, Another Year, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Badlands, Bound, Design for Living, The Awful Truth, No Sex Last Night, Adam's Rib.
That sex scene in Passages where Franz's feet are on Ben Wishaw's ribs and you can basically see hole. I am NOT into feet, but this entire scene did make me want to kill myself so bad (positive)
Texting a lover and saying “we are so Hepburn and Tracy Coded.” It's really fun.
Books I read and loved this year. Early Works by Alice Notley. Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons by Marilyn Hacker. Monogamy by Adam Phillips. Or, on being the other woman by Simone White. Howards End by E. M. Forster. The Moan Wilds by Caroline Rayner. Orange Roses by Lucy Ives. The Sonnets by Ted Berrigan.
Lori Lightfoot losing the Mayoral election in Chicago. to quote the poet, Suck my dick and choke I yield my time fuck you.
Kyle Amato
In a year that left me depleted and reconfiguring my priorities (kind of), here are ten good things I come back to in times of weakness:
Watching the MCU and by extension, Disney as a whole, start to collapse in on itself. We aren’t free yet, but we can be.
Starting my website - stay tuned for more!
Sitting through the worst shit I’ve ever seen in my life (Once Within a Time dir. Godfrey Reggio) to see Steven Soderbergh in person and he was acting like he was being held hostage by Godfrey Reggio and he probably was. Don’t ask me how much this cost.
Making eye contact with Isabelle Huppert and Pedro Almodovar
“Getting” Sabrina Carpenter
Showing Up, Kelly Reichardt
Green bean recipe I do so often I don’t even need to measure anymore
All-pervert midnight screenings of Crimes of Passion (Ken Russell) and Carny (Robert Kaylor)
My review of Red White and Royal Blue, Matthew Lopez
Lily Puckett
book: freedom's dominion, jefferson cowie
dead american author: grace paley
dead french author: marguerite duras
movie: there will be blood, paul thomas anderson - have you guys seen this?
event: marriage (mine only, other marriages do not apply and are not my responsibility)
inevitability: collapse
magazine: new york review of architecture : )
word: intifada
song: the cover of “all the gold in california” from the righteous gemstones
nephew: mine! again! second year in a row! wow!!!!
Marian Bull
Letter writing through the Prison Solidarity Project: an antidote to political/spiritual despondency
Blackouts, Justin Torres
Maple Syrup Cotton Candy at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival
“Daddy,” a perfect song
Getting into loose leaf tea and making myself a delicious little cup of tea every morning
Lovingkindness meditation
Xiyadie: Queer Cut Utopias at The Drawing Center
Grad school :/
Eric Kim’s Aunt Georgia’s soy sauce fried chicken with the accompanying “chicken radishes” from Korean American
Every year I am grateful for the sea.
Matt Erspamer
Killers of the Flower Moon. I’ve seen this on nearly every ‘Best Movies of the Year’ list, and for once, that feels right. Immense, staggering.
“A&W” by Lana Del Rey. An epic that has grown to become my favorite Lana track since it dropped earlier this year.
This Lentil Soup Recipe. I’ve shared this with numerous friends, and everyone who makes it has also loved it. Spread the gospel!
Desperate Living. I was lucky enough to see this John Waters masterpiece for the first time in 35mm this year. Yay!
Felicity Huffman’s Local News Interview. A fittingly subdued, melancholy conclusion to the College Admission Scandal that has kept me entertained for years
Barbenheimer Weekend. I dressed in black and pink and spent a summer day at the cinema with friends. Fitting in is fun sometimes!
Succession. I love when a great show goes out with a bang.
Shailene Woodley in Dumb Money. Rivetingly out of place
Kid Nation. One of the most bizarre theatrical experiences of this (or any) year was when Seattle’s Beacon Cinema showed a highlight reel of this cult classic reality TV show.
Martha Stewart’s Instagram. A true treasure. This year she came under mild fire after posting about using a chunk of an iceberg for cocktails. Martha Innocent!
Michael Mann Facts
Ten Things I Ate This Year
Passion Fruit in Ruby Chocolate by Chocolove. First enjoyed during a theater visit to see all of Fassbinder’s Eight Hours Don’t Make a Day. A weird treat (both things).
Two Steamies, All-dressed, with a Poutine and a Julep. From Gibeau Orange Julep, a Montreal institution. The Wario meal to two hot dogs with onions, mustard, kraut and a papaya drink at Gray’s Papaya.
Joe Beef’s Ribeye for Two. Perhaps the most decadent menu item at Montreal’s most decadent restaurant.
