Saturday Side Quest - My Top Five Books/Movies/Games of 2024
Where has faith and fandom intersected this week?
Tis the season for Top 10 lists! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been combing through dozens of lists from my peers and mentors over the past few days. I felt like I did a pretty decent job with what I read, watched, and played in 2024, but I clearly missed out on plenty.
I’m dropping my picks in this post to enter my thoughts into the fray. Media is vital to our formation as people. Discerning media is even more crucial. I believe that we simply must consume art if we want to be in honest pursuit of the divine. Maybe that would be an interesting main article here.
Without further adieu, let’s dive into the lists. Know that all of these lists are in no particular order. They also aren’t exclusively from 2024; I experienced them in 2024.
Top 5 Movies I Watched in 2024
Aftersun
I wasn’t expecting this one to hit as hard as it did, especially since it was a random TikTok recommendation. This is a coming-of-age story of sorts. The viewer experiences a past vacation of a young girl and her father. It will be their last trip together. We piece together a fabric woven of home videos, her memories, and the truth the father experienced but never showed her. As a dad, this one was all the feels.
The Wild Robot
Doubling down on the father-daughter vibes, I watched this with my oldest. It’s a movie about being a good parent and letting your children spread their wings. It’s cruel and unusual punishment to make a parent watch that with their 5-year-old. But I loved it.
The Long Goodbye
This is a bit of a silly pick. Elliot Gould is the cooler-than-cool P.I. solving a case that involves himself and his best friend. It’s not the best-written story, but it’s got vibes for days. I was so immersed in the gritty culture and the characters. Like Agatha Christie, if she was writing for Grand Theft Auto.
Parasite
This movie was as good as everyone said. I was skeptical and put it off for far too long. I admit that it really didn’t hit me right away—after I finished it, I thought it might be a 3 or 4-star. Then, I read an interview with director Bong Joon-Ho about the meaning behind the title. That was enough to click in my brain and bump it to the coveted 5-star.
Tampopo
A ridiculous movie that may very well have inspired Jon Favreau’s Chef. This is an absurd story about a woman who takes on a mysterious mentor to improve her ramen shop. She works with a series of wacky characters (including some hilariously talented street urchins) and rises from irrelevance to stardom. The random interstitials are the real experience. This wholesome film goes into random bouts of eroticism that appear from thin air—I was thankful not to be watching this one with my girls around. One of the interstitials involves an elderly woman with a penchant for taste-testing produce, and a Wil E. Coyote-type chase ensues. A delight.
Top 5 Books I Read in 2024
Extremely Online
If I had to Vulcan mind meld my comprehension of the Internet into someone else’s mind, this is the closest possible transcript. Fellow Substacker Taylor Lorenz masterfully tells the story of influencer culture and the rise of the Internet that younger Millenials and Gen Z have experienced in a social media era. It should be a primer for a college course.
The Courage to Be
This year, Paul Tillich became an obsession after being introduced to him by another pick on my list. This was recommended as his starter work, and it was fantastic. Tillich sees the world in ways that feel very familiar to me, especially regarding art as a conduit for the divine. I can’t wait to read more.
Disability and the Church
I met fellow Substacker Dr. Lamar Hardwick at the Nerd Culture Ministry Summit this year. When I learned that connection would be made, I wanted to read his work on disability in religion and enjoyed the perspective he provided. I am looking forward to reading How Ableism Fuels Racism next.
The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store
This was one of our book club picks at
and was probably my favorite one of the year. In this instant classic Americana, we meet some excellent characters that remind me of my first experience with Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird or even in King’s The Green Mile with a touch of spirituality.
House of Leaves
What can I even say about this book? It’s an experience unlike any other I’ve had. If I were ranking these lists, this would be my number one book of the year—maybe my number one book ever. For perspective, I finished this 500+ page tome in two days.
