Books I read in 2025

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I have to admit that I was really lazy this summer so I spent a lot of time reading throughout the year.

  • The Big One: How To Prepare for World-Altering Pandemics to Come – Michael T. Osterholm – I’d recommend this to everyone who lived through the COVID pandemic but I know about half of them wouldn’t believe anything in the book.
  • Watchers – Dean Koontz
  • The Funhouse – Dean Koontz – This is an adaptation of the Tobe Hooper film but it’s really more like a prequel to the events of the movie which are only covered in the last third of the book.
  • Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #2) – Matt Dinniman – There are a bunch of these but I had to take a break after the 2nd one because the first-person persepctive kinda makes me crazy. I’ll definitely keep going with the series in 2026, though.
  • Dungeon Crawler Carl (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #1) – Matt Dinniman – Fun story with an angle that I’ve never read before.
  • The Making of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ – Piers Bizony
  • Spacewreck: Ghostships and Derelicts of Space (Terran Trade Authority Handbook) – Stewart Cowley
  • Never Flinch (Holly Gibney, #4) – Stephen King – Is this really the end of the Holly books?
  • Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge: FAA-H-8083-25A (FAA Handbooks)
  • The Measure – Nikki Erlick
  • The Mountain in the Sea – Ray Nayler
  • The Road – Cormac McCarthy
  • Every Life a Story: Natalie Jacobson Reporting – The autobiography of “Channel 5” anchor Natalie Jacobson who is a major celebrity in New England.
  • Japanese Swords and Armor: Masterpieces from Thirty of Japan’s Most Famous Samurai Warriors – Paul Martin
  • Failure is Not an Option: Mission Control From Mercury to Apollo 13 and Beyond – Gene Kranz
  • Sleeping Beauties – Stephen King
  • Into the Black: The Extraordinary Untold Story of the First Flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia and the Astronauts Who Flew Her – Rowland White – I will never tire of reading well-written books about space exploration!

Movies I saw in 2025

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I’ve put some of my highlights in bold.

  • Glory (1989)
  • The Perfect Neighbor (2025)
  • One Battle After Another (2025)
  • Uncle Buck (1989)
  • The Long Walk (2025) – a decent adaptation of Stephen King’s story
  • Eddington (2025) – Is it comedy? Drama? Horror? Pretty much sums up what life in the US is like these days.
  • National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) – yup, we watch it every year!
  • It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) – this one, too!
  • The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025)
  • A House of Dynamite (2025) – great film right up until the last few minutes….
  • Weapons (2025)
  • Bring Her Back (2025)
  • Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost (2025)
  • Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
  • Keeper (2025)
  • Animal House (1978)
  • Companion (2025)
  • The Thing (1982)
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)
  • The Funhouse (1981) – This is actually a pretty good horror movie. Watching it made me seek out and read the book by Dean Koontz.
  • Stargate (1994)
  • Sinners (2025)
  • Gentlemen Broncos (2009)
  • A Real Pain (2024)
  • Death of a Unicorn (2025)
  • Warfare (2025)
  • STRAW (2025)
  • Billy Joel: And So It Goes (2025) – Amazing documentary of the life and art of Billy Joel.
  • Superman (2025) – ugh
  • The Brutalist (2024)
  • Pamela, A Love Story (2023)
  • Mickey 17 (2025)
  • Becoming Led Zeppelin (2025)
  • Cold Case: The Tylenol Murders (2025)
  • The Blues Brothers (1980)
  • The Men Who Tread on the Tiger’s Tail (1945)
  • Drive (2011)
  • Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
  • The Substance (2024)
  • Gladiator II (2024)
  • Wolf Man (2025) – ugh
  • Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) – I will never tire of this film!
  • Adolescence (2025)
  • Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles (2019)
  • Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
  • Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
  • Anora (2024)
  • Speak No Evil (2024)
  • Surviving Black Hawk Down (2025)
  • Civil War (2024)
  • Heat (1995)
  • Conclave (2024)
  • The Wild Robot (2024) – it’s a feel-good movie!
  • Saturday Night (2024)
  • We Live in Time (2024)
  • Apollo 13: Survival (2024)
  • Dodes’ka-den (1970)
  • Brainstorm (1983)
  • A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
  • The Princess Bride (1987)

