Input 2025
Since 2021, I've recorded every Book, Film, and Television series I've seen each year.
Here are the best and worst of my Inputs for 2025.
Books
In 2025 I read 22 books. I read many more paperbacks this year than in previous years (59%), as well as a few Audiobooks, Ebooks, and 2 books which were a mix of both Audio and Ebook.
Four of the books I read this year were Matt Dinniman's Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which I'm having a good time with. Pulpy, funny, and heartwarming. A little too far on the crude side at times (for my taste at least), but if you can handle some rude references, I highly recommend it.
I also enjoyed reading Douglas Adams' all-time classic five-part trilogy, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Many laugh out loud moments.
Book of the Year: Lola in the Mirror by Trent Dalton
This was my second Dalton read, after Boy Swallows Universe, and it doesn't disappoint. Though lacking in some of the maybe, sorta-kinda, fantasy elements from his first book, it paints a picture of Brisbane (warts and all) in a very real, very relatable way. It's a must read for anyone who lives in Southeast Queensland, or plans to visit.
Runner Up: Isles of the Emberdark by Brandon Sanderson
Sanderson is finally writing a Science-Fiction Cosmere future and I love it.
Wooden Spoon: Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Sorry Austen fans. I just couldn't get into it. The pacing was staggered, the characters inaccessible, the plot meandering.
2025: All Books
| Title | Author | Format | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wind and Truth | Brandon Sanderson | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Lola in the Mirror | Trent Dalton | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Orbital | Samantha Harvey | Audiobook | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Ross Poldark | Winston Graham | Audiobook | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The You You Are | Ricken Hale | Ebook | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Dungeon Crawler Carl | Matt Dinniman | Audiobook | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Booth | Karen Joy Fowler | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Game Master’s Handbook of Proactive Roleplaying | Jonah & Tristan Fishel | Ebook | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| One Speck of Truth | Caela Carter | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Carl’s Doomsday Scenario | Matt Dinniman | Mixed | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Jews of Khazaria: An Exercise in Absurdity | Luana Fabri Goriss & Bina Reisz | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Life You Will Live | Ben Tanny | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️ |
| Sense and Sensibility | Jane Austen | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️ |
| The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook | Matt Dinniman | Mixed | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Restaurant at the End of the Universe | Douglas Adams | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Life, the Universe and Everything | Douglas Adams | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| So Long and Thanks for All the Fish | Douglas Adams | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Mostly Harmless | Douglas Adams | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Isles of the Emberdark | Brandon Sanderson | Audiobook | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Gate of the Feral Gods | Matt Dinniman | Ebook | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Last House on Needless Street | Catriona Ward | Paperback | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Book Count per Year Medium Count per Year
₆₀ │ ▂ ₃₀ │
₅₀ │ █ ₂₅ │
₄₀ │ █ ₂₀ │ 🎧 🎧
₃₀ │ ▃ █ ▃ ▄ ▂ ₁₅ │ 📖 📖
₂₀ │ █ █ █ █ █ ₁₀ │ 🎧 🎧
₁₀ │ █ █ █ █ █ ₅ │ 📖 📖 🎧
₀ └─────────────── ₀ └──────────📖────
₂₁ ₂₂ ₂₃ ₂₄ ₂₅ ₂₁ ₂₂ ₂₃ ₂₄ ₂₅
Film
In 2025 I saw 31 movies (10 fewer than last year). Of these, 32% were seen in a cinema, 39% at home on tv, 23% on a plane, 1 on my MacBook, and 1 on my iPhone.
I didn't have much time for the golden oldies. 57% of the films I saw were new releases, and 71% released in the last three years.
Film of the Year: Victoria, directed by Sebastian Schipper
Oh. My. Fucking. Goodness. Never have I ever been so close to the edge of my seat that I fell off entirely. I had to pause this film and come back to it multiple times because it was just SO INTENSE. In such a good way. This one-shot film is criminally unknown, it was recommended to me by a friend who worked on it. That said, it's won all sorts of awards in the indie and European film scenes.
I cannot recommend this film to you strongly enough.
Runner Up: The Fall Guy, directed by David Leitch
Not everything has to be indie art, okay? Don't judge, I love a good action flick. This was fun, ridiculous, and had a great late-act reveal.
Wooden Spoon: Zombies 4
A 12 year old begged me to watch this. I deeply regret it. Stay as far away from this franchise as you possibly can. You do NOT want to be infected.
