Holiday Post 2023: What the heck happened?

Welcome to the final post in my holiday posts series. Now, while many Americans have already left the holidays behind, for me and my family last Saturday was Dia de Reyes (Three Kings Day) in Puerto Rico, which we celebrate modestly at hom, and that is followed by "las octavitas."  So there is still plenty of holidays cheer and celebration to go in our household. At any rate, this week I am looking back at what the heck happened in 2023, plus adding some predictions and outlooks for 2024. Not that 2024 looks any better based on the hot mess that was 2023 (literally and figuratively). So let's get this post going. 

Top news events of the year

• As mentioned above, 2023 is now the hottest year on record thanks to the climate change and global warming that fuckbagels insist to keep denying. Story via Al Jazeera. In fact, various news outlets towards the end of the year covered the story somehow. 
• The other big news event is that the United States continues breaking records. This time, mass shootings in the United States hit their highest level since 2006. Story via The Hill. Go USA! 

 

What the heck happened?

(Big news overviews) 

 

• The Atlantic has their "Top 25 photos of 2023." 
• UPI has their "2023 in review." Among the highlights are war, as usual, climate change, a new monarch in Great Britain, and the Pendejo In Chief getting indicted, but somehow stays on the public view. 
• NPR offers their "biggest international stories" of the year.
• In pop culture, VICE has a list of the "203 Biggest Pop Culture Moments of 2023." Among the highlights I missed: a kid singing with a goat, something about teenagers and feet, and something about the MET Gala and a cockroach. 
• The Chronicle of Higher Education looks at the year in higher ed. 
  
• In something a bit more specific, LISNews has their list of "Ten Stories that Shaped 2023" in terms of libraries and library science. 
• For the LGBTQ community, I'd say it was a mixed year. Stories via The Advocate.
  
• On the one hand, there were moments that made history in a positive way. 
• On the other hand, it was the worst year for the community in terms of bigoted LGBTQ legislation in various states.  

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) offers their 2023 in review. A lot of things happened in terms of the Internet and technology. Among the highlights: surveillance, AI, and consumer privacy.
• For the first time, if memory serves me right, I have an item in esoterica. Benebell Wen has written an overview of the "State of the Tarot Union."  Wen looks at the Tarot and divination industry and some of the players in it. If this is of interest, this look at the landscape is worth a read. 
• Finally, the Rude Pundit offers what I consider one of the greatest end of year wrap ups with his end of year haikus, where he invites his readers to submit haikus that sum up the previous year somehow. When I see him post this, I always say I am going to submit a haiku, and then time gets the better of me. Maybe next year.
  
• "Haiku Review 2023: American Fiction." 
• "Haiku Review 2023: No Reason to Believe Maybe This Year Will Be Better Than the Last." 
• "Haiku Review 2023: The End."
  

 

 

A bit from around the world

• Global Voices has a year in review focused on the Caribbean, and climate change was one of the big concerns in the region.
  

Film, music and television

I do this part mainly to help me keep up with things in pop culture and media. Recent media is not a thing I follow with any consistency. To be honest, I tend to prefer comfort watching of older films and television series. Add to this that I am just more of a reader. Given the choice between watching something and reading a book, I am more likely to pick the book. But in order to stay informed, I look over pop culture news and publications. Here are then some highlights for the year. 

• Film.
• In movies, let's be honest, this was pretty much the year of Barbie and Oppenheimer. Were there other movies? I am sure there were, but I can't quite recall. As for the big two, I have not seen them; I may get to them when they come out on DVD. We'll see. So rather than look at the usual best films, here is a list of the worst movies of 2023 according to The Mary Sue. I do not recall hearing about any of the movies on this list, and I do read a good amount of news sources, so that may also explain why they are the worst of the year.

• Television. I don't keep up with movies much in part because I stopped going to movie theaters years ago, and again, I tend to favor older films and comfort watching. As for television, there is just so much stuff that I just don't bother. It takes a lot to get me interested in some new television show. The fact television is so fragmented now into streaming services does not help the cause either. I have no interest in paying for different streamers. What we get in terms of television at home works well for us, plus I do use FAST (free ad supported streaming) sites like Tubi, which lately has done pretty well in terms of content I find interesting. Besides, there are so many good older things that are widely available that I don't feel the urge to go hunting the new stuff everyone else raves about. Add to that I can get stuff on DVD from my public library, and I am set. Anyhow, here is a look at some of the stuff on television that I most likely did not see nor miss. 
• Reality Blurred has their list of best reality TV shows of the year. 
• Vulture has a list of the "best anime of 2023." Now this is a list I need to look over again and see what I would like to watch down the road. Anime is one of the genres I enjoy greatly.
  

• Music. 
• I know Taylor Swift was Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2023.
• Also the gays of Grindr declared Beyonce the "Mother of the Year."  Story via Rolling Stone. Not, it is not for her maternal instincts nor parenting. In this context, "mother of the year" is defined as “'a woman who’s iconic and constantly serves cunt.' And for Gen Z, 'serves cunt' means “Bold. To the point. And overall extravagant.” 
• Rolling Stone always does various end of year music lists. For me, I often look over their "best Latin albums"  of the year.
  