The Bradley Cooper Cheesesteak. Not much else to say here.
Kibbeh Nayeh. From Bar-St-Denis, a fabulous Montreal restaurant. Done in the style of steak tartare served with a grilled flatbread that was equal parts crispy and fluffy.
Chicken Over Rice. At King of Falafel & Shawarma Truck, the best halal in the city (also Palestinian-owned). I was given a full meal’s worth of free falafel while I waited on line.
Garbage Plate. From Dogtown in Rochester, NY, washed down with a Saranac root beer.
Two Bacon McDoubles with Kimchi. I started adding kimchi to my bacon McDoubles earlier this year. There’s no other way to eat them now.
Syrniki. At Arthur’s, cottage cheese pancakes with real maple syrup. Impossibly tasty.
Shrimp Wonton Soup and Roast Pork Over Rice. Only $15 at Great N.Y. Noodletown. Enough to feed three people, but perfect for one growing boy like myself.
Nicholas Russell
Read Moby-Dick: huge, wonderful, both less and more gay than they say.
My favorite uncle, who had a baby not too long ago and has changed in ways large and subtle from the interminable bachelor he once was, used to give me regular haircuts as a kid. He did so again for the first time in years, with my grandmother and mom and Haley and other uncles gathered around in the backyard. Tears!
James Gray emailed me.
We decided, the morning of the day she was playing in Vegas, to buy tickets and see Beyonce. In the hours leading up to the show, among the most stressful moments of my life.
Thanks to Haley, I started putting sunscreen on my face, 27 years too late. The results, immeasurable (skin feels nice).
I joined a new, cool little print mag called Still Alive that Fran was gracious enough to write for! Issues still available!
We went to four weddings and a funeral, which I list here more because we survived them than anything else. How does one dress for four separate weddings? You wear the exact same thing to all of them.
The album Rat Saw God by the band Wednesday
Owen (Fran’s brother)
With law school providing me barely any free time, I’ve turned my one hobby — watching Survivor (every Wednesday at 8 PM ET / 7 PM CT on CBS/Paramount+) — into my entire personality. Thus, please enjoy my favorite ten players of the New Era (Season 41-45).
SLIGHT SPOILERS INCLUDED!!
Omar (42) – Actually my favorite player of the New Era but Fran wouldn’t let me rank!! Also wore this shirt.
Mike (42) – Makes me want to become a New Jersey firefighter so bad.
Karla (43) – Need her to return. Better version of Shan.
Gabler (43) – Offered pearls of wisdom like, “By throwing out [other’s player’s] name, I was trying to...[PAUSE]...throw out [other player’s] name.”
Emily (45) – Like a New Era Denise with more personal development through the season.
Naseer (41) – Before Saku earned her title as “reality TV’s beloved Sri Lankan contestant” on Great British Bake-Off, Naseer captured my heart.
Jenny (42) – Pre-merge QUEEN.
Bruce (45) – Fun uncle 😊. But not so fun dad ☹️.
Frannie (44) – First Frances in Survivor history!! You know she’s making the list!!
Owen (43) – First Owen in Survivor history!! You know he’s making the list!!
Phil
Top Six Drafts On Fran's Twitter Alt That She Wouldn't Let Me Post
Sometimes I post on Fran’s alt, but sometimes she won’t let me. If you’re reading this and thinking, “Fran has an alt?”, no, she doesn’t. You must imagine these tweets coming from her, ranked in the order of how crazy it would be if Fran posted them.
i look good i feel good i smoke good my pussy wetter my bitch badder they cant kill me im older than god there r no pores in my skin i can roll tha wood perfect every time even if it dry or has a fucked up vein da cops cant catch me they don't even know i exist
It’s so dope to get your tube sucked
RIP Patrice, you would’ve loved squirting
thinking abt his worm 🥵
lil wayne had a whole song about how he would die if he didnt eat enough pussy but now rappers like Sha EK say they don’t want to do that and only want “the throat” :/
wagwan jamaica!
Sam Bodrojan
Never Let Me Go, Kaguro Ishiguro
Annie Baker
Rock climbing
The Aubrey-Maturin series on audiobook
Obsessive Exotica Rewatches
Fly or Die or Fly or Die, Jamie Branch
The bargain keyboard I bought at Guitar Center
Cribbage
Armored Core 6
Perfume sample kits
Sonia Saraiya
The Baby on the Fire Escape, Julie Phillips & A Life’s Work, Rachel Cusk
Together these two helped me try to make sense of the most foolish thing I have done to my career, which was reproduction. Title of Phillips’ book based on a nasty rumor told by Alice Neel’s sisters-in-law to her estranged daughter — that when she needed time for painting, she’d leave her baby on the fire escape.
