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This year, to preempt my latent fear of ageing, I decided to soft launch being 23 months before I actually turned 23. 23 is scary age, because it's the first year people stop writing songs about. For 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, especially 17, or 16, there are so many songs. 23? Not so much. When I actually turned 23, it was very nice. I spent it away with some friends. We played a lot of Boggle. It turns out I love Boggle.

My top 10 favourite lyrics of 2025

For the new year, my article is a little reflection of the last year in the form of song lyrics. Give it a read if you love words as much as I do.

COOL THINGS

  • Deaths linked to chatbots

    I use AI, but I would still call myself an AI skeptic. As a skeptic, it can be hard to differentiate genuine criticism of AI from people who have a religious zealotry against anything even remotely AI related. I had thought the claims of AI psychosis to be part of this latter hatred of AI, and I will admit I was wrong. "Deaths linked to chatbots" is 14 long, which is about 14 longer than it should be. There's something about the dry nature of Wikipedia writing that makes articles like this harrowing.

  • Storey of Melbourne

    The blog has been long dead. Which makes it all the more lovely to find a blog that is so well maintained about a topic I care about. Storey of Melbourne is one man's account of Melbourne's architecture. It taught me a new word: façadism. Defined as "the architectural and construction practice where the facade of a building is designed or constructed separately from the rest of a building" (per Wikipedia)

  • enclose.horse

    I am terrible at enclose.horse. To the point where I don't find it fun. But my friends all quite like it, and I can appreciate the beauty in its simple design. Give it a go, you'll be better than me.

  • Stop Making Sense Dance Party

    This was my first participation in the long-running Melbourne institution of showing Talking Heads' concert movie, Stop Making Sense, while encouraging people to get up on stage and sing and dance along. It turns out the average Talking Heads fan has terrible rhythm but is an amazing hang (myself included)

MUSIC

  • DAISY – rusowsky

    I'm sure in the Spanish speaking world, *DAISY* is a normie pick, but I haven't heard anything about this record. It's all over the place in a good way.

  • Skaiwater – pop

    When I wrote my piece on hyperpop, I really wanted to emphasise how much it borrowed from contemporary trap music. Hearing the freaked-out pitch shifted sound made from a hip-hop perspective, rather than from an alternative or electronic perspective makes that influence really clear. Listen to Skaiwater's pop for a good time.

  • Danny Brown – Stardust

    This album makes me sad, purely because if she was alive, SOPHIE would probably feature on one of these tracks.

  • John Keek – Do You Love John Keek?

    Do you like Mk.gee, but wish he had a less stupid sounding name? I'm not sure if John Keek can help, but I liked this album.