• As happens every year, there were some Christmas albums, and The Big Issue ranks some of them.
  

Books and reading

I already did a holiday post on books and reading,  so this covers some lists I found interesting that I may have missed and/or came after that post, plus some trivia about books and reading. On a side note, let me mention that I will be writing and posting my end of year reading list and report later this month on this blog, so stay tuned to see what I read in 2023.

• Earlier in the year, Comics Beat had a list of "45 best manga for fall 2023." I figure this is a pretty good list to find some new things to read. From the list, Betwixt: a Horror Manga Anthology caught my eye mainly because I tend to like anthology works, but there are a few other titles I will be looking up. If you like manga, it is likely you may find something to read on this list too. 
• Want more manga? The Manga Critic has their list of best and worst manga of 2023.
  
• Literary Hub has their "10 Biggest Stories of the Year." It was a year when books got pulled off shelves, they got banned, and one or two other controversies. 
• Literary Hub also has a list, incomplete by their admission, of notable literary deaths in 2023. For me, the one that stood out was Rachel Pollack who died on April 7. 
• The Associated Press looks at 2023 in books. Naturally banned books and artificial intelligence (AI) made the list. Oh, and author Salman Rushdie was stabbed by some asshole.
  
• Publishers Weekly has their top 10 library stories of 2023. Again, book bans are a big deal in 2023. Also, the fuckery of the publishers suing Internet Archive made their list. Let me use that as a reminder that my boycott against those publishers and their imprints continues. I will not spend a penny on their works nor will I review them if I can avoid it. I make the disclaimer because due to work, I may have to purchase something for the library here or there (can't control that). Anyhow, you can read my blog post for details. I hope to write a reflection on the boycott down the road as it has been almost a year of the boycott. 
• NetGalley is one of the services I use to find ARCs (advanced reader copies) of books to read and review on this blog as well as books to consider for possible library acquisition. They have published their list of most popular books for the year. The list is based on members' activity on the site and related to the books. 
• NPR looks at the books checked out the most at public libraries.
  

 

 Adult and risque

This is where you can feel free to scroll on down if it is not your jam. But if it is, read on. 

• The Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN) has published a run of popular online searches in adult topics for the end of 2023. This is based on keyword searches across their websites. If you like trivia, trends, numbers, so on, their main trends page has all sorts of articles. 
• Speaking of trends, Dr. Dick's Sex Advice writes about "the hottest sex trends to know about in 2023." Some pretty good advice here so you can get, enjoy, and manifest the sex and intimacy you may want in the new year.
• Dr. Dick also highlights a report from Google on their "top sex questions asked in 2023." He also comments on the questions and offers some clarification as needed.
  
• Adult Empire, an adult entertainment and retail company, has announced their 2023 Award Winners, which may be of interest to fans. Story via Adult Video News (AVN). 
• The Advocate looks at Grindr's report on sexual preferences and trends in the LGBTQ community. The report is based on the app's user data. The article includes a link to the full report. 
• Finally, and always interesting, sex blogger Bacchus of Eros Blog does their 2023 retrospective of their best posts for the year. 

 

 Miscellaneous

These are stories that did not fit any of the categories above and/or just random trivia.

• Word of the year. Well, we have some options. 
• Merriam-Webster declared "authentic" as their word of the year. They also have a list of additional words that stood out in 2023, which may remind you of some of the events and fuckery that happened during 2023. 
• Dictionary.com chose "hallucinate" as their word of the year. 
• Oxford University Press, owners of the Oxford English Dictionary, decided on "rizz" for their word of the year. Note that "rizz" is also one of Merriam-Webster's highlighted words for 2023. Story via The Hill. 
• However, the best word for this year has to be Cory Doctorow's recently coined term to describe the hellish shithole the Internet has become: "enshittification." The American Dialect Society chose it as their word of the year, and boy does the term really reflect 2023 and the current state of the Internet thanks to spammers, scammers, corporate fuckbagels, and other assorted greedy assholes.
  

