25 – 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare
What is it? – 98.12.28 Otokotachi no Wakare is a recording of Japanese dream pop band Fishmans’ last concert, before frontman Shinji Sato tragically passed a few months later.
Why? – 98.12.28 is the best live album of all time – the ephemeral, epic, transcendental. “Long Season – Live” might actually be the best song ever, give it a shot if you’re going on a 41 minute 31 second walk.
LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY
24 – Who’s Afraid of Modern Art
Why? – Jacob Geller is the best Youtuber currently working, with every single one of his videos covering vastly diverse topics before he puts it all together masterfully at the end, with my favorite of these being Who’s Afraid of Modern Art. There’s a common sentiment around modern art pieces such as “Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow and Blue” by Barnett Newman (shown above)- many who see them think “I could make that”. But in 30 minutes, Jacob Geller is able to convince you that not only are these pieces highly technical and require immense skill and dedication, but also that attempting to control the narrative on what art is is a tool used by fascist regimes to enforce their power. Other Geller videos are just as brilliant, but this is as tight as video essays get, taking an unpopular stance and arguing for it and its deeper implications until you, the viewer, have a wider perspective on art and the world as a whole in just a half hour.
WATCH HERE – YOUTUBE
23 – Persona 3 Portable
What is it? – Persona 3 Portable is an alternative version of Persona 3 with lowered graphical fidelity and additional content made for the Playstation Portable. As much as the title would convince you otherwise, Persona 3 is the fourth entry in the series and is considered the start of modern Persona, games that are known for being half turn based JRPGs, half social life simulators.
Why? – “Memento Mori” – this is the phrase commonly associated with Persona 3, roughly translating to ‘Remember that you are mortal. Remember you will die.” But the game isn’t about death, not really. It’s moreso about coming to terms with your own mortality, about learning to live while knowing that it’s one day all going to end. Every single aspect of the game reflects this central theme – the characters shoot themselves in the head to summon their eponymous Personas (basically, monstrous manifestations of the self used to fight against the enemies of the game), the battle UI is the barrel of a gun, the opening video on the title screen spouts half powerful, half meaningless quotes like “Living is not breathing, but doing.” All this has caused Persona 3 to be known as an “emo” game, but I would argue it helps give your actions meaning in the game – Persona is a social life simulator/dungeon crawler JRPG, and the constant reminders of your mortality make sure you think hard about what to do on each day, for you only have a very limited amount of time to spend to level up your relationships with the vast cast or to study to do better in your academics or to go a few floors deeper in Tartarus. Whatever you do, remember that you are mortal. Remember that you will die. I prefer Portable over the console counterpart FES and the recent remake Reloaded because it has a female protagonist route and for its much improved quality of life features over FES, though some of the minor story changes made are very questionable.
22 – Nathan For You
Why? – Nathan For You is a supremely ridiculous show – it follows Nathan Fielder “helping” small businesses by giving them his unique marketing ideas. These ideas, of course, are mostly nonsense – in one episode, Nathan helps a struggling electronics store by making them offer $1 TVs. The catch? The shoppers first had to come following the formal dress code, then had to crawl through a two foot tall door, then walk past a live alligator to get to the TVs. Why? So Nathan could go to Best Buy and buy all of their TVs through their price matching policy. These bonkers ideas are made even funnier by the fact that Nathan is always serious and never breaks character – and because the ideas work to bolster business a shocking amount of times. But in the later episodes, the show becomes more than a silly comedy show and turns into a profound exploration of the thin walls between fiction and reality through Nathan’s character, all building up to the astounding finale “Finding Frances”, where Nathan helps a Bill Gates impersonator find his high school sweetheart 50 years after they separated, turning into an intense, powerful meditation on love and regret.
21 – Us Against You
Why? – Us Against You is the sequel to Fredrik Backman’s novel Beartown, which centers around a hockey team in a small town. But while Beartown builds up to the terrible consequences of a society that idolizes its hockey players as superhuman, Us Against You captures the tragic reality of living in a rural town, about being in a place where the mood is entirely dictated by whether the high school team beat the rival team last night, about being in a place where natural beauty and unnatural hatred swirl around you in equal measure, about being outcast because you slightly, uncontrollably deviate from the status quo. But this isn’t a book bashing these kinds of communities – it also shows the powerful solidarity that comes from being so physically separated from everything else, it shows the beautiful moments of connection that form, it shows the collective reaction to tragedy in a town where everyone knows everyone. Us Against You isn’t an unnecessary sequel to a masterpiece, but rather Backman’s magnum opus, creating a patchwork of small vignettes that all come together to form a comprehensive portrait of a small town that highlights the supreme danger that comes with the eponymous mentality, because us against them doesn’t uplift us and crush them, but instead destroys us all.
