I watched over 300 movies this year, with more than 100 of them from 2025, which is a lot for me. Maybe I’ll manage even more next year. That movie pace meant I didn’t get through as many TV series, but I still found a few favorites. I also don’t listen to full albums as much anymore, which is kind of sad, but that’s just how my habits have shifted while driving around or editing photos. Even so, I still narrowed it down to 15 albums that really stood out. There’s plenty of other random stuff mixed in here too. Happy New Year, and here’s hoping 2026 turns out to be a good one, though who knows what to expect with the current fascist regime in charge.

Music

Favorite Albums of 2025:
The Beaches – No Hard Feelings
The Maple State – Don’t Take Forever
PorkPie – 9 on the Tiles
Say She She – Cut & Rewind
Chris Trapper – Watching Sparks Fly By
Surfer Girl – Sunset
Levellers – Collective / Live
Planet Smashers – On The Dancefloor
Somebody’s Child – When Youth Fades Away
Magic Wands – Cascades
Bumpin Uglies – Crawling Up The Wall
AFI – Silver Bleeds The Black Sun…
Bren Holmes – A Rush To The Start Line
Iona Zajac – Bang
Joey Harkum – One Foot In The Grave

Favorite Concerts of the 2025:
The Pogues @ Franklin Music Hall, Philly PA
Oceans Calling Day 1 @ Ocean City, MD
Oceans Calling Day 3 @ Ocean City, MD
Say She She @ Rocking the Docks, Delaware
Boardwalk Rock Festival Day 1 @ Ocean City, MD
Boardwalk Rock Festival Day 2 @ Ocean City, MD
The Heavy Heavy @ Rocking the Docks, Lewes, DE
Pressing Strings @ Rehoboth Ale House on the Mile @ Rehoboth Beach, DE
Nutcracker Ball @ Rehoboth Ale House on the MIle @ Rehoboth Beach, DE
California Honeydrops @ Rocking the Docks, Lewes, DE
Eric Hutchinson @ Listening Booth, Lewes, DE

Least Favorite Concert of 2025:
Day 2 of Oceans Calling (damn you rain!!!)

Favorite Live Performances of 2025:
Alice Cooper @ Boardwalk Rock
DEVO @ Oceans Calling Festival
Rob Zombie @ Boardwalk Rock
Say She She @ Rocking the Docks
The Heavy Heavy @ Rocking the Docks
California Honeydrops @ Rocking the Docks

Concert Regrets of 2025:
Not seeing more of Green Day
Not staying for Def Leppard

Surprising Concert Set:
Extreme was awesome live!

Top 100 Songs I listened to in 2025, according to Spotify:

Movies

My Top 20 Favorite Movies of 2025 (that I’ve seen anyway):
Wake Up Dead Man
Black Bag
Train Dreams
The Long Walk
One Battle After Another
Weapons
Sinners
Warfare
Caught Stealing
The Roses
Thunderbolts*
Predator Badlands
Eternity
The Ballad of Wallis Island
Oh, Hi
The Monkey
Baltimorons
Naked Gun
Fackham Hall
Frankenstein

Movies I Liked But Not Favorite:
The Fantastic 4: First Steps
Mission Impossible Final Reckoning
Highest 2 Lowest
Last Breath
Ballerina
Companion
Sovereign
Thursday Murder Club
The Lost Bus
F1

Movies I Didn’t Like in 2025:
A Minecraft Movie
A House Of Dynamite
Materialists
Wicked For Good
Eddington
Captain America: Brave New World

Movies I Wanted To See But Haven’t Yet:
Avatar: Fire & Ash
Marty Supreme
Rental Family
Is This Thing On?

Favorite Documentaries / Docuseries of 2025:
Perfect Neighbor
The American Revolution (haven’t finished it yet)
Ozzy: No Escape From Now
Gone Girls: Long Island Serial Killer
American Manhunt: Osama Bin Laden
Pee-Wee As Himself
American Manhunt: OJ Simpson
Being Eddie
John Candy – I Like Me
We Want The Funk
Titan: The Oceangate Disaster
Sly Lives

My Favorite Film/TV Scores:
Hans Zimmer – F1
Bryce Dessner – Train Dreams
Brandon Roberts, Andor Season 2
Michael Giacchino – The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Brian Tyler – Nuremberg
Alexandre Desplat – Frankenstein
Ramin Djawadi – Death By Lightning
Volker Bertelmann – Dead of Winter
Jordan Siegel – The Baltimorons
Thomas Newman – Thursday Murder Club

Annoying Film Score of 2025:
Jonny Greenwood – One Battle After Another

Most Anticipated Movies of 2026:
Avengers: Doomsday
The Odyssey
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Disclosure Day
Toy Story 5
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
Dune: Part Three
Supergirl
Violent Night 2

TV

Favorite TV Series of the Year:
Andor
Slow Horses
The Studio
IT: Welcome to Derry
Stranger Things
Task
South Park
Wednesday
Severance
Pluribus
Long Way Home
Stick
Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping

Favorite Miniseries / Limited Series:
Death by Lightning

I Need To Finish:
Pluribus (way too slow)
The American Revolution (way too long)
The Paper (way not funny?)

Need To Start:
Alien: Earth
Peacemaker Season 2
The Chair Company
The Lowdown

Shows I Got Sick Of:
The Bear
Only Murderers in the Building
Yellowjackets

Stop Making Shows About:
Doctors
Cops
Lawyers

Favorite Political Shows of The Year:
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Daily Show

Shows I Liked But Not My Favorite:
The Waterfront

Shows I Didn’t Like:
Black Rabbit

Biggest Disappointment:
Daredevil: Born Again

Favorite Late Night Talk Series:
Jimmy Kimmel Live

Apps I Find Myself On the Most:
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/readjunk/
TikTok

Books I Read:
Not read but listened to the late Virginia Giuffre’s Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice

Favorite Podcasts:
WTF with Marc Maron (congrats on such a powerful show)
Conan Needs A Friend