Get In Loser, We're Expressing Deep Passion
Only boring people think round ups are boring
Round ups are great. Casting your mind back to the things/people/moments that brought you joy is a pleasure that you should delight in regularly. When responding to my question about their 2023 favourites, a friend of mine, in their playful, whimsy tone, ended their voice note sighing, “I never want to stop answering this question,” and that really is the spirit! Why stop thinking about things that moved you, memorably so?
I sent out my 2023 census to my friends, some I asked in person and a few via email. Most of their replies weren’t bulleted lists of annual faves; instead, they were items fondly attached to tales of times that brought them memorable joy, stories surfacing from the annals of their brains, landing sweetly on my eyes/ears and I often paused with the recurring thought, “hm, that is so you-coded*.” Each response made me stop and think about each friend, feeling some kind of warmth (is this compersion?) imagining them engaging with these things, or in my sweet friend Ever’s case, yearning for these things (see photo thread). Yearning is always encouraged.
Of course, the queers loved Bottoms, Barbie, and Boygenius, Chloe loved a Taylor Swift song, and I’m still deciding if my best purchase of the year was my plane ticket to London or that first packet of colour 27 x-pression braiding hair.
My 2023 has two distinct halves, Taipei and then London: a big change, a mighty one. I’m yet to have sorted through all my thoughts and constructed a resounding conclusion on the impact/necessity of this change, but please know that when it does come, it will sound very Aquarian.
Reflecting on favourites shouldn’t be a blinding bid to romanticise the year, by all means, highlight the things that repulsed you too and steer clear of them in 2024 — or don’t, it’s up to you. In 2023, I learnt what an angle grinder is, I braided my hair down to my butt for the first time in years, I loved bitter gourd with salted egg yolk, spending the whole day with one friend**, crying, baseball caps, skirts, and rnb. I disliked endings, in-betweens, waiting for “the reason” that “everything” happens for, missing friends, and my brief (god bless) reacquaintance with insomnia.
Below are all the entries from my pals, not necessarily new releases <3
Please note I forgot to ask about books (a sin) hence the teeny, tiny list.
Italicised = my thoughts.
Film/TV
The entirety of Hunter X Hunter
Bottoms, “90 minutes of dumb dykey fun was the queer joy I didn’t know I needed.” - Quite a few 💅🏾people🍒, said Bottoms!
The African Desperate - mmm, yes, love Martine Syms
Rye Lane
Past Lives
Barbie The Movie
Bound
She’s The Man, “I always wanted Amanda Bynes to get with the blonde girl.”
Frontier of Dreams and Fears
Joyland
Parasite
Music (A mix of songs and albums)
This Is Me Trying - Taylor Swift 🌚
Pon Di Plaza - Yussef Dayes, Chronixx
You the one fish in the sea - Liv.e
Heaux Tales - Jazmine Sullivan
Playing Robots Into Heaven - James Blake
Desire, I Want To Turn Into You - Caroline Polachek (me-coded)
MAMA’S EYES - METTE
The Record - Boygenius
Jersey/Juke Footwork
Back In The Day (soulecta dub) - Swami Sound
Rose Rouge - St Germain, “reminds me of all the best bits of the year.”
Rema (all the music by him)
De Todas Las Flores - Natalia Lafourcade, “probably one of my favorite albums of all time; production/instrumentation is so beautifully intimate. Sidenote: her Tiny Desk is also one of my favorites; I personally find Soledad y el Mar to be one of the most beautiful songs literally ever.” - That song is divine! I melt as soon as I hear the Spanish guitar in the intro.
Sunburn - I’mdifficult
Shadow Dance - Mondo Grosso
快樂 - Deca Joins
Archie’s Funeral - The Chairs, “Listened for the first time while on 🍄 with friends and when the song ended we all emerged from whatever state we were in to comment on how beautiful the song was.” - <3333
Book
Convenience Store Woman - Sayaka Murata
Teaching Critical Thinking - bell hooks
The Girl Before - JP Delaney - had her in a chokeeee
a chokeee
Thing (could be a purchase/trip/dream/idea…anything)
Welcoming back into my body crush feelings***- yum!
The ocean (and the grasping at final attempts to be near it before summer ends even though summer [in Taiwan] just teases its way out the door for months)
Sundae school shirt with eggplants on it
Mending my own clothes (I’m now very happy with how I sew a button)
Dating a vegan
Neon green wireless headphones
Playing guitar and ukulele
Vegan banana bread - followed by a link to the recipe
A lil camping trip with friends in Cape May
The thought that I’m special - They are! You are!
Sushi
Miffy lamp
Chiang Rai
Vegan puttanesca
Aiste Stancikaite candle
Living alone - sexy!!!
A fan - accompanied by a story of how this hand fan was passed around many dance circles between friends, breezing sweaty faces as they delighted in unadulterated joy.
Metallica beanie
Mint oil bought in Berlin - I smelled it, my sinuses haven’t been the same since.
A solo trip to Lisbon - On this trip she found areas largely populated by Black people and instantly felt at home.
“not to be butters and cliche but meeting [my boyfriend]”
Trip to Mexico
Gameboy emulator, “I’m playing video games I used to when I was a kid and it’s bringing me a lot of joy.” - <33333
Lakes
First prem football game at the iconic Old Trafford
Ran a 5K in a PB time - that’s my Usain Bolt <3
Angle grinder - See photo thread.
Below are my favs, minus the top-secret one I cropped out yet still drew attention to. We love a little mystery here.
*me-coded/you-coded is the best addition to my vocab this year — that’s so me? No! That’s so me-coded. It lands better.
**Lately it feels like people’s days are made up of even tighter appointment windows and you must squeeze your time together into one of them, not a fan of this. (see: capitalism)
***feels like the beginning of a gorgeous poem.
Iisten to: Be Thankful For What You’ve Got - William DeVaughn
