Janet Miles

It's December Days time again. This year, I have decided that I'm going to talk about skills and applications thereof, if for no other reason than because I am prone to both the fixed mindset and the downplaying of any skills that I might have obtained as not "real" skills because they do not fit some form of ideal.

( 20: Performer )

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/20/the-december-comfort-watches-2025-day-twenty-a-fish-called-wanda/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58812

I have thought a number of films have been riotously funny, but only A Fish Called Wanda made me laugh so hard that I was in very real danger of pissing myself right there in the movie theater. It was 1988, I went to see this movie with my friend Marty Glomski, and — to be fair — I did buy myself a soda to enjoy while I watched the film. Normally such a thing would not be a fraught action, but then there were scenes involving inept assassination attempts, and I ended up laughing so hard and so long that my bladder very nearly couldn’t take it any more. I swear to you I was two seconds from peeing my jeans. I wanted to stop laughing so I could stop spotting. I could not. It was mortifying, and delightful.

I cannot guarantee you will laugh as hard at A Fish Called Wanda. If you did, however, and you fell victim to laugh-related involuntary micturition, just know that you are not alone. There are probably legions of us. John Cleese should have invested in adult diapers before writing this film.

The story of how A Fish Called Wanda came to be is interesting in itself. Back in the 1970s and 80s, when John Cleese wasn’t busy with Monty Python or Fawlty Towers, he had co-founded a company called Video Arts, which created training videos for corporate clients (they were allegedly funny corporate training videos. I’ve not seen any, I can’t say). One of the directors for these corporate videos was Charles Crichton. Having Crichton directing corporate training videos was a little like having Scotty Pippen on your basketball team at the Y. In a past life, he directed films at Ealing Studios, including the Academy Award-winning The Lavender Hill Mob, generally regarded as one of the best British comedies of all time.

What was Crichton doing making training films? Well, look, folks, show business is a tough gig. You’re on top one day and the next you’re trying to spice up a video on how to file reports.

That said, John Cleese was certainly aware who he had on staff, and eventually he and Crichton started scheduling time to think up a comedy crime caper, which would eventually become A Fish Called Wanda. The plan was for Cleese to star and Crichton to direct. One catch: When the film was being pitched, Crichton was well into his middle 70s, which worried the money guys. In order to get the film made, Cleese agreed to be co-director. What did that mean for Cleese? Apparently not much! Cleese was open about not having any experience in feature film directing. He was basically there if Crichton keeled over during filming.

Crichton did not keel over. In fact, for the film Crichton (and only Crichton, not Cleese) was nominated for an Academy Award for best director. Don’t feel too bad for Cleese, he got nominated (along with Crichton) for an Oscar in the screenwriting category. Having landed on top again after years in the corporate training video wilderness, Crichton promptly retired and spent the rest of his life fishing. Good for him.

Plotwise, Wanda is a tale of heists and con-men and women, crosses and double-crosses and one barrister who somewhat befuddledly finds himself in the middle of it all. That could be Cleese’s character, Archibald Leach (film fans will recognize this name, and if you don’t, look it up), a bland tall legal type whose life is lower-wealthy-class boredom. That is, until he meets Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is not a fish, but is an associate of George Thomason, Archie’s client, who has been recently accused of a bank robbery involving quite a lot of diamonds. Wanda enchants Archie, because she is smart and looks exactly like Jamie Lee Curtis at her hottest. But, I think it should be obvious, Wanda has something on her mind other than climbing Cleese.

That’s enough of the plot. You just need to know that the people involved in the heist are all trying to screw each other, sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally. There is no honor among thieves, which is not great for any of them but is fabulous for us, because Cleese and Crichton, as screenwriters, put absolutely fantastic words into their mouths, and make them to grand and ridiculous things. For a movie that at least initially comes off as a small and maybe kinda square bit of British japery, things get weird fast.

