October 2025 Top Ten

1.

NEW JOHN VAN DEUSEN ALBUM. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

Okay, maybe a little dramatic. But my favorite musician released a new album and I’ve been listening to it on repeat. I even “pirated” it onto a cassette, ha!

2.

Right now, my favorite song on the album is “Let Me Rest My Head.”

3.

I read the first book in The Once and Future King by T.H. White called The Sword in the Stone and loved it. It’s Arthurian legend stuff. Looking forward to the next book.

4.

I mentioned a single from Tyson Motsenbocker last month. Well, his new album, Modern Worries, came out, too. And it’s super solid!

5.

Mumford and Sons just announced they have a new album, Prizefighter, coming out in February, which I’m very excited about. They’ve been my favorite band since 2010. They released the first single already.

6.

I love comic books, but most of them are too graphic or emphasize the art over a cohesive story, so it’s hard to find comics for kids. But, I found a run of “What If…” comics from Disney/Marvel (“What if Donald Duck became Wolverine”), and the kids enjoyed them.

Milo’s even been working on his own comic about him and his friend called “The Fantastic Two.”

7.

I mentioned it’s been a crazy music month. One of my other favorite artists, Shad, just released a new album, Start Anew. I haven’t listened to it much yet, but “Rain” is definitely a standout.

8.

In one of the promotional posts for the Joplin Writers’ Faire, one of the fellow authors (a local high school student) gave me a shoutout and said my writing book was helpful for his own writing journey. I’d never met this kid before. It was pretty surreal.

9.

I was reminded of this panel that I love from the comic All Star Superman.

10.

I told Milo when he turned 7 we could watch The Iron Giant. We finally did a few weeks ago, on VHS. He loved it. I loved it. It was awesome.

11.

I watched pretty much every pitch of the Mariner’s deep playoff run. It was a blast. Heartbreaking end. The World Series has been a ton of fun, too.