Casual Reviews of Movies, Music, and Literature

Thursday, August 14, 2025

Infinite Repeat: My 50 Most-Played Songs from 2020-2024


For better and for worse, I've always been a bit of a luddite. I was slow in getting a smartphone, slow to get social media, and even slower when it came to music streaming. I didn't download Spotify until 2020, and only did so when my ancient iPod, along with iTunes, finally bit the dust. 

Thankfully, I was quick to fall in love with all the new and old music suddenly available at the tap of my screen. In the 5 years since, I've logged tens of thousands of minutes exploring music that I never even knew existed. Although I obviously have my favorite artists, albums, and genres, it's nonetheless thrilling to hurl myself out on a musical tightrope and see how many steps I can take above the abyss. 

Below you'll find a list of my 50 most listened-to songs, according to Spotify, from 2020 through 2024. These aren't necessarily my favorite songs, but for one reason or another, they played on infinite repeat during the first half of the decade. I've arranged them by year, and listed them in ascending order, from the tenth-most played to the first-most played. Why am I doing this? I don't know. I like to keep records of this sort of thing, and in case Spotify ever goes the way of my old iPod, it'll be nice to still have this info handy. And if you're curious, I strongly encourage you to give these tracks a listen. Enjoy! 

2020 
10.) I ain't done (BEAM version).aif - Andy Mineo
9.) Die for Me - Post Malone, Halsey, Future
8.) Parasite Eve - Bring Me the Horizon
7.) my strange addiction - Billie Eilish 
6.) King Kunta - Kendrick Lamar 
5.) Think About Things - Dadi Freyr 
4.) Chucky vs. The Giant Tortoise - Dance Gavin Dance 
3.) Physical - Dua Lipa
2.) Summer Nights - SIAMES, Barbie Williams 
1.) Hide and Seek - Scary Pockets, Swatkins 

2021 
10.) The Art of Starting Over - Demi Lovato 
9.) Thinking About You - Cody Fry 
8.) in the dark - Bring Me the Horizon 
7.) Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Scary Pockets, Swatkins 
6.) All I Need - Jacob Collier, Mahalia, Ty Dolla $ign 
5.) Prisoner - Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa 
4.) MANTRA - Bring Me the Horizon 
3.) Wander Anymore / Dunes - Cody Fry 
2.) Count the People - Jacob Collier, Jessie Reyez, T-Pain 
1.) 1x1 - Bring Me the Horizon, Nova Twins 

2022 
10.) Shoulders - Coheed and Cambria 
9.) it's my turn - MisterWives 
8.) Seize the Power - YONAKA 
7.) She's a Lover - Red Hot Chili Peppers 
6.) Comatose - Coheed and Cambria 
5.) Ring 7 - Industry - The Dear Hunter 
4.) Ring 4 - Patrol - The Dear Hunter 
3.) Compliance - Muse 
2.) Black Summer - Red Hot Chili Peppers 
1.) Ring 1 - Tower - The Dear Hunter 

2023 
10.) Lost Cause - Billie Eilish 
9.) Dance the Night - Dua Lipa 
8.) Afterlife - Red Hot Chili Peppers 
7.) Square Hammer - Ghost 
6.) Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God) - Kate Bush 
5.) The Alphabet of Me - Haken 
4.) Liquor Store - Remi Wolf 
3.) Deal With It - Ashnikko, Kelis 
2.) Story 2 - clipping. 
1.) IV. Sweatpants - Childish Gambino, JasonMartin 

2024 
10.) doppelganger - Ethan Bortnick 
9.) Foreign Things - Amber Mark 
8.) Right? - Mammoth 
7.) honey - Halsey 
6.) The Devils - Bayside 
5.) Say the Name - clipping. 
4.) SLEEP PARALYSIS DEMON - Ethan Bortnick 
3.) BETTER HELL (Thicc boi) - Bilmuri 
2.) EMPTYHANDED - Bilmuri, Dylan Marlowe 
1.) Mi Corazon - Jacob Collier, Camilo 

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

Brilliant Books (Part 1)


Each year, I try my darndest to read 25 books. I don't partake in audio-book or ebook shenanigans (although no shame to those who do), so I commit myself to hunkering down with a paperback or hardcover whenever I can. Since 2017, I've tracked my reading - publishing lists to this blog detailing what I've read each year. I'm an English teacher, so I always drop a letter grade next to the entries of these lists to indicate my enjoyment of each one. I usually end up with a lot of books in the B range, which means most of the stuff I read is good but not great. Because of this, I wanted to dedicate a post to the very best titles I've read over the past few years. 

