Friday, December 16, 2022

Good morning. This week in Wolmania I express some opinions about cinema. But first, let's talk NASCAR!

Item 1: a link

Headed into the final race of the season, driver Ross Chastain was in contention for one of those final four spots, along with Christopher Bell, Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, and Denny Hamlin. Finding himself in 10th place in the race on the final lap, Chastain was poised to lose out on a spot in the Championship, as Bell would go on to win the race and Hamlin — ahead of Chastain by only two points — was up in 5th place. If Chastain wanted to qualify for the NASCAR Championship, he’d have to make up significant ground on the final lap.

What he did will likely go down as a simultaneously brilliant, dubious, and controversial moment in sports history.

I don't really care about NASCAR but I enjoyed watching this dude's wild maneuver and especially enjoyed reading this piece by Ethan Siegel talking about the physics of how it worked.

Item 2: a list

Best 15 movies I watched in 2022, ranked

1. Everything Everywhere All at Once
2. Avatar*
3. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping*
4. Top Gun: Maverick
5. Sleuth
6. The Conversation*
7. Glengarry Glen Ross*
8. The Northman
9. Thor: Ragnarok*
10. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
11. Interstellar*
12. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story*
13. After Yang
14. Grateful Dawg
15. Incendies

Honorable mentions: First Reformed, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Irma Vep (1996), Jackass Forever, Licorice Pizza, The Lost Daughter, Mikey and Nicky, Nope, Paper Moon, Prey, The Talented Mr. Ripley*, UHF*

* = rewatch

Bonus: Worst 5 movies I watched in 2022, ranked from worst to merely quite mediocre

1. Capone
2. Fantastic Four (2005)*
3. Rush Hour 3*
4. The King’s Man
5. Death on the Nile
   
   Dishonorable mentions: Don't Worry Darling, The Gray Man, The Greatest Beer Run Ever

Item 3: a media recommendation

Item 4: word of the week

Parapraxis

Item 5: a photograph

See ya!

Thanks for reading. An early happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate. Enjoy lighting those candles on Monday!

See you next week. Good luck Argentina.