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Congratulations! You’ve reached the end of 2025! 

This also means that you reached the end of the first quarter of the 21st century. 

And that in itself means that pretty much all of you who are reading this were in the very special position to watch the turn of a century and you were in the even more privileged position to experience the turn of a millennium. 

This may sound like a lucky roll of the dice, and it is, but just think about this. 

Of all the people who were born in the first decade of the 3rd millennium, very few will see the 22nd century and, I hate to say this, neither will you. But don’t be sad. You experienced the change of a millennium. You know how unique that is?

All the people who are alive now, won’t see another millennium change. And neither will their children, their grandchildren and their great grandchildren. In fact, we are looking some 40 generations into the future before we will see the 4th millennium. Your great grandchildren’s great grandchildren’s great grandchildren will long have turned to dust and will be entirely forgotten before this happens again. You were born in a very special time and place to be able to witness this. So thank your parents for that. 

Now, with this philosophical discussion out of the way, let’s focus a bit more on the present.

The year 2025 is  over. So what happened this year?

 

Notable travel.

I traveled a lot this year. I visited 10 countries:

Scotland

England

Holland

Belgium

Germany

USA

Portugal

Denmark 

Sweden

Norway

Two of these were new to me- Sweden and Norway. 

I also visited 8 US states

California 

Hawaii 

Illinois 

Indiana

Kentucky

Ohio

New York 

Nevada

Four of these were new to me- Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

Many of these experiences were amazing. Some of them were places I had already visited before, some of them multiple times, but they were all great to see again. 

Every travel experience has its own unique charm, and I always love seeing new places, but if I had to mark out one place for 2025, it would be Honolulu.

I had wanted to visit Hawaii ever since I was a kid and had been trying to see how I could make it happen, but there is one problem with Hawaii: It’s FUCKING FAR AWAY! 

The easiest way (and I use this word here with some caution) is to first fly to Los Angeles. This in itself is an 11 hour flight from Dublin. Then you book a flight with Hawaiian Airlines who will fly you the remaining 6 hours to Honolulu. It’s far.

After being made redundant last October, which landed me a generous pay off, I decided that I now had the time to go there. I have visited the USA 17 times now, so I know the drill, but Hawaii is.. different. 

It is still very much America- it has Starbucks, Burger King, a Yard House bar and all that other stuff you find in every big American city, but it just hits different. 

Hawaii has an amazing natural beauty, a laidback lifestyle, great weather and delicious food. I’ve traveled quite a lot but in Hawaii I saw birds I’ve never seen anywhere else. Brightly colored parakeets, tiny pigeon-like birds, and tons of others, all bright green or red or blue or a mixture of all. 

Breakfast became my favorite meal of the day, with me alternating between things like avocado toast with poached eggs and Hawaiian bowls full of fruit, granola and ice cream, and always having a delicious (and healthy!) American style Bloody Mary with it. 

I visited famous places like Pearl Harbor and Waikiki beach, which was conveniently located a 5 minute walk from my hotel. 

My hotel, by the way, was also awesome. It wasn’t a big chain like Hilton or Mercure or Best Western but an independent called The Coconut. The receptionist was a very friendly local who, for reasons beyond my comprehension, decided to upgrade me to the biggest room in the hotel. 

It was huge. It had a massive bed that I could sleep in laying sideways, if needed, a seating area with a comfortable couch, two chairs and a coffee table, it had 2 toilets, a kitchen with a fridge and dining table and 2 big sliding doors leading to 2 balconies with a view of the Ala Wai river, lined with palm trees and the mountains in the distance. 

I was as close to paradise as I could ever have imagined. If it wasn’t on the other side of the planet I would go every year.

Hawaii aside, I had a number of other great trips, which included my first visit to Chicago, an amazing city where I could tick off a number of bucket list items, like seeing the Sears Tower, visiting the Goose Island Brewery, and attending a game at Wrigley Field stadium, home of the Chicago Cubs and also featured in one of my all time favorite movies, Ferris Bueller’s Day off. Accidentally, when I visited the Revolution Brewery the next day, that movie was playing on one of the TVs. 

I visited BrewDog’s American brewery in Columbus, Ohio, which is awesome, and I returned to my favorite city in the world- New York. While there, I took a two day excursion to Las Vegas to attend a wedding, which is another thing to tick off. 

London was also on the program again, and I went to Birmingham for the Ozzy Osbourne exhibition.