Below you'll find all of the A-rated books I've read since 2017. These are the cream of the crop - the gold standards that every other book has to try and live up to. Some of these are old classics, some are new favorites, and plenty are random one-off oddballs. There's obviously fiction and nonfiction here, but also poetry, graphic novels, and even the occasional play. Regardless, as always, I strongly encourage you to check out any of these titles. Enjoy! 

- The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie 
- All the Truth is Out by Matt Bai 
- America, A Redemption Story by Sen. Tim Scott 
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer 
- Another Marvelous Thing by Laurie Colwin  
- Batman: The Court of Owls Saga by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo 
- The Canceling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott 
- The Coddling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt 
- The Complete Calvin and Hobbes: Book One by Bill Watterson 
The Complete Calvin and Hobbes: Book Two by Bill Watterson 
- Coolidge by Amity Shlaes 
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon and Simon Stephens 
- Dark Places by Gillian Flynn 
- Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff 
- Divided We Fall by David French 
- Educated by Tara Westover 
- The End of Race Politics by Coleman Hughes 
- Everything's Eventual by Stephen King 
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 
- Five Ghosts: Volume 1 - The Haunting of Fabian Gray by Frank L. Barbiere and Chris Mooneyham 
- Flight by Sherman Alexie 
- From A Buick 8 by Stephen King 
- Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King 
- The Giver by Lois Lowry 
- Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar 
- The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 
- Hole in My Life by Jack Gantos 
- How to Fight Anti-Semitism by Bari Weiss 
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 
- I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara 
- In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park 
- Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos 
- Lord of the Flies by William Golding 
- Maus I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman 
Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman
- Misery by Stephen King 
- Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine 
- The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht 
- The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck 
- Morning After the Revolution by Nellie Bowles 
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave by Frederick Douglass 
- Night by Elie Wiesel 
- NOS4A2 by Joe Hill 
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway 
- Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion 
- Political Tribes by Amy Chua 
- The Problem with Everything by Meghan Daum 
- A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry 
- The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt 
- Run River by Joan Didion 
- Selected Poems of Langston Hughes by Langston Hughes 
- Sh*tshow! by Charlie LeDuff 
- Slade House by David Mitchell 
- Songs of Innocence and of Experience by William Blake 
- South and West by Joan Didion 
- Stone Mattress by Margaret Atwood 
- Suicide of the West by Jonah Goldberg 
- The Trial by Franz Kafka 
- Turtles All the Way Down by John Green 
- The Unspeakable by Meghan Daum 
- While Time Remains by Yeonmi Park 
- Winter in the Blood by James Welch 
- The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn 

Wednesday, January 1, 2025

2024: A Year in Books


A lot happened to me in 2024: my wife and I drove across the country, I sold and published a book (Trapdoor Heart - buy it here!), I saw some concerts, hung with friends, etcetera etcetera. Thankfully, I managed to sneak in a little reading whenever I could. Below are the 24 books I read in 2024, with a letter grade next to each illustrating how much I did (or sometimes didn't) enjoy it. As always, I've highlighted my personal favorites in blue. Happy New Year! 

1.) Divided We Fall by David French ... A
2.) Free Speech by Andrew Doyle ... B
3.) Unite and Conquer by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema ... C+ 
4.) Social Justice Fallacies by Thomas Sowell ... B+ 
5.) Another Marvelous Thing by Laurie Colwin ... A+ 
6.) Miami and the Siege of Chicago by Norman Mailer ...
7.) Holly by Stephen King ... C- 
8.) The End of Race Politics by Coleman Hughes ... A 
9.) The Canceling of the American Mind by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott ... A 
10.) For Love of Country by Tulsi Gabbard ... B
11.) Morning After the Revolution by Nellie Bowles ... A
12.) Envelope Poems by Emily Dickinson ... B
13.) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon and Simon Stephens ... A
14.) Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio ... B+ 
15.) Maus I: My Father Bleeds History by Art Spiegelman ... A 
16.) Maus II: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman ... A
17.) Trapdoor Heart by Brad Perry ... (n/a)  
18.) The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams ... B+ 
19.) Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale .. B+
20.) Don't Burn This Country by Dave Rubin ... C-
21.) Winter in the Blood by James Welch ... A 
22.) Blasted by Sarah Kane ... C 
23.) The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake ... B
24.) Poems for the Moon: Vol. 1 by J.R. Rogue ... C