Prerequisites – Beartown
20 – Swing Girls
What is it? – Swing Girls follows the story of delinquent girls being forced to take over the school’s brass band after a major incident
Why? – Swing Girls isn’t really on here for the quality of the film – it’s certainly good, but under normal circumstances, it would never end up on this list. But for me, it represents a few of the best days of my life – the scorching heat of Texas, hours playing Wavelength in cramped vans, excitedly watching chunks of metal toss foam rings at the First Robotics World Championships, all with some of my favorite people ever. So really, any movie I watched with these people at this time probably would’ve made it on, but it helps that Swing Girls is really quite good on its own merits – watching the delinquent girls develop a passion for playing in a jazz band is oodles of fun and the final concert after all the buildup is quite possibly a top 10 movie scenes of all time contender.
19 – Catch-22
What is it? – Catch-22 is a satirical war novel following Yossarian, a bombardier who just wants to get out of World War II but is forced to keep flying missions.
Why? – When I first started Catch-22, I thought “this is shit”. The beginning is messy, taking its time to introduce its massive cast and start its comedic bits, all while being painfully elongated by the cyclical nature of every conversation. And really, these bits are stupid and not all that funny the first time they show up. But then, as the book progresses, you care more and more about these characters, each anecdote humanizing them further and further. And, magically, the bits become funnier and funnier each time they come up – the conclusion to the crab apple gag is maybe the funniest thing I’ve read ever, but after the rough beginning, nearly every page has immense comedic value. These jokes have literary value too – they serve to point out the absurdity of the situation the soldiers find themselves in, creating a tragic undertone that the novel conceals until its conclusion where it comes to the forefront for monumental emotional impact. Catch-22 is maybe the literary achievement of the past 70 years because of this – Joseph Heller juggles his book’s disparate tones masterfully in a way that few other authors could possibly do. An interviewer once told Joseph Heller that he had never written anything as good as Catch-22. He responded “Who has?” – a colossally arrogant statement from most writers, but Heller is the rare one that deserves to be this hubristic.
16 (Tie) – Hundreds of Beavers
What is it? – Hundreds of Beavers is a movie following an applejack salesman hunting down the eponymous large number of beavers through unorthodox methods
Why? – Hundreds of Beavers is the stupidest action comedy of all time, rivaled only by Kung Fu Hustle.
16 (Tie) – Kung Fu Hustle
What is it? – Kung Fu Hustle is a film that follows criminals Sing and Bone fighting against the legendary Axe Gang through recruiting kung fu masters
Why? – Kung Fu Hustle is the stupidest action comedy of all time, rivaled only by Hundreds of Beavers.
16 (Tie) – The Jackbox Party Pack 7
What is it? – The Jackbox Party Pack 7 is the seventh entry in the Jackbox series of party games, becoming the most popular games in the genre because they’re controlled entirely via phones and can easily be played over voice chat, a lifesaver during the pandemic.
Why? – The Jackbox Party Pack 7 has 4 excellent party games and The Devil and the Details, but this (and the past couple entries) are all on here because I cherish the times I’ve had experiencing them with my besties. There’s one more school year before we all go our separate paths in life – I’m not delusional enough to think that we’re never going to drift apart, but I am delusional enough to think that I can make the most out of every single day in the next nine months to assure that I’ll leave with no regrets. And if I fail to do that? At least I have hundreds of hours of stupid, beautiful memories with all of you. If any of you are actually reading this – thank you for turning the hellscape of high school into a few supremely enjoyable years. I love you all.
15 – Pokemon Trading Card Game Online
What is it? – Pokemon Trading Card Game Online is a now defunct way to play the Pokemon Trading Card Game online
Why? – I played the Pokemon Trading Card Game competitively (albeit with budget off-meta decks) for years, so as much as I don’t really like PTCGO, it had to end up on the list as a placeholder for the actual physical card game. The worst thing that I can say about the game is that it gets kind of stale after a few years, but the tournaments are always so exhilarating – getting to play with your selection of 60 cards perfected over hours upon hours of practice and winning matches against others who’ve done the same is such a rush. Plus, even when you’re sick of standard play, stuff like drafts, extended, and pre-releases still capture the same spark of being a methodical, hyper competitive experience. I’ve drifted away from the game, but if you’re looking for a new hobby to pick up, you can’t go wrong with the Pokemon Trading Card Game – the community is super friendly, it’s super cheap to get into ($30 for a great entry level deck, when I was first playing, some single cards cost that much), and it’s the most accessible major card game (simple rules + much, much cheaper than the others).
