Of the Year

2024-12-29
Feeling: Sleeping in
Listening to: Maybe This Year by Eggtan

It's almost a 2025.

This year I put a lot of effort into detaching myself from the internet. I actually still sit at my computer just as much as I used to, but I make an effort to spend that time with more intent. Scrolling less, refreshing less, actively reading or watching or engaging with things of substance more. In the past couple of months, I've also fallen hard back into sewing, which is a hobby that had kind of been on the backburner for most of the earlier parts of the year. Making things of fabric is just really satisfying.

I read a lot of manga this year, played a surprising amount of games by my standards, I started listening to audiobooks at work, and I'm making an active effort to learn how to watch movies and maybe even TV again.

The coolest thing of the year for me was the game Crow Country by SFB Games. I know recency bias, you should wait at least a year before proclaiming something to be the best ever, etc. But it really did just immediately shoot up into one of my favorite video games ever. An incredibly tightly designed ps1-esque survival horror playspace, with fantastic aesthetics and a depressing story. It felt amazing to play and I've been thinking about it constantly.

I also loved Anthology of the Killer by thecatamites. A hilarious collection of 9 narrative games that become increasingly impressively ambitious as you go down the list chronologically. They're filled with amazing visuals and sharp writing, lovingly poking fun at horror tropes and hatingly poking fun at living in a society. Just an incredibly fun and inspirational package.

In manga, Ikoku Nikki by Yamashita Tomoko is amazing, and I can't believe it hasn't been picked up for English publishing. If it ever does, I will collect those volumes. Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou by Ashinano Hitoshi is one I have been collecting, and reading for the first time this year, and the art is just breathtaking. Some of my favorite weekends this year have been ones spent on the couch just reading one of those deluxe volumes and becoming completely immersed. I also want to shout out Kitchen Princess by Kobayashi Miyuki and Andou Natsumi, which is just an elementally perfect 00s shoujo that really reawakened a lot of my reading urges and was responsible for me wanting to start having a physical manga collection again in the first place.

I've actually had some problems with audiobooks. Apparently I've listened to 72 books this year, which is a lot. But I'm having trouble finding things that I really, really love. One problem is that since I listen at work, and can't really dedicate my full attention to the listening, I lean more towards more "easy listening" types of books... But I'm also obnoxiously picky and have annoying standards. Tried YAs and was burned by one too many of them making me roll my eyes, tried romances and they don't do much for me. I think fantasy might not really be my thing, and I don't like crime fiction. I've found some sci-fis that I really liked, but also some sci-fis that immediately made me go to sleep. Overall I've enjoyed more books than I've disliked, but I've just had trouble honing in on the one niche for me where I might find stuff that really make me pop off. If I were to shout one book out, Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova is one I did really like a lot recently.

I'm still working on relearning how to watch things with my eyes and ears and brain. But I finally watched Liz and the Blue Bird by Yamada Naoko. I actually realized this year that I feel too old and disconnected for high school yuri and high school media in general, but this movie is transcendental. The most lovingly animated microgestures of an anxious emotionally withdrawn teenage girl you've ever seen. I also enjoyed A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night by Ana Lily Amirpour. I kind of disagree with its classification as a horror movie, it's mostly a vibes kind of deal, but I liked it a lot, the vibes worked on me.

I think that's it for this vague little retrospective post. I'd been having some art block recently, and also been generally busy, but I'll try to get back into the groove of drawing more going into the next year. Not forcing myself though, it's just a hobby, I'm just a guy.

Photo Corner

Until next time!