2025 was a year in which this blog hardly existed and I'd expect more years like 2025 moving forward. It's not exactly a BOLD prediction to say that there will likely be more and more writers or free media types transitioning into paywalled content whether it be through Substack, Patreon, Defector or one of the million other platforms that will be drummed up on this era of the internet. After Elon Musk bought Twitter (Now known as: X), a mass exodus of writers and reporters I've grown up admiring and following their works have transitioned to other apps or removed themselves from social media entirely. This has made the modern era of the internet the most user-UNfriendly place for sharing and reading quality writing in a way that has made me want to change my approach in 2026. I will be seeking out the Eli Ennis, Jourdan Rodrigue, Charles McDonald, Grace Robins-Summerville, Steven Hyden, Shea Serrano, etc. professional journalist types and actually putting my money where my mouth is in a sense by committing to actually reading and financially contributing whenever possible to their articles beyond a tweet, a glance and a repost. For what it's worth, I backed off Twitter for good back in January but I've recognized over time that my exposure to good writing has just been extremely limited and my podcast intake has been supremely increased (mostly due to my hands-on full-time job and not necessarily personal preference). We're losing the receipts of what inspired me to start a blog in the first place. I'm just going to try to do my small part to keep the idea of a blog alive in 2026 by putting out my annual countdowns and (eventually) a summary for my fantasy football league's 2025 season.
Like I did last year, I'll be using this post to get a few more suggestions and throwing my praise behind other bits of entertainment I enjoyed this year.
Four Five-Star Films I Saw for the First Time in 2025
- Eephus (2025)
- Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
- Flow (2024)
- One Battle After Another (2025)
Four-and-a-half Star Films I Saw in 2025
A Complete Unknown (2024)
Anora (2024)
Jaws (1975)
Paris, Texas (1984)
Piece By Piece (2024) - Yes, this is the Pharrell LEGO movie. I like neat things.
Sing Sing (2023)
Sinners (2025)
The Wild Robot (2024)
Best Championships I Saw All Of In 2025
1. Los Angeles Dodgers over Toronto Blue Jays in 7 (MLB) - The Greatest World Series I've seen
2. Oklahoma City Thunder over Indiana Pacers in 7 (NBA) - PURE CINEMA
3. Florida Gators 65 - Houston Cougars 63 (Men's College Basketball)
Those were great, this next one was meh but aided by the wonder of a new playoff format.
4. Ohio State Buckeyes 34 - Notre Dame Fighting Irish 23 (College Football)
BONUS Golf inclusion since I couldn't be bothered with the NHL this year...
5. Scottie Scheffler (-11) wins by 5 strokes at the PGA Championship
and these were legitimately bad due to their lopsided nature...
6. Philadelphia Eagles 40 - Kansas City Chiefs 22 (NFL)
7. UCONN Huskies 82 - South Carolina Gamecocks 58 (Women's College Basketball)
8. Las Vegas Aces sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in 4 (WNBA) - Just a quietly brutal year for Women's basketball in a way that I hope is more of a one-off shrug. A'ja is a beast though, one of the GOATs for sure.
A pretty good sports year with all things considered. Musically? I thought the albums and songs were both weaker in general than 2024 and outside of some Doechii, Harry Styles and possibly Radiohead? on the horizon, I have no idea what to expect in 2026. I really just hope for something of a renaissance for the rock band to carry over into the mainstream after 2025 saw the charts backlogged with songs from 2024 that had no business being as culture-defining as they were. "Ordinary" by Alex Warren, "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" by Shaboozey, "Lose Control" by Teddy Swims... All by no means TERRIBLE songs but just generic enough that after a few listens, I was "good" on them. How in the world those songs have appealed to the general public beyond passive listening, I have no idea. They're not as divisive as Geese I suppose but I don't hear anything particularly difficult about Turnstile that should prevent them from being a chart success moving forward. Before we advance to my 50 favorites of 2025, here are some honorable mentions that just missed out on the official countdown...
Honorable Mention Albums
2hollis - Star
Anamanaguchi - Anyway
Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS
Blondshell - If You Asked For A Picture
Chance The Rapper - Starline
David Byrne - Who Is The Sky?
Guerilla Toss - You're Weird Now
Hayley Williams - Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful
#50. Bartees Strange - Horror
Standout Track: "17"
#49. This Is Lorelei - Holo Boy
Standout Track: "Mouth Man"
#48. Baths - Gut
#47. Folk Bitch Trio - Now Would Be A Good Time
Standout Track: "Moth Song"
#46. Beach Bunny - Tunnel Vision
Standout Track: "Clueless"
#45. McKinley Dixon - Magic, Alive!
