THINGS WE ENJOYED : 2024
THINGS WE ENJOYED: 2024
I’m going to keep it quick.
5 books, 6 films, 5 albums – all things I enjoyed.
No order, some commentary, a handful of honorable mentions.
I didn't get to everything. I never do. But this is what stuck over a long year of trying.
The book that left the longest, deepest, gooiest cut in me this year was Tulathimutte's Rejection. A linked collection that picks at the scab of humanity revealing at first what I thought was a certain type of society's castoff, only to realize Tulathimutte had a finger pointed at all of us –– myself very much included. I read this, squirmed a lot, loved it a lot, and then struggled to recommend it because it left me so decidedly uncomfortable. But here I am, recommending it to you.
All Friends Are Necessary / Tomas Moniz
I marvel at Moniz's literary voice. It's warm, it's unassuming, it's slyly calculating of the micro-connections we make each and every day. All Friends Are Necessary, Moniz's debut novel, is no different. A story of a person seeking and finding and losing connection, messily growing and evolving and learning all the way. I would call the book comforting (it is) but it seems so reductive. Moniz captures more than a moment, he captures an atmosphere, an emotional frequency passed between a group of people. Comforting? Absolutely. Beautifully insightful? Yes, that too.
Read Nick O'Brien's interview w/ Tomas Moniz
If it's a 600-page dissection of alcoholism's affect on creative humans or a 10-page essay on a grueling "marathon" in the wilds of Tennessee –– I'm going to read anything Leslie Jamison writes. Splinters –– her slim account of a particularly brutal post-divorce year –– is just another reason I'll do so. In Jamison's hands, this memoir of loneliness, motherhood, and survival, is more than just a fascinating exploration, it's a relatable journey through all the moments of our days that pile up into we've lived a life. This is the type of book you can return to over and over again as time progresses, always finding something new, something that reflects your own experience.
There's Always This Year / Hanif Abdurraqib
Abdurraqib is my writer crush. I imagine Aburraqib is a lot of people's writer crush. An individual who's able to write as poetically about losing his father as he is about the new Doechii album, about time and depression as he is about Lebron James' legacy and Shania Twain. And Abdurraqib isn't just writing he's creating a universe of his own reality, a swirling language of pop culture, poetry, and prose so gracefully infused with his voice, it feels like every time you read his work you've discovered a new genre, a new way of thinking.
Things I Want Back From You / Elizabeth Stix
I've known Elizabeth Stix for a long time as a teacher, as a writer, and, luckily for me, as a friend. I've always told everyone I can that Stix is the real deal, the kind of writer who's work shines off the page. If Things I Want Back From You isn't a validation of my praise, I don't know what is. The linked story collection follows a few unhappy souls on a cul-de-sac in a town somewhere in California. There's floating people. There's magicians. There's a bar with poker and a warm bowl of soup. Every bit of dialogue lands right. Every word is the right word. Every page made me shudder with laughter, or sometimes tears. I'm going to keep telling people Stix is the real deal, because she is, and this is just the first, in what I hope is a long line of reasons to believe.
Read my interview w/ Elizabeth Stix
Honorable Mentions:
The Tainted Cup, Great Expectations (2024), Houses of the Unholy, Martyr!
Older Books I Loved:
Matrix, Tom Lake, The Last Fire Season, City of Lost Chances, The Bee Sting, The Rabbit Hutch
A 46-minute short film by one of the great masters of creep. The world is ending one person at a time (isn't it always?) and Kurosawa walks us through the slow collapse with a painter's eye for small, often terrifying, details.
Berger's playing in an old school Hollywood sandbox with Conclave. A lot of stars, a meaty, talky story about losing faith and finding it in the most unexpected places, and the type of meticulous music and score we don't see so much anymore. I want more. More Berger, more films like this, more Ralph Fiennes as the leading man in everything.
There's a subtle claustrophobia Greg Kwedar brings to Sing Sing, a constant awareness of the pressure being imprisoned applies to those who are. The acting troupe at the heart of the film works to alleviate that pressure for the complex set of characters who take it up, but Kwedar's not here to make a heartwarming tale of the industrial prison complex. This is a film that allows you to see that great things happen in the worst places, but that those places exist, and that the great things that do happen only do out of a sense of survival, of seeking the fullest life where life is constantly being limited. A true gem of a film. Why hasn't everyone seen this?
Snack Shack, d. Adam Carter Rehmeier
The only thing I knew about Snack Shack going in was that it was a nostalgic, coming-of-age story that starred the main kid from The Fabelmans. I was hoping it'd be a lark, a bit of dumb-fun to assuage some of the bad psychic juju 2024 was so adept at layering on our shoulders. What I got instead was a truly amazing coming-of-age comedy rife with exceptional performances and the type of narrative arc we've all seen before, but done with so much integrity and skill, it felt like someone was tapping a camera directly into my memories of summer's long past. If there's a better opening scene of a film this year, I don't know what it is.
I saw Smile 2 in the theater and I'm pretty sure I ruined the evening of the two teenagers trying to get in a makeout sesh next to me. There's a choreographed tenseness in Parker Finn's sequel that tightened my entire body into a muscular grimace. I emitted squeaks and tiny screams, even the occasional groan. It's why I watch so much horror. I love a film taking me over, holding me hostage, gluing my eyes to the screen.
Nor and I turned on Civil War one night thinking we'd watch a bit, get tired, finish it the next night. No deal. Too tense. Too captivating. Too indicative of a future just over the horizon. This is a film about the media. About a world off its axis and just how important it is for that world to be broadcast, to be explored, to be laid bare. It's a riveting film, a depressing film, a film you won't be able to turn away from.
Honorable Mentions
Manning Fireworks / MJ Lenderman
The nasal twang indie-country sludge fest you didn't know you needed.
Song: "Wristwatch"
Jon Dwyer and his ever-shifting musical experience at their most punishing.
Song: "Look At The Sky"
I LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR YOU / JPEGMAFIA
You'll never need another rap-rock album. The album I recommended the most this year, but also the album people seemed the most confused about why I'd recommended it.
Song: "either on or off the drugs"
Other Song: "SIN MIEDO"
Poppy but garage-y but also a little Vampire Weekend-y. Smartly upbeat.
Song: "Train Full of Gasoline"
Underdressed at the Symphony / Faye Webster
A languorous ten songs that'll somehow keep your head nodding. Also, I didn't know I needed a Lil Yachty collaboration from Faye Webster. But it turns out, I did.
Song: "But Not Kiss"
Honorable Mentions:
I Got Heaven / Mannequin Pussy
Alligator Bites Never Heal / Doechii
Mahashmashana / Father John Misty
Clouds In The Sky They Will Always Be There For Me / Porridge Radio
My Method Actor / Nilüfer Yanya
Chromakopia / Tyler, The Creator
Compassion / Rui Gabriel
Elite Vessel / Lexa Gates
Seed of a Seed / Haley Heynderickx
Deeper Well / Kacey Musgraves
King Of The Mischievous South Vol. 2 / Denzel Curry
Here in the Pitch / Jessica Pratt
Little Rope / Sleater-Kinney
The Moon Is In The Wrong Place / Shannon & The Clams
Enough / Office Culture
The Neon Gate / Nap Eyes
Stifled Creativity / Da Beatminerz
Surfacing / Jane Penny
That’s it!
Thanks for everything this year.
