No Other Choice is terrific. Vintage PKW of operatic filmmaking telling a story that actually has something to say. Funniest of his in decades too, maybe overall?

I made a thing for a mate who wants some simple pop art or comic book-style wall art and he's into Batman and The Simpsons, so this was the perfect combo. Cut out comic book panels + acrylic paint + glitter + PVA glue. Disney lawyers incoming in 3... 2...

I'm sure Cameron Winter's Heavy Metal or Geese's Getting Killed is amazing once you accept his voice isn't akin to having your eardrums scraped with a rusty fishhook. Maybe I could learn to love these as much as everyone else seems to but I don't have time when there's other music to listen to.

There was probably a lot of good art released in the last 12 months but I barely experienced it. 2025 can't fuck off quickly enough. Probably the worst I've experienced thanks to far too many awful real life circumstances. Hopefully the worst of it is over now.

@sonemic.com rateyourmusic.com/release/albu... #RYMbestof2025

Today Americans must wrestle with the question, "Who likely brought more joy to the world: the guy who directed The Princess Bride or the guy who doesn't pay his bills and has definitely raped several women?"

Horrible news about Rob Reiner and his wife Michele. Rest in peace.

I've seen too many puritanical takes thanks to the Tarantino news. Yes, mock him and put him down for being a weird dork and a zionist or having an affection for the n-word, but I've heard several people use this as an excuse to screech religiously about films with lots of violence and sex in them.

With everything going on at home I haven’t put in as many gaming hours this year but I still managed a fair bit. #5 shows my recent apathy though. When I didn’t enjoy something new, I’d just play Astro Bot and all was good again. Talos 2 from 2023 is the best new game I played in 2025.

I went to a nature trail with a friend this morning and we were wondering why there was such a huge police presence there, including a drone going over the water. We just found out now that they found the body of a person who had been missing for days there.

The hedonist character in Pluribus is excellent because his hedonistic ideas are so pathetic.

11 more months to go until I see Autechre again.

Guess Tarantino needs some publicity, huh? What an insufferable dick-hole.

Nobody is allowed to buy tickets to see Autechre next year in London until I’ve secured mine.

My two favourite albums of 2025, billy woods’ and aya’s, happen to be The Wire’s top 2 as well, just the other way around.

What a lovely early Christmas present.

Farewell Udo Kier and Jimmy Cliff, two absolute legends who made my life and many other people's lives so much richer.

I started re-reading The Lord of the Rings and I’m immaturely chortling at some of the unintentionally rude old language and dialogue. “The men of Carn Dǔm came on us at night”, everything weird is “queer”, describing elves as “so gay and sad.” There’s even a character called Nob. Tolkien, you tart.

It’s freezing, time for one of the cosiest and most beautiful winter albums around.

No way! I am shocked!

One Battle After Another is almost great. I have issues with the coda and a few other nitpicks but this is audacious stuff. It's lovely to see a film right now of this scale, with these A-listers, that's this experimental, while also dealing with themes of how ruthlessly, comically shit America is.

Instagram’s as horrible a place as Twitter if you just browse it generally for a moment but after following several music accounts (mostly UK underground, bass), it’s now kind of amazing, offering me all sorts of great recommendations and avenues I’ve not been able to get through other websites.

I really like Del Toro's Frankenstein but I'm annoyed by the plasticky digital image and the obvious CGI sets and animals. Surely they could've figured something else out because there's also some fabulous practical work here. Overall it's a gorgeous gothic tale, full of life and texture.

I just tried bubble tea for the first time. The drink itself was very nice but those tapioca balls at the bottom are the absolute worst. I haven't had that visceral a reaction to food since I was a kid and there was a milk skin on the top of my hot chocolate.

I created an Instagram account to follow a couple of friends and maybe also use it to post some doodles or whatever but after a few minutes of scrolling the general feeds and seeing how quickly it descends into “4chan levels of “ironic” racism I’m thinking it was a mistake.

Nice piece about Autechre’s transformation from warm ravers into abstract conceptualists, but the thing that stuck out was an advert for a múm concert. I had no idea they were back.

30 years old but Eutow still sounds like it was accidentally sent to us from the future.

Every year I always say the John Lewis Christmas adverts are well made schmaltz fests but after everything that’s happened this year with me and my family this one got me. It also helps that it’s obviously inspired by Aftersun, probably my favourite film of this decade.

Just my annual social media grumblings about how fireworks suck.

My taste in music has two modes and this pair of album covers summarise them well.

This lovely assortment from @delysiumzine.bsky.social just arrived. It's all beautiful. What a great effort by everyone involved.

Let's go! Black Hole is packed with body horror and sadness so Jane Schoenbrun is perfect for the material. Since I read Black Hole decades ago I've wanted someone like Cronenberg to adapt it which means this news is more than welcome.

I rewatched Dogtooth and I've come to the conclusion that Yorgos Lanthimos movies really annoy me.

The bad news is thanks to this AWS outage, my bank account is inaccessible and my cards are being declined. The good news is I discovered the band Arborea who fit right into my current need for haunting Autumnal folk. This is gorgeous. youtu.be/3r2U4eINR3Y?...

More mad mixology from @alephg.bsky.social. That Ape of Naples one is really something. You seen this @darknessfish.bsky.social? rateyourmusic.com/list/algroth...

This is really hitting the spot right now. "Wild Eyes" is particularly immense.

It doesn't matter how long they've lived, how expected it is, or what else is happening in the world, when a loved one goes it hurts like nothing else. Farewell dad. I love you.

I thought this little guy was injured or sick, went to pick it up so it was out of harm’s way and it flew off. Hope it’s okay.

I'm a bit disappointed with Anora. Mikey Madison and Yura Borisov are terrific with the material but I don't believe the young guy at all, the story's all over the place, the tone swings between different shades of hysteria, and the characters are cyphers. This is not what I know Sean Baker for.

To think that the roots of Labour were trade unions and socialist parties and now it's this shameful pandering to right wing racists, the surveillance state, and data collectors. Fuck this digital ID shite.

It's not easy for me to go to the cinema these days so I won't be seeing One Battle After Another for quite a while but I did catch up with Licorice Pizza, a PTA that I didn't watch at the time, and I adored it. It's a real hangout film for youthful misfits and a love letter to a specific era.

Frustrating end to Alien Earth. I wish they'd wrap things up and explore avenues that have only been teased so far. The pacing overall has been decent but with this cliffhanger it's padding things out for the sake of length.

jungle, drum and bass, garage, grime, dubstep tikka masala, balti, peshwari naan, Singapore noodles Diwali lights, Caribbean carnivals, multicultural slang

I rewatched To Live and Die in LA earlier this year and it's still utterly terrific. It's a genuine example of 'they don't make them like they used to.' I told my friend about it today and he watched it. I should've joined him instead of watching Weapons.

Zach Cregger's Weapons is well annoying.

So basically he was one dense bastard.

Rewatching cult classics I liked as a teen has been eye-opening: Easy Rider, Basic Instinct, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Vampyr, and a bunch of De Palma films, Carrie, Body Double, and just now Blow Out. In my youth they were solid entertainment but in my early 40s they are deeper and more vivid.

What dreadful news. R.I.P. JD Twitch.

26 years and I still listen to this regularly, and as loudly as when I first heard it as a teenager. It's a huge and important part of the UK bass canon to me.

Still enjoying Alien: Earth a lot. That needle drop at the end of episode 7 is mad.