Larry's 100

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Music

Music presents a dilemma, both timeless and immediate. I listen to a lot of albums spanning almost 100 years, multiple media, and in varied social settings. But it also has an immediacy: new releases, critical buzz, and the excitement of NOW! A year-end best-of tells a partial listening story, but alas:

2025 Superlatives

Best Album: Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – New Threats from the Soul  Best Single & Video: Elderberry Wine by Wednesday Best Debut: Annie DiRusso – Super Pedestrian  Best Comeback: The Lemonheads – Lovechant Best Concert: TIE Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band/Snocaps – Bowery Ballroom, Manhattan Kacey Musgraves – Barclays Center, Brooklyn

Fourteen 2025 releases on heavy rotation, in no particular order:

  • Snocaps - 'Snocaps' (Anti-): Twins Sisters Powers Reactivate

  • Jeff Tweedy - 'Twilight Override' (dBpm Records): A box set of new material? Jeff writes a lot of songs

  • Wednesday - 'Bleeds' (Dead Oceans): I slept on this band before Bleeds, awake now

  • Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – 'New Threats from the Soul' (Sophomore Lounge): Can't stop listening  The Larry’s100 review

  • Kurt Vile/Luke Roberts - 'Classic Love EP' (Verve): Played almost as much as Ryan Davis The Larry’s100 review

  • Lemonheads - 'Love Chant' (Fire Records): Cell Phone Blues was almost my song of the year  The Larry’s100 review

  • Kathleen Edwards - 'Billionaire' (Dualtone Records): A full-throated and tuneful platter of rugged individualism

  • The Bug Club – 'Very Human Features' (Sub Pop): Second great album in 3 years

  • Rose City Band - 'Sol y Sombra' (Thrill Jockey): Meditations with steel pedal

  • Annie DiRusso - 'Super Pedestrian' (Summer Soup Songs): Punchy, energetic first record. Her Tiny Desk is a must-watch

  • Dean Wareham - 'That's the Price of Loving Me' (Carpark Records): Crazy, this is his first solo album

  • Superchunk - 'Songs in the Key of Yikes' (Merge): On one of the best post-hiatus runs in indie rock history

  • Neil Young - 'Ocean Side/Country Side' (Neil Young Archives): Never before released, even though you know all the songs. Great to hear them, as it was originally conceived and tracked

  • Kacey Musgraves - 'Deeper Into The Well' (MCA Nashville): Seven new tracks!

#music #albums #2025BestOf #MusicReviews #BestOfMusic #Larrys2025FavesMusic #NewMusic #NowPlaying #100WordReview #Larrys100 #100DaysToOffload #Larrys2025Faves

All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →

Larry's Faves: A year of books

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books

I fell short of my goal of 35 books, petering out at 26. Maybe reading goals are dumb. I wrote more, listened to more music, and grew fatigued by the counting. I had a plan to finish nine more in December, then thought, 'What am I doing here?' Rethinking for 2026, maybe genre challenges? Read Beowulf?

2025 Superlatives

Best Read: Death of the Author – Nnedi Okorafor 

Runner Up: Playground – Richard Powers 

Note: Both have similar plot twists and themes 

Best Debut: Brooklyn Motto – Alex Johnson 

Best Non-Fiction: The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir – Neko Case

For books, I don't restrict to 2025 releases; this is a list of all books consumed, in random order:

  1. Red Sonja: Consumed - Gail Simone: Red Sonja done right Larry’s 100 review

  2. Death of the Author - Nnedi Okorafor: Wow Larry’s 100 review

  3. I Wouldn't Say It If It Wasn't True: A Memoir of Life, Music, and the Dream Syndicate - Steve Wynn: Not the casino owner

  4. Where the Deer and the Antelope Play: The Pastoral Observations of One Ignorant American Who Loves to Walk Outside - Nick Offerman: Clowning on Jeff Tweedy was the highlight

  5. Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers That Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe - David M. Perry, Matthew Gabriele: Proving elites have always been annoying Larry’s 10 Review

  6. River Kings: A New History of the Vikings from Scandinavia to the Silk Road - Cat Jarman: Academic but approachable history

  7. Between Two Fires - Christopher Buehlman: Macabre historical fiction

  8. The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource - Chris Hayes: Well researched and compelling, if a little obvious

  9. Brooklyn Motto - Alex Johnson: Pre cell phone wonderland Larry’s 100 review

  10. Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism – Sarah Wynn-Williams: Dishy dystopia origin story

  11. The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir - Neko Case: Stark but resilient Larry’s 100 review

  12. The Blacktongue Thief - Christopher Buehlman: My fave author discovery of 2025 Larry’s 100 review

  13. Blind Owl Blues: The Mysterious Life and Death of Blues Legend Alan Wilson - Rebecca Davis: Sad ending to a fascinating Blues Rock introvert

