Holiday Post 2025: What the heck happened?

Welcome to the fourth and last post in the 2025 holiday posts series. For me, being Puerto Rican, I am still in the holidays spirit well into January. In fact, as I am typing this,  Tuesday was Dia de Reyes (Three Kings Day) in Puerto Rico and much of the Hispanic world. In Puerto Rico we keep going with  "las octavitas." So still plenty of holiday cheer to go around. The weather has been between seriously cold and unseasonably warm this winter season so far. I do appreciate the warm days as it makes it easier for me to do my morning runs, but I am also aware it may be a sign of climate change getting worse. Best I can do is take it a day at a time. 

In this post, I take a look at what happened in 2025. Boy, I thought 2024 was a pain in the ass, but damn, 2025 is a year I am definitely glad is gone.  2025 was a year I made sure to stay up to midnight not to celebrate but to make sure it got the fuck out of here. Not that 2026 is looking any better given that I woke up on Sunday, January 4th, 2026, logged into social media only to see people ranting about the Pendejo In Chief invading Venezuela (story via CBC) and kidnapping President Maduro. This will most likely make it to the top events list when I write the "what the heck happened?" post for 2026 next year. To be honest, as I am looking over the articles I am compiling for this year's summary, and I look back at the 2024 post, heck, 2024 is starting to look like a picnic compared to the hellscape of 2025, and sadly, it is not going to get better anytime soon.  

 

Top news events of the year

•  Once again, the year that was is on track to be among the hottest on record. Al Jazeera reported 2025 was on track to tie for the second hottest year on record. 
• Truthout also covers the story of the 2025 top rank as one of the hottest years.  
• Time Magazine named the "architects," also known as the rich tech bros who threw money in, of artificial intelligence, better known as AI Slop, as their "person of the year."  Story via BBC, but it has been covered in a few places. 2025 certainly feels as the year when those assholes really put in the effort to shove AI Slop into anything and everything. Sadly a lot of people, including some who should know better, keep falling for their scam machines.
• For Counterpunch, 2025 was the year the U.S. stopped giving a fuck about democracy. From what I have read and learned, I think the U.S. never gave a fuck about it, or gave it lip service at most, but last year the American Empire did go into full overdrive.  

 

What the heck happened? 

(Big news overviews) 

 

 

For 2025, I did not find much in terms of the usual big news summaries, like CNN for instance, or I did not find them as interesting, pretty much the same. What I did find was a variety of smaller and niche summaries of the year looking at a variety of topics, so here is a selection of what I found to help us recall what was going on, especially besides the usual. 

• In technology, 
• As if AI Slop was not bad enough, there are also hackers and cyberattacks. The Street looks some of the cyberattacks of 2025. It is the sort of stuff that makes you wish you could just go off the grid. 
• The Verge offers their tech year in review, and of course, AI Slop figures prominently. This is a podcast episode you can listen to.
• Truthdig notes that 2025 was the year that tech bent the knee to Trump. I think they did more than just bend the knee. If you have not figured it out by now, the article explains how Big Tech was never liberal; they just kept a good mask on until now where we all can see them for the predatory assholes they really are.
• Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) presents The Breachies, the worst data breaches of the year.  
• EFF also has their 2025 in review feature. 
• In climate and environmental news, Grist notes that 2025 was the year the U.S. said fuck it on any efforts to address climate change while the rest of the world steps up as they see they need to do without the United States. 
• Despite all the awful stuff of 2025, the United Nations points out we did have some good health advances in 2025.  
• Type Investigations highlights their 5 must-read stories of the year.
• Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has their most read posts of the year. Their summary: "The rise of authoritarianism was the big story of 2025, and the censorship that goes along with it. The resistance to the dismantling of democracy continues to be underreported. The power of tech bros looms. And Israel/Palestine continues to be the greatest international concern." 
• Pro Publica offers their most read stories of the year and their 25 investigations you may have missed. Some good stuff here.  
• Dissent Magazine also lists their most read stories. 
• Mother Jones offers their list of heroes and monsters of 2025, and boy did we have quite a few monsters this year.
• Speaking of monsters, Counterpunch looks at the year that was 2025 in ICE abductions and abuses. Please note the story came out before ICE killed that woman up in Minnesota at the start of 2026.
• Despite that, Counterpunch somehow managed to find 10 good things that happened in 2025. 
• FactCheck.org looks at the "Whoppers of 2025." No, these are not burgers. These are the big lies of the year, in other words, a sampling of politicians talking.   
• Open Secrets has a wrap up for 2025, and if you are interesting in topics like following the money this may be for you.  
• The Daily Yonder has their rural year in review.  
• Washington Blade has their top 10 LGBTQ+ national news stories.  
• In libraries and library science, LIS News has their 10 stories that shaped 2025. Yes, AI Slop made this list too. 
• In higher education. 
• Inside Higher Ed has a list of 16 nonprofit colleges that closed or died off in 2025.
• Impact of Social Sciences looks at the culture of academic publishing in 2025 and they look at research in the age of AI. 
• In science.
• Knowable Magazine offers their top science stories of the year.
• Brujula Verde (Spanish language source) offers their 24 extraordinary archeological discoveries that amazed us.
•  Finally, here is what I often consider the best end of year wrap up, and that is the Rude Pundit's annual haiku end of year event. He has people submit a haiku over a few days, and he publishes them on his blog. The haikus are great brief summaries of what happened in the year and how people respond. I always enjoy reading these. 
•  One haiku after another.
• Wake up haiku man. 
• No other haiku. 
• House of Haiku. 

 

 

A bit from around the world  

 

• From Latin America: 
• Task Force on the Americas has their 2025 in review. 
• From Puerto Rico, Centro de Periodismo Investigativo has their list, in English, of their most read investigations for 2025.  A lot of local corruption along with abuses from the gringo colonial overlords went on.
• From Puerto Rico, La Perla del Sur reports that 2025 ended on the island with 426 homicides based on police reports.  
• Across the pond in the United Kingdom, Freedom News (UK) reports that "2025: A gilded year for the right, hubris fulfilled on the left."  
• Washington Blade lists their top 10 LGBTQ+ international stories.  
• The Walrus (Canada) has their 2025 year in review from around the world.  They also report on the year in business, or as they say, a year without money (well, for the rest of us), and they managed to find some things to bring us joy. 

