It was kind of a ‘meh’ year as far as pop culture went. That’s not to say there weren’t some gems to be found.

TV: I’m not the biggest TV watcher anymore, but I did watch two series this year, both animated, of course.

While I’m not the biggest anime fan, I did watch an anime series this year, but only because it was based on one of my favorite game franchises. That series was The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War. It’s based on the Legend of Heroes games and takes place between Cold Steel 2 and 3 I believe. It started out real strong, but the ending fell flat for me. If you’re a fan of the games, I do recommend watching it.

But my show of the year was My Adventures with Superman. This show is so wholesome, and I’m here for it. However, it’s too intense for little kids. In the first season, Superman is new to Metropolis and trying to figure out his powers while navigating a relationship with Lois Lane.

Those of you who use the term ‘woke’ as a pejorative probably won’t like it.

Movies: For once, I’m picking a movie that was actually in theaters and isn’t animated, nor does it have anything to do with superheroes. It should have won all the Oscars, and that movie is Cocaine Bear. It was equal parts funny and suspenseful, without going too over the top with its dark humor.

RIP Ray Liotta.

Music: I started getting into symphonic metal this year. I highly recommend the band Battle Beast, but they didn’t put out an album this year. However, Beyond the Black did with their self-titled album.

This album has no skippable tracks at all.

Another band that did not put out an album this year but is my pick for band if the year is The Warning. They are three sisters from Mexico who have been playing in a band together since they were little kids. They have such a distinct sound it’s mind-blowing. I started getting into them after I heard their song Choke, which reminded me of a conversation Lady Gray and I had about the worst ways to die.

What really amazes me about The Warning is how they can sound both dark and hopeful at the same time. I think they are a band for the ages. If I had known about their latest album, Error, it would have been 2022’s album of the year.

Comics: Again, kind of a ‘meh’ year for comic books. Nothing was really a must-read for me, where I was anticipating the next issue. A decent comic was No/One by Image Comics No/One is more of a multimedia experience because it has an accompanying podcast that feels like a true-crime podcast set in the fictional superhero world of No/One. Patton Oswalt plays one of the characters in the podcast.

But my comic of the year would have to be Transformers by Daniel Warren Johnson for Image Comics.

I’ve never been a huge fan of Transformers. I was already failing out of college when the series was first on TV. But, if you read my review of Murder Falcon, you know I’ve become a huge fan of Daniel Warren Johnson.

This book isn’t the kids’ cartoon from the 80s. It’s a more grounded take on the franchise, if you can call a comic book about transforming mechs grounded. Johnson’s emotional writing and his unique art make this a worthwhile title.

Podcasts: For me, podcasts have two categories, corporate and independent. Corporate doesn’t necessarily mean bad, it just means it’s being funded by a major media entity. So, on the corporate side of things, I really enjoyed Rachel Maddow’s Deja News podcast she did for MSNBC. It took stories from today’s news and compared them to forgotten stories from history, usually from the early to mid 20th century. It’s a shame it was only a six-episode series. I think this could have been a weekly series, easily.

On the independent side of things, we have a repeat winner, and it’s World’s Greatest Con. In their third season, podcasters Brian Brushwood and Justin Robert Young bring us the story of Project Alpha. I hadn’t heard of Project Alpha before this podcast, but it’s a fascinating story.

In the late 70s, a renowned university was trying to prove that psychic powers were real. Two kids in their late teens, who were very good at stage magic, were able to fool the university into thinking they had psychic powers. I’m not doing it justice, go and subscribe now.

YouTube: Again, for a man my age, I watch an inordinate amount of YouTube, but I didn’t really discover a new channel this year that has been as compelling as some of the past winners. However, I do recommend the channel Adam Something. Adam is a man from Eastern Europe who does a lot of dunking on Elon Musk in such an entreating way, but that’s not the entirety of his channel. He also breaks down the megaprojects built by Middle Eastern dictators and discusses how fewer cars would be better for everyone.

Wrestling: I’m a huge pro wrestling fan. I have been since before WrestleMania was even a thing. Having said that, I only watch AEW these days. I became burnt out on the WWE years ago. If you like WWE, that’s great. I’m happy for you. Even with HHH being mostly in charge, I just can’t go back.

The problem with AEW is they put on so many good matches, they all blur together for a man my age. The match that I had the most fun watching was MJF vs. Samoa Joe at Grand Slam. Especially, for this moment.

Games: Speaking of Legend of Heroes, that franchise released The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie in the West this year. It tied up a lot of loose ends from the Liberl, Crossbell, and Erebonia arcs of previous games in the series.

However, as much as I look forward to the Legends games, I’m also someone who played all the Squaresoft RPGs from the 90s on the SNES. That said, my game of the year is Sea of Stars. It’s an indie title that pays tribute to the RPGs of that era with its own original story, but in 16-bit style. I could not get enough of this game. I mean, it has a grappling hook in it. All the best games have grappling hooks.

Sadly, it also ruined my hands. It required so much button pressing on the controller that it seems painful going back to it. That’s what happens when you’re an old gamer.

Politics: Again, 2023 was such a dumpster fire for Republicans, you can pretty much just broadly gesture at the GOP. I still can’t get over the fact that after 91 indictments, people still think that the tangerine tinged sex pest is somehow anointed by God to run the country. For everyone on the left who is mad at Joe Biden for his handling of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, keep in mind that Trump is the alternative. Just imagine how he would handle the conflict if elected again.

But what really got my goat this year was the politics in the wake of the tragic shooting at The Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. If you don’t remember, the shooter identified as trans, and it just gave transphobes more reasons to be hateful against the trans community. And, once again, no kind of any gun control legislation came from it. Instead, Tennessee doubled down on being a state in support of mass shootings and hate.

Personal: I was kind of proud of myself this year. While I’m not writing as many blog posts as I used to, I set a goal to have at least 52 posts this year. I made 86 posts this year. While I don’t post as frequently as I used to, my writing has gotten better. At least I like to think so.

But, I had to kill the podcast. It was causing me too much stress and anxiety. It did have its benefits, though. It was one of the things that made me a better writer. I’m getting better at writing long-form content rather than the old style of headline, copy and paste, then close with snark.

I was also interviewed by a Canadian true crime show about a craigslist murder from years ago. I don’t think the interview went well at all, so I might end up on the cutting room floor. As soon as I know anything about an air date, I’ll let you know.

See you next year. Go subscribe to RealCrime.Net.