21 Aug 2026

Media Recap 2025

Table of Contents

    We’re nearing the end of August 2026, and I figured it’s time I give up the pipe dream of writing a 2025 recap the way I envisioned a whole year ago. Some sections are what I did write over the past eight months; other sections I simply could not muster up the willpower to write about this late in the year, hence their relative sparseness.

    Film/TV

    In 2025, I watched 58 movies and 12 shows.

    Film highlights

    Ink sketch of a frame from The Godfather: Vito holds a flower to his face, and Tom stands across from him. The sketch is heavily shaded in black ink.
    1. Amélie — saw in theatres; romantic and beautiful; loved the music.
    2. Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League — A goofy-ass title for a goofy-ass movie (complimentary). It’s over-the-top fun and pays homage to a lot of anime tropes. The character designs are fantastic. Clark Kent gets a whole character arc. There are some amazing segments—an inexplicable karaoke scene where Diana sings dramatically in the snow before heading to battle (and the song is a banger; I listened to a bunch of enka afterwards); Nightwing turns into Discowing in a magical girl transformation sequence; the Batfam assemble into a spaceship in an anime opening.
    3. The Godfather — Yes, I finally watched it. The film of all time, as they say. I was lucky to see it in theatres, otherwise I may not have ever gathered the time and attention and willpower to watch a 3-hour classic film bro movie. (Indeed, I still have yet to watch parts 2 and 3). And I liked it! I didn’t know much of the plot going in, so I was surprised at the descents into violence.
    4. Kiki’s Delivery Service — I had never seen the whole thing before; perhaps my favourite Ghibli film… I love the song A Town with an Ocean View.
    5. KPop Demon Hunters — Obviously, movie of the year. I knew it’d be pretty good, visually speaking, because it was made by Sony Pictures Animation, but I didn’t expect it to be the cultural phenomenon it ended up being. I was pretty into kpop back in my teenaged years (I listened to 2nd generation groups, if you had to label it), and it was fun to see all of the references to it.
    6. The Lego Batman Movie — Unironically excellent. It’s comedic, but tackles the inner conflict of Bruce Wayne <> Batman with sincerity.
    7. Marty Supreme — STRESS. I was stressed. I listened to the score repeatedly after.
    8. Romeo + Juliet — I didn’t appreciate this when I first saw it in high school English class; watching it now, freed from the curse of being a teenager, I greatly enjoyed it! I knew Mercutio was a showstopper from internet osmosis, but there was also John Leguizamo being Tybalt, Leo crying, car wash nipple licking (literally, the only thing I remembered from the first scene).
    9. Superman — a fun movie!! I watched Man of Steel earlier in the year and it did nothing for me; this version of Superman was much more interesting. Lois Lane was so cool. Lex Luther was a delightfully slimy villaion.
    Rough digital painting of Amelie sitting in a train reading a book, with her profile reflected in the glass, bathed in green light.
    amélie
    Rough digital painting of looking through a doorway, like a voyeur, at various men shaking hands in a study.
    the godfather
    Rough digital painting of Marty running through the street, his figure in sharp focus and the background blurred.
    marty supreme
    Rough digital painting of Tybalt kissing his gun, kneeling in front of a vivid blue car.
    romeo + juliet

    Television

    1. Batman: The Animated Series — I see why everyone says this is the gold standard when it comes to Batman media. The atmosphere, art direction, and storylines were fantastic. I wrote brief notes about specific episodes over here.
    2. The White Lotus (seasons 2–3) — watched this with my friend, which was a great time. I love the Full Moon Party version of the main title theme from season 3.

    Sports, aka baseball

    I got invested in the Toronto Blue Jays during the World Series, which was, in retrospect, a terrible decision that caused me and millions of others an untold amount of anguish and despair. If you are a Dodgers fan, never speak to me again.

    It’s too painful to recount the emotional devastation of this whole experience, but I suppose it was also extremely entertaining for the neutral fans. And if I allow myself to pretend like I too was a neutral fan, I can make a list of some of those moments:

    • Game 1 was fun. Game 1 was great! I watched the grand slam happen. Things were amazing!
    • Extra innings in game 3, where they went all the way to the 18th inning, and the camera was focusing on fruit platters, and everyone grew increasingly deranged, and we were all begging for the game to end, PLEASE
    • The ball that got stuck in the wall. UNBELIEVABLE
    • Vladimir Guerrero Jr. made some great catches at first
    • Game 7 was one of the most stressful, anxiety-inducing things I’ve ever watched. The camera kept panning to people covering their faces towards the end—including players—and I, too, was barely able to watch. I had to play Dorfromantik on the side the whole time, because I needed to split my attention, otherwise the stress would make me crawl out of my skin.

    Anyway. After, I rewatched Moneyball and the video essay Why baseball is the best movie sport, and vowed to never get invested in professional sports again.

    Professional wrestling

    Well. Does pro wrestling count? I’m not invested, but I continue to catch bits and pieces since my partner is a big fan. My wrestling knowledge remains very limited, but I like Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. Following all the storylines isn’t for me, but I like watching everyone (namely, the women) being very strong and beautiful, with their incredible outfits and ability to throw each other around.

    Music

    Yet another year has gone by where my music listening remains pedestrian. Alas! This year I discovered The Last Dinner Party, enjoyed Lady Gaga’s music, and listened to a lot of the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack.