A lot of that weirdness comes in the form of Otto, played by Kevin Klein in a bit of ego annihilation so complete that he won an Oscar for it. When I say ego annihilation, I mean no one who was concerned about their ego in any way could have played Otto as he did, as the ugliest of all possible ugly Americans and the platonic ideal of Dunning-Kruger. The first time I saw this performance, I just thought it was funny; in subsequent watches it becomes obvious just how much good work Kline is doing here. The scene where Wanda chews him out for messing up her assignation with Archie is a masterclass of facial acting. His words in the scene are good. What his face is doing got him that statuette.

Be assured, however, that Kevin Kline is not the only one engaging in ego annihilation here. None of the principals, who aside from Cleese, Curtis and Kline also includes Michael Palin, get out of this film with their dignity intact. Short of Melissa McCarthy shitting in a sink, I’m not sure another film has put so many of their actors through the wringer for a pile of laughs. It’s not about gross-out comedy (speaking of that McCarthy scene), it’s about the humiliation of their characters, unstiffening that stiff upper lip, in the case of Cleese’s character especially.

Which — confession time — is not the kind of humor I usually like! Cringe humor (the kind of humor that makes you cringe in sympathy for the embarrassment the characters are going through, not the kind of humor that is eye-rollingly corny) is actually one of my least favorite forms of humor. I think my sympathetic response for people making fools of themselves is too strong for me to enjoy the comedy of it. It mostly just makes me want to leave the room until the embarrassing parts are over. Not here, though, and I think it’s both the skill of the writing from Cleese and Crichton, and actual abandon to which the actors give themselves, that simply overrides my desire to curl up into a ball at their misfortunes. Wanda isn’t exactly farce but it’s near enough to it that, for me, at least, it’s inoculated against cringe.

Wanda remains one of the funniest films of all time, but it’s okay to note that 80s films are gonna 80s, and this film does that. The plot line about a character’s stutter was at the time and now continues to be the least successful attempt at humor in the film, and there’s a bit that Otto does that straddles the line for casual homophobia. Also, truly, if animal endangerment bothers you, go ahead and skip this one. You won’t be happy, even if I find at least one of those scenes one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in a theater. What can I say, I’m a terrible human.

I keep coming back to why it was this film made me almost pee myself in public. I think it comes down to the simple fact that very little about this film was what I had expected when I sat down to watch it. I figured it was going to be funny; after all it had a third of Monty Python in it. But I think I went in expecting to chuckle. This wasn’t Monty Python, it was by all indications just a standard issue mid-80s comedy, and again the first several minutes of the film gave the impression that was where things were going.

But then. And then. And then after that. It kept laughing in the face of my expectations, and I kept laughing in surprise. I just did not see it coming.

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/20/the-december-comfort-watches-2025-day-twenty-a-fish-called-wanda/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58812

I mentioned Exponentile a while back, and said I hoped I would let it rest. Well, I did get back into it, and played obsessively for a while.

I started playing in DuckDuckGo on my phone which doesn't save visited urls, and closing the tab each time so that I would have to type the url back in to continue playing. I've tapered off quite a bit, but still feel drawn to spend time in a low-stakes world with defined rules sometimes.

My high score is 114,184 and I generally don't get even close to that before the game ends. I think I got over 100,000 one or two other times.

I've had two 2048 tiles on the screen before, but today I got a 4096! I had two 512s, a space, and then two more 512s, and I managed to finagle a 512 to drop into the space. The 4096 glows like the 2048s, in light green with a reddish aura.

Is anyone else still playing, or have you moved on to the next fun thing?

This post brought to you by being completely wiped out at 7pm. Maybe all that running around has caught up with me. The concert last night was amazing, and I had a good conversation with a stranger waiting in line for the doors to open in the rain. Inside, I chatted with folks I know from choir or dancing. Feels good to be part of the community that way.

Got up a little late, had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed, and made it to my meeting on time, mostly by the luck that there was a 28 bus very shortly after I got to the stop.