  14. Playground - Richard Powers: There and back again through the AI funhouse mirror

  15. Comedy Samurai: Forty Years of Blood, Guts, and Laughter - Larry Charles: Soul searching for laughs through some TV/Movies biggest comedies

  16. William Blake vs the World – John Higgs: Diary of a madman

  17. The Great Courses: The Viking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture - Jennifer Paxton: Paxton is my fave public lecturer, Folk singing Dad Tom must be proud

  18. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin: Twee, emo and overrated

  19. The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities - Wayne Kramer: Ghost listen Larry’s 100 review

  20. A Kiss Before Dying - Ira Levin: I am going to read a Levin a year

  21. The Uncool: A Memoir - Cameron Crowe: Almost Famous: The Writer's Cut Larry’s 100 review 

  22. The Conan Chronicles #1: The People of The Black Circle - Robert E. Howard: Hail Crom

  23. Rumors of My Demise - Evan Dando: He can talk, and he told us Larry’s 100 review 

  24. The Bloodsworn Saga #1: The Shadow of the Gods - John Gwynne: Viking X-Men

  25. The Bloodsworn Saga #2: The Hunger of the Gods - John Gwynne: High gore content

  26. The Bloodsworn Saga #3: The Fury of the Gods - John Gwynne: A heck of a yarn

#books #reading #2025BestOf #BookReviews #BestOfBooks #Larrys2025FavesBooks #BookRecommendations #AmReading #100WordReview #Larrys100 #100DaysToOffload #Larrys2025Faves

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Larry's Faves: 2025 Movies

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Bad year for movies. Or a bad year for me seeing movies. Award season rules push studios to cram releases at year’s end, and it's hard to keep up. I will catch up with films I missed in Jan-March.

My list, ranked, with microreviews:

1. One Battle After Another: Brilliant, has a tragic flaw 2. Sinners: Juke Joint Cinema 3. Pavements: Larry’s100 Review 4. Weapons: Campy, creepy, freaky 5. Baltimorons: Larry’s100 Review 6. The Ballad of Wallis Island: Tim Key is brilliant 7. KPop Demon Hunters: Trust the phenom 8. John Candy: I Like Me: Sadder than you’d think 9. Fantastic Four: Didn’t suck 10. Nonnas: More sweet than savory

Weapons

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Larry's Faves: 2025 Television

tv

Putting this list together, I was knocked out by how good television was in 2025. This list includes stone-cold classics like Andor, Black Mirror, and Hacks, while making room for the mind-bending genre work of Pluribus, The Eternaut, and Severance. Comedies came laughing back and were welcome against the darkness of both reality and fiction.

In 2025, television was balanced between shows that took me by surprise (The Studio) and high-quality comfort food (Abbott Elementary). We don’t know what awaits us, with more corporate consolidation and the storm clouds of AI, so I am savoring (most of) the shows below.

1. Pluribus (Apple TV): Larry's 100 Reviews 2. Andor (Disney+): Two-season masterpiece 3. The Rehearsal (HBO): Rube Goldberg of social experiments 4. The Eternaut (Netflix): Larry's 100 Review 5. The Studio: (Apple TV) Fast-paced & meta AF 6. Shoresy (Hulu): I challenge you to find a show this sweet and filthy 7. Righteous Gemstones (HBO): Goodbye, sweet prince 8. Task (HBO): Existential dread with a water ice sidecar 9. The Lowdown (FX/Hulu):Pulp noir Gen X style 10. Slow Horses (Apple TV): Larry's 100 Review 11. Severance (Apple TV): Goat room for the win 12. Abbott Elementary (ABC): Ava is one of my favorite characters on TV 13. Hacks (HBO): Loved the Larry Sanders call backs 14. Mythic Quest (Apple TV): Poppy is one of my favorite characters on TV 15. Agatha All Along (Disney+): Witchy kitsch and great cast 16. Death By Lightning (Netflix): Who knew? 17. White Lotus (HBO): Ground Zero for the Year of Goggins 18. Gilded Age (HBO): No show has actors having fun like Gilded Age 19 Black Mirror (Netflix): Strong season for this institution 20. Fallout (Amazon): Cheating a bit, will straddle into 2026 21. Silo (Apple TV): Apple is the real SciFi channel 22 North of North (Netflix) A funny, smart, sexy show set near the Arctic. 23. The Paper (Peacock): Better than I expected, strong ensemble 24. American Primeval (Netflix): Gritty westerns are always appreciated 25. The Bear (FX/Hulu): Overhyped mess, Carmy is annoying 26. Stranger Things (Netflix): Larry's 100 Review 27. Last of Us (HBO): The last episode was a horrible hour of TV 28. Murderbot (Apple TV): Stuff to like, but got tedious. 29. The Four Seasons (Netflix): Catnip for almost old people 30. The Witcher (Netflix): I miss Henry Cavill 31. King & Conquer (Amazon): This was conceived in a lab just for me, but it sucked

#tv #television #2025BestOf #TVReviews #BestOfTV #Larrys2025FavesTV #Streaming #100WordReview #Larrys100 #100DaysToOffload

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Pluribus Episode 9: Save the World or Get the Girl (Season 1 Finale)

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

Carol and Manousos meet, negotiate, clash, separate, and ultimately team up. That arc sets up season two.

