I’ve been doing this every year since 2019 - which means tonight is my 8th rodeo.

Previous Years

📅 2019 - Uncertain | Less | Different

📅 2020 - Believe | Move | Ascend

📅 2021 - Transform | Transition | Transcend

📅 2022 - Clear | Closer | Choice

📅 2023 - Focus | Flexible | Fabulous

📅 2024 - Transform | Transition | Transcend (sic - see 2021)

📅 2025 - Intentional | Inspired | Impactful

"Everything can change on a new years day

Everything can change on a new years day

Everything can change on a new years day

And everything changed on a New Year’s Day"

💬 Rage Against The Machine

🔗📼 Rage Against ... john.philpin.com https://john.philpin.com/2025/12/31/ive-been-doing-this-every.html

🔗 😂 2025 Roundup of Marketoons

I particularly liked the one on Channel Attribution … https://marketoonist.com/2025/12/my-favorite-marketoons-of-2025.html

"Jevons paradox is coming to knowledge work. By making it far cheaper to take on any type of task that we can possibly imagine, we’re ultimately going to be doing far more. The vast majority of AI tokens in the future will be used on things we don’t even do today as workers: they will be used on the software projects that wouldn’t have been started, the contracts that wouldn’t have been reviewed, the medical research that wouldn’t have been discovered, and the marketing campaign that wouldn’t have been launched otherwise."

💬 Aaron Levie

via 🔗Simon Willison https://simonwillison.net/2025/Dec/29/aaron-levie/#atom-everything_

🔗 The Future of Software Development is Software Developers

"The hard part has always been – and likely will continue to be for many years to come – knowing exactly what to ask for." https://codemanship.wordpress.com/2025/11/25/the-future-of-software-development-is-software-developers/

🔗 Two Nights Playing With Fire At Patrick Mahomes And Travis Kelce’s Steakhouse

Ending with … (my bold)

"This is the way of things at 1587, which is ostensibly a mashup of jersey numbers but also a credible restaurant tab. Complaining about the prices at 1587 Prime is like complaining about the wind on Mount Everest: predictable, but hardly the worst part of the experience. All the same, there is no need for anything this mediocre to cost this much." https://longreads.com/2025/12/30/1587prime-review-mahomes-kelce-steakhouse/

"Anyone who honestly wants to be young again has never lived, only imagined, only masqueraded."

💬 Ursula K. Le Guin

Sir Idris - mustn’t forget when we next chat.

CNN’s Harry Enten Says …

.. sorry - what? who?

No idea why - but Lettrboxd suddenly sent about 30 posts from its feed into my blog, so had to spend some time deduping - only to discover that it has also resent all the image used in the feeds - and so added to my upload library. #Weird.

We should all do the right thing by and for our children https://john.philpin.com/2025/12/30/we-should-all-do-the.html

The Knight Before Christmas, 2019 - ½ https://john.philpin.com/2025/12/30/the-knight-before-christmas.html

Kate & Leopold, 2001 - ★★★ https://john.philpin.com/2025/12/30/kate-amp-leopold.html

Me: “Thanks, man. That was awesome. My powers as a driver are pretty limited to dealing with unruly passengers, so that was great.”

Tank Man: “Meh. I work three years as Walmart cashier. This nothing.”

🔗 Source https://notalwaysright.com/boris-takes-the-bus/401816/

The Lost Bus, 2025 - ★★ https://john.philpin.com/2025/12/30/the-lost-bus.html

As I scroll through my RSS feeds I sometimes spot headlines and think FTW … but of course he has .. bloody typical. Only later realising that it was an Onion story … either they are that good, or that is how messed up our world is. Or both.

This is from iAWriter.

🪦 Oh no Brigitte - I thought you were immortal.

IF, 2024 - ★★★★ https://john.philpin.com/2025/12/28/if.html

💬

"I’ve been thinking a lot about how the “need to publish” and to constantly “put out content” have contributed to the overall devaluation of the media ecosystem, turning attention into a piñata for monetization. It’s prompted me to work ona longer piece, which I’ll keep refining for a few more days before sharing it with the readers. "

💬 Om Malik