December Media Arcade

It’s Monday and it’s the first of December; we’ve reached the end of 2025 already! Having started a new job halfway through November, I’ve spent the past few weeks getting used to a new, busy schedule. This has meant that, rather frustratingly, I haven’t been able to engage with my recent Media Arcade as much as I would’ve liked. Chris Stapleton’s Starting Over and Olivia Dean’s The Art of Loving have accompanied me on many rainy walks to and from work. However, I haven’t managed to read any more of No Country for Old Men because I’ve been too tired to focus on a book most evenings. In addition to this, I certainly haven’t watched as many films as I usually do, mostly for the same reason. Winter is always a particularly busy time, with plenty of important birthdays to celebrate and the knowledge that Christmas always arrives quicker than you expect. The Running Man remains unseen, but it’s still showing in cinemas so I hope to catch it this week. I did watch two other new releases in November, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere and Nuremburg. I thought Springsteen was slow but generally enjoyable but, unfortunately, Nuremburg felt too unfocused to be as impactful as it could’ve been. As well as continuing with my Pretty Little Liars rewatch (now on season five!), I finished season five of Orange is the New Black and it honestly blew me away. Perhaps there will be a review for that season coming shortly… Anyways, this is the media I hope to consume during my favourite month of the year!

Later this month, I’m going to see The Wonder Stuff with my family and so I’ll be listening to plenty of their music in preparation. The midlands-based band formed in the 1980s and, despite a short break in the latter half of the 90s, have been performing ever since. They are one of my mom’s favourite bands and she’s seen them countless times, so I can’t wait to watch them perform live with her!

Now it wouldn’t be December without an unhealthy dose of Christmas music! This month I’m going to have my holiday playlist on repeat, with plenty of classic songs, my personal favourite ‘What Christmas Means To Me’ by Stevie Wonder, as well as instrumental tracks from some of my favourite Christmas films such as The Holiday (Nancy Meyers, 2006) and Elf (Jon Favreau, 2003).

It saddens me to say that I might be DNF’ing (did-not-finish-ing) No Country for Old Men. That book really has pushed me out of my comfort zone when reading, however I think it’s pushed me too far. While it felt visceral and energetic, the complexities in its storytelling meant I didn’t find it a relaxing book to pick up; it wasn’t something I could focus on before bed after a hard day’s work. For my next read, I’m going to move back to non-fiction and read The House of Hidden Meanings by the queen of drag, RuPaul. While I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction, I often find non-fiction easier to comprehend, and so I hope this memoir will draw me back into reading. I love to learn and understand as much as I can about significant queer individuals, I’ve read non-fiction work from Derek Jarman and Elliot Page for example, and so I look forward to adding RuPaul’s name to that list

December is a brilliant month for visual media! It means cosy Christmas films and television specials that can’t be watched any other time of year. The thing about Christmas is that you get to make the decision about whether a film fits the seasonal vibe, even if it has nothing to do with the holiday; last year I watched John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982) with my Dad on Christmas Eve! As The Holdovers (Alexander Payne, 2023) has just been added to Netflix, I hope to watch it one evening. Unfortunately, I missed it during its initial release, and I didn’t want to watch it out of season, but I know it’ll be worth the wait. I’m looking forward to finally seeing Da’Vine Joy Randolph’s Academy Award winning performance!

In addition to watching the November releases that I missed, The Running Man and Wicked: For Good, I’ll be watching Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 at the cinema. The FNAF games were such a huge part of my childhood, and I’ve watched Markiplier’s play-through series plenty of times. I’ll be travelling to London to stay with a friend and watch it with her as part of our Christmas get together! Regardless of whether these films are technically spectacular, they’re the kind of film that you can get lost in on the big screen.

For my television watch this month, I’ll be catching up on the Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing Christmas specials. While I don’t have any particular interest in fishing, Bob Mortimer is one of my favourite comedians which led to me watching this show. I was immediately hooked by Bob and Paul’s innate comedic partnership and found myself in stitches by the end of every episode. Even though the duo is naturally funny, the show isn’t just them cracking jokes. The two older gentlemen discuss their aging ailments and highlight the importance of looking after yourself alongside your friends and family, taking particular care to address a predominantly male audience who may benefit from the advice given by Dr Anand Patel who is regularly featured. When they aren’t chatting, Gone Fishing shows us how serene the British countryside really is and the wonderful wildlife that inhabits it. This December I’ll be catching up on the latest season and watching the many hour-long Christmas specials.

Well, that’s all for my December Media Arcade! It feels surreal to say that this is the final Media Arcade of 2025 and that the next one will arrive on the first day of 2026. Even though November was a slow month, I have higher hopes for December, my favourite month of the year. It’s time to wrap up warm and consume the content that takes you back to Christmases gone-by. Reflect on 2025 and get ready for 2026.