 

 

Film, music, and television

 

 

While I do enjoy media, I am not obsessive about keeping up with the newest and latest. I will add that these days a lot of media comes out of the paid streamers, and since I do not subscribe to any of those, I just go on blissfully with my life. Usually I know enough of what is in film, music, and television to be aware. Like yes, I am aware such a show exists, but that may be about it. So looking over these lists helps me see in a quick glance what has been coming out and making waves for some people over the year. If any of you is a fan of anything that came out or was chosen this year, let me know. Maybe I will check it out. 

• Movies and film. 
• Here is Rolling Stone's list of best 25 movies. From the list, the new at this time Frankenstein and Weapons are the only ones I've heard about. I'd heard of Eddington only because I've seen it featured on some YouTube folks' worst films of the year list. 
• Rolling Stone also ranked their best horror films. Naturally, Frankenstein and Weapons made this list too. Sinners is the one I keep hearing about; I am a bit skeptical as I am not a fan of the "one actor playing twins" gimmick, but a vampire film does make me curious enough to seek it out down the road. 
• Out Magazine offers a list of 11 top LGBTQ+ films of the year.  Only film I heard about from the list was the Wicked sequel, and probably because it is mainstream enough many, including me, would not have thought of it as an LGBTQ+ film. I also learned there is another remake of Kiss of the Spider Woman. 
• The Detroit Metro Times just lumped their lists of best films and television together, so here ya go.
• And we need to have at least one worst movies list, and UPI delivers it. Aside from the Minecraft Movie, which has gotten panned in other places, the rest of the list items I had not heard about until now.
•  Television.
• Here is Rolling Stone's best television list.  Most of the stuff is from streamers because to be honest legacy television ain't putting out much worth a damn. From the list I've heard of Andor, mainly because Star Wars in social media often won't shut up about it. The other show on this list I've heard about is The Pitt, again, because folks on social media keep yapping about it. At times this is a reason I don't feel much of a need to seek out articles on a movie or show. Social media folks, if it is a big deal to them, will keep talking it up. If it sounds good, I look it up and add it to my list of things to watch. If it does not interest me, I had the title to the filter list on social media to not see it again. 
• Variety also has their best TV shows list.  There is a bit of overlap with the previous list, but not much. 
• Out Magazine has their list of best LGBTQ+ shows for the year.  
• If reality TV is your thing, Reality Blurred has their list of the best reality TV for the year. They provide a small overview of the year, and the author notes the list is from shows they actually watched. To be honest, aside from a cooking show here or there, reality TV is just not my thing, and most of these again are on streamers. But feel free to comment and make a case why I should watch one of these shows or not. 
• Music.
• The Guardian lists 50 best albums.   
• Variety has their list of best albums too.    
• Rolling Stone has a list of best Latin and Spanish language albums. 
• Out Magazine has their list of best LGBTQ+ albums and their list of best songs. 
• Louisville Public Media offers a list of 10 best classical music albums.  

 

 

Books and reading 

I already did a holiday post on books and reading, so this covers some lists I found interesting that I may have missed and/or came after that post, plus some trivia about books and reading. On a side note, let me mention that I will be writing and posting my end of year reading list and report later this month on this blog, so stay tuned to see what I read in 2025.

•  Literary Hub presents the 29 best (old) books they read in the year. Everyone always does the best books they read in the year, and they are usually books published in that same year. This is a nice idea for a change. There are a few really old books here and some interesting choices. 
• Inquest has their year in books. From this list, I have read This Book is Free and Yours to Keep (link to review). 
• Gizmodo had 20 authors pick out their favorite books of the year in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. 
• The Comics Beat has their list of best comics of the year.  
•  Not every book is great or good, and Steve Donoghue lists his worst fiction of 2025. Do you agree? Have you read any of these? Feel free to comment. 
• Literary Hub also has a list of the most scathing reviews of 2025. 
• Claridad (Puerto Rico, Spanish language) looks at the vices and virtues of end of year book lists. They also list some books in Puerto Rican history and culture. 

 

 

Adult and risque 

 

 

If this is not your thing or interest, you can just scroll down to the final category.  I do enjoy some adult entertainment, and I find the trivia around it interesting, so here are some stories from the adult entertainment and porn world. 

•  Pornhub released their annual trends report, which among other things reveals details like top online searches on various topics. Unfortunate for me, Kentucky is one of those retrograde states pushing for privacy violating age verification, which I am not doing, but if you live in a better state you can see the report. Highlights from the report can be found at Pride.com, at AVN, and XBiz. 
• For gay folks, someone sorted out their top 5 gay sex positions.  Via Pride.com.
• Clips4Sale gets a bit into the "word of the year" with their fetish of the year, which was gooning. You can read more about it and see their list of other growing fetishes for the year on their blog.  Hat tip to AVN. 
• In awards, via AVN.
• The 2025 Adult Empire Awards announced  “which honor the best and most popular stars and movies on the award-winning platform within a given year."
• The 2025 Femdom Awards announced.

  

 

Miscellaneous

 These are stories that did not fit any of the categories above and/or just random trivia.

