Poppy released Negative Spaces late 2024 so it remained in heavy rotation before and after I saw her in Toronto. Then Marina released Princess of Power late spring. My favorites include “Butterfly”, “Metallic Stallion”, and “Hello Kitty”. “Adult Girl” is “Teen Idle” all grown up. If Electra Heart (2012) builds walls and plays it cool, Princess breaks down walls to embrace life. Lola Blanc released the stunning Crowd Pleaser in the fall. It includes the personal heartfelt ballad “Red Shredding Paper” alongside thoughtful examinations of social and spiritual strife like “Nobody Knows”, “Pedestal,” and the previously released “The Silence” and “Everybody”. “The Answer” would make a great villain song in a Broadway musical.
New musical discoveries (to me) included Milk and Bone with beautiful songs like “Forgone” and “Deception Bay” that sound fresh but evoke late 90s trip-hop, and Circe with the menacing “Ten Girls” and haunting “Dancer”. Mallrat, who opened for Marina in September, has a beautiful husky voice. Great energy. Faouzia has been making music for several years but just released her first album, Film Noir. She’s multilingual, plays many instruments, and has an incredible voice. Go watch “Please Don’t Leave Me” and “Peace and Violence” now! Or should I say “meow”? You’ll see.
Back to concerts, when a local art gallery announced a shockingly affordable show featuring The Beaches as the headliner this past summer, I thought how cool it would be if their friend Lights joined them in support of her sixth album. Some time after that, she was added to the line up. Maybe there’s something to manifesting after all. So fun!
Another surprise was KPop Demon Hunters. One day “Golden” played in my Marina Pandora station. One son said he understood the hype. Those vocals. That melody. The lyrics. I was afraid it would be downhill from there, but I love “This Is What It Sounds Like” even more. I worried the movie would be a shallow money grab by Netflix to capitalize on the popularity of KPop, but creator Maggie Kang gave viewers something magical with emotional heft. It has some similarities with long-time family favorite Rainbow Rocks, but includes more mature themes younger viewers won’t appreciate until they’re older and a distinct cultural identity of its own.
The film adaptation of Stephen King’s short story “The Life of Chuck” nailed the source material. I love the mystery and gut punch of the first act, including a standout performance by Matthew Lillard, along with the excellent Chiwetel Ejiofor and Karen Gillian. Tammy Gordon, Annalise Basso, and Tom Hiddleston capture the magic and whimsy of the second act. The third act isn’t as strong, but still charming and wraps up the life-affirming story nicely. Plus it has Hollywood legends Mia Sara and Mark Hamill.
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners is gory, gorgeous, and heartbreaking. Impressive debut by Miles Caton, who held his own opposite Michael B. Jordan(s). Hailee Steinfeld, Wunmi Mosaku, Jayme Lawson, Omar Miller, Delroy Lindo, and Jack O’Connell round out an amazing cast.
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery is funny, poignant, and surprisingly affecting. Rian Johnson’s films are always clever and insightful, but the underlying theme of grace adds a new dimension. Josh O’Connell delights as a former boxer turned priest opposite Daniel Craig’s proudly heretical Benoit Blanc. While Jud doesn’t make a believer of Benoit, the detective sets aside ego to allow the perpetrator their confession. Great supporting performances, especially Kerry Washington.
My son introduced me to Full-Metal Alchemist after Attack on Titan. It has similar thematic content (generational trauma, genocide), but less hyper realistic violence (one particularly upsetting plot point occurs offscreen) and more supernatural elements (anthropomorphized deadly sins). We re-watched the finale of Attack on Titan in a 4D theater. The EDM scenes were thrilling and did not undermine the gravitas. We weren’t far enough into Demon Slayer (my request) to see Infinity Castle. Dandadan is growing on me. Only halfway through Dororo, but worryingly attached to the characters.
The Stranger Things’ finale had a cool Dark Crystal-coded set piece. Nancy’s hair gave me Ripley vibes, or Rambo in retrospect. Or Alex in Flashdance.
Not my favorite season of Only Murders in the Building but excited for London.
In literature, Death of the Author by Nnedi Okorafor was an amazing genre-defying book about a disabled Nigerian American author who writes a successful science fiction novel and fights for control over the narrative and her own life on her terms. It explores themes of disability, identity, and storytelling (in life, and in fiction.) The unique framework includes a story within a story and interviews with the character and her family, along with a thrilling conclusion open to interpretation.
While I enjoyed Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho, set in an alternative Victorian England, her voice and storytelling really shined in The True Queen. But I love her paranormal fantasy Black Water Sister even more.
My talented editor Cari Dubiel released a follow up story collection to I Loved The Mothman, Detective Mothman. Once again, she plays in different genres from romance to mystery to horror. Gifted artist/writer Kaytalin Platt concluded her Equitas series and ventured into spicy romantasy with Of Sin and Silver. Looking forward to reading Suckers by G.A. Finocchiaro. I’m thankful Duskbound Books enabled me to release not just one but two novels this year, Fallen and Devil You Know, the fourth and fifth installments of my Masquerade series. I wrote most of Dark Angel (coming in May).
Somehow I still found time to game. Guild Wars 2 released Visions of Eternity and a certain other MMORPG lured me back with greater control over my characters’ appearances and improved storytelling I daresay feels influenced by GW2. If only GW2 would take a page from WoW and give us jumping spiders. I still think sub fees are ridiculous but anything that prevents doom scrolling when touching grass isn’t an option is worth its weight in gold.