14 – One Piece
What is it? – One Piece is a long running manga series following captain Luffy and his crew of Straw Hat Pirates, who are looking for the mythical One Piece. What is the One Piece? Nobody knows, even after 1100 chapters and a few decades of publication. This entry is for chapters 1-596, or all the chapters before the timeskip in the series.
Why? – One Piece is the greatest found family story of all time – the modern day odyssey following Luffy’s gang of Straw Hat Pirates is notorious for being really long (it’s currently well over 1000 chapters and “nearing” its conclusion), but through that length, the group becomes the most developed, tight knit group of characters in maybe anything ever. Everyone has a well defined relationship with everyone else on the crew, and part of the appeal of the series is the pure joy that comes from just seeing these hooligans mess around with each other. But when the unity of the crew is challenged? That’s when One Piece truly gets interesting – if every arc was as good as the two “rescue” type arcs, One Piece would legitimately be a top 5 contender on this list. Yet, even as it is, even with long stretches that aren’t as compelling as its peaks, One Piece’s character writing is strong enough to land it this absurdly high.
12 (TIE) Neon Genesis Evangelion The End of Evangelion
What is it? – Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion is the ending to the single season anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, a show that uses the mecha genre to explore nihilism, depression, trauma, and grief
Why? – Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion, for most of the runtime, is every numb, sleepless night spent counting the ceiling tiles, every day spent thinking about the inevitable heat death of the Earth, every moment trapped in vicious cycles of self hatred. But after showing hundreds of thousands of frames of unimaginable horrors, of mankind bringing out their own destruction, of everything returning to nothing, it has the gall to say “it gets better”, that we have equal capabilities of creation and destruction, that we’ll make it through together, that it’s all worth it for the few sparks of connection we can create, ultimately creating the kind of life affirming film that’s changed thousands of lives for the better. As much as I love some other anime, the entire medium could’ve stopped doing anything after this film – The End of Evangelion is such a once in a millennium perfect storm of brutal self expression and sublime production that maybe we should’ve stopped trying after its release.
Prerequisites – Neon Genesis Evangelion (26 episodes)
12 (TIE) – Everything Everywhere All At Once
What is it? – Everything Everywhere All At Once is a story where a Chinese immigrant mom is sent on a journey of self discovery through seeing what other realities she could’ve lived in had she made different choices
Why? – Maybe I’m falling for the “If it makes you cry, it must be good” fallacy here, but Everything Everywhere All At Once is the only film that’s ever had me sobbing in the cinema. And as always for me, emotion trumps all.
11 – Celeste
What is it? – Celeste is a 2018 indie platformer where you control Madeline, a trans woman with anxiety and depression, through the seemingly infinitely tall Celeste Mountain
Why? – Celeste is, arguably, a perfect video game. It takes an ancient genre – 2D platformers – and refines the basic movement until it’s pure bliss just to move, surrounds that with levels that are brutally difficult, but never unfair, and caps that off with a simple, stunning story about mental health and climbing your own symbolic mountain, whatever that may be.
10 – Hanagatami
Why? – Hanagatami is the film that catapulted Obayashi into the coveted spot of my favorite director – as much as House is my favorite movie of all time, it’s still frustrating that it’s the only work he’s known for in the west. Hanagatami caps off his thematic anti war trilogy, though it works perfectly as a standalone, and is an encapsulation of all his directorial eccentricities. It’s about the fleeting beauty of youth and the infinite cruelty of war; Obayashi knew that he was born to make this film, the idea of it was bouncing around his mind for four decades before he finally had his shot to make it, and it shows; this is the magnum opus of the best director and it’s every bit as perfect as it could be.
9 – Berserk
What is it? – Berserk is a dark fantasy manga that’s been running since 1989, following swordsman Guts seeking revenge against a mysterious figure from his past. (This entry is for chapters 1-364 of Berserk. Yes, there have been more chapters released after author Miura’s death based on his notes, but 364 is a shockingly fitting ending for the series already.)
