Some favorites I consumed in 2023
Here come the end-of-year lists!
I didn’t get a post out last week, for which I’m going to blame JetBlue’s shitty “free” “wifi” while flying back to New York on Friday vs. my own failure to write something before getting on a plane. So as a result we’re trying a Monday post for the first time, featuring 10 things I very much enjoyed consuming during this calendar year. Time is of course a construct, so in reality this list is a pretty arbitrary snapshot, but I’m going to charge forth with it anyway.
1/ Book: Collected Works
I’m actually only two-thirds of the way through this at the moment, but it’s an 841-page read on Kindle, so I basically have the length of two normal books to go off of so far. In a sort of Swedish Fleishman is in Trouble, the wife of publisher and unabashed intellectual Martin Berg mysteriously disappears, and we jump back and forth between his younger and older days to (presumably) find out what happened. The novel debuted in Sweden in 2020 but was only published in English earlier this year. My mother, who once famously (as I see it) introduced me to a relatively unknown author named Sally Rooney, is the reason I picked it up. So we can probably expect Lydia Sandgren to become a global literary sensation soon.
2/ Movie: Past Lives
A very quiet, very moving film about love, loss, and longing. I’m not sure exactly how to put into words why I liked this so much, other than to say it made me both think deeply and feel deeply, which I guess is what great art does to people.
3/ Show: The Bear
I really enjoyed season 1 of The Bear, and season 2 took things to another level. The whole cast is excellent, the anxiety-inducing camerawork and editing really brings the stress of a kitchen (and a holiday family dinner) to life, and the writing is super sharp. It’s a pleasure to watch, pure and simple.
4/ Dish: garlic noodles, the Thanh Long way
Thanh Long is an amazing Vietnamese restaurant in San Francisco famous for its whole crab and noodles, both typically packed with more garlic than you ever thought possible. In the best way. I was super excited to come across J. Kenji López-Alt’s recipe mimicking the noodles sometime last year, and it continued to be one of my favorite dishes to cook and eat in 2023. UMAMI!
5/ Newsletter: Tangle
I’ll harp on this to no end: the work Isaac Saul and the Tangle team do is not only some of the best political writing you’ll find anywhere online, but their ruthlessly balanced approach is (sadly) one of the few oases in a harsh media landscape of one-sided takes and propaganda. If you want to see the Israel-Hamas war and the complex history preceding it clearly, I highly recommend checking them out. Isaac’s 10 thoughts from last week are honest and insightful and it’s been a pleasure to follow the growing success of Tangle over the past few years.
6/ Song: Karma (feat. Ice Spice) by Taylor Swift
According to my Spotify Wrapped, I listened to Karma more than any other song in 2023. This is hilarious because historically I’ve been far from a Swiftie, but you have to give credit where credit is due: this song is an absolute banger. Also, Travis Kelce is on my fantasy football team. So maybe I am a Swiftie now.
7/ App: Chess.com
With apologies to the partners of many of my friends, as well as my own partner, I’ve been playing chess nonstop through this app all year. Oh well—if I’m going to be addicted to my phone, at least the screen time goes toward something that activates my brain. Mostly.
8/ Article: A Left That Refuses to Condemn Mass Murder Is Doomed by Eric Levitz
In the days after Hamas’s attack on Israel, I found myself searching desperately for nuanced takes on the horror that triggered more horror. Levitz’s piece articulated an unsettling trend I’d been witnessing with brutal clarity, and for me stressed the importance of sharpening one’s own critical thinking when wading into the discourse around one of the most complex geopolitical conflicts in human history. A process which necessarily continues to evolve as new information and takes come into the fray—including additional writing from Levitz with which I actually strongly disagree.
9/ Podcast: The Ezra Klein Show
I don’t listen to this as much as I should, and I feel that way because every time I do I come away having learned something. In the genre of intelligent person speaks with other intelligent people who are experts in their field, Ezra’s pod is among the best.
10/ Game: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
This game rules. It rules!!! I don’t play video games much anymore, but I grew up on Nintendo classics like Mario and Zelda, and when a new installment of the latter comes out I can’t resist picking it up. The level of craft in Tears of the Kingdom is special, from the puzzles to the cooking to Link’s new powers to the pure sense of adventure. I will be sad to finish it.
Anyway. There are 10 of my favorite things. Hope you enjoyed your things this year too.
Thanks for the list Victor. I enjoyed reading it. And thanks for making me aware of Tangle. I just subscribed and read his article.