The meeting was very good. People had brought treats. Then I went to the diner, driven by S with G as usual. I had my usual bacon, egg, and cheese on an English muffin, but with hot tea instead of iced coffee. It made a nice change.

Taking the bus home, I rode with G until I had to transfer to the 12. That was nice.

Coming home, I had two Christmas cards. One from Laurie, which I expected, she sends one every year. And one I thought at first was from Sue, but the address didn't look right. Looking at the picture on the card, I realized it's from one of the boys, at first I thought Ricky, but looking closer, I think Matt. The problem is it's only signed with the last name, so I'm not sure. But there's only two kids in the picture, and I'm pretty sure Ricky now has three, so I think it's Matt. I had no more of the cards I've been sending left, but I had a box of leftovers from a previous year, so I used one of those to send back to them. And the only name I used was mine, so no fear of making a gaffe that way.

But that's really nice. Three members of the younger generation sent me cards, Sara, Kristen and Matt. Kristen does every year, but Sara and Matt were a surprise. Very nice to be remembered like that.

Anyway, I put the cards up and then went on the Starsky and Hutch chat. I made it just in time for the tag ending to Little Girl Lost, the Christmas episode. I like the tag, it's nice.

Then we chatted until almost 6:00. We talked about many things, including Heated Rivalry, so I was able to rave about that a bit.

After we got off, I puttered online til 7 when I Teamed the FWiB. We talked for an hour and a half, though I got a phone call from mashfanficchick who wanted to tell me something.

Then at 8:30 we got off and I had dinner. Then I went to the bedroom and played solitaire til mashfanficchick called me to make plans for tomorrow. We talked for awhile. and then I got off and fed the pets and started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. My meetings and the people there.

3. Christmas cards.

4. Family.

5. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.

6. Plans for tomorrow.

Posted by John Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/20/two-homes-for-christmas-which-is-to-say-two-different-versions-of-the-same-christmas-song/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58807

I felt like trying my hand at a Christmas song, so I did “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” which was a big hit for Bing Crosby. First I did a pretty traditional version, and when I was done, I thought, why not mess with it a little? So I did a second version, with trap drums and lots of bass.

Here’s the traditional version:

Watch on YouTube

And here’s the NOT traditional version:

Watch on YouTube

I hope you enjoy one or both!

— JS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2025/12/20/two-homes-for-christmas-which-is-to-say-two-different-versions-of-the-same-christmas-song/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=58807

The collection opening will be delayed until January 3 at 11:59 PM UTC to give pinch hitters time to work on our remaining pinch hits. I'm opting for a longer delay this time because of the holidays and Yuletide: I'm sorry about the wait, but I think this will be better for timing.

I've updated the due date of the remaining pinch hits (they're now due January 2 at 11:59 PM UTC). Please comment on that post if you're able to take one. (Comments will be screened.)

Title: It Takes a Pack to Raise a Wolf
Pairings/Characters: Josh/Oliver, Muriel Landon
Rating: G
Length: 1k
Warnings: none
Summary: He needed a pack when he was nine years old, and he needs one now.

I challenged myself to write a story under 1k. Here it is.

( It Takes a Pack )

So, I finally managed to get around to watch Ncuti Gatwa's second Doctor Who season¹, and I think the fact that I actually managed to watch it already says a lot, even if I had to do embroidery while I did it.²

Non-spoilery review: There were parts that I really enjoyed, and which felt more like the Doctor Who that I love than anything in years, but this also had pretty much every single thing that I hated about RTDs first run.

( bulletpoints of random are spoilery )

XANDER: Ahh. Buffy and food.
WILLOW: Maybe we shouldn't be too couple-y around Buffy.
CORDELIA: Oh, you mean 'cause of how the only guy that ever liked her turned into a vicious killer and had to be put down like a dog?
XANDER: Can she cram complex issues into a nutshell, or what?