Why? -There’s not an undisputed best movie of all time, no undisputed best book of all time, no undisputed best album of all time. There is an undisputed best manga of all time – Berserk is simply just masterful enough that nobody will really argue with you if you say it’s the peak of what the medium has to offer- it’s the #1 on both Anilist and MyAnimeList for a reason. It’s the murkiest, grimiest, bleakest of dark fantasy; every fleeting moment of joy drifts away in the face of unimaginable horrors. But yet, it somehow finds hope in a world like this – even here, it gets better. And that status as the GOAT manga? It got there without even having an ending – mangaka Kentaro Miura was a once in a generation miracle that was far above anyone else in a field filled with the most brilliant artists in Japan, from the masterful paneling to the consistently jaw dropping art. May he forever rest in peace.
8 – I Saw The TV Glow
What is it? – 2024 horror/coming of age film following the life of Owen, a kid entranced by the world of imaginary television show The Pink Opaque
Why? – A few months separated from my first viewing of I Saw The TV Glow, I’m still confident in calling it the film of the generation.
7 – The Perks of Being A Wallflower
What is it? – 2012 film adaptation of Stephen Chbosky’s classic coming of age novel following new student Charlie’s freshman year of high school (Yes, I have read the book, but I prefer the movie)
Why? – Yeah, sure, there are better coming of age films – Lady Bird, Eighth Grade, and The Edge of Seventeen all have tighter scripts than The Perks of Being A Wallflower’s messy, unfocused story. But this is the film I’ve seen and will keep watching before every school year because nothing quite makes me feel the soaring highs and disastrous lows of high school quite like this one – plus, that first bridge scene is absolutely magical, infinite even.
6 – The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 3D
What is it? – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D is a remake of the classic 1998 N64 game, updating the graphics and adding some quality of life features but otherwise leaving the core game untouched
Why? – The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time is a really generic pick for “best video game”, it’s like saying Citizen Kane is your favorite movie, The Dark Side of the Moon your favorite album, the Mona Lisa your favorite painting. But yet, like the other pieces of art I mentioned, it’s absolutely earned its spot as a metric of quality for its medium, the only real problems being with the limitations of the hardware it was made for, i.e. an iffy control scheme and looking its age. The remake for the 3DS, then, fixes those issues and creates effectively a perfect video game. While the other 3D Zelda games nail certain aspects of their games more, from Majora’s Mask with its dark, moody atmosphere to Skyward Sword with its excellent dungeons to Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom with its engrossing open world exploration, none of them have the balance between every aspect – puzzles and atmosphere and dungeons and bosses and pacing and story – that makes Ocarina of Time 3D the quintessential Zelda game.
5 – Mario Kart Wii
What is it? – Mario Kart Wii is the sixth and (at the time) most popular entry in the series, largely due to the colossal sales of the Wii and the added motion controls
Why? – I still remember my first time playing Mario Kart Wii vividly – it was at my elementary school’s after school program, where a Wii remote was thrust onto me by a friend. I had only been a spectator up to that point, but I reluctantly agreed to play the game. And everything else faded away, the only thing that mattered in that moment was getting to the end of Coconut Mall. I was absolutely terrible, I DNF’d and got 12th place (dead last), but from that moment, I was hooked. I’ve played hundreds of games since then, but nothing has quite flared up my competitive spirit like this stupid, unbalanced mess of an experience. Because yes, getting hit by dozens of items in the final lap is aggravating, some of the maps are awful, and there are only two competitively viable characters, but my heart still pounds every time I get the thundercloud and have to make a mad dash to pass it on, getting pummelled in the final lap is still as crushing as ever, and narrowly taking gold in spite of everything against you is euphoric. More than any other game, Mario Kart Wii makes me feel. And yes, on an objective level, it isn’t a particularly great game, but it’s always been in the edges of my kaleidoscopic memory, never important but always there; I am 7 and see a flash of an escape from my mundane existence, I am 9 and burning away the sweltering heat of the Japanese sun through a silly arcade racer, I am 10 and absolutely trouncing the kids at the after school program in a game that once so vexed me, I am 14 and playing something that reminds me of a time before everything became so complicated, I am 17 and boot up Mario Kart Wii for this article and I feel all the memories crashing into me and there’s no question any more what my favorite game is, since no other could possibly be so inexorably intertwined with who I am as a person.