• Contenders for "word of the year."
• Dictionary.com named "67" (whatever the hell that was) as their word of the year. Story via ABC (US).  
•  Macquarie Dictionary went with "AI Slop" for their choice. Story via ABC (Australia). 
• Merriam Webster kept it short and chose "slop" as their word of the year (story via NBC).  
• The venerable Oxford Dictionary decided on "rage bait."  Given how angry the year was I would say this is a pretty good choice.
• The Conversation has an overview of words of the year, highlighting some of the above a few others. A common theme they saw is digital disillusionment.  
• Best video games. I suppose I could have put these up with the other media, but they did not quite fit for me. Video and computer games are not an area I really keep up with. I do enjoy a game here or there, but I am pretty much seriously casual in my video and computer gaming, so these stories help bring me up to speed on the topic. 
• Here is Rolling Stone's list of best video games for 2025. Apparently this was a pretty good year given there were a lot of releases. They list 25 games. A few are sequels of classics, but to be honest most of these I did not hear about until I read the article. 
• The Toronto Sun has a list of 10. At least three titles here overlap. 
• Maxim offers a list of their top 20.
• In photography, My Modern Met offers 45 photos from around the world.
• In liquor and booze: 
• Maxim has their list of  "The Best American Single Malt Whiskeys Of 2025."
• Drinkhacker offers "The Top 20 Whiskeys of 2025."
• The Drinks Business looks at  "The biggest drinks acquisitions of 2025."
• Marion Nestle has a food politics roundup for the year.
• The Pen Addict shares "Stationery Things I Learned In 2025." 
• Teen Vogue sums up the "11 Biggest Celebrity Breakups of 2025."  
• Quartz highlights a report on  "The 8 richest families in the world." You know, the rich assholes making life hard for the rest of us. 
• Some anarchist reading.
• Top posts from Polar Blast.
• Top posts from The Slow Burning Fuse.   
• Deaths of the year.
• The Toronto Sun's In Memoriam. (video segment) From this list, for many I am sure Pope Francis passing was the highlight of the year. There are a few folks I missed that said to myself omg they died this past year. Ozzie Osbourne was a hard one for me this year. For me, Dick Cheney and Charlie Kirk fall into the good riddance category. 
• Out Magazine has a list of  "16 LGBTQ+ celebs who passed away in 2025." 
• Literary Hub lists "Notable Literary Deaths in 2025."

 

Predictions for 2026

 

A fluffy cat with a cloth on head, necklace, and crystal ball. Text: Let me check my crystal ball.

 

 

Predictions was a new category I added to this in 2023. People love to make all kinds of predictions about new year, and I found quite a few. This year I am breaking this down into trends, you know the pundits, experts, and gurus who tell us what to expect, and into esoterica where we look at things like astrology, Tarot, and other esoteric ways to predict what will happen. 

Trends:

• Metro (UK) has a list of predictions (slide show) based on Old Moore's Almanac. Extreme weather will continue in 2026 is one of their predictions. That seems straightforward enough. 
• Quartz predicts prices will keep rising as they look at what is likely to cost more in 2026.  To be honest, this one is not predicting much that we do not know already like rising grocery and utilities pricing. 
• Fitch Ratings expects higher education to keep deteriorating. Story via Higher Ed Dive. This is another prediction that seems more like it's already happening.
• Al Jazeera looks at "all the big elections to look out for in 2026" including the 2026 midterm elections in the United States, where we will see if gringos finally get their fucking act together or if they keep going down the abyss.
• Not quite a trend, but maybe we can make it a trend and care for our mental health in 2026. The San Juan Daily Star has a list of  "9 ways to take care of your mental health in 2026."   

Predictions and looking at the future: 

• On an interesting note, Metro (UK) went back to see if their resident soothsayer, dubbed "The New Nostradamus," got their predictions right or not from 2025. For 2026, he is predicting the Ukraine and Russia war will end. He also predicts the AI bubble will burst. I admit I can see that bubble bursting, but not quite sure yet if 2026 will be the year for it, so we will see.
• From Om Times.
• Their 2026 Tarotscope forecast. I read my sign, and it looks pretty good. 
• Their 2026 astrological overview.  It foresees a rise of spiritual warriors, and given the Hard Times I can certainly hope. 
• Lisa Eddy of Angelorum offers "2026 Astrology: Complete Horoscopes for All 12 Zodiac Signs." 
• From Theresa Reed, the Tarot Lady.
• She has her ultra-deluxe superfly astrology guide for 2026.  
• She also figures out the Tarot card for the year.  This is a universal card, but you can also figure out your own individual card; this is usually based on your birth date. I probably should check mine for this year, but I digress. 
•  Collective World has "What Each Zodiac Sign Should Be Excited About Going Into 2026."
•  Teen Vogue has "2026 Astrology Guide: Retrogrades, Eclipses, and Tarot Card Pulls for Your Zodiac Sign."
• Finally, I did a small Tarot spread for 2026. It is not predictive, but more a bit of advice and lessons to keep in mind in 2026.  

 

 

 

 

Deck Review: Serpieri Tarot

Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri (artist) and Pietro Alligo (writer), Serpieri Tarot. Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2022.  ISBN: 9780738773100.  (link to Llewellyn, US distributor)

Genre: Tarot decks

Subgenre: Serpieri art, science fiction, erotica

Format: card deck with little white book in tuck box

Source: I own this one. 

Before I go on, a content warning. This deck does feature nudity and some fairly explicit scenes. If that is not for you, feel free to skip this deck and stop reading this review and move on elsewhere. You can check the blog's tags on the right side column. The "Tarot" tag features reviews of books and decks in Tarot. You can also check for reviews by publisher as I assign a tag to each publisher that I review one of their books. 

Still interested? Keep on reading. 

 

The Hermit-IX

This deck features the art of Italian artist Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri. He is known for his work in comics about science fiction and western stories. His female curvy figures are also well known including his heroine Druuna. This deck integrates all of those elements. If you are a fan of his art, you may want this deck as a collector. If you like science fiction with a bit of neo-western and post apocalyptic style, this may be a deck for you as well. 

The deck comes in a tuck box with the 78-card deck and a little white book (LWB). 

Typical of the Lo Scarabeo, the publisher, the LWB comes in four languages: English, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. The LWB includes: brief artist biography, a look at his art and how it connects to Tarot, the Major Arcana, and the Minor Arcana. The Major Arcana entries feature card name and number, a keyword, and a paragraph for interpretation. The interpretation includes some description of the images and symbols. The Minor Arcana entries are thinner with a main keyword, then additional keywords and a phrase or two. The LWB ends with a short statement on the symbolism of sex and nudity in the deck and Tarot. Given the rich art and setting of Serpieri's work, it is a pity the publisher did not commission a full companion book. 

The cards' art can work intuitively. If you do know Serpieri's work, you may be better able to appreciate the deck. You can still work with it if you do not know the art beforehand, but you may want to do some research to supplement. Thus this is not a deck for beginners. As an intermediate cartomancer, knowing the basics of Tarot helps. The deck has some nods to Rider Waite Smith (RWS) system, but a lot of it does not; it does its own thing. All in all you can read with it, but you do have to do some work and learning. I am good with that, but your mileage may vary. 