No Kings

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A lot of Republicans and Trump supporters are ridiculing the protests that took place last weekend by saying things along the lines of:

  • We already don’t have a king because Trump was elected fairly
  • If we had a king, you wouldn’t be allowed to protest
  • It’s the “I hate America” rally

First, these protests are not about the election. I think most people believe the election was fair and accurate. What seems to worry people – what SHOULD worry people who love this country and appreciate the freedoms we have – is the unfettered and for lack of better description, relentlessly enthusiastic (ab)use of governmental functions and powers to continually nibble away at what we call “checks and balances” which were set up to ensure that no one would be able to unilaterally run the country on the whims of one person. We are also concerned about the two other branches of government that have seemingly abdicated their responsibilities to impose those checks and balances.

Trump continuously brands any opposition to his agenda as “radical left” and threatens to prosecute them using his band of sycophants in the Department of Justice. He’s using the military as police in a couple “blue” cities and threatening more troops each day? Seriously, in a democracy? Ignoring the decisions of federal judges? Limiting the access of the press based on how favorably they report on his administration? Illegally spending taxpayer dollars without the involvement of Congress? This is an administration that has released images of the President with a crown on his head, a man who has openly questioned whether he has to protect the Constitution and has casually thrown around the use of the Insurrection Act to quell non-existent uprisings.

Maybe we don’t have a king today but all the points above certainly appear to be someone whose goal is to become something other than an elected official, something very different from a servant of the people.

Distractions, Distractions, Distractions

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Trump has been in office for his second term for 6 months and a day. So much has happened. So many decrees. So many efforts to dismantle the federal government. So many sycophants praising their boss and laughing at his jokes and doing his bidding seemingly without the slightest bit of self-awareness or shame.Elon is out but DOGE is still apparently trying to cut billions in spending while Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” was passed and we can look forward to adding trillions of dollars to the national deficit in coming years.

Meanwhile, companies are setting law suits with Trump after publishing anything he doesn’t like (even though they’re usually telling the truth) and CBS has cancelled Stephen Colbert’s show after claiming it was losing millions of dollars every year. Not surprisingly, Trump lauds the cancellation and says that “Kimmel is next.” His televised interviews consisting of softball questions are conducted by his family members and friends who don’t dare to question his lame-brained responses. His spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt spouts propaganda at each press conference while pulling the press credentials of any reporter who asks a question she doesn’t like.

There’s a small but growing chink in the armor of this President – the Epstein files.

Although I’m almost sure it will amount to nothing, it will be interesting to see how this plays out with Trump’s base who seem to be suddenly aware that he lies about everything.

Unelected President

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Cabinet officers, who had brought notes for the statements they expected to make, sat silent, while Musk, the unelected billionaire from South Africa who put more than a quarter of a billion dollars into electing Trump, spoke more than anyone except Trump himself. Trump didn’t turn to Vice President J.D. Vance until 56 minutes into the meeting, and Vance spoke for only 36 seconds.

Books I Read in 2024

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It was another big year for Stephen King – I will read pretty much whatever that man writes. His newest collection of “short” stories and “Billy Summers” were both great summer reads. It’s interesting how much what I’m doing in real life can influence my enjoyment of a book or story. Because we had such an extended spell of dry weather in the second half of the year, I spent a lot of time reading while laying in my hammock this summer.

  • Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West – Cormac McCarthy
  • The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) – Patrick Rothfuss
  • Fairy Tale – Stephen King
  • You Like It Darker – Stephen King
  • Billy Summers – Stephen King
  • Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’s Journey – Michael Collins
  • Holly – Stephen King
  • A Man on the Moon – Andrew Chaikin
  • Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang
  • God Emperor of Dune (Dune #4) – Frank Herbert
  • Misfit: Growing Up Awkward in the ’80s – Gary Gulman
  • Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live

Movies I saw in 2024

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I watched a lot of documentaries this year and many of them were biographies of actors. I think these types of films were suggested to me by the streaming services and I took the bait. It is interesting to learn about the lives of these famous and sometimes legendary people. I also rewatched a lot of films this year. Many of these (like Conan, Pet Sematary, Blade Runner, etc) are old favorites that I watched with my son or that I just wanted to watch again after a long time to see how they stood the test of time. I’ve put some favorites in bold.

