2024 lists

I refrain from personal reflection publically these days (I have a loving and supportive social group so I made a more concerted effort to curb oversharing online this year (unless someone pays me to write a personal essay ;)). 2024 was a pretty quiet year for me! I think in general it was a year in which I set things into motion that probably won't pay off until this year or the years following. In the meantime I engaged with lots of fantastic art, made new friends and stayed mostly in London. I'm excited for what's to come!

Music #

We’re now further removed from 2020 than it was ever thought possible and the 2020s feel truly underway. It was another year in which an avalanche of interesting records were released and there’s still many (454, Jawnino, Ka (RIP), SahBabii, Peak Trading, Leatherhead, Piglet, etc) I haven’t gotten round to yet. Been an especially banner year for people I know or know of putting out incredible music too, so I'll always look back on this year fondly because of my talented friends in addition to the wider music landscape.

2024 #

I probably would have written something about every album in this list but got too behind on my monthly blogposts. Looking back however I wrote more than I thought I had so I'm pretty pleased with this first run of my monthly blog. I'll do even better in 2025!

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Gigs #

DICE wasn't used nearly as much as last year, so I'm relying on memory here. In 2025 I might be ambitous and do a monthly gig round up also. I'm sure I saw way more than this in reality, apologies for forgetting your gig (it's not personal!).

Movies #

I saw way more movies this year than in 2023 and I want to keep this up in 2025! My highlights of the year were:

I have a Letterboxd account!

Video Games #

2024 #

I didn't play many new games this year. I can go through long periods of not being engaged with video games.

Rise of The Golden Idol was the game I was looking forward to most and I don't think it's as good as the original. I'm still interested in the DLC though.

Still Wakes the Deep had a lot of potential but I was kind of disappointed it didn't integrate any Scottish/Shetland folklore into it's narrative. The gameplay was also a pretty by-the-numbers horror-corridor simulator. I didn't finish it.

I'm a massive Balatro hater, sorry! Even if there's no actual money at stake, it still feels gross and predatory to me? It's not the poker referencing aesthetic I'm talking about here either. Psychological manipulation and gambling are pretty rife in video games right now and it seems like the indie scene's reaction is to celebrate this by with games like Balatro and Vampire Survivors (a game directly inspired by the developer's time in the gaming (gambling) industry). Is there really any art in shovelling the most addictive mechanics into a trough and saying "have at it"? I do have a pretty dysfunctional relationship with video games so I recognise it might just be me being repulsed at my how own brain responds to games that deliberately crib from the worst mobile games and fruit machines. A trend like this seemingly getting universal acclaim and there not being a wider discussion about 'addiction' as a negative attribute certainly doesn't endear me to letting video games back into my life again however.

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I’m learning how to drive and discovered this year that if you use manual transmission in driving games that they transform from droll wheelbarrow simulators to nail-biting tests of precision. When I have been playing anything, it's been Gran Turismo 4 because it has an incredible career mode and it's so old that you can drive cars that I'll be able to afford after I've got my license.