I love the science fiction somewhat post-apocalyptic art. It is a strong style, very expressive. Colorful in mostly light tones. Grey tones predominate a bit. Female figures are curvy, buxom at times. As I mentioned, there are some erotically explicit images. I like those images fine, but they are not your thing, or you are a prude, this is not the deck for you. I feel like this can be a good deck to use during the Hard Times. I will have to explore that further. 

Overall, I love the deck but the overall package falls a bit short. The LWB is seriously minimalist. The card themselves are great. While I do recommend it, I do so with the caveats I've already mentioned. Still glad to own it. 

4 out of 5 stars, for the overall package.

Holiday Post 2024: What the heck happened?

Welcome to the fourth and last post in the 2024 holiday posts series. For me, being Puerto Rican, I am still in the holidays spirit well into January. In fact, as I am typing this, tomorrow is Dia de Reyes (Three Kings Day) in Puerto Rico and much of the Hispanic world. In Puerto Rico we keep going with  "las octavitas." So still plenty of holiday cheer to go around, even with today's serious winter storm going on in our area.  In this post, I take a look at what the heck happened in the previous year, and boy has 2024 being a royal pain. Last year, I thought 2023 had been a hot mess, but apparently 2024 took that as a personal challenge to be worse. Anyhow, I will also add some predictions and outlooks for the new year, and we'll see how things go from there.

 

Top news events of the year

•  The top news in the United States has to be that the Pendejo In Chief was re-elected  (via Reuters) to the presidency. You'd have thought that being a convicted felon, among other issues, may have kept him from public office, but as a man wiser than me once wrote, and I paraphrase, never underestimate the empowerment Americans feel in being able to say fuck you. It did not help that Kamala Harris did not exactly run (via BBC) a brilliant campaign against him. In fact, at one of those times she was visiting Michigan and Dearborn, MI, which has a big Muslim community that she managed to alienate (see Reuters here and Al Jazeera here), I said it would likely make things difficult for her, and sure enough. And while the post-mortems on what the Democrats failed to do came out pretty much right away, you can already tell they will not learn anything. I've lived in the States long enough to know the Republican Lite party is notorious for snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. The bottom line is we are in for a rough four years ahead. 
• And while folks fuss about the election and its results, the climate continues to break heat records in weather. Story via The Daily Climate. I honestly do not see much hope of anything being done about this. Between the robber barons who don't give a fuck and a society that just let's them get away with it, it will just keep getting worse. 
• NPR reports as the Atlantic hurricane season ends that the season was the deadliest in nearly two decades. 
  

 

 

What the heck happened? 

(Big news overviews) 

Graphic with a big question mark. Text: What happened?

 

 

•  Here is UPI's overview of top stories for 2024. Their highlights include the U.S. elections, wars, and the clusterfuck that is now Boeing. 
• Vox considers "what really matters in 2024" for their annual review. Among their highlights are the rising bird flu epidemic (the one no one in the U.S. seems to be concerned about. Anyone feeling deja vu in light of COVID-19?), the rise of AI, and the insurance CEO shooter. Now that last is a story that will stay with us for a while as the shooter has basically risen to become a folk hero. I don't think I need to explain why. The article also does a bit of looking back at previous years to see what if anything from previous time we still remember. 
• ABC News looks at the stories "everyone was talking about" in 2024, at least according to them. Among their highlights we find school shootings, hurricanes, and the insurance CEO shooter. 
• FAIR (Fairness and Accountability in Reporting) has their most-read stories for 2024. This includes some of the usual for last year line of "the economy is fine, look at the numbers you ungrateful peons," which for me boils to asking the wrong questions. But, as I often say, I am not a pundit nor play one on TV. 
• ProPublica also has their list of most read stories for 2024. Unlike FAIR's list, this list is a bit more balanced and realistic. Among their topics, we get stories on American militias, the company that helps insurance companies deny you coverage (and then some folks wonder why people want to free Luigi), and the fraud of Walmart's financial services. 
• The Root has their list of worst Black moments of 2024. I usually avoid stories with slide shows, but I figured this topic was worth a look. Among the highlights are some notable deaths including James Earl Jones and Nikki Giovanni. 
• Religion News Service has their list of top 10 religion stories of the year. Among the highlights, the Roman Catholic church had their Synod on Synodality and the United Methodist Church actually did something constructive and overturned their ban openly LGBTQ+ clergy and same sex marriages. There is also a story about what could be my dream job: being a (Roman Catholic) church approved hermit. This particular story is better because the hermit recently came out as being transgender, and the church so far is going along with it. 
• If you are in Texas or have an interest in Texas, the Texas Observer has their list of most-read stories for 2024. One or two of my four readers may recall I did a sojourn in Texas. It being Texas we get stories on government corruption, Neo Nazis, and Christofascists. 
• In keeping it rural, The Daily Yonder has their year in review. Among their highlights was a story on queerness in rural areas. They also highlight some rural prison journalism and some environmental stories. 
• In higher education and academia, according to Inside Higher Ed, it was a year of closures and mergers.  
• Colossal has their list of top articles of 2024. If you want to read a few things on topics like arts, this may be for you. 
• RAND Corporation, the think tank, lists their big policy stories for 2024. Topics include competition with China, education, and the rise of AI. 
• ABC News at the billion-dollar disasters of the year. We are talking natural disasters, not fuckery like the 2024 elections in the US.
  
• In photography:
• For some humor, My Modern Met has a list of amusing photos that won the Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards. 
• Reuters has a 2024 in photos feature. It highlights a lot of floods that happened in 2024. 
• Religion News Service has their list of photos of the year.
   
•  JStor Daily lists their most popular stories for the year. Want to read something other than the usual news, this is a good option. 
• And we wrap up this part with the Rude Pundit's annual tradition of haikus for the end of the year. 
• Part One. 
• Part Two.
• Part Three.
• Part Four.
  

 

A bit from around the world 

 

•  The Walrus has "2024: Year in Review." This list of stories has a more international perspective and offers stories about the rest of the world because no, contrary to what gringos think, it is not all about the U.S. Topics here include women in Afghanistan, dissidents in India, and mass market mountaineering (this you may want to read). 
• My Modern Met offers a list of 45 best photos from around the world in 2024. Check this out to see some beautiful photos. 
• Reporters Without Borders reports on the many lost lives of journalists covering war zones and repressive regimes around the world.

