jan roundup

TV & MOVIES

The Pitt - season 1 (and the first few eps of season 2)

It’s absolutely no wonder that this show is as popular as it is. Coming from a place where I love hospital based shows but don’t have the energy to commit to any of them properly (I watch through TikTok mostly 💀), The Pitt was such a great place to start. You feel like you’re actually in the emergency room with them, and most of the characters are incredibly likeable, but in a very realistic way. Incredibly excited to watch season 2 as episodes drop, so far so good!

Big Fat Quiz of the Year 2025

it is like the highlight of my year when these drop. I think I calculated and I’ve been watching them regularly for around 15 years which is just madness. Half decent cast, and I’ll be entertained whenever Richard Ayoade is part of the cast.

Dimension 20 - Gladlands

I just know that this season, albeit short (thank god), will be wholesome as hell. Even as they were introducing themselves at the very top of the first episode, I knew the cast were going to mesh exceptionally well.

After the first episode, I have two takeaways:

1. Kokomo is just Jacob

2. Tess Tube5 is the best fucking name I swear to god. Kimia the woman you are

ER

I'll admit I purely started ER in the break between new eps of The Pitt dropping so I have something to sustain myself. I also didn't want to get caught up in the trap of 'Shondaland'. Little Noah Wyle is so BABY and I'm really excited to see how his character evolves over the course of the show. Given I was used to the pacing of The Pitt, it did take me a few eps to get used to ER, but we're well and truly in it now. I’ve consumed 2.5 seasons in 3 weeks, which is big for me.

PODCASTS

Talk 90s To Me

Now I will consume pretty much any 90s related content. This one is hosted by Miranda Sawyer who I discovered through Britpop Bandsplain but she was also the journalist that interviewed Noel Gallagher when he made that AIDS comment. Anyway, the podcast is brilliant and has covered so much of pop culture relating to the 90s in the UK, but she's also just a delight to listen to.

Museum of Pop Culture

I'm very new to this podcast, hosted by Josh Widdicombe, but I am obsessed with the premise of the podcast - pop culture stories pretty much - but more so the delivery. Josh is so in depth with his research and delivery but does so in a way that invites you in rather than puts you off. He also does it in such a funny way that you can't help having a laugh while he gets nerdy about pop culture. Literally my favourite kind of content.

MUSIC

I won’t lie, it hasn’t been a huge month for music discovery for me. I did make the switch from Spotify to Apple Music and I’m still trying to navigate my way around the music discovery feature and I haven’t quite gotten the hang of it.

Triple M: 90s and 2000s DAB stations (listnr app)

Instead, I’ve been listening to these stations whilst at work and they’ve been really hitting the spot. I’ve rediscovered some stuff I had forgotten about and discovered some music that very much fits into the realm of what I already listen to and it’s been absolutely brilliant.

Triple M 2000s - Live on LiSTNR

Rock the noughties with Blink 182, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Killers, Powderfinger, Arctic Monkeys and more. Rock and Alternative that defined the 2000s.

Mitski - Where’s My Phone?

mitski, girl, we are so back. I haven’t really listened to her previous album but there is a fair amount across her catalogue that I absolutely love. It sounds like a return to her roots and I really appreciate the slight grittiness to it.

BOOKS

From the Basement: A History of Emo Music & How it Changed Society - Taylor Markarian

I started this as a break from the book I was reading before and boy I'm glad I did! I appreciated the mix of oral history and general non-fiction writing and how extensive the research was and how it covered a lot but didn't drag on. The author got personal about her struggles with her mental health at the end, and it got quite heavy, but if that doesn't portray a real example of the power of music on a person, especially emo music, i don't know what does.

From the Basement: A History of Emo Music and How It Ch…

Explore the cultural, social, and psychological factors…