Following the success of 2024’s resolutions, I’m going to set a similarly ambitious list for 2025:

1. Read 30 books, including the complete works of John Wyndham

With only four left to go, finishing the complete works of John Wyndham will be easy. However, hitting my target of 30 again this year may be more challenging, particularly with the 883-page The Mirror & The Light being on the tentative “to read” list.

2. Get into Talking Heads

Continue my adventures with Talking Heads‘ back catalogue and other media, specifically:

Three albums: Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues, Little Creatures

Two films: Stop Making Sense and David Byrne’s American Utopia

Relevant episodes of the the This Must Be Talking Heads podcast

3. Watch 12 specific films

Setting myself a target list of films to watch has worked well in the past and again in 2024. So this time, as well as watching the two Talking Heads related films as part of the previous resolution, I’m aiming to watch nine more music documentaries, plus three others:

Vivian Stanshall: The Canyons of His Mind (2004)
Beware of Mr. Baker (2012)
The Stone Roses: Made of Stone (2013)
Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (2019)
Zappa (2020)
The Sparks Brothers (2021)
The Velvet Underground (2021)
Moonage Daydream (2022)
In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 (2022)

Son of Frankenstein (1939)
Apocalypto (2006)
Lancaster (2022)

4. Complete Pokémon Blue

This year’s video game resolution is to complete the game I’ve already started, so hopefully should be more successful than previous ones (Lords of Midnight, Braid, Escape from Monkey Island).

5. Run a 10+ km distance once a month, get a parkrun PB, and volunteer at parkruns

I ran two 10k races in 2024 and found them a lot easier than my first in 2023. I’m already signed up for another in February, and may do the Altrincham 10k again in September. But now I know I can do the distance, I don’t need to do organised (and expensive) races to motivate me. This year, I aim to do at least one 10 km distance every month, whether it’s an organised race or a casual run. And since my nearest parkrun is 2.5 km away from my house, running there and back would do it.

I’m way ahead of my parkrun target. Originally, I’d aimed to get to 100 by the end of 2026, by getting to 50 in 2023 (failed) and 60 in 2024 (over-achieved by reaching 75). So this year, I’ll continue doing parkruns as often as possible, but volunteer instead of run at every fourth event I attend. I’m also aiming to get a parkrun PB this year.

Other fitness goals, such as continuing to swim and go to the gym regularly, are upgraded from resolutions to habits.

6. Give blood 4 times

Self-explanatory.

7. Publish 3 blog posts

I have a couple of ideas I’m working on already. New Year’s resolutions posts and The Ambivalence List Volume 2 don’t count.

8. Learn how to pronounce Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch

Self-explanatory.

Time for my annual round-up of New Year’s resolution achievements. This year, I chose to be ambitious – possibly unrealistic – with my resolutions, as a spur to action.

1. Read 30 books, including the complete works of John Wyndham

Status: almost complete

I read 31 books, returning to my long-term average. However, I only read 13/17 of Wyndham’s books. I’ll complete that challenge early in 2025.

2. Get into Talking Heads

Status: unclear

I definitely listened to a lot of Talking Heads, and appreciate them a lot more now. So, in that sense, I achieved the resolution.

On the other hand, I defined this resolution more specifically as becoming familiar with their back catalogue up to Little Creatures and watching Stop Making Sense.

I’ve certainly listened to the first three albums to the point of familiarity, but I’ve spent less time listening to Remain in Light, Speaking in Tongues and Little Creatures, and I haven’t watched Stop Making Sense yet. I’ve also subsequently added watching American Utopia to the Talking Heads to-do list.

So, I’ll continue with this one in 2025.

3. Do two 10k races and reach 60 parkruns

Status: achieved

I absolutely smashed the fitness resolution.

I’ve run two 10k races (Altrincham and Tatton Park). I’ve also got my parkrun total up to 75, which was way beyond my expectation. In the last quarter of the year, I also started going to the gym and swimming regularly.

4. Complete and submit 10 Private Eye crosswords

Status: achieved

Another roaring success: 18 crosswords completed and submitted, including the Christmas one.