 

Film, music and television

An old time movie projector

 

Though I stay aware about media through reading about it, media is not really something high on my list of priorities. I am very much a reader, and I prefer to read books and articles over watching and/or listening to film, music, television, and other media. As I have written before, I tend to enjoy the comforts of watching or rewatching older media than worrying about whatever the heck is considered the latest. Yet in order to stay informed, in part because I am a librarian, I do read on the topic, and thus I take time to look over the annual highlight in film, music, and television. I am sure my four readers have probably experienced some of the things listed, so feel free to leave me a comment with your favorites, or perhaps which ones to avoid. 

• Film. Since I gave up going to movie theaters years ago, movies and film is not an area I worry too much about. I read enough to know what is in theaters, plus in social media people often can't shut up about whatever they're watching in theaters or streaming, so I manage to stay informed. For me, I usually watch stuff when it makes it to physical media, so I can borrow it from the library, or much later find it on a free streamer like TubiTv. Anyhow, let's see what others considered good or not in 2024. 
  
• Sojourners lists their top movies of 2024. From their list, I had heard of Furiosa (the Mad Max movie), Dune: Part 2 (I am waiting to watch this once it is complete, and I may want reread the book), and Conclave. 
• Rolling Stone always has lists of pop culture items in various categories. Here are their 10 best horror movies for 2024. I admit that aside from the new remake of Nosferatu I had not heard of any of these movies on their list. From their list, the South Korean film Exhuma is the one catching my eye. On a side note, I do enjoy international films, and I have often found some very good selections on TubiTv. Exhuma is the kind of thing they might pick up down the road. 
• UPI offers a list of "2024 worst movies." A lot of these are pretty much remakes, rehashes, and other recycled material no one really asked for, but the studios said fuck it and went for one more cash grab only to fail at the box office and/or critically.
   
• Music. This is certainly an area I do not follow very much, so I make this list to remind myself of what is out there and maybe find a thing or two to listen. I'll be honest. I pretty much stayed within my decade of the 1980s, and outside of that, the things I like are few and far between, but I am happy when I do discover something new to me that I end up liking.
  
• Associated Press has a list of 2024's best new holiday albums. I probably should have highlighted this story sooner. Some are new, some are reissues such as Toby Keith's 1995 Christmas album making the rounds again; the man passed away in 2024. List overall combines new albums with some reissues. 
• Among their end of year lists, Rolling Stone has their best country music albums and their best Spanish-language songs for the year. 
• The Guardian lists their best global albums of 2024. 
• Teen Vogue lists 15 best non-English albums of the year.
   
• Television. Yes, I am aware of the various television shows out there. No, I do not give a hoot about most of them, but if they bring you joy, go for it. There are one or two shows I am amazed are still on the air, especially in the reality television genre, but it is what it is. I tend to take comfort watching old favorites. This month, for example, I am rewatching the Granada Television Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett. For newer things, I just keep an eye out, and if they are good and get a DVD release, I may borrow from the public library. Anyhow, let's see what everyone else seems to be liking or not.
• Decider has a list of the saddest cancellations in television in 2024. I was not sad but apparently some people were. Most of the items on the list were apparently on pay streamers that I just don't have nor care about, so that is probably why I missed them and did not care. I see the first responders drama/soap opera genre, a la Third Watch (which I recently rewatched on Tubi) is alive and well on the list. If they're good, I may catch those down the road or not. No rush here. So, were you sad about any of these? Feel free to comment and give me reasons to seek out any of the shows listed, or warn me away from them. 
• Reality Blurred lists what they consider the best reality TV of 2024. This is a selection of what the author has watched. Article also gives a bit of an overview of the reality TV landscape for the year. Most of these to be honest I could not care less and there are at least one or two I never heard of, and I am at peace with that. I am a bit amazed Survivor is still hanging on. They also have a list of best true crime documentaries for the year. That list I may need to check out as I do like true crime now and then. The article is part of their "best evidence" series where they look at true crime in various ways. You can find a link for the "best evidence" series at top of the article.
  

 

Books and reading

I already did a holiday post on books and reading, so this covers some lists I found interesting that I may have missed and/or came after that post, plus some trivia about books and reading. On a side note, let me mention that I will be writing and posting my end of year reading list and report later this month on this blog, so stay tuned to see what I read in 2024.

• Via Literary Hub, the most scathing book reviews of the year. 
• Religion News Service has a list of their top picks in religion and spirituality. From their list I am currently reading White Poverty.
   

 

 Adult and risque

A nice woman wearing light blue lingerie, next to a Christmas tree, holding up a present. Pin up style

 This is where you can feel free to scroll on down if it is not your jam. But if it is, read on. 

• Pornhub revealed their top searches of 2024. I live in a retrograde puritan state that Pornhub said fuck it and blocked access, so you can read the summary in The New York Post. Post article includes link to the report if you live somewhere other than a shithole Christofascist state. 
• Clips 4 Sale, based on their data, finds that "chastity" is their 2025 Fetish of the Year. The NY Post has a summary if you prefer. Not my jam, but if it makes you happy and everyone consents have at it.
  

 

 

Miscellaneous

These are stories that did not fit any of the categories above and/or just random trivia.

• Word of the year, depending on which dictionary you ask.
• Cambridge Dictionary chose the word "manifest." Via Reader's Digest. 
• Dictionary.com chose "demure." Via ABC News. Apparently we can thank a couple of Tik Tok folks for that one. Whoop dee doo. 
• Oxford University Press chose "brain rot." Story via CBC. That one seems pretty applicable for the year and going into 2025. 
• Merriam-Webster settle on "polarization." Story via AP. Another very relevant word for this year and going into 2025. 
• FactCheck.org presents their 2024 FactCheck Awards. This looks at some unusual, odd, and/or cheeky political ads for the year. They also have a list of the Whoppers of 2024. Yes, there was a lot of lying and bullshit from public figures, so what else is new? 
• In more awards, EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) looks at the worst data breaches of the year.
  