Stardew Valley. I married a woman named Leah and she says she wants kids. Related to the same longing for a homestead: Verlyn Klinkenbourg’s exquisitely written The Rural Life.
I got to see Mike Lew’s 2019 play Teenage Dick staged by Alberta Theatre Projects out here in Calgary. It blew me away, including the young lead Dylan Thomas-Bouchier. Related: The malevolent high school backdrop of Bottoms.
In the spring I saw Ragnar Kjartansson’s The Visitors, which is a filmed collaboration between a group of musicians in an estate in upstate NY. Jen Beagin’s Big Swiss is also set in this part of the world, and I must say, there are some beautiful things, like the pancakes at Phonecia Diner, that seem to be only possible in the Hudson Valley.
CoasterFan2105 (Mike Armstrong’s YouTube page). This YouTuber has spent a lot of time and effort filming and then editing together train footage, which is only something you would know if you or someone you love needs to watch trains several hours a day. He has hundreds if not thousands of hours of footage, including steam engines, toy trains, Amtrak, and freight lines. I met another toddler’s mom who knew Mike Armstrong and I haven’t felt that kind of fan-to-fan recognition since before the Internet.
Lily Gladstone. I came away from Killers of the Flower Moon wishing I’d seen more of Gladstone’s range and depth; even as a wraith haunting the edges of the film, she’s magnificent. When she does speak, in her low drawl, it’s as if the film opens up in a different dimension. You can also see her in the series Reservation Dogs — it’s on Disney+? — where for two episodes only she guest stars as a haunted convict, mother of a dead boy. This month she’s also in Elle with her hairy pits out. She’s everything to me.
Zucchini Squash (Raven). These are real Franken-plants — they’ve been genetically engineered so that they don’t sprawl and tangle like most squash plants. Instead they bizarrely stand up to attention and produce copious amounts of dark green zucchini that grow out and up like confused bananas. Combined with Ali Slagle’s caramelized zucchini pasta recipe they were a highlight of my home gardening adventures. (Honorable mentions: Shirley poppies, Mexican sunflowers, French breakfast radishes.)
Molly Gordon as Rebecca-Diane in Theater Camp. She is the moment. (And although I quite disliked Gordon in The Bear (not her fault), this seems like the best place to say that “Fishes” was my favorite piece of narrative this year.)
Sarita Choudhury. Anything she does — even the most casual flick of a cigarette — frees me a little more. Her turn as Seema on … And Just Like That is absurd and fantastic. Honorable mention: Rekha’s cover shoot for Vogue Arabia.
Six months later and I am still thinking about the cardamom bun and the conchas from Panadería Rosetta.
Spencer Williams
Richard Brody following my dumb ass on Twitter (deadname)
re-discovering “stew”
sherbet flavored Hi-Chew
texting friends all the way through Napoleon (bad movie)
Ordinary Notes, Christina Sharpe
The implosion of Dime's Square documentarian M*** C*******
surviving a “mini-stroke” (doctor's words)
not writing a single new poem
Kokomo City, D. Smith
a synonym for ejaculation that made me laugh this year: Peener Grigio
Sydney Jin Choi
My Year of Fruit
My friend, Tiffanie, and I spend a lot of time talking about our top fruits and asking other people what their top fruits are. Here are some fruits:
Lucy Glo Apple. Picked this up at fancier grocery store a few blocks further than my typical grocery store. Fun colors, yellow skin with yellow and pink flesh. Quite sweet and tasted almost like citrus.
Yellow Dragon Fruit. Cut it in half and ate it with a spoon. Kind of tasteless but also sweet (sweeter than the red ones), pleasant kind of gelatinous texture. Got a stomach ache after eating 2, but it was worth it.
Purple Figs. There's a fig tree planted near my parents' house that wasn't there when I was growing up, and it's the only fruit tree in the entire neighborhood. It happened to be giving fruit when I was visiting in November. They kind of tasted like vegetables and weren't very sweet, but they were free.
Honey Melon. Kind of a cross between a honey dew and a cantaloupe (yellowish rind and orange inside), randomly on sale for a dollar at the fruit market. It was extremely sweet, and I love melon, so a big hit. Pretty sure I'll never find one again.
Pomelo (Pink). Had one on Lunar New Year at a friend's house, and it was brought to my attention how fragrant the pith is which I'd never noticed before. This one was delicious. Had one in November that was shrink wrapped in plastic and tasted disgusting.
