Taken one second before I accidentally hit the screenshot button at the wrong time and tumbled out the helicopter to my death 🙏

The gap between unlocking these achievements means I'm not beating the 'old' charges.

Anyone else woken up every day in January looking like this?

Finally put my ass through 3 hours and 20 minutes of Avatar 3. "Good but please never make another" is where I landed with it.

Big Friday night planned. Huge! I'm taking a misshapen Xbox 360 render of a woman on a date to the pool hall in Grand Theft Auto 4.

Glengarry probably a 4 in retrospect, but I still feel the need to punish it for all the tedious blokes who quote from it.

First new podcast of the year!

I'm going to do the Fable drinking game: every time a cast member from a '00s Channel 4 sitcom turns up, drink! I suspect my liver is going to take a kicking.

Some saint put REM's 2001 MTV Unplugged on YouTube, I have not heard this in years: www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyc3...

Me, a Millennial, after doing one bit of mortgage paperwork:

Nearly stacked it three times on the way to the station. But *nothing* will keep me from London's chicken shops (also the office I guess).

Realised I abandoned my Mad Men rewatch a month ago because I got too bummed out by the episode where Lane Pryce's dad hits him with a cane for ditching his wife.

There's still no one out there doing community management like me.

When are these two joining the Criterion Collection?

Okay, I've decided that's enough 'Happy New Year' greetings for 2026. I'm cycling back in 'I hope you're well!' as my generic greeting.

Traveling back to 2015 to tell myself that in the future all our politicians and journalists are active users of an app that can produce kiddy porn on demand, but it's illegal to see a Kit Kat on TV at 4pm.

I'm not saying I'm suffering from the return to ordinary eating, but I just hungrily reached out to an orange badge on my desk thinking it was a jaffa cake.

I know a lot of Boomer content is largely despised by my generation now (fair enough), but I am enjoying Cameron Crowe's autobiography. Not for the name-dropping: for the vicarious experience of being part of an emerging journalism movement. No one will ever get to do that again!

Right then. Back to work tomorrow!

Progress!

The dating minigame in GTA 4 is inaccurate, because potential partners will comment negatively if you wear the same clothes you wore to the last date. In my experience, they will simply tolerate it politely.

As this 2.5 week holiday comes to an end, I just want to emphasise that I achieved nothing with that time. NOTHING. Just additional neck rolls.

Ah mate. ❤️

'It's the New Year sale on UK train tickets, where we charge the price it should cost all the time were we not a bunch of fuckin' grifters.'

Three consecutive nights of no wipes in ARC Raiders. About 10 hours of it, all in. It simply cannot last.

Shameless millennial behaviour from your guy, of course.

I did a bit of PR work on this! Wonderfully comprehensive cover feature on the whole Fallout series – with excellent interview access. Plus the gold bits are shiny:

GWR trying to get me with Dobby from Peep Show is about as targeted as advertising gets.

Nancy By Ernie Bushmiller January 1,1941

Everyone complains about the drab-looking games of the 360 generation, and there were a number of them...but not this game 🙏🤌

I'm so ready for more bullshit podcasts in 2026.

Today marks the 5th time I've cancelled my viewing of Avatar: Fire and Ash and rebooked it. I just know it's a mountain to climb. I need to be mentally ready for Varang.

One New Year my dad did the fireworks in our garden. He lit one then it tipped over and shot towards us. We ran inside before it exploded. This is now a treasured family memory.

Me looking at some mediocre Bath fireworks: "Yeah I guess that was worth traumatising some dogs for."

My New Year's drink of choice? A 007-branded bottle of Bollinger, of course*. *Kylie Minogue's fizzy rosé

The climb down from 4000 calories a day is going to be brutal. Normally I don't eat until midday, but right now I wake up at 7.30am screaming 'fEeD mE!' in the Bane voice.

Bought and consumed my first Creme Eggs of the season. I will not cease until the January crash diet begins.

RIP Isiah Whitlock Jr. We loved all the characters you played, especially as Clay Davis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UXJ...

Found Marty Supreme a bit hollow. Some of its stylistic choices were borderline Nathan Barley-esque for me.

Last podcast of the year. Probably my most obvious top 10 list and number one – but then I thought the greatest games of this year were mostly self-evident...

A week with the family was plenty.

Enjoying this, but I don't believe anyone has the funds to maintain a hyperbaric chamber for four years in a cost-of-living crisis (also keeping a prisoner alive at the same time).

Thought I had gout on Boxing Day. Turned out it was a sore foot. Now the foot pain has healed, I feel comfortable making jokes about it (and eating the pork leftovers again).

This made our day, honestly. Nice seeing us on the same page as Tom Hiddleston, since we're exactly as handsome as he is.

Despite swearing off games for Christmas...I finished one with my little brother!

Very flattering to be shouted out by The Guardian! Find the piece here: www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Finally watching Department Q. Matthew Goode has 'used to run a games magazine until the deadlines drove him mad so now he's freelance' energy.

I've finally seen Love Actually. Criticising it is almost as passé as watching it these days – but an S-ranking film on deeply cursed, horny HR violations, certainly.

Me awaking from the big Christmas leftovers nap, a stone heavier:

Three episodes down now. It's so good!