Happy New Year: 2025 Review!

Greetings, as difficult as it is to believe these are the final hours of 2025 and a brand new year of great opportunities and exciting experiences lies ahead. This year has absolutely flown in, as has the decade itself in which we are now very firmly in, and I’m leaving it behind with some fond memories. As usual, I’d like to send off 2025 with my top choices for entertainment that I reviewed on this site during the year. If you’d like to give a shout out to anything in particular that grabbed your interest these past 12 months, feel free to mention it in the comments.

Television Show of the Year: The Twilight Zone

A show so iconic that its very name became a shorthand for someone experiencing a bizarre or strange scenario that defies explanation. The first incarnation of the science fiction and horror anthology series ran from 1959 to 1964 and was presented by the always smooth Rod Serling. 156 episodes were broadcast in that time and I’d be hard pressed to mention any that irked me as the level of quality was fairly high throughout its run. Being a black and white show certainly dates ‘The Twilight Zone’ but it also adds to the bountiful charm it has as does the number of old high profile actors or actresses who made appearances.

Book of the Year: Joyland

Published in 2013, this is a short and sweet novel straight from the mind of Stephen King. This one might be easily lost among the sprawling bibliography of King’s but I found it enthralling nonetheless. The story follows an early twenty something called Devin Jones in the summer of 1973 as he tries to forget his cheating ex-girlfriend and attempts to hold down a summer job in an amusement park. This isn’t any ordinary amusement park as there had been a grisly murder of a young woman in the Horror House attraction a few years prior. It is rumoured that the ghost of the woman occasionally appears at the site of her unhappy end.

Game of the Year: Minecraft

The Swedish sandbox game from 2011 which took the world by storm and didn’t let up. It still retains its crown as the bestselling video game in history to this day as countless players roam their custom maps, building the expansive structures of their imagination. There are no shortage of players who have needed to battle against Creepers, Zombies and Spiders, to name a few of the deadly enemy AI, only to end up losing their hard earned items once slain. This is one game that will continue on well into the future as it constantly reinvents itself with new updates every few years.

Film of the Year: Duel

Released in 1971, ‘Duel’ is among one of Steven Spielberg’s first forays into directing and is a clear indication that he had a bright future ahead of him. With a small cast of characters, Spielberg is able to conjure up a tense movie about a driver trying to survive a cat and mouse game with a trucker who has a bad case of road rage. The lead character of David is played by Dennis Weaver while his deadly adversary is never fully revealed as the audience only catches glimpses of him. After watching this one, some viewers might think twice about overtaking a truck any time soon.

There we have it! We have reached the end of the blog update and the end of the year. I’ll be enjoying a bit of a break after something of a busy period these last few weeks but I’ll soon be hard at work on my next update for the site in January. I’ll also be tending to some future Write Wise entries that are already being planned out as you read this. Those should prove to be enjoyable additions to an ever growing bibliography. I’m hoping that 12 months from now we will all be looking back on a prosperous and significant year. Have a happy New Year and a great 2026!

Quote of the Day

These go to 11.

Nigel Tufnel

This is Spinal Tap

Merry Christmas 2025!

Greetings, this is just my usual post wishing you a Merry Christmas as the big day is only one sleep away. Have a great day tomorrow and hopefully you’ll get all the presents you are wishing for. I’m already looking forward to drinking copious amounts of mulled wine, tucking into some good food and snacking on more sweets than I should. Falcon’s blog will be back on New Year’s Eve with the traditional annual round up.

Quote of the Day

Sorry. Checkout lines were worse than rush-hour on the 95. If I heard "Silent Night" one more time, I was gonna start taking hostages.

Dana Scully

The X-Files

Minecraft

Greetings, ‘Minecraft’ is a sandbox game from 2011 which needs no introduction. It was developed and published by Mojang Studios with Swedish designers Markus ‘Notch’ Persson and Jens ‘Jeb’ Bergsten being cited as the main creators. Despite being released 14 years ago, the game is still receiving major updates as of last year. Few games can be considered as equivalent or boast of the same colossal cultural impact this one has had. It is the bestselling video game of all time with over 350 million copies sold as of 2025 and 140 million active players were running around in 2021, most of which would probably skew younger in age ranges. A large part of ‘Minecraft’s’ appeal is the chilled out instrumental score by German composer Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C148, which is instantly recognisable even years after not having emerged oneself in the game.

The idea behind the game is as simple as it is addictive and it can be played in either two modes. Those modes are ‘survival’ and ‘creative’ which can be played as a solo experience or co-operatively. In the former, players are given free rein to explore effectively never ending maps, extract resources from the world around them, craft items based on the acquired resources and build structures that are only as limited as their imagination. While out scavenging, players will have to satiate their hunger and avoid being killed by the vast array of dreaded monsters, such as the explosive Creepers, that mainly come out at night. There are other mobs in the game that are neutral or willing to trade with players such as the oddly proportioned race known as Testificates while others, such as wolves, can be tamed and assist the player.

As if seemingly infinite maps weren’t enough, there are also other dimensions such as the Hellish realm known as the Nether which has many flowing rivers of lava or the End. Both of these dimensions are accessed through portals and have unique mobs of their own which are often hostile. Venturing through the End dimension and slaying the Ender Dragon roaming within causes the credits to roll so ‘Minecraft’ arguably has a simple story connected to it and a proper finale. After defeating the winged creature, players respawn in the same map to play on as long as they wish to. The aforementioned ‘Creative Mode’ removes any dangers to the player and provides them with an inexhaustible supply of every resource as well as gives them the ability to fly. It is very much intended for players who just want to create buildings.

‘Minecraft’ has spawned urban legends such as the ghostly Herobrine said to be lurking within the game, launched the Youtube careers of many notable internet celebrities and has its own fan conventions that draws in significant numbers. There are also several spin-off games such as ‘Minecraft: Story Mode’ which was published by Telltale Games in late 2015 and early 2016. In addition, it had its own panned movie adaptation released this year with Jack Black and Jason Momoa among the primary cast. ‘A Minecraft Movie’ plagued the internet for a few months with awful memes and was infamous for the atrocious behaviour of young fans causing disturbances in many cinemas. Unruly children who enjoy it aside, there is much to like about ‘Minecraft’ and I’ve whiled away many an hour mindlessly and therapeutically mining away in the depths of its worlds.

Plot= 5 /10

Characters = 5/10

Graphics = 6 /10

Overall = 8/10

Quote of the Day

I am your number one fan. There is nothing to worry about. You are going to be just fine. I am your number one fan.

Annie Wilkes

Misery