5. Watch 10 specific films

Status: achieved

Easily completed within the year, turning around a miserable past performance where a previous year’s list had taken five years to get through.

6. Publish a Hate List and a Love List

Status: achieved

Hate List Volume 21 and Love List Volume 3 were both published on Boxing Day.

7. Complete Braid

Status: failed

I even extended the video games resolution after setting it, to include both Braid and Escape from Monkey Island, but apart from a brief test play of Escape, I didn’t touch either.

Instead, I started playing Pokémon Blue on an old Gameboy Color, and have made a reasonable amount of progress. So that’s what I’ll continue into 2025.

8. Learn how to pronounce Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch

Status: failed

I just didn’t tackle this one at all.

Overall, I think it was a fairly successful year, and the ambitious targets did induce me to achieve more than I’ve managed in the last few years. I read more, listened to more new (to me) music, got fitter physically and mentally, checked more films off my ‘to watch’ list, wrote more, and found time for some enjoyable retro gaming.

I haven’t posted any New Year’s resolutions on here for a while, mainly because I’ve been very bad at keeping them – or not set myself any at all – for the last few years. (No prizes for guessing why!)

However, the point of resolutions is to set yourself some ambitious goals which spur you on to achieve improvements to your life which you wouldn’t otherwise have made – even if you don’t manage to complete or stick to them all.

So, in that spirit, I’m going to make an absurdly over-ambitious list for 2024:

1. Read 30 books, including the complete works of John Wyndham

I used to typically read 30+ books a year; there have been a few years when I’ve read 50+. Since 2018, I’ve struggled to read 20 a year – in 2023 I only managed 18. Combining this with an author reading challenge should help, since Wyndham’s books are generally quite short.

2. Get into Talking Heads

Talking Heads is the band that it’s most anomalous that I’m not already into. They’re exactly the sort of band that I would love. I like the few songs I’ve heard – the big hit singles – but I’m not familiar with their work beyond those. I get why their fans are typically intensely zealous about them. I’ve just never put enough time into listening to them myself. So this year, I’m going to make a concerted effort to really listen to their back catalogue – at least up to Little Creatures – and also watch Stop Making Sense.

3. Do two 10k races and reach 60 parkruns

I did one 10k in 2023 (and it nearly killed me); I want to build on that and do two more this year.

I wanted to reach 50 parkruns in 2023 (from a start of 33). Unfortunately I only reached 42. So I’m setting myself the even more ambitious (by 1) target of reaching 60 by the end of 2024.

4. Complete and submit 10 Private Eye crosswords

I’ve been a Private Eye subscriber since the early 2000s, and I occasionally complete the crossword – on average, it seems, about twice a year. If I start it, I usually finish it – it’s just a matter of making the effort to start it. So this year, I’ll make the effort more often.

5. Watch 10 specific films

Setting myself a specific list of films to watch in the year (typically, classics or cult hits that I hadn’t seen, or DVDs that had been sitting unwatched on my shelf for some time) worked quite well in 2017 and 2018. My 2019 list is still unfinished (by one film). But I’m going to set myself another list to work through:

Dracula (1931)
Frankenstein (1931)
The Mummy (1932)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
National Velvet (1944)
Godzilla (1954)
Stand By Me (1986)
My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Donnie Brasco (1997)
Children of Men (2006)

I also need to watch Paths of Glory (1957) to finish the 2019 list.

6. Publish a Hate List and a Love List

The last Hate List (Vol 20) was published in 2016. I have the material for another one; I just need to get my act together, edit it and get it out there. Similarly for the Love List, the last one of which (Vol 2) was published in 2007.

7. Complete Braid

I’d been meaning to play this for some time. I bought it in a Steam sale in January 2021, played for a couple of hours, got stuck, and haven’t been back since. Another one where I just need to set aside some time for myself to have a crack at it.

8. Learn how to pronounce Llanfair­pwllgwyngyll­gogery­chwyrn­drobwll­llan­tysilio­gogo­goch

Self-explanatory.