The cold open is a haunting scene that revisits Kusimayu, one of the twelve free-thinkers. At the survivor dinner in episode two, she declares that she is eager to join the hive-mind. We witness that joining and learn the Others can now flip independent thinkers. We know, before Carol, what will ruin her Best Date Ever.

Pluribus is often a meditation on solo intimacy; this episode expands what intimacy means in the space between self and the intermingling with others' needs.

Watch it.

Pluribus9

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The Baltimorons 2025, Duplass Brothers Productions, Directed by Jay Duplass (4 out of 5 Hot Chocolates)

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There is a recent tradition of established film directors giving their elevated spin on the Christmas movie. See Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers and David Gordon Green’s Nutcrackers. Mumblecore filmmaker Jay Duplass is the 2025 entry.

Baltimorons is a melancholy May-December Rom-Com between a disillusioned millennial improv comedian and a divorced post-menopausal dentist in a mid-life rut. Their day-long accidental adventure reignites their joy for life, against a backdrop of grimy urban Christmas pastiche.

Duplass mines the beats and tropes of a holiday romance but eschews the holly-jolly trappings of Hallmark for a realistic take on loneliness and connection.

Watch it.

baltimorons

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Pluribus Episode 8: Charm Offensive

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

Responding to Carol's plea in episode seven, Zosia and the Others return to Albuquerque. The episode centers on Carol and Zosia's slow-burning love story. Carol’s urging of Zosia to use “I” statements felt like a clue. The sexual tension edged right up until the collective consciousness deduced Carol needed to get laid.

To me, Pluribus is an allegory of the AI debate. Manousos rejects all utility of the hive-mind, while Diabaté embraces its spoils. Carol shares Manousos’ moral outrage but is developing more nuanced, self-serving rules of engagement. This mirrors the camps lining up for the AI wars.

Watch it

Pluribus7

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Oh. What. Fun. Amazon 2025 (1.75 out of 5 Hot Chocolates)

Starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Dennis Leary, Felicity Jones, Dominic Sessa, Joan Chen, and Jason Schwartzman. Directed by Michael Showalter

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This movie is a holiday party eggnog left out to curdle. I imagine an Amazon exec dumping 1970s gender stereotypes, check-collecting stars, and meanness as 'satire' into the blender and thinking “Yum.” Gross.

Borrowing plot and themes from The Family Stone, Home Alone, and Planes, Trains & Automobiles, writer/director Michael Showalter doesn’t like the genre enough to craft a compelling family dramedy. It's slice-and-bake Christmas cookies sold as “from scratch.”

Every year, streamers throw money and stars at the Christmas TV movie template, attempting to legitimize something that doesn’t need it. A holiday message: More isn’t always better.

Skip it

OhWhatFun

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Pluribus Episode 7: The Gap

See 100 Word reviews of previous episodes here

Following Carol and Manousos on their journeys is both meditative and harrowing. Carol is drowning in abundance and loneliness; Manousos is on a glass-huffing vision quest. Carol’s resolve cracks, Manousos’ resolve almost kills him.

The episode reminded me of a prestige version of The Last Man on Earth (Will Forte), like when Carol copped a Georgia O'Keeffe painting from a museum to replace her poster at home. Both shows asked, “What would you do if?”

This was one of the most soulful and quixotic episodes of television I have seen. Director Adam Bernstein and writer Jenn Flower, wow. Watch it.

Pluribus7

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Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper Hallmark, 2025 (4 out of 5 Hot Chocolates)

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The season’s first banger. Atypical male lead, fresh story beats, and riffing on zany Anchorman-style comedies. The romance is a Christmas Ale buzz. You root for leads Ted and Hope.

Supporting cast matters in holiday movies. From Ted’s high-strung sibling to the Sole Sisters, an a-hole newsman nemesis, and Hope’s straight-talkin' coworker, this movie has a fruitcake of an ensemble.

The plot had a third-act problem with an asinine Three’s Company miscommunication “conflict.” Hope is unnecessarily mean, as she delivers a brutal, undeserved Ted takedown. Justice for Ted! But the hot, handsy, elongated on-camera make-out scene saved Christmas. Watch it.

Ted

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All reviews on Larry's 100 are exactly 100 words. Read why →