My media of the year: 2024
Filed under: music | film | gaming
FOMO is real and that’s why I’m here: to bring you an end of year list of my favourite media from 2024. It won’t be as comprehensive as some of the lists I’ve read but I wanted to log my favourites anyway.
Film of the year: Sonic 3
It was never going to be anything else, was it? I’ve been hyped for Sonic 3 since the end of Sonic 2 and I was not disappointed. Sure, the pacing at the start was off and there were some flaws in the film but the latter two thirds of the film were amazing and hit me in all the right places. I plan to go see it again before it leaves the cinema and I don’t think I’ve ever done that with a film. I just want to experience it again.
Honourable mentions: Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4
Game of the year: Tetris Forever/Sonic X Shadow Generations*
Okay so this is awkward. I’ve only played one game from 2024 and that was Tetris Forever. I could have got Dragon Quest III: 2D-HD but I didn’t want to ignore my backlog (it’s also why I haven’t played TCG Pocket which may have won). But my friend Andrew recommended Tetris Forever and I enjoyed it. BUT I did recently buy Sonic X Shadow Generations and I anticipate loving it so much that it would be the best game I’ll have played that was released in 2024.
(Had I chosen any game that I’d played in 2024, the winner would have been Breath of Fire IV. The graphics, dialogue, story, and gameplay were so good and it’s a shame we’ve not had anything as good from the franchise since.)
Book of the year: You Are Here
I read 3 books this year and only one came out this year, that being You Are Here by David Nicholl. It had me so invested, as did all his previous books. I loved the characters and how they warmed to each other and the yearning and soft, encouraging ending was lovely.
Series of the year: One Day
Another work by David Nicholl. Based on my favourite book, this is the second live action rendition of One Day after the 2011 film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess. While I liked the film, it was missing some key parts and it didn’t feel as close to the book as I wanted. But the series was so good. Every actor nailed their roles, especially Leo Woodall as Dexter Mayhew and Ambika Mod as Emma Morley. I laughed, I cried, I got engrossed in it all and watched some episodes multiple times just to feel something. I don’t watch a lot of TV but this kept my attention.
Streamer of the year: Gronya
Full disclosure: I have been a Twitch subscriber for the past few months and she used some of my music in one of her videos. With that said, I don’t care how biased this looks: Gronya rocks. I found her YouTube channel earlier this year thanks to her efforts in helping to preserve the Dragon Quest VII DLC maps before the Nintendo eShop shut down. And then I watched some more videos. And then I reached out with my Dragon Quest-themed album and was surprised that I got a response and that she loved it. And then I found her Twitch channel and the rest is history.
But enough about me. Gronya has a great sense of humour and her streams are always entertaining, whether she’s playing Dragon Quest XI in Draconian Mode or Rocket Slime or the Dragon Quest III remake or performing (yes, she’s a musician as well).
Honourable mention: Cartoon Therapy
Album of the year: SiR – HEAVY
This was a tough call because Justice’s Hyperdrama could easily have taken this. And that’s not to say it missed the mark in any way but HEAVY enveloped me somehow. I loved all the songs, separately and together, and they made me feel so many emotions. I listened to the album a lot during my trips to Nice visiting my parents and during the times I was traveling on the tram, it kept me company like a good friend. Considering I listened to a fraction of the albums that I listened to the year before, I didn’t expect to connect so much to an LP as much as this one. SiR, you knocked it out of the park.
Honourable mentions: Justice – Hyperdrama, Khruangbin – A LA SALA, Charlotte Day Wilson – Cyan Blue
Performance of the year: Beyoncé (Christmas Day Half Time Show)
I was captivated. Watch and you’ll see why.