My May 2025 Media Diet

The month of May was filled with too many video games and too much television. I’m hoping to get out and about a bit more in June (and I probably will, since I’ve got a few trips planned). This New Yorker article perfectly captured how I feel about the state of the world right now, and this oneabout Newark Airport only deepened my belief that it should be avoided at all costs (seriously though, let’s get that situation sorted).

I also spent a couple of weekends learning how to “vibe code” with Cursor and… I kind of hate that it actually works for me? Being a solo developer can get lonely, and using Cursor felt like having superpowered friends helping me out. I rebuilt my website, created a simple app to track the temperature of my network cabinet, and wrote a script to sync my read-later items across devices. I could have done all of this on my own, but with Cursor, I did it in a third of the time. The future is weird.

Here is everything else I did last month:

🍿 Andor. I’ve always felt like I should enjoy Star Wars. But honestly, I’m tired of pretending. I know it’s sacrilege, but the franchise has never really clicked for me—despite my best efforts. Andor is the one big exception. It’s fantastic. Easily the best thing Star Wars has done since the original trilogy. More Andor, please, Disney. 👍

📺 Blood of Zeus. This one didn’t leave much of an impression. I think the Castlevania anime is much stronger overall. Still, it’s a decent “background noise while working” kind of show.

🕹️ Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. I loved this. Honestly, I think it’s better than Symphony of the Night, mostly because it’s a bit more forgiving. There are a few more GBA and DS entries I haven’t played yet, but I’m planning to work through all of them. 👍

🍿 Havoc. Tom Hardy spends two hours punching bad guys. That’s it. That’s the movie. And sometimes that’s enough.

🍿 Widows. I meant to watch this back in 2018 and just never got around to it. Glad I finally did—everyone delivers strong performances, especially Daniel Kaluuya. His quiet menace in one particular scene gave me chills. Loved it. 👍

🍿 Novocaine. Silly, weird, and kinda fun. A guy who can’t feel pain ends up saving the day in a bizarre love story. Feels like the kind of mid-budget original movie we don’t get much anymore. Definitely has “Netflix film” energy—in both good and bad ways.

🕹️ Tetris for Chromatic. A brand-new Tetris game for the Game Boy Color in 2025? Yes, please. I still have a soft spot for the original (especially the Rosy Retrospection ROM hack), but this one hits the right notes. I really like the mode where you get three minutes to score as much as possible. 👍

🕹️ Cosmic Collapse. If you’ve played Suica Game, this is like a better version of that. Built for PICO-8, which has some seriously cool games. I want to dive deeper into what that community is making. 👍

🕹️ Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga. My go-to subway game. Not sure how far I am, but I’ve enjoyed every second. Great RPG mechanics, fun writing—definitely planning to check out Mario and Luigi: Brothership when I’m done.

🕹️ Yoshi’s Cookie. A puzzler my brother recommended. Starts out chill but ramps up fast. Later stages demand speed, but the early levels are perfect for relaxing.

🕹️ Haste. A 3D version of Tiny Wings that doesn’t quite stick the landing. When it clicks, it feels great. But when you mess up a landing, it’s hard to recover. I wanted it to be more meditative—I’ll keep trying, though.

🍿 Vanilla Sky. This feels like Fight Club if it starred Tom Cruise and lost all its edge. It has some interesting moments, but overall I found myself rolling my eyes more than I expected.

🍿 A Minecraft Movie. I can’t believe I watched this. Just awful.

📺 Lazarus. Shinichirō Watanabe’s newest show delivers slick action (very John Wick-inspired), great music, and a slow-burn story. That’s kind of his thing. Curious to see how it evolves. 👍

🍿 Death of a Unicorn. Paul Rudd does the heavy lifting here. It’s a bit dumb but occasionally fun. I’ve seen better horror-comedies, but this wasn’t a total waste of time.

🕹️ Drill Dozer. A hidden gem from Game Freak, the folks behind Pokémon. Great pixel art, solid level design, and a fun mechanic where new gears unlock stronger drilling. The levels drag just a little too long, but it’s still a must-play from the GBA library. 👍

🍿 Gladiator II. I don’t know why this movie exists. The opening scene was entertaining, but it didn’t need to be tied to the (incredible) original. You can make gladiator movies without calling it Gladiator II.

🍿 Dope Thief. Brian Tyree Henry is always worth watching. This started off strong but lost steam about halfway through. Still glad I checked it out.

🍿 Friendship. Wild, chaotic, and a blast to see in a packed theater. Tim Robinson’s sketch show is hit-or-miss for me, but this worked way better in a feature-length format. Structure suits his madness. 👍

🍿 10 Things I Hate About You. I love these late-’90s teen dramedies. Clueless still reigns supreme, but this is a very strong second.

📺 The Rehearsal. I don’t know how Nathan Fielder keeps getting funding, but I’m glad he does. His brand of comedy is completely singular. 👍

🕹️ 9 Kings. Tower defense meets Balatro? Early access and needs controller support now, but I already know I’ll be putting more time into this.

📖 Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson. I’ve been reading less this year, and that bums me out. I stalled on a different book, so I turned to Sanderson to break the slump. It’s working—I think? This is a massive read, so I’ll be with it for a while. 👍