    Favourite 2025 releases

    Digital sketch of Lady Gaga from the Abracadabra music video. She’s wearing a huge bizarre floppy hat with pointy spikes and a jacket with nails sticking out of it. The sketch is heavy shadows and cross-hatching in black on a solid red background.
    lady gaga, abracadabra
    1. Vanish Into You by Lady Gaga (MAYHEM)
      Hard to pick a favourite on this album. At first it was Garden of Eden, then it was Shadow of a Man; the dust has settled enough now that I think Vanish Into You is the perfect song.
    2. Elf by Ado
    3. WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! by RAYE
    4. Golden by HUNTR/X (KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack)
    5. Tough Luck by Laufey (A Matter of Time)

    Favourite older releases

    Older songs I discovered this year.

    1. Otonoke by Creepy Nuts
    2. The Feminine Urge by The Last Dinner Party
    3. Super Trouper by ABBA — not new to me, but this grew on me a lot. My favourite ABBA song is always changing, and it’s currently this.
    4. One of Your Girls by Troye Sivan
    5. My Love Mine All Mine by Mitski
    Pencil sketches of a singer posed with a microphone, referenced from a performance video.
    abigail, the last dinner party

    Repeated favourites

    1. Odoriko by Vaundy
    2. Aline by Jarvis Cocker
    3. Le Festin by Camille, Michael Giacchin
    4. Good Luck, Babe! by Chappell Roan
    5. The Line by Twenty One Pilots

    Favourite live performance videos

    1. Lady Gaga — Live in Rio
    2. Florence + The Machine — Which Witch / Abracadabra (SiriusXM)
    3. The Last Dinner Party — Call Me (cover) (Like A Version)
    4. Chappell Roan — Pink Pony Club (The 67th Grammy Awards)
    5. Kendrick Lamar — Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show

    Concerts attended

    1. Japanese Breakfast
    2. Khalid
    3. Stardew Valley
    4. Avatar: The Last Airbender Live in Concert
    5. Laufey

    Audio dramas

    I listened to various of Batman-related audio dramas, which I really enjoyed:

    • Batman Unburied and the spin-off Riddler: Secrets in the Dark — I didn’t care for Riddler in The Batman but he was my favourite character here.
    • Batman: The Audio Adventures was fun listening.

    Games

    In a wild turn of events, I played significantly less Destiny 2 this year than I ever have before. It got dethroned by Stardew Valley in playtime.

    1. Destiny 2 — On the decline. (2026 addendum: officially dead.) All of my friends stopped playing, and so did I. As I write this, I can’t even remember what the highlights were.
    2. Stardew Valley — I spent a few weeks thinking of nothing but Stardew. I brought my Switch with me to NYC and played in the evenings when resting in my hotel room.
    3. Hades II — Game of the year, perhaps?
    4. Blue Prince — I spent a few weeks in May deep in the mystery, and then promptly dropped off.
    Ink drawing of Nyx, shaded with black and grey inks.
    nyx (hades)
    Ink drawing of Melinoë from Hades 2 holding her axe on her shoulder. It’s shaded in a mid-tone grey and the background is black. The inking style copies from the game’s art style by Jen Zee, with dramatic black shadows, particularly on metallics.
    melinoë (hades ii)

    Books

    I did very little fiction reading this year (4.5 novels…), and read a bunch of DC comics.

    DC Comics

    My favourites this year were Batman and Robin: Year One and the Nightwing run by Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo.

    Whenever I try to articulate why I liked a certain comic, I always say “and I really like the art.” Good art—impossible to define, I know; perhaps better articulated as an art style that I like or compels me in some way—is a necessary condition for me. (Case in point: I did not like the art for Red Robin (2011) or Batgirl (2000), two well-received runs, and consequently don’t really care for either.)

    Independent Comics

    I only read a few indie comics this year. The standout was Song of the Seabirds by Narsid. It was available as part of the ShortBox Comics Fair; I don’t think it’s possible to buy at this time.

    It made me cry a stupid amount. The art is breathtaking; I would turn a page and be flattened by how beautiful it was.

    A beautiful comic spread, split into four equal panels, depicting the passage of time of the same scene: a statue and landmass in water; the sun and moon in the sky; the ocean, aflame and then not; the changing time of day. It's captioned as 'one thousand years passed'.
    page from Song of the Seabirds by Narsid

    Theatre

    I went to see the Broadway production of Hadestown, which was perhaps my most memorable entertainment experience all year. I’ve listened to the cast recording repeatedly ever since; last month, I went to see the proshot in theatres multiple times.

    Fav moments include:

    • The swinging lamps in the first Wait for Me, and then the whole set moving. Orpheus did that!! With his song!!!
    • The dance in Epic III. I didn’t expect for Hades and Persephone to be so enamouring as well!
    • Wait for Me (Reprise) (time to start crying)
    • the ending Road to Hell (Reprise) and We Raise Our Cups toast.
    Ink sketch of Persephone, who has flowers in her long curly hair and big poofy sleeves.
    persephone

    Conclusion

    Trying to write a conclusion in August 2026 is a fool’s errand. My conclusion is that if I should have thrown in the towel six months ago and published what I had, instead of letting a draft fester in the background all year.

    Some optimistic things that bode well for my 2026 recap, assuming I write it:

    • Movies continue to be good
    • Not gaming much since I’ve retired from Destiny
    • Reading a ton, so that’ll be new to write about

    Okay, that’s all.