~~BtVS 3x03 “Faith, Hope, & Trick”~~

---

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

• 
• [Collection] 9 BtVS works for Fic In A Box 2025 (various ratings) by Unrevealed Authors
• [Collection] 2 AtS works for Fic In A Box 2025 (various ratings) by Unrevealed Authors
• Toucan (Xander/Spike, E) by scaryfangirl2001
• Show Me You Care (Buffy/Spike, E) by IlliterateUnicorn
• Christmas Together (Xander/Andrew, G) by WoebegoneFred
• The Witches Two: (Tara/Willow, Kennedy/Willow, Buffy/Spike, T) by TheLightdancer
• i like the way you kiss me (Buffy/Giles, T) by Skyson
• Much Ado About Something, Maybe? (Buffy/Spike, T) by I_cant_find_a_name
• 
• Riley the Vampire Slayer (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by ClowniestLivEver
• 
• With Love From Me To You (Buffy/Spike, PG) by Lilacsandorangeblossoms

[Chaptered Fiction]

• 
• Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 405 (jojo's bizarre adventure xover, T) by madimpossibledreamer
• 
• Another's Shoes, Chapter 3/? (Buffy, Scooby Doo xover, T) by PurpleMelpomene
• Road to Forever, Chapter 9/? (Buffy/Angel, not rated) by twiddle3
• You Make Slaying Fun, Chapters 27-28/? (Buffy/Spike, Xander/Anya, Tara/Willow, E) by cosplayermadness
• Miss Edith, Chapter 22/? (Multiple ships, E) by BeppiGirl
• Buddy the Vampire Slayer, Chapter 15/? (Angel/Darla, Angel/OC, not rated) by
• Girl's Girl, Chapter 11/15 (Buffy/Spike, Giles/Anya, E) by LadyInQuest
• A Hellmouth Christmas, Chapter 20/31 (Buffy/Giles, E) by The_Crazy_Knight
• Neighbors, Chapter 7/? (Buffy/Faith, Tara/Willow, M) by Miath
• The Pull of Darkness, Chapter 1/? (Spike/OC, Faith/OFC, Angel/Buffy, Drusilla/Spike, E) by prettylittletraitors
• 
• 19, Chapter 17 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Melme1325
• More Than Just a Slayer, Chapter 12 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by tempestt
• The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Place, Chapter 15 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by flootzavut
• Buffy and the Slayer - Season 3, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Sunnydale Sentinel
• Father, Lead Us Not Into Temptation, Chapter 7 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by YouCutYourHair
• Crack and Peel, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, PG) by violettathepiratequeen
• The Mistletoe Mishegas, Chapter 4 Complete! (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by Kenijo
• Harmony's Hanukkah Hit-List, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Kenijo
• 
• Which Chosen One, Chapter 1 (Buffy, Harry Potter xover, FR7) by Imperias
• 
• Dark Gift, Chapter 10 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Davidf89
• The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Place, Chapter 15 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by flootzavut
• Crack and Peel, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, PG) by violettathepiratequeen
• Harmony's Hanukkah Hit-List, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, R) by Kenijo

[Images, Audio & Video]

• 
• Gifset: Best of Season 1 │ Angel & Gunn (worksafe) by starryeyesxx
• Artwork: my boyfriends (Spike & Giles, worksafe) by brekindelo
• Artwork: slayerrrr & watcherrrr (Buffy/Giles, worksafe) by buffyannegiles
• Artwork: To add to my kinda random collection of btvs sketches: Drusilla (worksafe) by youlivhere
• Artwork: little doodle for a challenge on EF theme was “transformation”. And I wanted to draw spike as a kitty. (Buffy/Spike, worksafe) by blue-star-charmer-art
• Gifset: Buffy the Vampire Slayer – 1.08: I Robot, You Jane (Giles, Jenny, worksafe) by sophsun1
• Icons: Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy Summers in ‘Buffy, the Vampire Slayer’, S03E21 & S03E22 (1998) (worksafe) by gellaricons
• Icons: Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) - 3x21, Graduation Day (1) (Faith, worksafe) by buffyedit
• 
• Artwork: BUFFY LOOK OUT (Buffy & Vampire Pusheen, G) by LittleRaven