• 2024 was a year that you could not get away from AI no matter how hard you tried, and it seems to be getting worse as we go into 2025. The Verge offers an AI year in review. 
• The Root looks at the wildest political moments of 2024. No, the Pendejo In Chief making a comeback is not the only wild moment. Among the highlights, remember JD Vance's "childless cat ladies" comment? 
• Google reveals their top search trends for 2024. Story via The New York Post. 
• Mother Jones has their list of Heroes and Monsters for 2024. 
  
• What is a yearly summary without a list of notable deaths? 
• The Latin Times has a list of notable deaths. This list features celebrities, public figures, and others. It does have quite a few names you might not have seen in other lists. Among the lost here: Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball, Roger Corman, the American B-movies master, and Ratan Tata, Indian industrialist and head of Tata Group. 
• The Root looks at Black celebrities that died too young in 2024. 
• Religion News Service looks at faith leaders who died in 2024. Most of these folks did some good, but as often happens, there is at least one asshole on the list. 
• For the pagan community, they are facing the deaths of pagan pioneers and elders. Via Religion News Service.
  

Predictions for 2025

Predictions was a new category I added to this in 2023. People love to make all kinds of predictions about new year, and I found quite a few. This year I am breaking this down into trends, you know the pundits, experts, and gurus who tell us what to expect, and into esoterica where we look at things like astrology, Tarot, and other esoteric ways to predict what will happen. 

Trends: 

• Nieman Lab has their predictions for journalism in 2025. Some of these seem a bit optimistic, such as publishers figuring out that AI is not that lucrative, but we will have to see. 
• In his last show of the year, late night show host Jimmy Kimmel makes some predictions for 2025. Article includes link to the video clip. Via Daily Beast. 
• Quartz offers a list of predictions from various hoity toity people like bankers and bitcoin "experts." 
• Vox does something a bit different. They went back and looked at the predictions they made for 2024 to see which ones came true and which ones did not. Out of 24, they missed 10, so they got a bit more than half right. Among the predictions they got right: The Pendejo In Chief's return to the White House, climate getting hotter (I think that was kind of a low fruit given the climate patterns), and that Mexico would elect a woman for president.
  

 

Predictions and looking at the future:

A fluffy cat with a cloth on head, necklace, and crystal ball. Text: Let me check my crystal ball.

 

•  Reader's Digest presents some horoscopes for 2025. 
• From Teen Vogue: 
• Their 2025 horoscopes by astrological sign. 
• Their 2025 horoscopes based on the best songs of 2024. Not sure how well or not this works, but the idea caught my eye.
   
• Via OM Times: 
• Their 2025 Tarotscopes. You get a Tarot card for each Zodiac sign. 
• Their numerology overview. This year the number 9 is prominent. 
• Want to know how your pets may do in the new year? They got Pawscopes for 2025.
   
• Lisa Eddy, of Angelorum, offers "Angelic Tarot Wisdom for 2025" and also discusses the significance of 2025 being a 9 year. By the way, 9 is the number of The Hermit in Tarot. On a small side note, I consider The Hermit-IX one of my personal cards. Her post includes a Tarot spread you can try out.
  
• Theresa Reed, The Tarot Lady, has her "Ultra-Deluxe Superfly Astrology Guide for 2025." This has just about everything you may want to know about astrology in the year and then some more. This includes things such as dates, retrogrades, and other astrological details. This may be one to keep handy. 
• I did a small Tarot spread for New Year 2025. Feel free to check it out.
   

 

Holiday Post 2023: What the heck happened?

Welcome to the final post in my holiday posts series. Now, while many Americans have already left the holidays behind, for me and my family last Saturday was Dia de Reyes (Three Kings Day) in Puerto Rico, which we celebrate modestly at hom, and that is followed by "las octavitas."  So there is still plenty of holidays cheer and celebration to go in our household. At any rate, this week I am looking back at what the heck happened in 2023, plus adding some predictions and outlooks for 2024. Not that 2024 looks any better based on the hot mess that was 2023 (literally and figuratively). So let's get this post going. 

Top news events of the year

• As mentioned above, 2023 is now the hottest year on record thanks to the climate change and global warming that fuckbagels insist to keep denying. Story via Al Jazeera. In fact, various news outlets towards the end of the year covered the story somehow. 
• The other big news event is that the United States continues breaking records. This time, mass shootings in the United States hit their highest level since 2006. Story via The Hill. Go USA! 

 

What the heck happened?

(Big news overviews) 

 

• The Atlantic has their "Top 25 photos of 2023." 
• UPI has their "2023 in review." Among the highlights are war, as usual, climate change, a new monarch in Great Britain, and the Pendejo In Chief getting indicted, but somehow stays on the public view. 
• NPR offers their "biggest international stories" of the year.
• In pop culture, VICE has a list of the "203 Biggest Pop Culture Moments of 2023." Among the highlights I missed: a kid singing with a goat, something about teenagers and feet, and something about the MET Gala and a cockroach. 
• The Chronicle of Higher Education looks at the year in higher ed. 
  
• In something a bit more specific, LISNews has their list of "Ten Stories that Shaped 2023" in terms of libraries and library science. 
• For the LGBTQ community, I'd say it was a mixed year. Stories via The Advocate.
  
• On the one hand, there were moments that made history in a positive way. 
• On the other hand, it was the worst year for the community in terms of bigoted LGBTQ legislation in various states.  

• The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) offers their 2023 in review. A lot of things happened in terms of the Internet and technology. Among the highlights: surveillance, AI, and consumer privacy.
• For the first time, if memory serves me right, I have an item in esoterica. Benebell Wen has written an overview of the "State of the Tarot Union."  Wen looks at the Tarot and divination industry and some of the players in it. If this is of interest, this look at the landscape is worth a read. 
• Finally, the Rude Pundit offers what I consider one of the greatest end of year wrap ups with his end of year haikus, where he invites his readers to submit haikus that sum up the previous year somehow. When I see him post this, I always say I am going to submit a haiku, and then time gets the better of me. Maybe next year.
  
• "Haiku Review 2023: American Fiction." 
• "Haiku Review 2023: No Reason to Believe Maybe This Year Will Be Better Than the Last." 
• "Haiku Review 2023: The End."
  

 

 

A bit from around the world

• Global Voices has a year in review focused on the Caribbean, and climate change was one of the big concerns in the region.
  