• Speaking of enshitiffication, if you wonder why the U.S. Congress and government are such a mess, well, one reason are lobbyists doing their best to bribe (oops, cajole, beg, plead, offer a free private jet flight, and at times outright write legislation that they get their legislators to present and pass on their behalf among other things).  The Hill presents thus their list of "Top Lobbyists 2023." Lobbyists can include, but are not limited to, "corporate lobbyists, hired guns, association leaders and grassroots activists." If you wonder why regular Americans can't seem to get a break from the government, you can thank these deep pocketed folks running interference. 
• Google has put out their 2023 Year in Search.  Find out what people were searching online last year. The site includes archives to the previous years, going back to 2010. 
• In the Bad Economy, The Hill looks back at the major retailers that went out of business in 2023. Pundits keep saying the economy is good and things are getting better, but I am sure these defunct businesses may beg to differ. Among the casualties were Bed, Bath, and Beyond (although they still operate online) and a retailer called Tuesday Morning that I had never heard of until I read this article. To be honest, The Hill article is not that big a deal despite the impression they are trying to give. I was expecting a bit more blood and mayhem.  
• VICE reports that 2023 is the year animals fought back. For starters, recall those orcas sinking yachts. Go #TeamOrca. 
• Religion news: 
• Religion News has their top stories of 2023. They also highlight Humanists International Freedom of Thought Report for 2023. 
• The Other Sarah McLaughlin writes on "2023: This Year in Blasphemy." A lot of religious fuckery happened, and this post looks at it month by month. 
•  Not a good year for driverless cars as Quartz highlights "12 of the biggest failures" in that industry.
• In pop culture, video games, and other media, Kotaku has their "10 Biggest Stories of 2023."  Among the highlights something about unintended vaginas in a video game and Pinkerton detectives raiding a YouTuber's home over some trading cards. 
• More in tech and media, The Verge has their year in review also. 
• Guttmacher Institute looks at state policy trends in 2023, especially in light of the Roe v. Wade overturn. 
• Interested in business research? Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge has their 10 most popular stories. Naturally, there is some stuff on AI, but also other things such as time management. 
• Speaking of AI, Business Insider has a pretty big list of the top names in AI for the year. 
  
• In spirits and alcohol, Spirits Business lists their top news stories of the year. Among the highlights were vodka and other spirits boycotts, lawsuits, and tequila keeps on growing. 
• The most downloaded iPhone app in 2023? Tech Crunch reports it was Temu the shopping app. 
• Internet Archive reports on the works joining the public domain in 2023. 
• Closely related, in the sense of things publicly available, Public Domain Review lists their top 10 most read pieces for 2023. If you like curious and interesting things, such as gin drinking, sex magic, and ether dreams, this may be a list for you.
  
• UPI highlights the celebrities that died in 2023. Among those we lost are Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Buffett, and Gina Lollobrigida, who was 95 at her passing.  
• 2023 featured some lies, misinformation, and bullshit from politicians and public figures, and FactCheck.org has their list of "The Whoppers of 2023." 
• Want something a bit different to read? The Reprobate has a list of their 10 hottest hits for 2023. 
• Torrent Freak also has a list for 2023 in review of stories they covered. 
• On a bit of library trivia, Overdrive, a service libraries often offer for e-books and other online media, reports a very good year in terms of circulating items in libraries.
  

 

 Predictions for 2024

Predictions was a new category I added to this post last year. People love to make all kinds of predictions about new year, and I found quite a few. This year I am breaking this down into trends, you know the pundits, experts, and gurus who tell us what to expect, and into esoterica where we look at things like astrology, Tarot, and other esoteric ways to predict what will happen. 

Trends: 

• Axios looks at geopolitical threats as the biggest issue for the economy for 2024. They are highlighting a report where they ask investors and other financial analysts what they worry about for the next year. 
• For journalism, Nieman Lab offers predictions for 2024. 
• HBS Working Knowledge has their 10 Trends to Watch Out For. This is for the business folks mostly but also for those of us just paying attention and trying to stay informed. A couple of these may be a little questionable. 
• Meanwhile, for higher education, Higher Ed Dive offers 7 trends to watch for in 2024.
• Food trends? Axios has you covered there too. Get ready for things like pickles, Korean food, and camel milk among other things. 
• In the end, the best warning may well come from that comedy sage Lewis Black, who looks back at what he is grateful about 2023 and warns that 2024 will suck. That about sums it up. (YouTube video). Hat tip to Daily Beast.
   

 Predictions and looking at the future:

 

• Very often, news organizations ask a psychic to weigh in on how the new year may come along.
•  Fox News brought in a psychic who drew Tarot cards, including drawing a one card (Five of Cups) for the Pendejo In Chief. The outlook was not good for him. Story via The Guardian.
  
• Meanwhile, Baba Vanga, a Bulgarian blind mystic often known as the "Nostradamus of the Balkans" made some predictions. Story via The New York Post. Oh, I should mention that she died over 25 years ago or so, but apparently she made a bunch of predictions before her death, including a few for 2024. There is a bit of everything here. 
• In astrology.
• Yoga Journal presents "The Most Important Astrological Dates of 2024 and What They Mean to You." For example, there are four eclipses listed for 2024. 
• Pure Wow also has an astrology report for 2024. This offers five major themes and then a snapshot by Zodiac sign. 
• Into numerology? Om Times has your numerology forecast.  
• Interested in Tarot?
• Om Times also has a Tarotscope for 2024. This offers a look through Tarot at every Zodiac sign, drawing a card for each sign with interpretation for general advice, love, work, and finances. I will just say the card they drew for me is pretty spot on. 
• The Wild Hunt presents a Tarot Prospectus for 2024. They select a single card for every month of the year. An interesting detail is that they use a card from a different deck every month. 
• Finally, I did a small Tarot spread for 2024. This is a small reading from me to my few readers and the community at large. Feel free to check it out.
  

If you made it this far, thank you for reading and stopping by. I hope 2024 is a good year for you despite some of the predictions and outlooks. May you find abundance, prosperity, peace, and love in the year ahead. Paz y amor.