2023 Pop Culture Year in Review

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This is the seventh Pop Culture Year in Review that I have written. When a new year begins, I keep a drafted post with the title being the current year. As the months progress, I keep track of the various movies, TV, video games, and comics I enjoy throughout the year. Additionally, I like to jot down the trips, conventions, and other random fun memories that happened, so I’m incredibly organized when writing this all out. 2023 was definitely a memorable year in many ways.

Movies I Watched

Image is a movie poster for Dungeons & Dragons Honor Among Thieves. It shows the main cast. There's a sorcerer on the left holding a staff. A paladin holding a sword. The bard is in the middle holding his instrument. The barbarian is on the right holding an ax. Finally, the druid is on the far right.
  • Set It Up
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
  • Underworld
  • Bullet Train
  • Exposed
  • Tenet
  • Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
  • The Flash
  • Nimona
  • The Marvels

I was debating what my favorite movie of 2023 would be and honestly, it has to be Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. This movie was so funny. As the movie played out, I thought to myself what each of the characters must have rolled where that event would have occurred. This is done wonderfully in the way that Chris Pine plays a Bard and tries to do an illusion.

I think another favorite movie of mine would be The Marvels. I know not everyone liked The Marvels, but I loved it and I can’t wait to re-watch it once it’s available to stream.

TV Shows I Watched

Image is a poster for the TV show The Night Agent. There's the back drop of The White House with a man holding a gun off to the right. It says on the poster, "Heroes Aren't Born. They Answer The Call. The Night Agent."
  • Critical Role Vox Machina Campaign!
  • The Umbrella Academy
  • Andor
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars
  • The Night Agent
  • Hawkeye

This was a no-brainer, the best show I watched in 2023 was The Night Agent. The show was full of twists and turns and I ended up finishing the show very quickly because I wanted to know what happened! It’s not often that I breeze through a show in a short amount of time.

The last thing that I will mention is how this was the year that I finally finished watching Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I had been watching The Clone Wars off and on for the past several years. I decided that this would be the year where I finished the series. I’m so glad I did. Ahsoka’s character arc is one of the most defining moments of the show.

Video Games I Played

Image is a poster for Marvel's Spider-Man 2. It shows Peter spinning a web, but it's clear that Venom / the black weaving is attached to him. Miles is on his right in his classic red and black suit.
  • Nancy Drew Last Train To Blue Moon Canyon
  • Nancy Drew Treasure in the Royal Tower
  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York
  • Gotham Knights
  • Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
  • Sudocats
  • Stray
  • Marvel’s Spider-Man New Game + (didn’t finish)
  • Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
  • Unpacked

I know this might be a shocker, but Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 is the best game I played this year. I say this sarcastically since I talk about the game all the time. This game was so good. I ended up playing for thirteen hours straight, so I could finish the story without being spoiled. If that wasn’t enough, I finally unlocked all the trophies which is something I don’t do very often. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 was well worth the five-year wait.

Another gaming highlight was giving Jedi: Fall Order another chance. I played Jedi: Fallen Order for the first time in 2020 and didn’t finish the story. It felt like I couldn’t go back and play it because it reminded me of 2020. Once enough time passed, I started over with a new save file and the game was awesome! I’m glad that I decided to go back to it.

Reviewing my gaming list, I had such a good year when it came to video games! Stray was another highlight of the year. The ending had me in tears, like the type of ugly crying that I couldn’t catch my breath. The first half of the year was more PC-focused and the latter half of the year was more focused on playing games on my Switch. It’s tough balancing my console gaming with my PC gaming, but I felt like I did a good job at playing games on a variety of different systems.

Gaming in 2023

Image is a board game board from the game Vagrant Song. This game shows a three part train compartment. There are several spaces where characters can move to. At the top, there are hearts that represent Humanity on a 0-25 scale, but goes up a little higher than that.
  • One Night Ultimate Werewolf
  • Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
  • Llamas Unleashed
  • Wingspan
  • Marvel’s Villanous
  • Vagrant Song

I don’t think that I did the best when it comes to tracking all of the board games I played. Vagrant Song was probably my favorite board game that I played this year. I like the cooperative aspect of it and the cartoonish art gives the game its unique feel to it. Another board game that I tried was Wingspan. Wingspan was fun to learn and I liked being able to create my own wildlife center.

