It’s been an interesting year around these parts. Like always, music, books, and television has played an integral part of how I cope with the daily stress of life, the added stress of the world we live in, and just in general with how I interact with those around me. I don’t have all that much to say, but if you know who I am from being around Chorus and AbsolutePunk for the last twenty years, here’s some things that I found to be class this year.
Top 50 Albums of 2025
- Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea
- Kelsea Ballerini – Mount Pleasant
- Thornhill – Bodies
- Skrillex – Fuck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol but Ur Not!! <3
- Anxious – Bambi
- Moving Mountains – Pruning of the Lower Limbs
- Coheed & Cambria – Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe
- Lady Gaga – Mayhem
- Underoath – The Place After This One
- Rosalia – Lux
- Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl
- Thrice – Horizons/West
- Arm’s Length – There’s a Whole World Out There
- Yellowcard – Better Days
- Jennie – Ruby
- Tyler, The Creator – Don’t Tap the Glass
- Have Mercy – The Loneliest Place I’ve Ever Been
- The Starting Line – Eternal Youth
- Of Monsters and Men – All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade
- Silverstein – Antibloom
- Bon Iver – Sable, Fable
- Bad Bunny – Debi Tirar Mas Fotos
- Pinkshift – Earthkeeper
- Maren Morris – Dreamsicle
- Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter
- Lizzo – My Face Hurts From Smiling
- Silverstein – Pink Moon
- Deftones – Private Music
- La Dispute – No One Was Driving The Car
- Anyma – The End of Genesys
- LISA – Alter Ego
- Ethel Cain – Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You
- Hot Mulligan – The Sound a Body Makes When It’s Still
- Knox – going going gone
- The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die – Dreams of Being Dust
- The Maine – dyed
- Saturdays at Your Place – these things happen
- Militarie Gun – God Save the Gun
- Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out
- The Devil Wears Prada – Flowers
- Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow
- Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
- Kesha – Period
- AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun
- Turnstile – Never Enough
- Rise Against – Ricochet
- Sabrina Carpenter – Man’s Best Friend
- The War and Treaty – Plus One
- Zara Larsson – Midnight Sun
- Mumford & Sons – Rushmere
Favorite Books Read in 2025
I read 86 books this year. I always try to read diversely and widely, but fantasy and science fiction are my true loves. We’ve got a great community around here if you like to discuss those two genres.
- Matt Dinniman – This Inevitable Ruin (Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 7)
- Annie Jacobsen – Nuclear War: A Scenario
- Suzanne Collins – Sunrise on the Reaping
- Brandon Sanderson – Isles of the Emberdark
- James Islington – The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, Book 2)
Favorite TV Shows in 2025
- Andor, Season 2
- Pluribus, Season 1
- The Wheel of Time, Season 3
- Stranger Things, Season 5
- The Chosen, Season 5
- Slow Horses, Season 5
- Adolescence, Miniseries
- Daredevil: Born Again
- The Studio, Season 1
- Alien: Earth, Season 1
- Murderbot, Season 1
- Invasion, Season 3
- Platonic, Season 2
- Abbott Elementary, Seasons 4-5
- The Last of Us, Season 2
Favorite Re-Watches of 2025
Sometimes you just want a bit of a comfort watch during a difficult year.
- Derry Girls
- Superstore
- Veep
- Stranger Things
- Schitt’s Creek
Favorite Films of 2025
Putting this together, I suddenly realized that I probably saw the least amount of movies in theaters this year in my entire adult life.
- The Long Walk
- The Running Man
- Sinners
- 28 Years Later
- Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
- Thunderbolts*
- Fantastic Four: First Steps
- Captain America: Brave New World
- Wake Up Dead Man
- Avatar: Fire and Ash
- Mickey 17
- The History of Sound
- Jurassic World Rebirth
- A House of Dynamite
- The Old Guard 2