2023
Sorry in advance that this post is late.
2023 is a year that had several lows, but I would say there were sprinklings of light throughout that may give me rose-colored glasses when looking back on it.
As we approach closer to 2030, I can not help but to feel anxious about the 'kicking the can down the road' attitude that most government about the Climate Crisis we are living through. With the hottest summer ever recorded and destructive wild fires and floods in most continents, the need to save the habitability of life on Earth is desperately needed. Immense change must be made into how we use and depend on resources. In a just world, there would be no Climate Crisis. But politicians fueled by their own greed and who only look out for the welfare of the rich, do not want to. They simply do not think that saving Humanity and life on the planet is worth the cost to them and their corporate buddies. They have placed a price tag on life.
Other events that have concerned me is the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Gaza Crisis. The latter is especially devastating, because of the catastrophic humanitarian crisis, which is affecting a lot of children, which seems to be ignored by a lot of the world.
Another big issue of contention in the world was that of Artificial Intelligence (AI). There was the AI photo that won a photography contest in April, which raised awareness about the power of AI, in addition to Chat GPT and other AIs pushing the frontier forward. I feel that the way AI is being harnessed now is not right. Instead of trying to use automation to lessen the work or replace the work of dangerous lines of work, it is being used to cut out human labor and place people out of work, who were comfortable in their job. From this work perspective, it is only increase corporate profit, and is essentially a tool for corporate welfare. This is not even taking into account the prospects of AI being used criminally, such as deep fakes and scamming people. The unhinged frontier of AI is not completely known, and there should be legislation on the limits that AI can be created and used.
Rant aside, I do want to talk about some lighter things that happened last year.
I would say one of the most culturally defining moments of last year was the Barbie film. The sheer enjoyment that people had with this film was great to see. The performances of the film of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling were excellent and suited the tone. Greeta Gerwig's handling of this project, from the tone and feel, as director was fabulous. The sets, costume, soundtrack, Barbie was such a cohesive cultural phenomenon. And it was also nice to have an important message said well, in a successful, highly watched film.
Oppenheimer was also a big hit. I have not watched the film, but I did read Oppenheimer's Wikipedia page (the actual scientist, not the film), which was a really interesting read.
Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3 wrapped up the storyline of the original team in James Gunn's brilliant auteur style. The introduction of Adam Warlock by Will Poulter was so amazing to see, as this is a character I have looked for to seeing in live action for several years.
One of the personal things I was excited for last year was The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, which is an impressive expansive sequel to Breath of the Wild, and an impressive title to come out deep into a console's time. The little information about the game, such as the story, the timeline placement or what the title itself meant, made it such an intriguing experience. It is crazy that this game runs on switch with all that it has to offer in terms of setting and Link's abilities with Ultrahand.
I was also invested in watching the FIFA Womens World Cup. It is one of the only sport tournaments that I have been an avid watcher of, and it was a competition that had a lot of impressive under dog stories.
For this site, one huge piece of media was The Flash season finale. I have not watched the show since the Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover. That is not out of me disliking the show, it is just that I have not had a lot of free time. I will at some point watch where I left off. But it is nice that Grant Gustin and the rest of the cast and crew were given notice and could wrap up the storyline of Barry Allen and Team Flash, in an impactful way. (Also I did read spoilers, and I am glad how the show ended).
The Flash, The CW
Twitter got renamed to "X" which is strange. It seems like Mr. Musk is trying to motivate people away from the public square of the internet (maybe so the actions of political and influential figures are not in public discourse?)
In conclusion, much like most other years, 2023 has its ups and downs. Take care of the people around you and the environment you live on.
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