Graphic Novels / Comics I Read This Year

Image is a comic book cover for Dark Ride. It's clear this takes place at a theme park as there is a roller coaster in the background. There's a red devil mascot and blood is coming out of his mouth.
  • Vox Machina Origins Volume #1
  • Star Wars Hidden Empire Issue #1
  • Ironcat Issues #1 – #4
  • She-Hulk Issues #8 – #10
  • Lore Olympus Volume #1
  • Nailbiter Volumes #1 – #6
  • Mary Jane & Black Cat Issues #1 -#4
  • Bloodline Daughter of Blade Issues #1 & #2
  • Batman: Legends of Gotham Issue #1
  • Captain America: Winter Soldier – Ultimate Collection
  • DC Titans Hunt Volume #1
  • Nightwing Issues #101 & #102
  • Suicide Squad: Bad Blood
  • Chainsaw Man Vol #1
  • Harley Quinn: The Animated Series: Legion of Bats Issue #1 & #2
  • Gangster Ass Barista Volume #1
  • The Umbrella Academy Volume #1
  • Quincredible Volume #1
  • Batman: The Dark Knight Returns
  • Cats! Girlfriends and Catfriends
  • Plume Volume #2
  • Crossover Volume #1
  • Moonknight Volume #2
  • Teen Titans Robin
  • Harley Quinn #28 and #30
  • Batgirls Volume #1
  • Box
  • Cat Gamer Volume #1
  • Ms. Marvel Issue #1
  • Harriet Tubman Demon Slayer Issue #1
  • Scarlet Witch Volume #1
  • Batgirl Birds of Prey Volume #2
  • Dark Ride Issues #1 and #2
  • Locke & Key Volume #1

The standout comics that I read in 2023 include Nailbiter, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Suicide Squad: Bad Blood, and Dark Ride. It feels like I read more superhero comics this year versus indie comics. I want to take more trips to my local comic book store in 2024.

2023 Pop Culture Moments

  • Taylor Swift World Tour
  • Taylor and Travis Kelce

Honestly, 2023 was the year of Taylor Swift, enough said.

Podcasts

The first podcast I started listening to was Punch It Chewie Podcast. I found out about Punch It Chewie after stumbling upon Bella’s Instagram. Bella was describing a negative experience she had with a Star Wars fan who shared her videos and then made fun of her. As a result, she received horrific death threats online. It’s an awful situation and no one deserves to be treated that way. One of the episodes details what Bella went through and while it was hard to listen to, I’m glad that Bella felt comfortable sharing her story.

The second podcast I listened to was Live Laugh Lorcana. Live Laugh Lorcana is a podcast devoted to Disney’s trading card game Lorcana. It’s funny, I don’t have an interest in playing the game, but I still like listening to the podcast.

Catchiest Song in 2023

According to Spotify, the top song that I listened to in 2023 was Burn It to the Ground by Nickelback. Listen, I’m not going to stand for any Nickelback hate. When I think about what I had on repeat the most, I think that would be Drew Jacobs. Drew Jacobs has been doing hard rock covers of country songs and they’re so good. I’m listening to God’s Country on repeat and I love it.

Conventions I Attended in 2023

Image is a selfie of me. I'm dressed as Little Red Riding Hood with the red cape, the white blouse and the black corset.

I went to five conventions this year; Planet Comic Con, C2E2, CONvergence, Gen Con, and Twin Cities Con. I’m slowly getting back up to the number of conventions that I attended pre-Covid.

Personal Memories

Top Three Memories of 2023

Europe

Image is a picture of me holding a Guinness at the Guinness brewery in Dublin, Ireland.

Returning to Gen Con and CONvergence

Picture of me, two friends and my brother. Selfie in the Gen Con crowd waiting to enter the vendor hall.

Spending time with friends and family

Image is a selfie of me and my husband smiling at the camera.

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