Media This Year
A collection of the recent things I’ve read, watched, or played this year
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4 stars.
Send Help
by Sam RaimiWhat if Sam Raimi made Castaway mixed with Horrible Bosses? Great mix of humor and horror.
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4 stars.
Scrubs 2026 (Season 1)
by Bill LawrenceIt was almost like the show never ended. Funny, silly, and still as heartfelt as ever with some good modern takes.
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4 stars.
Zootopia 2
by Byron Howard & Jared BushThis was a pretty cute follow-up to a movie I haven’t seen in a decade. Fun characters, a good story, and great animation.
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3 stars.
Penric’s Fox
by Lois McMaster BujoldAnother fun entry in the Penric and Desdemona series. The ending was a bit predictable, but it was still a fun romp.
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4 stars.
Automatic Noodle
by Annalee NewitzWhat do artificially intelligent robots do after an apocalyptic war? Start a restaurant, of course. This is a lovely story about sentience, humanity, and care.
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5 stars.
Shrinking (Season 3)
by Brett Goldstein, Jason Segel, & Bill LawrenceThis show gets better each season. Where most shows veer toward unearned, overwrought drama, Shrinking steers toward the small moments of heartfelt realness.
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3 stars.
Finch
by Miguel SapochnikI went looking for a light-hearted buddy sci-fi story of a man, his dog, and his robot. I wasn’t expecting to feel feelings about this!
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5 stars.
The Mountain
by GorillazWhat an album! I haven’t listened to Gorillaz in a while, but I adore the international breadth, the collaborators, and the depth of this album immensely.
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4 stars.
Penric and the Shaman
by Lois McMaster BujoldI enjoyed the combination of fantasy, spirituality, and mystery in this novella. I’m excited that I have lots more to read in this series.
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3 stars.
The Gorge
by Scott DerricksonThis wasn’t bad for a kinda weird romance, sci-fi, horror, action mix. Decent chemistry, an intriguing premise, and plenty of entertainment.
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3 stars.
Dungeon Crawler Carl
by Matt DinnimanI’ve seen this recommended by several people, and it seemed right up my alley. It started off feeling a bit like fan-fiction, but I really enjoyed it by the end.
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5 stars.
Project Hail Mary
by Phil Lord & Christopher MillerFaithful to the story in all the right ways. Funny, heartfelt, and entertaining. Amaze amaze amaze.
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3 stars.
I’m Not Okay With This
by Christy Hall & Jonathan EntwistleI’m very okay with the delightful combination of coming of age and superpower origin story. I’m not okay that this series was cancelled after one season.
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4 stars.
Small is Beautiful
by E.F. SchumacherOutside of some dated viewpoints (like nuclear power), this book on economics feels incredibly relevant even though it’s over 50 years old.
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3 stars.
28 Years Later
by Danny BoyleIt’s been awhile since I watched a non-comedic zombie movie. I can barely remember the original now, but I enjoyed this sequel.
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4 stars.
Nimona
by Nick Bruno & Troy QuaneI simply adored the animation, story, and characters in this movie. And it had a surprising amount of emotional resonance.
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4 stars.
Warbreaker
by Brandon SandersonA hint of war. Political intrigue. Romance? This is a great single novel to check if you're Brando Sando curious, but not ready to commit to a full series.
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4 stars.
Wednesday (Season 2)
by Miles Millar & Alfred GoughThis series continues to impress. Great characters, moody settings, creepy fun mysteries, and sarcasm aplenty.
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4 stars.
Train Dreams
by Clint BentleyA lovely, meditative, brutal, and heartbreaking story of transition in America at the beginning of the 20th century.
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3 stars.
Frankenstein (2025)
by Guillermo del ToroI’ve never read the original book, but I thoroughly enjoyed Guillermo del Toro’s cinematography and storytelling in this.
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4 stars.
Wake Up Dead Man
by Rian JohnsonI really enjoy these stellar mystery movies! Great cast, interesting twists, and more delightful Benoit Blanc monologues.
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5 stars.
Octopath Traveler
by Square EnixThis was a direct hit to my old school Final Fantasy nostalgia, but with amazing graphics, intriguing gameplay mechanics, and great, interweaving stories.
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4 stars.
The Thursday Murder Club
by Richard OsmanI haven’t read a mystery in a while, and this was a fun reintroduction to the genre. I’m excited to read more in the series.
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4 stars.
Wonder Man
by Andrew Guest & Destin Daniel CrettonA buddy dramedy with an aspiring actor who may have superpowers and a washed-up actor who may have played a terrorist. Fun and well done.
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4 stars.
The Muppet Show (2026 Special)
by Alex TimbersA direct hit to the nostalgia. This special felt like a classic Muppet Show episode. Hopefully Disney will do more.
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3 stars.
Disneyland Handcrafted
by Leslie IwerksThis interesting documentary shows the wild year it took to build Disneyland through archival footage.
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4 stars.
KPop Demon Hunters
by Maggie Kang & Chris AppelhansA fun story with fantastic animation and catchy tunes! What's not to like?
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4 stars.
Gifts
by Ursula K. Le GuinI didn’t realize this was a young adult book, but it was a rich and well-crafted story. Looking forward to the rest of the series.
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4 stars.
Glass Onion
by Rian JohnsonGreat cast with a fun story! I really enjoy Benoit Blanc as a character, but everyone in this was great.
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4 stars.
Stranger Things (Season 5)
by Matt & Ross DufferA pretty satisfying wrap of the series that ties up most of the loose ends and celebrates what made the series fun.
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3 stars.
Penric’s Demon
by Lois McMaster BujoldFun characters with an interesting concept. I look forward to reading more.
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4 stars.
The World We Make
by N.K. JemisinI can understand why the author shortened this to two books instead of three, but I am still sad there isn’t more in this series.