Pomelo (Yellow). This one was left in the skin for a bit to develop more concentrated flavor and sweetness. It was also peeled for me. It was incredible.
Sugar Apple. Tried this for the first time in Taiwan with my boyfriend's family. In order for me to be 100% accurate on this list, we spent a significant amount of time debating what the fruit is called in English (soursop, custard apple, cherimoya, atemoya, annona) and ultimately gave up, so I've made the executive decision to call it sugar apple based on pictures and descriptions I've looked through on Wikipedia. It had a lumpy green rind with soft white flesh and black seeds that looked like dried beans. If you ever have the opportunity to eat one, please do. It was sweet and creamy and perhaps the best thing I've eaten all year.
Honorable mention - the 20+ mangos I ate this summer. I prefer the small yellow ones because they're really sweet. Tiffanie hates how I eat them which is to peel off all the skin with a paring knife and then bite into one like an apple. Your hand gets all wet, but idk try it.
Tessa Strain
Showbiz. On January 7th I went on record saying that 2023 would be the Year of Showbiz, and I was right. Although the Year of Showbiz is drawing to a close, I hope you’ll join me in carrying the spirit of showbiz in your heart evermore, regardless of the year.
OXO cold brew coffee maker. I hate making coffee almost as much as I love drinking it, and now I only have to make it every five days — a victory for laziness in the face of my benign but intractable caffeine addiction.
Bilateral salpingectomy. Don’t cry because it’s over (the years I spent living in fear of accidental pregnancy), smile because it happened (having my fallopian tubes removed for a mere $35 copay).
Iggy Pop at the Orpheum. He’s still got it, baby!!!!!! Worth the hair-raising half hour spent with multiple browser tabs open across four different devices to get tickets — I don’t know how Swifties do it.
The black widow spider who lived in the eave above my back door between January and April. RIP you beautiful queen. Thanks for eating all those moths.
Western Stage Props promotional emails. I decided to learn trick roping this year and basically plateaued after mastering the flat loop (both left AND right-handed), but a fun secondary reward of this hobby is getting emails from Western Stage Props, the establishment that sold me my lariat. In an era where every business’ online presence sounds identical and polished, WSP emails feel truly (and often clumsily) specific and handcrafted. Highlights include “Is it time to buy a bullwhip? Yes it is” and “Imagine the possibilities of our foam garden shears” — you know I will!
ABBA Night. After a protracted period of domesticity, this year I rediscovered the primal necessity of going out after 10pm, and ABBA Night, an irregularly occurring Los Angeles-based disco dance party heavily featuring (you guessed it) ABBA, was there for me in my hour of need.
MOVIE DIARY 2023. Geoff brought his movie blog back after a five year break and assembled a breathtaking lineup of special guests (ranging from professional critics to family) to write about whatever they were watching, and the resulting movie choices and posts about them were unexpected, shaggy, and wonderful. I hope he doesn’t make us wait another five years for the next edition, but why should he listen to me, I’m only HIS BELOVED WIFE.
Gravity’s Rainbow. I whined basically the entire time I was reading it (it took me three months because I kept resisting picking it up but wouldn’t let myself drop it either), but it has haunted me ever since, in part due to the Jungian synchronicity of learning about Jungian synchronicity while reading it and simultaneously working on a long form writing project where I had unwittingly also used Jungian synchronicity as an ordering principle. Great book to read while you spend an entire summer driving yourself insane.
The Priscilla Soundtrack. I know. Fuck you. Some of you had older siblings to teach you about music, and some of us were raised by music supervisor Randall Poster and will bear those scars forever!!
