A review of my favorite things from 2025.

This year I made a lot of changes to the website. I added a games section, and toyed around with a few games. I’ve been playing a bit with the Godot engine as well, which is fun, though I’m far from finished with anything. Personally, I got back into cycling and fishing. I started getting into Ham radio, which I am just starting out with.

Best Fiction Book

True Grit by Charles Portis

This year, I wanted to get into westerns. The one that stood out most was True Grit. As a huge fan of the Coen Brothers, I was familiar with the most recent movie adaptation of True Grit, but I had no idea how good the novel was. This is one of the best books I have ever read without a doubt. It is so great. You must read this book.

Honorable mentions: Lonesome Dove, Anna Karenina (I love the Levin plot), The Willows

Best Non-Fiction Book

The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage

This year, I started getting into amateur radio. I am very interested in what the Ham radio community calls “homebrew”, which basically just means DIYing stuff. I find telegraphs neat since they are so simple to understand. I would like to build my own radio to do morse code (AKA CW) operation, which Hams still use today.

Honorable mentions: Catching the Big Fish

Best Movie

Mulholland Drive

I love Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, both of which are directed by David Lynch. But the best Lynch project I’ve seen is certainly Mulholland Drive. This movie is really good, and everyone knows it. It makes me want to go back to rewatch Twin Peaks, which I haven’t seen in many years.

Best Video Game

Blue Prince

Blue Prince is a roguelike game in which you explore a mansion, which changes layouts every day. The gameplay is very unique, as you play you discover more of the background to the mansion and the hidden rules to the game. While I “beat” the game, I probably only dug into 10% of what the game has to offer. This year I also found renewed fun in games I have played before, such as Dwarf Fortress and Team Fortress 2.

Honorable Mentions: KeeperRL, Streets of Rogue, Approaching Infinity

Best Album

The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks

This year I got really into the Kinks. They have a lot of albums that are really great, a lot more interesting than I expected as someone who only knew a few of their hits. Muswell Hillbilly, Arthur, and Village Green are some of my favorites.

Honorable Mentions: Another Green World by Brian Eno

Best Graphic Novel

Muybridge

This graphic novel came out this year, and tells the story of Eadweard Muybridge, who was the first person to photograph a horse in motion. This story is interesting, and he had a very crazy life. Important to me, is that I have been looking for the source of some posters I saw back in college in the hallway of the English building. The posters were of a man standing in front of redwood trees. I initially walked by these, but they stuck in my mind, and when I went back they were gone. However, I now know they were taken by Muybridge, and featured in this book.