Film, music and television

I do this part mainly to help me keep up with things in pop culture and media. Recent media is not a thing I follow with any consistency. To be honest, I tend to prefer comfort watching of older films and television series. Add to this that I am just more of a reader. Given the choice between watching something and reading a book, I am more likely to pick the book. But in order to stay informed, I look over pop culture news and publications. Here are then some highlights for the year. 

• Film.
• In movies, let's be honest, this was pretty much the year of Barbie and Oppenheimer. Were there other movies? I am sure there were, but I can't quite recall. As for the big two, I have not seen them; I may get to them when they come out on DVD. We'll see. So rather than look at the usual best films, here is a list of the worst movies of 2023 according to The Mary Sue. I do not recall hearing about any of the movies on this list, and I do read a good amount of news sources, so that may also explain why they are the worst of the year.

• Television. I don't keep up with movies much in part because I stopped going to movie theaters years ago, and again, I tend to favor older films and comfort watching. As for television, there is just so much stuff that I just don't bother. It takes a lot to get me interested in some new television show. The fact television is so fragmented now into streaming services does not help the cause either. I have no interest in paying for different streamers. What we get in terms of television at home works well for us, plus I do use FAST (free ad supported streaming) sites like Tubi, which lately has done pretty well in terms of content I find interesting. Besides, there are so many good older things that are widely available that I don't feel the urge to go hunting the new stuff everyone else raves about. Add to that I can get stuff on DVD from my public library, and I am set. Anyhow, here is a look at some of the stuff on television that I most likely did not see nor miss. 
• Reality Blurred has their list of best reality TV shows of the year. 
• Vulture has a list of the "best anime of 2023." Now this is a list I need to look over again and see what I would like to watch down the road. Anime is one of the genres I enjoy greatly.
  

• Music. 
• I know Taylor Swift was Time Magazine's Person of the Year for 2023.
• Also the gays of Grindr declared Beyonce the "Mother of the Year."  Story via Rolling Stone. Not, it is not for her maternal instincts nor parenting. In this context, "mother of the year" is defined as “'a woman who’s iconic and constantly serves cunt.' And for Gen Z, 'serves cunt' means “Bold. To the point. And overall extravagant.” 
• Rolling Stone always does various end of year music lists. For me, I often look over their "best Latin albums"  of the year.
  
• As happens every year, there were some Christmas albums, and The Big Issue ranks some of them.
  

Books and reading

I already did a holiday post on books and reading,  so this covers some lists I found interesting that I may have missed and/or came after that post, plus some trivia about books and reading. On a side note, let me mention that I will be writing and posting my end of year reading list and report later this month on this blog, so stay tuned to see what I read in 2023.

• Earlier in the year, Comics Beat had a list of "45 best manga for fall 2023." I figure this is a pretty good list to find some new things to read. From the list, Betwixt: a Horror Manga Anthology caught my eye mainly because I tend to like anthology works, but there are a few other titles I will be looking up. If you like manga, it is likely you may find something to read on this list too. 
• Want more manga? The Manga Critic has their list of best and worst manga of 2023.
  
• Literary Hub has their "10 Biggest Stories of the Year." It was a year when books got pulled off shelves, they got banned, and one or two other controversies. 
• Literary Hub also has a list, incomplete by their admission, of notable literary deaths in 2023. For me, the one that stood out was Rachel Pollack who died on April 7. 
• The Associated Press looks at 2023 in books. Naturally banned books and artificial intelligence (AI) made the list. Oh, and author Salman Rushdie was stabbed by some asshole.
  
• Publishers Weekly has their top 10 library stories of 2023. Again, book bans are a big deal in 2023. Also, the fuckery of the publishers suing Internet Archive made their list. Let me use that as a reminder that my boycott against those publishers and their imprints continues. I will not spend a penny on their works nor will I review them if I can avoid it. I make the disclaimer because due to work, I may have to purchase something for the library here or there (can't control that). Anyhow, you can read my blog post for details. I hope to write a reflection on the boycott down the road as it has been almost a year of the boycott. 
• NetGalley is one of the services I use to find ARCs (advanced reader copies) of books to read and review on this blog as well as books to consider for possible library acquisition. They have published their list of most popular books for the year. The list is based on members' activity on the site and related to the books. 
• NPR looks at the books checked out the most at public libraries.
  

 

 Adult and risque

This is where you can feel free to scroll on down if it is not your jam. But if it is, read on. 

• The Adult Entertainment Broadcast Network (AEBN) has published a run of popular online searches in adult topics for the end of 2023. This is based on keyword searches across their websites. If you like trivia, trends, numbers, so on, their main trends page has all sorts of articles. 
• Speaking of trends, Dr. Dick's Sex Advice writes about "the hottest sex trends to know about in 2023." Some pretty good advice here so you can get, enjoy, and manifest the sex and intimacy you may want in the new year.
• Dr. Dick also highlights a report from Google on their "top sex questions asked in 2023." He also comments on the questions and offers some clarification as needed.
  
• Adult Empire, an adult entertainment and retail company, has announced their 2023 Award Winners, which may be of interest to fans. Story via Adult Video News (AVN). 
• The Advocate looks at Grindr's report on sexual preferences and trends in the LGBTQ community. The report is based on the app's user data. The article includes a link to the full report. 
• Finally, and always interesting, sex blogger Bacchus of Eros Blog does their 2023 retrospective of their best posts for the year. 

 

 Miscellaneous

These are stories that did not fit any of the categories above and/or just random trivia.

• Word of the year. Well, we have some options. 
• Merriam-Webster declared "authentic" as their word of the year. They also have a list of additional words that stood out in 2023, which may remind you of some of the events and fuckery that happened during 2023. 
• Dictionary.com chose "hallucinate" as their word of the year. 
• Oxford University Press, owners of the Oxford English Dictionary, decided on "rizz" for their word of the year. Note that "rizz" is also one of Merriam-Webster's highlighted words for 2023. Story via The Hill. 
• However, the best word for this year has to be Cory Doctorow's recently coined term to describe the hellish shithole the Internet has become: "enshittification." The American Dialect Society chose it as their word of the year, and boy does the term really reflect 2023 and the current state of the Internet thanks to spammers, scammers, corporate fuckbagels, and other assorted greedy assholes.
  