Veronica Fitzpatrick
New-to-me murder show marathons (Cardinal, The Sinner, The Outsider)
Blearily watching the Oscars from Atkinson Country Club
The Nirvana chicken congee at Myers + Chang, Boston
First sip of the not-complimentary welcome champagne at Ernst, Berlin
Loving Bret Easton Ellis’s The Shards / hating Emma Cline’s The Guest
Only completing tasks while looping the Copenhagen Cowboy soundtrack
First ever hand-poked tattoo (neater)
Natasha Pickowicz’s layer cake building methodology (neater)
Getting engaged to loml
Vikram Murthi
Top 10 Live Performances of 2023
Honorable Mentions: Titus Andronicus, Underground Arts (Opening act: Country Westerns); Waiting for Godot (written by Samuel Beckett, directed by Arin Arbus), Polonsky Shakespeare Center; Kyle Kinane, Bell House
Robyn Hitchcock, Bowery Ballroom
Unwound, Irving Plaza (Opening Act: Horsegirl)
Ratboys, Thalia Hall (Opening act: Disq)
The National, Auditorium Theatre (Opening act: Soccer Mommy)
Hold Steady, Brooklyn Bowl (Two consecutive nights, on which Henry Kissinger and Shane MacGowan died)
Guided By Voices, White Eagle Hall
Stereophonic (written by David Adjmi, directed by Daniel Aukin), Playwrights Horizon
Bob Dylan, The Capitol Theatre (Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour)
Yo La Tengo, Bowery Ballroom (Sixth Night of Hanukkah Residency; Opening band: Beach House; Opening comedian: Todd Barry)
Infinite Life (written by Annie Baker, directed by James Macdonald), Atlantic Theater Company
Wyatt Fair
BALDUR’S GATE 3. Play this game and you’ll never be bored again. And DM me about how it went down with Malus Thorm at the House of Healing in Act II — perhaps my favorite moment in gaming history
ROTTING IN THE SUN. Lovely year at the cineplex (flowers for May December, John Wick: Chapter 4), but my top flick was definitely Sebastian Silva’s irritating, cynical gem — very grim, very funny.
“GRILLING IN THE NAME” (RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE “KILLING IN THE NAME” PARODY BY MY HERO NICK WIGER). I’ve freed my life of comedy podcasts, but like a moth to a convection oven glow, I return weekly to the Doughboys — 1:24:47 is why. NOW YOU CHEW WHAT THEY TOLD YA!!!!!!!
WEEN AT THE GREEK THEATER (HIGH ON MUSHROOMS EDITION). Utterly mind-melting, three straight hours of pure filth. 11 minute version of “Frank” made me feel sick (good way)
SOUTHERN CHARM SEASON 9. Jessy and I finally caught up on the deranged new season of Bravo’s Southern Charm — these people need to drink a glass of water
THE MUSIC LEAGUE APP. Quick elevator pitch — fifteen friends submit songs under a varied group of themes (think “80’s Week,” “British Week,” or the contentious “Song About Food (No Innuendo) Week”), receive an anonymous Spotify playlist, and then vote on their favorites. Taste is indeed a competition!
ACAI BOWLS. YUP, they’re back — how else are you gonna eat bee pollen?
EROTIC PROBIOTIC 2. Shout out to my friend Arielle for turning me onto the album of the summer — back to shoegaze now
THE JOHN EARLY SPECIAL. Our Elvis!!!!!
KELLY REICHARDT. After loving Showing Up(#3 this year, Wyatt F Power Rankings), I decided to fill in my gaps with her — lush, highly spiritual films, top to bottom. Our cat Earl clicked at the TV when she heard the birds in Meek’s Cutoff… talk about immersion, bro…
Zach Low
2023 was my first full calendar year as a Chicago resident. You will notice this reflected in the following list of things I enjoyed over the past 12 months:
Sátántangó // The Wizard of Oz at the Gene Siskel Film Center. Two films about wind, walking, and charlatans; would make a real “shot, chaser” of a double feature
Stephen Graham Jones at the Chicago Waldorf School (organized by Women & Children First). Awesome to see a hot-shit writer launch the tour for his terrific snowbound slasher sequel, Don't Fear The Reaper, in frigid February
Wilco residency at the Riviera Theatre. I saw the greatest band in the world play the worst venue in the country — twice!
Shrimp And Grits at Virtue // Barbecue Gulf Shrimp Po’boy at Daisy’s Po-Boy and Tavern. Having two of Chef Erick Williams’ restaurants in our neighborhood is truly an embarrassment of deliciousness
Swimming at Promontory Point. Speaking of Hyde Park, despite the ever-present threat of getting brained by some dipshit on a jet ski, swimming off the Point was our favorite way to beat the heat this summer
Michael Shannon at the Music Box. I saw Big Chicago himself introduce and do a Q&A for his (deeply bizarre!) directorial debut, Eric Larue, to an adoring hometown crowd; felt like a quintessential “seeing movies in Chicago” moment
The 9th Annual War on Xmas at the Metro. Heard the Lawrence Arms play my third-favorite album of all time in full at their holiday show
Honorable Mention: drove back to Columbus to see Ratboys, the other best band from Chicago, who released the album of the year and continue to level up as a tenderly ferocious live act
Honorable Mention: legendary Chicagoan & Avatar enthusiast Michael Mann delighted and devastated me in equal measure with Ferrari. Lotta good movies this year, folks!
That’s all we got! Happy new year!
Biggest takeaway is that I really gotta watch showing up!!
Another great year from Fran Mag. Thank you, Fran Mag!!