4 – House
What is it? – House is a Japanese horror/comedy film directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, following seven girls sleeping over at a countryside house
Why? – House on the surface level is really, profoundly silly. In it, seven girls go to a house and get eaten by it. And sure, as a big Obayashi fan, I am annoyed at how this is his only well known and accessible film in the West (besides his excellent short Emotion that’s included on the House Criterion disc as a bonus feature). But watching House with friends is one of the great joys of life – that’s not the only reason House is my favorite film ever though. House isn’t just a fun horror comedy, it’s a look at how the ghosts of war still haunt Japan, it’s about growing up and losing who you are in the process, it’s an exploration of the artifice of cinema. I’ve seen a decent amount of flicks since I’m a “film critic”, but there’s no movie even remotely similar to House. It’s an absolute cinematic outlier, which is tragic for sure, but that just makes House all the more special.
3 – Fahrenheit 451
What is it? – Fahrenheit 451 is a 1953 dystopian novel by Ray Bradbury following a fireman tasked with destroying books, an illegal commodity in this future. But upon meeting his reader neighbor, he starts to question the entire world around him.
Why? – I’m not particularly sure Fahrenheit 451 is even a good book, I haven’t read it in a long, long time. (UPDATE: Reread it, still a masterpiece) But what I can say is that it’s the book that changed my life the most because it got me back into reading. One day, the stars aligned and made me lose my phone before having to wait a few hours for my parents to pick me up. The only things I could possibly do were stare at the stained ceiling or read the book that I happened to have in my backpack, so I reluctantly started trudging through Fahrenheit 451. I’m very aware that this is a bizarre choice for a tech bro/film critic’s favorite novel – Bradbury is vehemently against much of what I believe in. But this, I feel, is literature’s greatest strength – it’s an artist’s unrestrained vision. More than any other medium, it feels the most personal, the most intimate – books aren’t just stories, they’re reflections of the author’s worldview. And for me, Fahrenheit 451 is the start of it all, it defibrillated my dead love of written word storytelling and brought it back with a vengeance – the most a piece of art can do for you is change who you fundamentally are as a person, and that’s exactly what Bradbury’s masterpiece did for me.
2 – In Rainbows
What is it? – In Rainbows is renowned rock band Radiohead’s seventh studio album – it’s largely considered a return to their rock roots after a large stretch of more experimental projects
Why? – In Rainbows is a perfect album. It feels strange to say that – it feels underwhelming on first listen compared to other Radiohead projects – OK Computer is one of the most influential records in rock history, Kid A is one of the most audacious records in music history and has one of the best songs ever recorded in “How to Disappear Completely”, and A Moon Shaped Pool is a devastating portrait of a man who’s maybe lost the love of his life and the overwhelming loneliness that comes from that. In the face of some of the best albums of all time, what does In Rainbows even have to offer? It’s a complete record about being human. Yes, it’s awful sometimes – the unbearable emotional baggage of limerence, the terror of knowing that we are mortal and every day brings us one step closer to death, the pressure of being in a society that forces us to live as false versions of ourselves 24/7. But it’s also about the beauty of it all – the pure tranquility of the that one moment in “Reckoner” would be enough to land the album on the list, but In Rainbows is about all that is beautiful here on Earth – that particular song ends with the line “Dedicated to all human beings”. This is the one album that deserves to say that, only growing more and more life affirming after every listen.
LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY
1 – Emotion
What is it? – E·MO·TION is Carly Rae Jepsen’s third studio album, having more of a 80s synthpop sound compared to the simpler bubble pop of her previous albums
Why? – Yes, I’m putting E·MO·TION at number 1 unironically. The top 4 were all fighting for the top spot for a while, but after seeing Carly Rae Jepsen live, the choice was easy. It’s an overwhelmingly sincere album, filled with universally enjoyable, catchy, perfect bubble pop anthems and through this sincerity gives you permission to love it, through this sincerity makes you feel again, through this sincerity has the power to make you joyful, even on your worst days. You might start listening to E·MO·TION semi-ironically, but you will come back to it, you will start recognizing the musicality in it, you will start singing along, start listening to her entire discography, go deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole until you end up in a large crowd at a Carly concert, crying because you’re finally seeing the one artist who has the magical ability to help anyone find the missing puzzle pieces in their life, surrounded by people who’ve also let the vast voids in their existence be filled with corny girly pop.
LISTEN HERE – SPOTIFY