Books
- The Fervor by Alma Katsu – Set during World War II, inmates and workers at an internment camp for Japanese Americans begin to struggle with a mysterious disease that turns people violent. There are supernatural elements, but also very familiar themes of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination.
- A Midwinter God by Christine Valters Paintner – A good idea similar to Wintering by Katherine May: using the metaphor of winter for the hard seasons of our lives. But she cakes things up with so much psycho-spiritual jargon and concepts that I found it difficult to get into.
- Blessing My Demons by Chelsea Forbrook – Forbrook takes a lot of the most common ways our Inner Critic shows up, gives them silly nicknames, and explores on how best to push back against them. It’s part self-help and part memoir, and tended to tilt too far to the latter, but I still found some good ideas and takeaways.
Movies
- Bugonia – A powerful CEO is kidnapped by two men who believe that she is secretly an alien, and the situation inevitably spirals out of control. On one level the movie is talking about aliens doing harm to humanity, and on another level it’s talking about humanity’s harm to the planet and each other.
- Die My Love – Jennifer Lawrence plays a new mother struggling with postpartum depression and feeling trapped in her life. Lawrence is amazing in this role but this was a hard watch.
- Ready or Not – On her wedding night, a new bride joins her in-laws for a tradition of playing hide and seek. She quickly finds out that this version of the game is life and death due to a longtime family pact. It was a fun horror comedy. And there’s a sequel coming this year!
TV Shows
- Fallout – In a post-nuclear landscape, there are people safely locked away in shelters, military guys walking around in giant mech suits, and ghouls whose humanity is slowly deteriorating. I’ve never played the video games but this is a well put together series.
- Wonder Man – Struggling actor Simon tries to land his big break while also trying to keep his suppressed superpowers in check. This was a Marvel show but it was much more a show about friendship and an ode to acting.
- PONIES – Two widows of CIA agents want to know what happened to their husbands, so they convince the agency to let them take on a covert operation in Russia. This show balances drama and comedy, and the 1970s soundtrack is awesome.
Albums
- Motionless In White, Scoring the End of the World – This band wrote and recorded these songs during the pandemic, and you can tell. Lyrics reference the ineptitude and vindictiveness of people in authority, the anxiety of getting sick, and the effects of loneliness and despair.
- Bad Omens, CONCRETE JUNGLE [THE OST] – I like this band’s metal-focused songs, and they have some good industrial sounds on this album. But some of the tech-heavy concepts were tiresome to me.
- The Cranberries, MTV Unplugged – I don’t think I even knew that they had played on Unplugged, so this was a nice discovery. They played a mix of hits and new (at the time) songs. It made me sad all over again about Dolores O’Riordan’s death.
- Sierra Hull, A Tip Toe High Wire – I actually saw Hull in concert this month and picked this up at the merch table. Thoughtful lyrics, amazing musicianship. And her live show is high energy; she and her bandmates played off each other brilliantly.
- Foreword, Exposition – Some of the hardest metalcore I’ve ever heard. This will be a fantastic addition to my workout listening rotation.
My 2026 playlist so far (new songs added regularly)
Jeffrey A. Nelson 