The New Stuff I Liked Most in 2021
This list is a list of the things I like. There are a lot of other things I’m sure I’d like that I didn’t get around to seeing or reading or playing or listening to. I missed a lot in 2021. Here’s the best of the rest:
A Swim in a Pond in the Rain
George Saunders is one of the best short story writers working today. Here he gives an introduction to Russian short stories, applying lessons on storytelling in general along the way. This is the one book I read this year that I’m likely to read more than twice.
Action Button Reviews
Tim Rogers is making the most in-depth reviews anyone is making about anything right now, and he’s making them about video games. Check out his take on Doom or Final Fantasy VII or, if you have a lot of free time, Cyberpunk 2077.
Afrique Victime
Mdou Moctar’s latest is the guitar album of the year. And this performance is a great way to check it out.
Back 4 Blood
It took until 2021 for Left 4 Dead to finally get a (spiritual) sequel. Thanks to the DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers, gunning down ravenous hordes feels better than ever.
The deck system is a potentially polarizing twist on this kind of PvE team shooter. I’m only a few hours in as the year winds down, but so far I’m enjoying the personalization and strategy the cards afford. It helps that it’s super simple to drop in for quickplay matches with randoms in 15-minute chunks.
I expect to log a lot of hours with Karlee and Doc before 2022 is through.
Bad Trip
Bad Trip is a hilarious road trip prank movie in which all the pranks make the “victims” seem like kind, goodhearted people. The scene where the guy helps Tiffany Haddish escape a prison transport bus is one of the funniest things I saw this year.
Candlekeep Mysteries
Thanks to the many video conferencing technologies we’re all so familiar with these days, my Dungeons & Dragons group has remained strong through the pandemic. As a group we haven’t dug into Candlekeep at all, but since I’m the one DMing the book’s 17 one-shots, I’ve read the whole thing.
And it’s great.
The Candlekeep Mysteries offer a full range of genre-heavy missions for players to take on, and enough specific detail to make it a fine first book for a beginner DM like me.
Ch’King
This is the closest to perfect fast food chicken sandwich, and it came out this year.
Cowboy Bebop
As someone with no real attachment to the original cartoon, I loved the live-action Bebop adaptation. I loved the stories. I loved the style. I loved the music. I wanted to see where it would go next. Too bad!
Dune
Yet another ultra stylish take on the books, this time leaning grotesque where the miniseries went garish. Honestly I love them all. Villeneuve’s version gets bonus points for casting an actual young person to play Paul, who is 15 in the beginning of the first book.
Evangelion:3.0+1.01
Finally a happy ending for our boy Shinji.
Foundation
Foundation was a promising new show through the beginning of season 1. Episode 8, The Missing Piece, is when it became great. All the pieces are in place for an excellent season 2, whenever that happens.
Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO (12/10/71)[Live]
I would not have chosen this Grateful Dead live album on my own. It absolutely dominated my year-end playlist though, so I guess I really loved it!
New Gawker
I’m very happy Gawker is back. It’s mostly dumb bullshit now. Still, it’s nice to have an old-timer blog to look at for a minute every day.
Get Back
With about 7 hours of jam footage and a concert at the end, Get Back would be a cool documentary even if it wasn’t about The Beatles. As it is, it’s an all-timer.
Gibson SG Standard 2021
This is the year I got my dream guitar. I even found one with my birth date in the serial number.
The Green Knight
How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last
My only complaint about Big Red Machine’s August album is that it should have come out in June. It’s a wonderful album to listen to on a summer night. August was almost too late for that.
I Don’t Live Here Anymore
I Think You Should Leave
I had high expectations heading into season 2. Karl Havoc, Sloppy Steaks, Drivers Ed, and Detective Crashmore lived up to them.
Legalized recreational marijuana
We love it when this happens.
Leviathan Falls
The Expanse books wrapped up this year, and the TV show is winding down now. The books are just about perfect. We’ll see how the show goes.
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
It turns out I did need to be reminded that this is one of the best stories ever told in video games.
maybe tomorrow…
I first heard the band Low Roar through their inclusion in the Death Stranding soundtrack. Their 2021 album, to me, was an opportunity to hear a lot of great Low Roar music without the baggage that comes with being a big part of my current personal favorite video game.
Music for Psychedelic Therapy
Mythic Quest
The best show on Apple TV is also one of the funniest shows on television.
No One is Talking About This
Wow this one was good. I read the first half one night and the other half the next morning. Here’s an excerpt.
On Cinema At The Cinema
It could have all ended with everyone passed out, dying of carbon monoxide poisoning during last years Oscar’s Special. Instead — thanks to a brand new subscription model for the On Cinema Universe — Tim, Gregg, Manuel, and more were all back for season 12 in 2021. Production values are higher than ever now that the team isn’t leaning on Adult Swim for funding.
Pokémon Unite
My favorite Pokémon game of the year is free! I’ve sunk dozens of hours into Unite so far and walking around as Wigglytuff, slapping everything I see, hasn’t gotten old. Pick it up on Switch and mobile. Free!
Renewal
Returnal
Returnal is my pick for game of the year. I can’t beat Nemesis. Someone help.
The Snyder Cut
The Snyder Cut is the best superhero movie ever made. I said it when it came out, and Marvel hasn’t done anything to change my mind yet.
Space 1.8
Star Wars The Bad Batch
The Velvet Underground
This was a good year for music documentaries.
Wellington Paranormal
The What We Do in the Shadows spin-off Wellington Paranormal features the two police officers from the 2014 film investigating a variety of paranormal happenings in the Wellington, New Zealand area. It came out in 2018, but hasn’t been available in America until now (on HBO).
Zookeeper World
This is the one I play when I’m away from my consoles. It’s the best match three game I’ve found.
