Things I enjoyed in 2025 (Part 3)

Short Stories

“Spandex, Sporks, and Space Vampires” by Marie Vibbert (2025): Quite delightfully what it says on the tin.

“Laser Eyes Ain’t Everything” by Effie Seiberg (2025): This story manages to be fluffy and angry at the same time. Do we know where it’s going? Yes. Do we have a lot of fun going along for the ride? Also yes. Do we learn something about the comparative safety of traffic circles versus intersections? Why yes, we do.

“Where Are They Now?” by Meg Elison (2025): If they’re going to keep making progressively less fucked-up Willy Wonka movies, then we all deserve this quick reminder of just how fucked-up Roald Dahl actually is.

“Mistempered Weapons” by Jennifer R. Donohue (2022): If you are in the mood for authors Doing A Shakespeare, here is an author Doing A Shakespeare.

Novella

Disgraced Return of the Kap’s Needle by Renan Bernardo (2025): An expedition discovers the planet they’ve been sent to is really shitty. The return journey is even shittier. If that sounds like a weirdly cathartic read, pick this book up. If it feels like a bit much at the moment, maybe wait until the actual world is a bit less shitty. (Hey, I can dream.)

Media

Andor (season 2, 2025): No surprise that I really enjoyed Andor; everybody did, and it’s nice to see acknowledgement of good writing (and performances and sets and everything, but without the writing it all falls flat). Perfect? No. Well-executed while under significant constraints? Yes. Really good, really timely? Absolutely.

Sinners (2025): Everyone says this movie is fantastic; everyone is correct. It takes its time building the setting and the characters who inhabit it and the action and character choices emerge as consistent inevitabilities.

KPop Demon Hunters (2025): Also quite delightfully what it says on the tin. This was especially fun viewing since I’ve absorbed a lot of K-pop knowledge lately, courtesy of Kid # 1 (so I frankly don’t know why the demon boy band bothered with any sort of disguise: that seems like a perfectly plausible concept).

#recommended #recommended2025