[Reviews & Recaps]

• 
• Episode 12: Prophecy Girl by The Bitch Is Back with Charisma Carpenter
• S2, Episode 1 When She Was Bad by The Bitch Is Back with Charisma Carpenter
• Rewatch: What's My Line One - Part 1 by Re-Vamped with Juliet Landau
• Rewatch: What's My Line One - Part 2 by Re-Vamped with Juliet Landau
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer S3E3 "Faith, Hope & Trick" Recap & Review (Major Slayage) by Major Slayage - A Buffy Rewatch Podcast
• 
• Huh? So I actually really liked Season 12 by Away-Staff-6054
• 
• PODCAST: Who Replaced All the Rats Already!? (BtVS S7E2) by It Stakes Two

[Community Announcements]

• 
• Season Two Rewatch Schedule (Part Two) by btvs-weekly-group-rewatch
• You may have noticed the tag on some previous reblogs and posts: faith lehane ep collection 1 by elizadushkudaily

[Fandom Discussions]

• 
• something that will always bother me is that cordelia never went to see wesley after the whole connor debacle by five-degrees
• the tragedy of Buffy Summers looking at Dawn, this innocent teenage girl, a mirror of who she could’ve been by femmedefandom
• Cause I’ve thought way too much about where the other Hellmouths could be in the Buffyverse by dancinginthesapphicmoonlight
• how does willow remember when dawn first started writing her diary when she was 7 by true-bluesargent
• There’s something that makes me go insane about how Tara is the only one who is able to see that “Buffy” (Faith in Buffy’s body) isn’t herself by honourablepranksinatra
• Saw a comment saying Spike didn’t love Buffy, he was just obsessed with her, among other things by fleursolaris
• In season 5, we do see Buffy struggling to truly let Riley in, and be her support in all the ways she needs by yourfandomfreak
• one reason I like and appreciate the Buffy and Angel interactions in the crossovers by yourfandomfreak
• I know that by the time season 3 was airing, they knew that Angel was going to leave at the end to be on his own spinoff by yourfandomfreak
• season 7 [...] is the world’s best idea for a final season big bad by rorykillmore
• Dawn was originally meant to be younger! by bakedspoonie
• 
• Oz... Wild At Heart by r401toronto
• How do you generally feel about Joyce as a character? Did you like her or are you not a fan of her character? by gloomydreamer666
• This show [AtS] hits me deep by Accomplished-Neck357
• My two-part hot take about [AtS] season 4 by SHough61086
• S03e10 Amends. Were The First always planned to be the series Big Bad? by HolocronSurvivor80
• what is your favourite and least favourite episode from the later seasons of buffy? by ProgrammerNo700
• Buffy: The Cliff's Notes by asophisticatedbitch

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

• 
• PUBLICATION: 25 Years Ago Today, Buffy Got Rid of a Controversial Character (And Their Return Would Eventually Be Great) by ComicBook.com
• PUBLICATION: Not Bringing Faith Back for the Buffy Revival Is a Big Missed Opportunity by DenOfGeek.com

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

Feeling a little accomplished? I got my new LEVOIT Humidifier set up in the living room. It covers about 600-700 sq feet of space. I was also able to set it far enough away from appliances, walls, and put a plastic foam yoga mat beneath it. It looks nice actually. Better than the fan I'd set up there previously - and is currently taking up space in the pantry closet. (I keep meaning to clean out that closet, but I can only do sections of it, and most of it - will just have to wait until the damn knee heals.)

Currently robot vacuuming, while my light Xmas lights twinkle. One may need a battery replacement soon. It's getting dark earlier now - although it feels like the same time? Around 4:50pm.

