This week’s round-up includes my Top Ten Films of 2025, being on the fence before the Stranger Things finale, reading 105 books this year, learning what it means to be a Jack of all trades, and much more.

Film

I’ve created a list of my top ten films of this year over at Dawn of the Tapes, though to be clear, they’re not necessarily all five-star films, but they have all left an impression on me in one way or another. Curating this list has also brought me the clear realisation that it’s becoming more and more of a bother living abroad in a non-English-speaking country as an English-speaking amateur film critic because there are a low number of English films released each month and foreign films lack English subtitles. It’s completely understandable – a country has to be able to have time and space for their own productions, not just Hollywood’s, and put their domestic audience first – but it’s just not working so well for me anymore. So, watch this space, I suppose…

Television

Yes, I’m about to go on about Stranger Things yet again, so either skip this if you don’t care about it or pass on by if you don’t care for spoilers…

Volume 2 has been mostly well-received it seems, but of course, there are plenty of people who aren’t happy with how the finale is being set up. I’m kind of on the fence – I’m loving what’s going on with Will Byers at the moment, becoming the ‘sorcerer’ he was always meant to be, but I don’t like that Eleven has been getting more and more sidelined as the season has progressed. I think it’s fairly obvious she is going to have the biggest role to play in the finale (due to release on Netflix New Year’s day), and I personally don’t expect her to survive it (along with Kali, whom I’m finding to be sus and whom Hopper is right to be wary of), but if there’s a big sacrifice and they pass it on to Will, I’m not sure I’ll be happy (I’ll understand, I guess, but I won’t like it). I would LOVE to know what you think!

In a totally different genre, I’ve watched the first couple of episodes of Emily in Paris, or should we say, Emily in Rome. I’ve enjoyed this series in the past, but these two episodes haven’t quite grabbed me as much this time around. I’ve enjoyed a couple of scenes where Emily is getting humbled (namely by her morally questionable yet reasonably badass boss Sylvie), but much of it is playing out with a similar formula. I will of course continue to watch, and I do hope it takes at least one new direction in some way.

Finally, I also finished It: Welcome to Derry. I enjoyed the finale, and it attaches on very nicely to the It films, but I would have enjoyed a couple more episodes with a deeper dive into the dormant stage of the creature we know as Pennywise. I recommend it if you’re a fan of Stephen King and his stories, because the series as a whole is greatly informative about the origins of both Pennywise the clown and ‘it’ and the wider Kingverse.

Literature

According to Goodreads I read 105 books this year, but that’s not quite accurate. In fact, I read 65 books and 40 comic books. The reason for all the comics was I wanted to be overly prepared for the new DCU beginning with Superman this year (and Peacemaker), moving to Supergirl and others next year and beyond. It was a tremendous education on DC characters, some of which I was already familiar with, others I was not. It was also fun to read along whilst making my way through the Arrowverse television shows to get a visual interpretation of many characters. Anyway, my book goal for this year was 50, so I’m very glad to have surpassed that, and my goal for next year will be 70 – there are over 100 books on my immediate TBR, including many chunky fantasy books, so hopefully I’ll reach that goal by this time next year!

Watch out in the coming week for a post about my favourite books of 2025!

Gaming

There’s not been much going on in my gaming schedule this week other than my attempt to get back into Shadow of the Tomb Raider, the only game in the entire Tomb Raider saga that I’ve yet to finish. So far it’s ok… I’m struggling to get into the world again, partly because I don’t find it all that interesting (are we REALLY still going after Trinity…) and I find this iteration of Lara Croft to be annoying. I’ll try to keep going in the hope it’ll get better, but I’m not holding my breath. Unlike Lara, I can’t do that for very long.

Life

I have had quite an enjoyable solo Christmas this year (though, as my previous post might suggest, it’s not always fun and games). With copious eating, drinking and indulging in hobbies it has been pretty relaxing, but as I go into a fortunate full week of time off, I’m trying to make it as productive as I can without burning out, such as working on both this blog and Dawn of the Tapes, figuring out and creating content, getting plans in place for next year as I focus on a complete career pivot, and multiple other things. I also hope to get some time to de-stress from particular stressers currently grating on me, but I guess that’s where the Baileys and Disaronno come in to play…! (Drink responsibly, alcohol is not a crutch just a temporary reprieve, chaps!) I hope you, dear reader, have also been able to rest and enjoy some time off. If not, then I hope you are taking as much care of yourself as you can whilst you are busy ♡

A Random Thing I Learned This Week

So, we’ve all head the saying ‘Jack of all trades, master of none‘, yes? Well, I always took this so negatively, with indulging in various things meaning I’m not particularly good at any one thing. WELL, I recently found out that there is more to the saying than that. The full modern day saying is as follows: ‘Jack of all trades, a master of none, is oftentimes better than a master of none.’ HOLD UP. I had to delve deeper.

The phrase ‘Jack of all trades’, according to Wikipedia, first appeared in the 1612 book ‘Essays and Characters of a Prison‘ by Geffray Mynshul, published in 1618, and ‘was probably based on the author’s experience while held at Gray’s Inn, London, when imprisoned for debt.’ Then, the ‘master of none’ part came along in the late 18th century. To say someone is a ‘Jack of all trades’ is generally complimentary, but to add ‘master of none’ turns the compliment into an accusation. Now, I’ve recently heard others adding ‘is oftentimes better than a master of none,’ and thought about how much more sense that makes. Maybe we’re just trying to feel better about ourselves, but it is a good reminder that having a variety of skills, particularly of the transferable kind, can make you more attractive in the job market (maybe). I can’t find an origin for this newer part, but I like that it’s given the whole thing a more positive slant. Maybe I’ll be a master of one thing someday, but don’t bet on it, Jack, whoever you are.