2025: All Films
| Title | Year | Format | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sonic the Hedgehog 3 | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️ |
| Mufasa | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Star Trek: Section 31 | 2025 | TV | ⭐️ |
| Captain America: Civil War | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Moana 2 | 2025 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| We Live in Time | 2024 | Plane | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Conclave | 2024 | Plane | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Fall Guy | 2024 | Plane | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Free Time | 2024 | Plane | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Victoria | 2015 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Exhibiting Forgiveness | 2024 | Plane | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Gorge | 2025 | iPhone | ⭐️⭐️ |
| The Killer | 2023 | Plane | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Vermiglio | 2024 | Plane | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Thunderbolts* | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Fountain of Youth | 2025 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| F1 | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Schindler’s List | 1993 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Star Trek | 2009 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Dark Knight | 2008 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| One Battle After Another | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Official Release Party of a Showgirl | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️ |
| The Dark Knight Rises | 2012 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Zombies 4 | 2025 | TV | ⭐️ |
| The Princess Diaries | 2001 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Fantastic 4: First Steps | 2025 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Predator: Badlands | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Wicked: For Good | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| The Running Man | 2025 | Cinema | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| All of You | 2025 | Laptop | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Eenie Meanie | 2025 | TV | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Film Count per Year Cinema Visits per Year
₈₀ │ ▅ ₄₀ │ ▁
₇₀ │ █ ₃₅ │ █
₆₀ │ █ ₃₀ │ █
₅₀ │ █ ▃ ▁ ₂₅ │ █
₄₀ │ █ █ ▄ █ ▁ ₂₀ │ █
₃₀ │ █ █ █ █ █ ₁₅ │ █ ▁ ▁ ▆
₂₀ │ █ █ █ █ █ ₁₀ │ █ █ █ █ █
₁₀ │ █ █ █ █ █ ₅ │ █ █ █ █ █
₀ └─────────────── ₀ └────────────────
₂₁ ₂₂ ₂₃ ₂₄ ₂₅ ₂₁ ₂₂ ₂₃ ₂₄ ₂₅
Television
In 2025 I watched 26 seasons of television, across 17 different shows, comprising 220 episodes. That's 4.2 episodes of television each week (down from 5.5 last year). Of these episodes, 19% were Poldark, a great historical drama, which we replaced Outlander with. An additional 14% were Slow Horses, which we also binged.
Television Season of the Year: Severance (Season 2)
An all-time great mystery thriller. Season 1 won my "Television Season of the Year" award in 2022, and this season built on the first in strange and exciting ways. We started with so many questions, and it seemed like every time we got an answer, we were served another question to go with it. I loved engaging in the meta-show, too: the podcast speculation and reddit fan-theories that happened between every episode, and The You You Are by Ricken Hale, an in-universe tie in self-help book.
Runner Up: Pluribus (Season 1)
Despite a slower pace (which, honestly, is a kind of nice change in modern television), Pluribus took a mind-breaking premise, and built on it. The less said, the better – there's so much about this that's easily spoiled – but if you haven't yet seen it, prepare for a slow-burn descent into something strange, dark, and ambitious. I highly recommend the official Pluribus podcast, too, which is a behind-the-scenes, making-of kind of show.
Wooden Spoon: Upload (Season 4)
Talk about stretching a premise. This show should have ended two seasons ago. It's a bit of a guilty pleasure, but it's also very stupid. Thank goodness there were only four episodes.
2025: All Television
| Title | Season | Episodes | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| What If…? | Season 3 | 8 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Outlander | Season 7 | 16 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Dark Matter | Season 1 | 9 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Severance | Season 2 | 10 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Mythic Quest | Season 4 | 10 | ⭐️⭐️ |
| The Studio | Season 1 | 10 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Your Friends and Neighbors | Season 1 | 9 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Poldark | Season 1 | 8 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Side Quest | Season 1 | 4 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Murderbot | Season 1 | 10 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Poldark | Season 2 | 10 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Poldark | Season 3 | 9 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Poldark | Season 4 | 8 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Poldark | Season 5 | 8 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Foundation | Season 3 | 10 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| God of War | Season 1 | 9 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Strange New Worlds | Season 3 | 10 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Slow Horses | Season 1 | 6 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Slow Horses | Season 2 | 6 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Invasion | Season 3 | 9 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Upload | Season 4 | 4 | ⭐️⭐️ |
| The Morning Show | Season 4 | 10 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Slow Horses | Season 3 | 6 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Slow Horses | Season 4 | 6 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Slow Horses | Season 5 | 6 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
| Pluribus | Season 1 | 9 | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ |
Episode Count per Year 2025 Episodes per Service
₄₀₀ │ ▆ ₁₆₀ │
₃₅₀ │ █ ₁₄₀ │ ▇
₃₀₀ │ █ ▄ ₁₂₀ │ █
₂₅₀ │ █ █ █ ▃ ₁₀₀ │ █
₂₀₀ │ █ █ █ █ ₈₀ │ █
₁₅₀ │ █ ▂ █ █ █ ₆₀ │ █ ▁
₁₀₀ │ █ █ █ █ █ ₄₀ │ █ █ ▂
₅₀ │ █ █ █ █ █ ₂₀ │ █ ▃ ▂ █ █
₀ └─────────────── ₀ └────────────────
₂₁ ₂₂ ₂₃ ₂₄ ₂₅ ᴬ ᴰ ᴾ ᴮ ᴼ
A = Apple TV+; D = Disney; P = Amazon Prime; B = BBC One; O = Other
If you have any recommendations for me based on what I've enjoyed this year, please reach out and let me know!