It's cold today, I guess? I've not been outside the apartment? But the sky was blue, and barely a cloud creased the horizon.

The shoes I bought mother - finally arrived on her doorstep, just in time for Xmas. But the paperback book that I bought her - has no delivery date and has yet to appear, and seems to be perpetually stuck somewhere in the USPS postal system. Annoying, but hardly worth fretting over - it was only $20. If it is never delivered, I'll get a refund. It's kind of amusing, that Amazon which started out as a book distribution organization - has managed to misplace a book.

Dreadfully behind on the Question a Day Mememage - so below:

December Question a Day Mememage

12. Do you have a range of different glasses for different types of drinks or just one type?

Not really. I tend to grab whatever is available for the most part. I have a couple of metal glasses, and a tall green glass, that I use a lot. But mainly I drink out of a variety of water bottles.

13. When you open your front door to a guest, what is the first item (apart from you!) that they see when they come inside?

The rug on the floor before the pantry door. I have a long foyer hall, with no real views of the rooms within, which I adore. Provide much more privacy than my old apartments did.

14. What’s your favourite type of biscuit/cookie? Ever made biscuits/cookies at home from scratch (for example at Christmas)?

Chocolate chip. Sometimes double chocolate chip. Yes. As a child, we made and decorated sugar cookies (don't any longer). Also about twenty different kinds of cookies.

Made chocolate chip all the time when I was growing up and well into my forties. I have some wonderful childhood memories revolving around cookie making. In recent years? I've made gluten free - which are harder to do well. Actually if you can pull off gluten free cookies that are low in sugar, and vegan - you are ahead of the game.

(Biscuits in the US - look like THIS.)

15. Do you have any maple syrup? What’s your favourite way to use it?

Yes. Pancakes

16. Do you still use post-it notes to remind you of things?

At work, yes, but not as often as before.

17. Do you use a tablecloth on your dinner table?

Don't own a dinner table [no room], so no.

18. Have you ever been ice skating?

Yes, many many times. But not recently. Not really a fan?

19. What’s the last thing that made you laugh out loud?

Buffy, I think? I've been rewatching. Actually something mother said on the phone.

20. Have you ever had to wear a neck tie?

Not that I recall - maybe once as a costume?

Title: Blizzards & Christmas
Fandoms: MCU
Pairings: Betty Ross/Darcy Lewis
Rating: Teen
Warnings/Spoilers: AU. Established Relationship.
Summary: It's Christmas and there's a blizzard out there.
Notes: Written for mcu100 prompt Winter Holiday & monthly prompt Betty Ross, adventdrabbles prompt Day 20-Santa, Is It Too Late To Good?, femslashfete prompt blizzard, mcu15 prompt winter, and 100ships prompt white. First try at the ship but I like it. ♥
[...mcu15 Table...] [...100ships Table...]


Blizzards & Christmas...

Number of Asian dramas/series: 40 (8 Korean, 32 Chinese)
.
Number of American tv shows or films: 1 (Ken Burns' American Revolution)
.
Number of concerts/musicals/operas I attended: 12 (7 K-pop, 3 classical, 1 musical, 1 opera)
.
I didn't track my reading this year. I likely read around a dozen new books.
.
I played hundreds of hours of video games, though.
.
Number of times the word K-pop left my mouth: 11,305,772 probably

I am reading a long fic right now
where two characters from different horror verses
get together and road trip and date and sort out their mental health a bit

and not one highly metaphorical demon and or ghost or anything has jumped out at them even the once.

Way to change genres.



And, way to make their canon actions look... so much more inappropriate.

Like if you can take time off from being jumped by The Horrors just by the story treating them like people for a bit
the horrors is you.


Like if it's honestly not a big deal to employ or work for demons and devils and so forth
and they'll just sit around and complain about London prices between work shifts
then the general level of ultraviolence towards them from protagonists
is
bad.


And I don't think the story quite means to say that
they're just taking a pause on the killing to do sex
which seems like reasonable story goals.