Top 5 Games I Played in 2024
Void Stranger
This game is like the House of Leaves of video games. Everything you think you know about playing games will be destroyed by this game. Do you think you’ve reached the end? Yeah, right, you’ve barely scratched the surface. This game has a jumpscare that is a random song with lyrics and a gorgeous and haunting melody. The gameplay isn’t the point and I enjoyed venturing into the Void.
In Stars and Time
We played the entirety of this entry on our
stream and I loved every minute. It was one of those games where I couldn’t wait for the next stream to learn what was next. The premise is Groundhog Day, but it’s told in the same style as Undertale. A delightful jaunt into mistakes, regrets, and friendship.
I Was A Teenage Exocolonist
Colonist is a bit of a triggering term, so I admit I entered this one expecting one social argument and receiving something entirely different. This story follows the life of a child born on a spaceship bound for a new planet. The small community around them is settling on this planet. The plot isn’t so simple, however. Your character has to make tough decisions that aren’t always presented upfront, so you won’t learn the consequences until it’s too late. A great story with some of the most realized characters I’ve seen in a visual novel.
Until Then
Wow. I really can’t stop thinking about this game. It’s a time loop game, which seems to be one of my favorite storytelling methods. You follow the life of Mark, a lazy high schooler in the Philippines. Some strange things have happened, and the world is experiencing bizarre natural disasters, but that isn’t Mark’s problem. He’s got assignments to finish, friends to flirt with, carnivals to attend, and he wants to learn the piano. This game is a masterclass in storytelling and unwinds the overarching mystery with a flawless pace.
1000xRESIST
Humanity seems to have ended, and all that remains are clones of the Allmother. Among these clones, there are some picked out of the crop to be leaders in their fields. We are one of those leaders, the Watcher, and we journey into memories of the Allmother. We discover there is more to this world than meets the eye and the Allmother has secrets we might not like. This is a transhumanist, tech-apocalypse story that took me by complete surprise.
Okay, that’s all you get for free. But I have another five picks in each category—consider becoming a paid subscriber to see the rest.
Another 5 Movies I Watched in 2024
The Whale
Brendan Fraser’s finest acting. But that’s not what sold me on this one… the way the story is told from one room is masterful. The nuanced stance on the church (in particular, the evangelical megachurch and the anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric that causes harm) is the unexpected foundation that turns this narrative. A needed representation of so many broken people.
Oppenheimer
I mean, it’s Oppenheimer—what can I say? A story I hadn’t heard told in an undeniably engaging way.
Fantastic Planet
I had never heard of this film and thought it would be a Ghibli-like animated film from the French. Wow—this was a boggling adventure into… idk Veganism? A clear parallel that then becomes completely unclear. Random and rampant nudity that is so wholly understated in a way only the French could. An exceptional story with a beyond-realized world.
Moon
I have a soft spot for Sam Rockwell. This film is almost 100% Sam Rockwell as he is alone in a space station. The twists and turns and reveals of this one are perfect. I can’t spoil anything, I can only say I have no idea how no one is talking about this 16-year-old film.
Three Colours: Blue
A woman is in a car accident and becomes a childless widow. It’s heartbreaking. The color blue is constant and metaphoric and literal and all-encompassing. The lead actress is perhaps one of the best I’ve ever seen… positively captivating.
Another 5 Books I Read in 2024
The Mythmakers
John Hendrix's journey into the friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien is told in a graphic novel. If you are interested in fantasy or those two authors, this is worth reading. If you are skeptical of the Bible being a myth—in a true way—then this presents that concept in a much more accessible way than seminary.
Playing As Others
This was the book mentioned above that got me into Paul Tillich. How do games connect us with God? If that question intrigues or perplexes you, give this one a read.
Never Let Me Go
Loved this sci-fi exploration of humanity. I don’t want to spoil much but I will say that this is for those who enjoy stories of robots and transhumanist portrayals of the meaning of life.