Standout Track: "Recitatif (ft. Teller Bank$)"
#44. Florence + The Machine - Everybody Scream
Standout Track: "You Can Have It All"
#43. Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer
#42. Julien Baker and Torres - Send A Prayer My Way
Standout Track: "Tape Runs Out"
#41. Dave - The Boy Who Played The Harp
Standout Track: "My 27th Birthday"
#40. Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out
Standout Track: "Cuntology 101"
#39. Wet Leg - Moisturizer
Standout Track: "mangetout"
#38. Sombr - I Barely Know Her
Standout Track: "back to friends"
#37. The Ting Tings - Home
Standout Track: "In My Hand"
#36. Kali Uchis - Sincerely,
Standout Track: "Sunshine & Rain..."
#35. Token - I'm Not Supposed To Be Here
Standout Track: "Sarah's Song"
#34. Men I Trust - Equus Asinus
Standout Track: "Frost Bite"
#33. Viagra Boys - Viagr Aboys
Standout Track: "Medicine for Horses"
#32. Jane Remover - Revengeseekerz
Standout Track: "Dark night castle"
#31. Deep Sea Diver - Billboard Heart
Standout Track: "Happiness Is Not A Given"
#30. Kevin Atwater - Achilles
Standout Track: "origami roses"
#29. Lots Of Hands - Into A Pretty Room
Standout Track: "run your mouth"
#28. Just Mustard - We Were Just Here
Standout Track: "That I Might Not See"
#27. CMAT - Euro-Country
Standout Track: "Lord, Let That Tesla Crash"
#26. Lady Gaga - Mayhem
Standout Track: "Perfect Celebrity"
#25. Mallrat - Light Hit My Face Like A Straight Right
Standout Track: "Hideaway"
#24. Tyler Childers - Snipe Hunter
Standout Track: "Tirtha Yatra"
#23. Dijon - Baby
Standout Track: "Automatic"
#22. Alex G - Headlights
Standout Track: "Afterlife"
#21. Jay Som - Belong
Standout Track: "Float (ft. Jim Adkins)"
#20. Lorde - Virgin
Standout Track: "Broken Glass"
#19. Youth Lagoon - Rarely Do I Dream
Standout Track: "Neighborhood Scene"
#18. Sleeper's Bell - Clover
#17. Jade Bird - Who Wants To Talk About Love?
Standout Track: "Avalanche"
#16. Amaarae - Black Star
Standout Track: "Starkilla (with Bree Runway & Starkillers)"
#15. Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out
Standout Track: "The Birds Don't Sing (ft. John Legend & Voices Of Fire)"
#14. Quadeca - Vanisher, Horizon Destroyer
Standout Track: "THE GREAT BAKUNAWA (ft. Danny Brown)"
#13. Tyler, The Creator - Don't Tap The Glass
Standout Track: "Don't Tap That Glass/Tweakin'"
#12. Olivia Dean - The Art Of Loving
Standout Track: "Baby Steps"
#11. For Those I Love - Carving The Stone
Standout Track: "The Ox/The Afters"
#10. Turnstile - Never Enough
Standout Track: "LOOK OUT FOR ME"
#9. Durand Jones & The Indications - Flowers
Standout Track: "I Need The Answer"
#8. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
Standout Track: "Idiot Box"
#7. Alan Sparhawk with Trampled By Turtles - Alan Sparhawk with Trampled By Turtles
Standout Track: "Screaming Song"
#6. Petey USA - The Yips
Standout Track: "Breathing The Same Air"
#5. Geese - Getting Killed
Standout Track: "Islands Of Men"
#4. Spellling - Portrait Of My Heart
Standout Track: "Satisfaction"
#3. Conan Gray - Wishbone
Standout Track: "Connell"
#2. Rosalía - Lux
Standout Track: "La Yugular"
#1. Wednesday - Bleeds
Standout Track: "Gary's II"
I remain fascinated by the matter-of-fact writing being put into absolute jams of songs like on the Wednesday record Bleeds. I found the album moving beyond the tracks about smalltown, USA and the hijinks that ensue in seemingly every smalltown, USA. The inner-band dynamics evolving as Karly Hartzman's songwriting grows in stature and MJ Lenderman takes a step back as his solo career emerges. That shit fascinates me, considering this is still the best they've ever sounded to me. "Carolina Murder Suicide" was already a title that rose my eyebrows but, when it led off talking about a burnt-down home within a week of a neighbor's house burning up across the street, well... that was a pretty literal "this hits me" moment. The song was an even darker tonal shift than I could have predicted them going down. They eek out a top spot over Lux because it's taking multiple listens for me to catch up on the entire theater of that record whereas Bleeds was batting 1.000 upon first listen.
Along with the new stuff, I'll try to keep digging into the past. For instance, the best albums I time-traveled to listen to in full for the first time this year were Paranoid by Black Sabbath, Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan and Garbage by Garbage (Shout out to Shirley Manson, I hope people stop harassing you with inflatable beach balls)
Hopefully 2026 sees my determination for writing re-emerge beyond the annual "Here's a whole lot of stuff I'm throwing at everyone to catch up to what I'm on about" posts.
Happy New Year!
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