Art I’m Thankful For 2024
The tradition is back. 2024 has delivered a lot of news that I would like to return to sender, and escapes have rarely felt more important. Here are some of the things that I’ve been very grateful to enjoy this year.
Final Fantasy on PS5: Specifically 16, 7 Remake, and 7 Rebirth. Before this year, I’d never played a Final Fantasy game before, for no particular reason. But these three have been my go-to weekend games for the majority of the year, and silly (chocobos) or melodramatic as they often are, I’ve enjoyed the ride immensely.
Dune Part Two: Man, does Denis Villeneuve even know how to miss? The Dune movies are going to be some of the most memorable sci-fi films of the 21st century, just you watch.
Warrior (TV Series): It’s a San Fransisco, Chinatown, Martial-Arts Crime Drama. It’s terrific.
The Last Dinner Party: I stumbled upon this band through triple j’s Like a Version series. I have high hopes they’ll stick around for quite a while.
Godzilla Minus One: It hasn’t been a great year for film releases, but I caught this one as part of a Godzilla 70th anniversary celebration, and absolutely loved it. Not only is it a comparably micro-budget monster movie, it returns to Godzilla’s roots as a metaphor for the nuclear age and Japan’s relationship with WWII. Wonderful.
Hades II: The game I bought a Steam Deck to enjoy before people started spoiling it for me. No regrets.
Yellowjackets: A modern day Lord of the Flies, with an even more modern day PTSD drama. Bring on season 3.
Alien - Romulus: A film that delivers on every single one of its promises.
Måneskin: Enough said.
Glorious Exploits: My favorite novel in years, Glorious Exploits is set in ancient Syracuse, and follows two potters trying to catch bits of the latest Euripides play from the Athenians captured in the most recent war. Tragic, Comic, Tragi-comic, whatever you want to call it, it’s not just my favorite novel I’ve read in years, I’d say it’s the best-written one, too.