  • The Truman Show (1998)
  • Nosferatu (2024)
  • National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
  • It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
  • Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara (2024)
  • Quincy (2018)
  • Unforgiven (1992)
  • 12 Angry Men (1957)
  • Scavengers Reign (2023) – this is a great animated series that really felt like something original while also evoking memories of reading Heavy Metal magazine as a kid
  • Tickled (2016)
  • Dìdi (弟弟) (2024)
  • The Shining (1980)
  • Remembering Gene Wilder (2023)
  • Happy Death Day 2U (2019)
  • Happy Death Day (2017)
  • They Live (1988)
  • Longlegs (2024)
  • MaXXXine (2024)
  • Money Electric: The Bitcoin Mystery (2024)
  • Fly (2024)
  • Starship Troopers (1997)
  • Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
  • Inside Out 2 (2024)
  • I Saw the TV Glow (2024)
  • Challengers (2024)
  • The Watchers (2024)
  • Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 (2024)
  • Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
  • Alien: Romulus (2024)
  • Civil War (2024)
  • Immaculate (2024)
  • I Am: Celine Dion (2024)
  • Outland (1981)
  • 梟の城 Castle of Owls (1963)
  • Gattaca (1997)
  • The First Omen (2024)
  • Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
  • The Birds (1963)
  • Blade Runner (1982)
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)
  • The Muppet Movie (1979)
  • The Boys in the Boat (2023)
  • Uncut Gems (2019)
  • Pet Sematary (1989)
  • American Fiction (2023)
  • MoviePass, MovieCrash (2024)
  • The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)
  • The Truth vs. Alex Jones (2024)
  • An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th (2024)
  • Labyrinth (1986)
  • The Whale (2022)
  • The Iron Claw (2023)
  • Ethel (2012)
  • Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me (2023)
  • WHAM! (2023)
  • Mute (2018)
  • Baby Reindeer (2024)
  • Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind (2020)
  • The Help (2011)
  • The Royal Hotel (2023)
  • The Dead Zone (1983)
  • Patriots Day (2016)
  • Arrival (2016)
  • Anatomy of a Fall (2023)
  • The Booksellers (2019)
  • Dream Scenario (2023)
  • The Zone of Interest (2023)
  • It’s Quieter in the Twilight (2022)
  • Late Night with the Devil (2023)
  • Priscilla (2023)
  • Poor Things (2023)
  • Dune: Part Two (2024) – The changes from the novel completely changed the tone of the overall story and kind of ruined the whole film for me.
  • It Comes at Night (2017)
  • Studio 54 (2018)
  • May December (2023)
  • Dumb Money (2023)
  • Se7en (1995)
  • Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
  • The Greatest Night in Pop (2024)
  • BEEF (2023)
  • Conan the Barbarian (1982)
  • Godzilla Minus One (2023)
  • The Holdovers (2023)

2025 Is Off to an Interesting Start

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It’s January 2nd and the country has already experienced a truck-ramming terrorist attack in New Orleans that has killed 15 people and a Tesla Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas in which one person (the perpetrator) was killed. There’s nothing in the news to indicate these events were related but it’s certainly possible. I think we are in for an interesting year….

There’s no cheating when you win

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It’s funny how massive election fraud and “cheating in Philadelphia” just magically disappeared around 10:00pm ET last night, isn’t it? I guess Democrats just forgot to “rig” this one.

Obviously, Trump will say whatever he thinks he needs to whether it’s based in fact or not:

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner issued a statement responding to Trump’s post, saying the only suggestion of cheating was coming from the Republican presidential nominee.

“There is no factual basis whatsoever within law enforcement to support this wild allegation,” Krasner said. “We have invited complaints and allegations of improprieties all day. If Donald J. Trump has any facts to support his wild allegations, we want them now. Right now. We are not holding our breath.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/live-update/election-news-2024/philadelphia-da-disputes-trumps-claim-of-massive-cheating-in-city