But if it is possible in universe then the characters are ... in a very weird position vs their own canon actions.




Not naming the story because like clearly this is an odd perspective to read it from
the romance story is about romance and it is weirding me out with social implications
is not the authors problem.



But still.

Title: can you find me?
Rating: Teen
Category: F/M
Fandom: Pokémon Black & White
Author: shroomy(y)star
Ship/Characters: Darach/Caitlin
Warnings: None apply
Word Count: 1431 words
Summary: Perhaps the only man in the world equipped to handle her, but she has decided that years ago, now it is on him to catch up.

ao3 | dreamwidth

1) In my last post I shared an article about dynamic grocery pricing, and how this was likely to hurt some who could least afford it. The issue of dynamic pricing leaped out to me in this article about Disney's shift to being a luxury experience. The author wrote:

"Over my three-decade-long consulting career, I saw industry after industry use this kind of information to shift their focus to the big spenders in its customer base. Banks, retailers, hotels, airlines, credit card issuers, manufacturers and universities all learned that their richest customers didn’t just spend more than the rest; they spent multiples more. Many companies found that if they didn’t focus on their richest customers, they couldn’t provide competitive salaries to staff members, increase returns to shareholders and attract capital to invest in new products. Whereas in the 1970s and before, the revenue driving corporate profits came from the middle class, by the 1990s it was clear that the big money was at the top."

At the same time, just because something's expensive doesn't mean it's any good. ( Read more... )

3) Saw the Pixar movie Elio and can see why it didn't do well. It's a take on The Wizard of Oz but was too focused on its theme and message to develop some of the other important aspects. ( Read more... )

4) greenfinch posted about a study on pop music showing a darker and more stressed turn in music. I had some issues with it. ( Read more... )

5) First posted at tv_talk, a Bloomberg News article discussing how sports acquisition will be the big driver to streaming services listed the biggest months for signups during 2025 to Apple+. The top 4 were all connected to MLB games leading with Dodgers vs. Yankees (May) 722K. The top series program was 'The Morning Show' with 524K. Slow Horses didn't make the Top 10 list, but then the data stopped in September, and its new season premiere was in October.

It's clear that Slow Horses is hugely popular as a streaming show. But apparently Morning Show is as well but isn't discussed nearly as much. Its writing is also very strong, it has a large cast, and some big names in the mix. Having just seen its 4th season, I can say it is also not slowing down in any way. If anything, the personal stakes for all the characters just keep going up.

To me, the most riveting episode was 4.8 The Parent Trap. The juxtaposition of Alex and Cory's polar opposites in parenting certainly made suggestions about how and why they turned out as they did, but it also connected to how the finale resolved the season. ( Spoilers )

This is the year-end category where I'm least likely to want to change my answers in the next week and a half, lol, so here we go.

Favorite new songs/albums of the year
- Cosmic Selector Vol. 1 by Lord Huron. Great vibes, a great progression, only one skip (“Digging Up the Past”). Dreamy and sad, suffused with existential horror, just weird enough both lyrically and musically. I wasn’t sure what I wanted from the new album, but this was exactly it. “Who Laughs Last” is probably my song of the year.

- Mayhem by Lady Gaga. When you're sixteen years into your career and can make a banger album like that this fits right in with your classics!!! The first six or seven songs in particular are an amazing run. “Perfect Celebrity” is probably my favorite, but it’s hard to choose.

- All the live tracks from the Oasis tour. I think this is the first officially released live version of Bring It On Down ever, and Wonderwall is the best live version since… idk, the one from Knebworth 1996 maybe? Or maybe ever? And this live version of Slide Away has finally brought me around on that song. Incredible stuff. (Full live tour album when???)

- "Van Horn" by Saint Motel. One of those songs I didn't really appreciate until I heard it live. Great fun. Also a couple of songs off their new album from the spring (as opposed to their new album for the fall).