• Speaking of enshitiffication, if you wonder why the U.S. Congress and government are such a mess, well, one reason are lobbyists doing their best to bribe (oops, cajole, beg, plead, offer a free private jet flight, and at times outright write legislation that they get their legislators to present and pass on their behalf among other things).  The Hill presents thus their list of "Top Lobbyists 2023." Lobbyists can include, but are not limited to, "corporate lobbyists, hired guns, association leaders and grassroots activists." If you wonder why regular Americans can't seem to get a break from the government, you can thank these deep pocketed folks running interference. 
• Google has put out their 2023 Year in Search.  Find out what people were searching online last year. The site includes archives to the previous years, going back to 2010. 
• In the Bad Economy, The Hill looks back at the major retailers that went out of business in 2023. Pundits keep saying the economy is good and things are getting better, but I am sure these defunct businesses may beg to differ. Among the casualties were Bed, Bath, and Beyond (although they still operate online) and a retailer called Tuesday Morning that I had never heard of until I read this article. To be honest, The Hill article is not that big a deal despite the impression they are trying to give. I was expecting a bit more blood and mayhem.  
• VICE reports that 2023 is the year animals fought back. For starters, recall those orcas sinking yachts. Go #TeamOrca. 
• Religion news: 
• Religion News has their top stories of 2023. They also highlight Humanists International Freedom of Thought Report for 2023. 
• The Other Sarah McLaughlin writes on "2023: This Year in Blasphemy." A lot of religious fuckery happened, and this post looks at it month by month. 
•  Not a good year for driverless cars as Quartz highlights "12 of the biggest failures" in that industry.
• In pop culture, video games, and other media, Kotaku has their "10 Biggest Stories of 2023."  Among the highlights something about unintended vaginas in a video game and Pinkerton detectives raiding a YouTuber's home over some trading cards. 
• More in tech and media, The Verge has their year in review also. 
• Guttmacher Institute looks at state policy trends in 2023, especially in light of the Roe v. Wade overturn. 
• Interested in business research? Harvard Business School's Working Knowledge has their 10 most popular stories. Naturally, there is some stuff on AI, but also other things such as time management. 
• Speaking of AI, Business Insider has a pretty big list of the top names in AI for the year. 
  
• In spirits and alcohol, Spirits Business lists their top news stories of the year. Among the highlights were vodka and other spirits boycotts, lawsuits, and tequila keeps on growing. 
• The most downloaded iPhone app in 2023? Tech Crunch reports it was Temu the shopping app. 
• Internet Archive reports on the works joining the public domain in 2023. 
• Closely related, in the sense of things publicly available, Public Domain Review lists their top 10 most read pieces for 2023. If you like curious and interesting things, such as gin drinking, sex magic, and ether dreams, this may be a list for you.
  
• UPI highlights the celebrities that died in 2023. Among those we lost are Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, Jimmy Buffett, and Gina Lollobrigida, who was 95 at her passing.  
• 2023 featured some lies, misinformation, and bullshit from politicians and public figures, and FactCheck.org has their list of "The Whoppers of 2023." 
• Want something a bit different to read? The Reprobate has a list of their 10 hottest hits for 2023. 
• Torrent Freak also has a list for 2023 in review of stories they covered. 
• On a bit of library trivia, Overdrive, a service libraries often offer for e-books and other online media, reports a very good year in terms of circulating items in libraries.
  

 

 Predictions for 2024

Predictions was a new category I added to this post last year. People love to make all kinds of predictions about new year, and I found quite a few. This year I am breaking this down into trends, you know the pundits, experts, and gurus who tell us what to expect, and into esoterica where we look at things like astrology, Tarot, and other esoteric ways to predict what will happen. 

Trends: 

• Axios looks at geopolitical threats as the biggest issue for the economy for 2024. They are highlighting a report where they ask investors and other financial analysts what they worry about for the next year. 
• For journalism, Nieman Lab offers predictions for 2024. 
• HBS Working Knowledge has their 10 Trends to Watch Out For. This is for the business folks mostly but also for those of us just paying attention and trying to stay informed. A couple of these may be a little questionable. 
• Meanwhile, for higher education, Higher Ed Dive offers 7 trends to watch for in 2024.
• Food trends? Axios has you covered there too. Get ready for things like pickles, Korean food, and camel milk among other things. 
• In the end, the best warning may well come from that comedy sage Lewis Black, who looks back at what he is grateful about 2023 and warns that 2024 will suck. That about sums it up. (YouTube video). Hat tip to Daily Beast.
   

 Predictions and looking at the future:

 

• Very often, news organizations ask a psychic to weigh in on how the new year may come along.
•  Fox News brought in a psychic who drew Tarot cards, including drawing a one card (Five of Cups) for the Pendejo In Chief. The outlook was not good for him. Story via The Guardian.
  
• Meanwhile, Baba Vanga, a Bulgarian blind mystic often known as the "Nostradamus of the Balkans" made some predictions. Story via The New York Post. Oh, I should mention that she died over 25 years ago or so, but apparently she made a bunch of predictions before her death, including a few for 2024. There is a bit of everything here. 
• In astrology.
• Yoga Journal presents "The Most Important Astrological Dates of 2024 and What They Mean to You." For example, there are four eclipses listed for 2024. 
• Pure Wow also has an astrology report for 2024. This offers five major themes and then a snapshot by Zodiac sign. 
• Into numerology? Om Times has your numerology forecast.  
• Interested in Tarot?
• Om Times also has a Tarotscope for 2024. This offers a look through Tarot at every Zodiac sign, drawing a card for each sign with interpretation for general advice, love, work, and finances. I will just say the card they drew for me is pretty spot on. 
• The Wild Hunt presents a Tarot Prospectus for 2024. They select a single card for every month of the year. An interesting detail is that they use a card from a different deck every month. 
• Finally, I did a small Tarot spread for 2024. This is a small reading from me to my few readers and the community at large. Feel free to check it out.
  

If you made it this far, thank you for reading and stopping by. I hope 2024 is a good year for you despite some of the predictions and outlooks. May you find abundance, prosperity, peace, and love in the year ahead. Paz y amor.