12.29.25 the hills are alive with another brick in you, kid

Welcome to my final log post of 2025! I didn't really engage with that much stuff this month because I was too busy with the holidays and releasing my Deltarune post, but I still had a decent time with the stuff that I did check out. With that said, let's get to loggin'!

Very soothing late 80s Celtic ambient music with very churchy vibes and the kind of grand textures and synths that I enjoy hearing from pop music that came out during this period. Admittedly, listening to the whole thing makes some of these tracks feel too soothing, but I can't deny that this regal combination of sounds is inherently appealing to me, especially in the wintertime.

Fav Tracks: On Your Shore, Storms in Africa, Exile, Orinoco Flow, River

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I remember enjoying the original Hypernormality EP for its otherworldly sound design and although this is largely just a remix compilation, many of the tracks included here really expand on that futuristic sound, particularly some of the non-remixes present here. A great companion to the original EP that makes me excited to see more new solo material from Ö from outside the PC Music label in the future (since PC only does archival releases and remix projects like this one from now on)!

Fav Tracks: Good Things On the Way (ultra caro remix), Garden Extra wet, Good Things On The Way (Katu Remix), Good Things On The Way (programmed piano edit), Empty.OS

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While on the topic of releases from PC Music artists, I ended up listening to Felicita's 2014 EP this month and while I generally enjoy a lot of the bright electronic textures they bring to their work, their avant-garde approach generally feels kind of hit or miss to me. I can get into more abstract sound-collagey works, though the more aggressively and often disturbingly childlike elements of this record are what put me off of this one. It kinda makes me wish that Felicita did more work as Lipgloss Twins with A. G. Cook as Cook's craft of melody-writing matches well with Felicita's more experimental approach.

Fav Tracks: Skip Blush, Bring It

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While I was already familiar with a lot of the central imagery associated with The Wall, this was my first time seeing it all strung together in film form. I was honestly very impressed not just with the strange morphing style of the animated sequences but also the production value of the live-action scenes, particularly during the war sequence, where I didn't expect it to look as striking as it did seeing it as just a supplement to the album. I also noticed that a lot of its visual symbolism is very on-the-nose and in that regard, one could only really misrepresent what it is trying to say about the forces that alienate us from others by not placing the various symbols of the work in context with each other, making its stream-of-consciousness structure and its overarching 'bricks in the wall' metaphor feel all the more essential within its storytelling. Neat film!

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I was expecting this film to be a lot more goofy and satirical than it turned out being given The Lonely Island's involvement and I feel that its more kind-hearted tone both helps and hurts the experience to some degree. On one hand, it serves to make its fish-out-of-water protagonist, James, more easily empathetic and more often than not, less like the butt of a joke like so many other comedies do (Elf, etc). On the other hand, its consistent feel-good tone rarely makes it feel like there is an undercurrent of conflict throughout that would otherwise make its underlying message of letting go of nostalgia feel more impactful by the end. I was still completely enamored by its setup and the characterization of James, though I would be more thrilled about this film if it was in the service of something with a little more edge.

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If I had seen this film a decade ago, I would probably be more stoked about it, though given my current cynicism towards AI and its modern usage as a tool for corporations to facilitate further consumerist control over the Internet at the expense of human connection, it comes off a bit more irrelevant and misguided in its technological optimism. I could potentially look at it more as a character study about a man learning to love without sex given the angle the film takes about Samantha having no body, but even then, her and Theodore still try to attempt some sort of sexual contact in their relationship, so the film's messaging kind of comes off as a little inconclusive in this day and age. The performances were great though, especially Scarlett Johansson as the voice of Samantha who adds so much humanity and character to the role that the chemistry at the film's center feels very palpable.

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I've never seen this film in full until this month and in many ways, it feels like the ultimate culmination of what musical films were like in the '60s. It has several points where it could've ended and told a complete story, yet it continues in order to tie up several loose ends and it surprisingly never feels tiring as it does so. Many of the songs from this film have well-deserved status as standards, though "I Have Confidence" is a very underrated number that I enjoyed very much. If you're as big a fan of spitting cute sentimentality in the face of fascism as I am, then you're likely to enjoy this one.

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One of many films included in a massive boxset I got as a Christmas gift, this was a campy yet earnest joy to watch with the family. While it's not the most groundbreaking adaptation of Robin Hood out there, it does shine brightest during the elaborate and crazy fight scenes, which have more bloodless deaths and thrown tables than I could count on one hand!

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Dialogue-heavy war films are sometimes hard for me to get into because of how much I need to keep track of at any given time, which is why I was much more captivated by how much the war impacts the love triangle that drives the emotional conflict of the film more than anything. There are also more subtle aspects of this film that I have come to appreciate like how the first two times that guns are pointed at characters they don't fire, but the third time occurs when Rick defends himself from a Nazi general. I guess the rule of threes in comedy may also apply to dramas as well, since I found that to be an effective use of a motif.

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I know that this is one of those games that was more popular when it came out due to its sheer goofy novelty, but even now, I find its simple gameplay to be addictively enjoyable. The silly tone of the game also helps keep the more challenging charts less frustrating to play though since both the main conceit of the game and the song selections are so inherently ridiculous that it would be foolish to take it completely seriously. I can't wait to get into the custom track scene around this game (and maybe make my own...)!

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Well, that about does it for 2025! Before I end this post, I would like to provide a brief list of all of the media that I enjoyed the most this year:

Favs of 2025:

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And here is what I'm most looking forward to in 2026:

Anticipating in 2026:

Thanks for reading my blog this year and here's to more logs next year!