Novelist as a Vocation
I haven’t liked much of the actual writing of Haruki Murakami, but I was quite inspired by the way that he writes. This is a delightful and humbling presentation if you enjoy writing as a craft.
Participatory Culture in a Networked Era
This is the most scholastic of my picks. If you’re interested in how we engage in community online, this is the book I’d start with if I wanted to take it seriously. It also introduced me to the broader community of scholasticism around this subject.
Another 5 Games I Played in 2024
Metaphor Refantazio
The latest game from Atlus, this is a story that went places I could have never predicted. If you’re a fan of the Persona series, you’ll enjoy this one. It takes the mechanics and—in my opinion—improves upon it. The story is the most bold exploration of fantasy race dynamics since Lord of the Rings. Throw in a deconstruction of the illusion of fantasy, and you have a 90 hour masterpiece.
The House in Fata Morgana
I doubt I can sell this one. This is a lengthy visual novel. It centers around the same house and characters, not unlike a centralized Cloud Atlas. I’m not generally one for gothic storytelling—I can barely tolerate Tim Burton. But this one presents a love story—like true love—in a way that captivated me.
Ace Attorney Investigations 2
Another tough sell. I love Ace Attorney. I love Miles Edgeworth. I love Shu Takumi. I can’t help but enjoy the way that these stories are crafted. This is my pulp, and I will never stop loving these stories.
Persona 3: Reload
It’s Persona 3! If you’re a fan of turn-based gaming and/or Persona as a franchise, this is a must-play. An icon in the genre and the piece that shifted where Atlus would go for decades.
Mouthwashing
This is another one I don’t want to give away the twists and turns in. This is not a story about proper dental care. You are aboard a spaceship that is in a space capitalist scheme of shipping basic materials. Something goes wrong and the crew gets stuck in space with their Captain in critical condition. Panic ensues. Survival instincts kick in. An exploration of the evil of humanity and the ability to turn a blind eye to evil until you literally can’t close your eyes. I have no mouth and I must scream, but the bad guy isn’t a robot… it’s us.
I set goals for myself each year for how much media I want to consume. It started after seminary when I wanted to ensure I didn’t lose the reading habit instilled in me. I set the goal of 100 books and exceeded it by dozens. Since then, I’ve set the goal of 150 books in a year, which I’ll re-up for 2025.
I’ve never set a goal for movies, but I’d like to for 2025. I hit over 70 in 2024, so I’m setting the humble goal of 50 movies in a year.
For games, the goal is usually 100, which I managed to exceed quite a bit this year. I think it could be an anomaly, though. Streaming is changing for Checkpoint, and we might not hit as many games this year. I’ll stick with 100 games in a year.
I’d love to watch more TV shows. But frankly, they are just so hit-and-miss. It’s a significant time commitment for something that feels… unfulfilling. I’m willing to watch a bad movie. But watching a lousy TV show feels different, somehow. No sense pressuring myself with something that doesn’t spark joy.
And that’s all for this one! Hope that you enjoyed these lists and that they may have added some picks to your lists for this year. Let me know if you watch/play/read any of these!
Will It Preach?
Uh, oops, Christmas and New Year’s made it so I didn’t finish anything this week. Apologies. I did listen to The Beaches a lot. So, if you’ve not heard of this 80s vibes all-woman rock band… maybe give them a listen. This one’s my favorite.
The Credit Roll
These are some of the things I found this week that I am sharing as a bonus. Enjoy my custom For You feed.
A TikTok user created a Hopecore meme of inspirational screaming from Link taken from sound clips of The Legend of Zelda. Iconic.
AbelOffline unlocked a portion of my childhood by reminding me about the existence of Cartoon Network’s Groovies
Calipokehouse reveals the secret behind the art for the Chatot Pokémon card and it sounds pretty familiar
What are your favorites from 2024? My TBR list has grown by 10x since reading all of the top 10 lists over the past few weeks, but I have some room left for yours in the comments. :)
Still looking forward to the IS&T let's play dropping one day!