- New Candys, which I stumbled across on Bandcamp. I got hooked on their single "Regicide", and the accompanying album The Uncanny Extravaganza is ideal "drowning out external noise" work music.

- All That We Imagine Is the Light, the new Garbage album. Some of the writing is a little dodgy, honestly, but the vibe is great. No Gods No Masters is still my favorite, though.

Disappointments
- I wish I liked Miley's new album more than I do. The tracks I like best are mostly her doing Lady Gaga, and that's not really what I go to Miley for.

- I discovered Dorothy Martin of the band Dorothy has gone full born-again Christian and is now giving interviews about spiritual warfare and the like. Bummer. We'll always have ROCKISDEAD, I guess.

Favorite new-to-me songs/albums
- This year I got really into the Monnow Valley and Sawmills versions of Definitely Maybe, which were released for the 30th anniversary last year. In some ways I like them better than the official album, or at least they've made me appreciate the official album more. Sad Song with young Liam on vocals is incredible, and I’m sad the official version left out that great electric guitar (bass?) hook.

- At the beginning of the year I had a month or so of listening almost exclusively to Doechii (mostly Alligator Bites Never Heal) and GloRilla (mostly Glorious and Anyways, Life's Great). Good times. TGIF is an all-timer.

Stuff I was really into for a hot minute and/or that I want to explore further
- Chat Pile and Hayden Pedigo through their collab album In the Earth Again. I love the contrast of the menacing electric guitars and Pedigo's contemplative, melancholy acoustic.

- Ethel Cain, maybe? Or maybe I just like “Tempest” a lot.

- The singles from Charli XCX’s upcoming Wuthering Heights-themed album. Brat didn’t do anything for me, but these are very much my jam. I love when a pop artist goes weird, like she does on “House.” My most anticipated release of 2026.

- That new Rosalia album. I think I need to spend more time with it to fully appreciate it. “Berghain” is a hell of a track, though.

- Jonah Kagen, mostly that single “God Needs the Devil,” which is exactly the kind of rootsy bitterness I like sometimes. However, his full album later in the year gave me bad politics vibes, always a hazard with Americana and country artists, so I don’t know that I’ll explore him further.

Some other favorite tracks from this year
“Problems” by Yonaka. That last bit leading into the chorus for the first time!! Gives me shivers.
“The Fate of Ophelia” by Taylor Swift. This song is NONSENSE but it’s so catchy.
“Lucky” by Renee Rapp from the Now You See Me 3 soundtrack. A classic bop. Apparently it didn’t even chart, which surprises me, but the charts were wacky this year.
“Song for Henry” by Loren Kramer from the soundtrack for On Swift Horses. You know, the angsty heartbreaker song playing over Julius and Henry’s first sex scene.

Old Favorites - stuff I already loved and continued to listen to a bunch in 2025.
Kendrick Lamar! His Super Bowl show reignited all my enthusiasm. I watched that thing so many times. This coincided with my Doechii/Glorilla phase at the beginning of th eyear.

Miley Cyrus's older stuff, especially her 2023 album Endless Summer Vacation. I’d have said Plastic Hearts was the one I really loved, and yet at this point I think I’ve actually listened to ESV more times. I guess maybe it’s the right mood for more situations than Plastic Hearts. It kind of wears down towards the end, and I find the last two songs unlistenable, but until that point it’s a basically flawless execution of the thing it’s choosing to be.

Oasis, lol. They were my top artist of the year yet again. Mostly the Definitely Maybe anniversary release and the live tracks, as mentioned above, but also according to Tidal I listened to the Knebworth 1996 live album a lot. I don’t even remember this.

Best lines - New or old, on their own or combined with the music:
- I got a burning feeling deep inside of me / And don’t know where to put it (“Who Laughs Last” by Lord Huron)

- You said you really don’t dream anymore (“Life is Strange” by Lord Huron)

…I probably just need to do a whole post about this album, huh. Does anyone else here listen to them?