Media Noms: 2025, The Year

Hi. Fuck 2025, what a shit year. But, we keep on keeping on, and I can’t deny there were some absolute bangers in the media sphere. There are things worth remembering, so here is my look back.

Also, I am only going over posts I wrote on Bloggy.fyi - so that’s only the past few months. Next year I will go over it all!

First and foremost, I launched Bloggy.fyi this year! Based on some anxiety about being on the job market and trying to contribute to the movement of decentralizing the internet, one small useless blog at a time. I love writing and, based on the observation from Corey Doctorow, writing publicly forces you to write better even about the same topic. So, a blog provides a creative writing outlet, lets me log my in-the-moment thoughts on all the media consume (RIP my short-term memory), share memories with friends and family, and forces me to be creative regularly. I love it and all of you should make a blog! Bring back webrings!!

I wrote 23 posts since October 16th of this year.

Most of those were Media Noms, which makes sense. It is the lowest hanging fruit and really exists to keep the pump primed for writing and create a consistent output for the blog. It also helps with long(er) form reviews that I write after completing a game or book. The unrefined thoughts provide emotional touchstones that I lose pretty quickly when I try to summarize 30 hours of gameplay or 10 hours of reading.

The posts I am most proud of are Steam Next Fest 2025, The Messenger, and Public Intimacies. I’ve never been a demo girl as they always feel like a loooooot of effort and I have a hard time jumping in and out of things. But this year was a big year for me getting into the demo ecosystem and I am really proud of myself for how many demos I got through and posted about - some of those games went on to Game Award nominations too. I think what makes me so happy about the demo articles are that it helped bring me into a moment. I was a part of the games discourse. The games I discovered on my own were now popping up on podcasts and YouTube videos. It’s been awhile since I felt a part of something on the internet. The Messenger was such an emotional moment in time for me that it felt so good to add even a little out on the internet praising the game and what kind of space and nostalgia it gives you. Public initimacies was the first and only “essay” on the blog that doesn’t deal with video games. I am hoping to have more of these reflective, emotional takes pop up in 2026.

I won’t take up too much space, but since October here are my media recs:

• Anime: The Apothecary Diaries - Look, is it basic? Yes. And, it has become a comfort show, which is such a rare phenomena nowadays, so it has to be this! I would also give an honorable mention to dystopian Alice in Wonderland-like, irreverent anime Dorohedoro!
• Movie: Chainsaw Man Movie: Reze Arc and Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein. Both are farely niche pics for people who don’t like anime or arthouse movies (yes, I know this really isn’t the right term). I am picking both of them not simply because they were my favorite movies (both tops of all time), but because I think they’re special for their genres. They could act as gateways for new viewers into the genres. If you like Chainsaw Man the Movie: Reze Arc, then you can go watch Your Name. If you like GdT’s Frankenstein, you can go watch Bram Stokers Dracula - also Boggy favs. I truly hope you give them a chance!
• Podcast: I’m not someone you should look to for podcast recs, but I had a surprising amount of enjoyment listening to The Verge’s Version History, aside from the one woman who was on the episode for who knows why. A Life Well Wasted Game Over and “Work*, but none of the others are great listens. Too bad the rest are god awful.
• Book: The Fingersmith. Yeah, I didn’t read many books this year, so this category won’t always be too surprising, but this book just rocks. It is a rollercoaster that is more pain than fun, and it really spends pages instilling this feeling. But, it’s different. It’s a fanfic that somehow tricked you into believing it is a higher class period piece. The ending provides enough relief to justify a few hundred pages of suffering, and the first 150 pages could be one of the better standalone fiction books I’ve read. If you are a girl who reads, this will be a good pickup no matter what.
• Manga: The Guy She Was Interested in Wasn’t a Guy at All aka TGSWIIWAGAA aka The Green Yuri aka The Green Comic. Volume 1 is an all-timer. The visual aesthetic became an industry trend (I see you Love Bullet, aka The Red Yuri). The show-stopping drawings make it wholly possible to understand the manga without ever reading a word. It’s special.
• YouTuber(s): Dream Jelly, Micro Four Nerds, and SecondWind are all channels worth checking out!
• Games: Okay, I am gonna cheat with this one and go the full calendar year. Mostly because I have been tracking all my game completion since winter 2023, so I can actually say with certainty which games I beat during 2025. According to my spreadsheet, I completed 8 games! Frustratingly, I have two games (Dungeons of Hinterberg and The Thaumaturge well over half-completed that I had prioritize job apps/graduation to put on hold). Of those 8, I recommend Dishonored and Citizen Sleeper. Dishonored is one of those special games that is for people who don’t do stealth. You can try it and if you don’t like it you can magical go kill everyone. It’s level design is excellent and it’s perfectly linear and closed levels make it really easy to play piece-meal. Citizen Sleeper is narrative excellence with simple mechanics and world design that punches well above its weight. It inspired me to write my own game, so how can I not highlight it?

Ultimately, I am really proud of how consistent I have been in writing for the blog. What I have learned as a creative is that if your goal is consistent creative output, then the bar has to go lower, not higher. Creatives feel an intrinsic pull to create. It’s in your heart. So, you will always find time and space for your craft no matter the conditions you are under. While it’s nice to set out on a journey to elevate your skillset sometimes, especially if your craft is relegated to hobby hours, having weeks or months of chipping away is what feels most fulfilling. So, 23 posts since I started up the blog is what I am most proud of in 2025. My goal for 2026 is to find a way to get more craft-related reviews on the blog. Hopefully a sign that I am crafting regularly again!

Thanks to anyone who poked around! I hope you found a new song or hated one of my reviews - that’s all I guarantee when you read a post :)