2025 in Pop Culture
This page is no longer under construction! Doing this made me feel stressed out and I won't do it again -- sometimes trying to hyperorganize everything feels like taking back control from other parts of life that are uncontrollably chaotic. Anyway. Maybe you can see and learn from my experience. Last updated January 18, 2026.
I'm aetataureate, or aeta. I'm an artist and writer.
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Scores are just my own feelings. I'm happy you like whatever you like or not.
books
5.0
- The Handyman by Bentley Little
- Vantage Point by Sara Sligar
4.5
- The Garden by Clare Beams
- Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney
- The Stranger Diaries (Harbinder Kaur #1) by Elly Griffiths
- The Gifted School by Bruce Holsinger
- The Influence by Bentley Little
- CyberStorm by Matthew Mather
- The Rules of Fortune by Danielle Prescod
- Winter World by A.G. Riddle
* Knock Knock Open Wide by Neil Sharpson
4.25
- Sphere by Michael Crichton
- Now That You Mention It by Kristan Higgins
- 100 Fathoms Below by Steven L. Kent and Nicholas Kaufmann
- The Fisherman by John Langan
- Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne
4.0
- El Dorado Drive by Megan Abbott
- You Shouldn't Have Done That by Liz Alterman
- The Boy from the Woods (Wilde #1) by Harlan Coben
- The Life We Bury (Joe Talbert #1) by Allen Eskens
- If You Only Knew by Kristan Higgins
- The Grandmother by Jane E. James
- Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox
- The Madness by Dawn Kurtagich
- The Ritual by Adam L.G. Nevill
- Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price
- The Maw by Taylor Zajonc
3.75
- The Remaking by Clay McLeod Chapman
- The Witch Elm by Tana French
- The North Woods by Douglass Hoover
- The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell
- You've Lost a Lot of Blood by Eric LaRocca
- An Age of Winters by Gemma Liviero
- Bone White by Ronald Malfi
- Hidden by Fern Michaels
- One by One by Ruth Ware
3.5
- Three Mothers by Hannah Beckerman
- The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley
- Selling the Dream by Jane Marie
- Fear Thy Neighbor by Fern Michaels
- The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda
- The Last Party by A.R. Torre
3.25
- Do Not Disturb by Freida McFadden
3.0
- In My Dreams I Hold a Knife by Ashley Winstead
DNF
- The Clinic by Cate Quinn
- The Great Zoo of China by Matthew Reilly
- The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker
games
I think I should sort this by "size" of game at the end of the year. For now just dumping them in, alpha order
- Birdigo
- Crop Rotation (replay)
- Digseum
- Dragonsweeper
- Dungeon Clawler
- Fields of Mistria (replay)
- Horticular
- If Letters Had Pants, Would They Wear Them Like This?
- Jack Move
- Let's! Revolution
- Night Stones
- Promise Mascot Agency
- Proverbs
- Seablip
- Shinehill
- Story of Seasons Pioneers of Olive Town
- Things Too Ugly
- Trash Goblin
- Unfair Flips
- Yes Your Grace
movies
5.0
- Sinners, Ryan Coogler, 2024
4.5
- Groundhog Day, 1992 (rewatch)
4.0
- Death on the Nile, John Guillermin, 1978
- Edge of Tomorrow, 2014 (rewatch)
- I Love You Man, John Hamburg, 2009 (rewatch)
- Moonstruck, Norman Jewison, 1987
- Next Goal Wins, Taika Waititi, 2024
- A Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg, 2024
3.5
- Bad Guys, Pierre Perifel, 2022
- One of Them Days, Lawrence Lamont, 2025
- Red Eye, Wes Craven, 2005
- Role Models, David Wain, 2008 (rewatch)
3.0
- Fountain of Youth, Guy Ritchie, 2025
- Mothers' Instinct, Benoit Delhomme, 2024
- Twisters, Lee Isaac Chung, 2024: it's true I didn't love this, but I watched a wonderful video about Chung's approach and the filmmaking details and it was really interesting and good.
2.5
- Fools Rush In, Andy Tennant, 1997
- Out of Time, Carl Franklin, 2003
- A Star Is Born, 2018
1.0
- Mission: Impossible The Final Reckoning, Christopher McQuarrie, 2025
television
5.0
- The Better Sister, 2025
- School Spirits (season 1), 2023
- School Spirits (season 2), 2025
- Overcompensating (season 1), 2025
4.5
- Dept. Q (season 1), 2025 based on Jussi Adler-Olsen books
- Severance (season 1, part of 2) I think?
4.0
- Adam Conover Unmedicated, 2024
- Anthracite, 2024
- Gianmarco Soresi Thief of Joy, 2025
- Josh Gondelman Positive Reinforcement, 2025
- Orphan Black (season 1-2), 2013-2014
- Shiny Happy People (season 2), 2025
- Wayward, 2025
3.5
- Full House (season 1-4), 1987-1991
- Star Trek Lower Decks (season 1-4?), 2020-2023
- Supernatural (season 1-2)
2.0
- Full House (season 5-8), 1991-1995. season 8 is a total turd
- The Librarians. this was very disappointing
0.25
- Chad Powers, 2025. did you know people still say r-slur