2022 Favorite Things in Books, Movies, TV, Podcasts, and Comics

I think the majority of us expected this year to be easier. There was supposed to be this “return to normal” after COVID-19 decimated our lives. Instead what happened was there was more greed than ever and far less compassion. I get it: companies invested their money into real estate which was sitting empty. That’s not an excuse to demand people return to environments when they now have the technology to stay the fuck home.

There have been almost 11,000 deaths in the US alone from COVID-19 over the last 28 days!

I went for an annual physical and my doctor warned me, COVID and URI cases were on the rise. Within weeks, my parents and I had it. All of us have three vaccines, but as I said, there’s less compassion. People don’t want to mask anymore. Businesses are no longer doing what they should with the cleaning protocols. It is exhausting, but goddamn, being a human is exhausting too. We don’t need the additional burden of being sick humans. Trust me, I know. I’m a chronic pain and fatigue person long before COVID-19 was discovered. Three of my friends died (probably from underlying conditions and no one mentioned COVID, but it feels like it was probably there).

People returned to the movie theaters, me included but I masked. Sometimes when I’d leave the house I’d even wear gloves if I had to touch door handles and such. I did that when rigging aerial setups because I care about the students and the business. I know we’re closing soon, but we don’t need an outbreak too.

The return to movie theaters meant part of the entertainment industry switched back to its old ways. Movies weren’t streaming instantly. They would come out on services quicker (and charge fairly, I guess). There are too damn many services though so besides the hundreds (yes multiple hundreds) each month on high speed internet and cable, there’s the expense of Hulu, Netflix, Prime, Disney+, and YouTube. Those big privileges and I have taken advantage of all of them this year.

I’ve watched more YouTube than ever before. I’m baffled that people have a million subscribers. The channels my mother watches are mostly about thrifting or homemaking and usually they’re people with an average of eight children! And that channel is their only income! My head wants to explode.

I keep my viewing to things about arts, crafts, and writing, like author interviews. Here are some of my favorite channels:

Crafting/artists/cosplay:

• Bentley House Minis (dollhouse miniatures with pop culture themes)
• Ace of Clay (sculpting)
• Jazza Studios (there are now 4 Jazza channels)
• North of the Border (kitbashing and builds)
• Kaypea Creations (art dolls)
• Pouring Your Heart Out (resin)
• BM Sculptures (statues)
• Much Props (cosplay)
• SKS Props (cosplay)
• Evan and Katelyn (whatever they feel like doing)
• Nerdforge (dioramas and builds)
• Wicked Makers (making things creepier)
• Half Asleep Chris (usually projects that benefit his cats)
• Van Oaks Props (bigger builds for haunted houses, decorating)
• Prop Way (clever, inexpensive cosplay engineering)
• Louise Singleton Creations (resin)
• Bill Making Stuff (tiny sculptures from reused plastic bits)

Writing related:

• Murder by the Book (author interviews)
• The Poisoned Pen (author interviews)
• Sisters in Crime (short inspirational Q&A from authors)
• My Favorite Murder animations

Animal Stuff:

• Jackson Galaxy
• Simon’s Cat
• Otters: Aty & Ui and Hana and Kotaro

Misc:

• Caitlin Doughty Ask a Mortician

Audio Podcasts (Stitcher links):

• Case File (true crime)
• Science Vs (easy to follow facts and myth busting)
• My Favorite Murder (true crime)
• Breaking Bread with Tom Papa (general interviews with celebrities)
• Working it Out with Mike Birbiglia (stand up comics process)
• Writers’ Detective Bureau (things usually wrong in fiction explained by a former detective)
• Retired Case File Review with Jerri Williams (former FBI agent goes through old cases)
• Scam Goddess (true crime)
• Sisters in Crime (writers and other people in the field of crime solving)

Books:

I’ve managed to add a lot of the comic books I’ve read to my GoodReads list along with novels and short stories.

Of my list, I’d say my favorites for this year were: The Wilderwomen, Devil’s Delight, Child Zero, and Wayward.

Comics:

Instead of listing all the comics I’ve read, since some were one or two issues to get a feel for the series, I’ll list the ones that were my favorites of complete stories. Of ongoing or miniseries titles, catch Crashing and The Deadliest Bouquet.

Stand-up Comedy Specials:

Getting out into a packed theater while masked was a bit uncomfortable, but still the best way to see stand-up comedy. To celebrate my 50th, we went to Newark to see the new Iliza Schlesinger act which you can now see on Netflix, “Hot Forever.” She was wonderfully more casual in appearance in person than for a special (that freaking outfit is more Beyoncé than comedy and very distracting). She wore one of her tour t-shirts, jeans, and sneakers. Her jokes are still 99% heteronormative with classic “women do this” and “men do that” style but with updated references. She put her personal life out there in this one by briefly talking about having a miscarriage before having her daughter. She didn’t get into graphic detail about pregnancy at all the way Ali Wong does.

To be perfectly honest, some of these may have been 2021, but I tend to watch things a hundred times or more if I like them. I’m also sure this is not a complete list because I don’t always open up a spreadsheet to jot down what I’m putting on the television.

Movies:

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of AmberUnmasked.com and Vodka O'Clock Podcast. Author of The Farrah Wethers Mysteries, comic book short stories, prose, and non-fiction. Cosplayer and figure model.