My annual visit to Berlin was also penciled in, as were other regular reoccurring events like the BrewDog shareholders meeting in Ellon, Scotland, and the Mikkeller Beer Festival in Copenhagen. 

I visited Holland 5 times, did a trip to Belgium that included Aachen in Germany, Maastricht in the Netherlands and a short visit to what once was the sort-of-country of Moresnet. (More on that in a future story)

It was a happy year for traveling.

Ofcourse, there were also some noteworthy deaths this year. 

Among the famous people who passed away this year were a number of actors-

Val Kilmer was most famous for portraying The Doors singer and professional alcoholic and heroin addict Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 movie The Doors. He also played a somewhat underwhelming Batman.

He died on April 1st, aged 65, from pneumonia and after a long battle with cancer.

Gene Hackman died on 18 February at the ripe old age of 95. His life story reads like a young boy’s fantasy. He had an acting career spanning 5 decades.
He was in the US Marine Corps. He played supervillain Lex Luthor in three Superman movies. He was married for over 30 years on two different occasions. He won 2 Best Actor Academy Awards, 2 BAFTA awards and 4 Golden Globes, including the Cecille B. DeMillle Lifetime Achievement Award, and was friends with President Reagan.

Quite the life. He died in his mansion in Santa Fe, New Mexico, 2 weeks after his 95th birthday.

Malcom Jamal Warner’s main claim to fame was his role as Theo Huxtable on 1980s sitcom The Cosby Show. 

After The Cosby Show ended in 1992, he faded into obscurity, picking up acting roles here and there, including playing Will Smith’s cousin Hillary’s boyfriend in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, before reappearing in the limelight as OJ Simpson’s getaway driver in The People vs OJ Simpson in 2016. 

He died in a freak surfing accident off the coast of Costa Rica on July 20, aged 54.

Robert Redford had a career as long and storied as Gene Hackman’s. He starred in dozens of movies, won a shelf full of Academy Awards, both for acting and directing, and portrayed my favorite writer Bill Bryson in the movie adaptation of his book A Walk In The Woods, a tale of Bryson’s attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail.

Redford died of old age on September 16.

One of my personal favorites, Michael Madsen is most famous for portraying soulless gangsters in Quentin Tarantino movies. He plays Mr. Blonde in Reservoir Dogs, an unhinged psychopath who captures a cop during a diamond heist gone wrong and then ties him to a chair in an abandoned warehouse and starts torturing him. Before he succeeds in setting the cop on fire, he is shot by Tim Roth’s Mr. Orange.

In Kill Bill, Madsen plays Budd, a former professional assassin, who has fallen on hard times and now lives in a dilapidated trailer in the desert and works as a bouncer in a titty bar. 

The Bride, played by Uma Thurman, comes over to kill him, but he shoots her with rock salt before burying her alive. The Bride manages to dig her way out, swearing revenge, but Budd is killed by a poisonous snake, brought into his trailer by his former colleague Elle, before The Bride arrives and kills Elle instead by ripping out her remaining eye and leaving her to the snake. 

Michael Madsen was originally asked to play Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction, a role that went to John Travolta, but declined. There was a plan to make a movie called The Vega Brothers, starring Vic Vega (Michal Madsen in Reservoir Dogs) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta in Pulp Fiction) but Tarantino decided against it as he thought it wouldn’t work because it was supposed to be an origin story and both actors were already in their 60s. 

Michael Madsen died aged 67, at his home in Malibu as the result of heart problems which partly resulted from alcoholism. His ashes are buried at Mount Sinai Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

 

In music, we lost, among others, Brian Wilson, singer, bassist and main songwriter for the Beach Boys. 

Paul Mario Day was the original singer for Iron Maiden. He was Iron Maiden’s first singer and was only in the band for a few months and never recorded anything with them. He was asked to leave the band due to a lack of charisma on stage and his contribution to Maiden was so obscure that even longtime Maiden fans like yours truly had trouble remembering him when they heard of his death. After his brief and soon forgotten stint with one of metal’s greatest bands, he started his own band called MORE which, apart from an appearance on the 1981 Monsters of Rock festival, also failed to make any major impact. He moved to Australia in 1986, where he joined several bands, mostly playing rock covers, again without setting the world alight.

He died from cancer in Newcastle, Australia, aged 69.

Ace Frehley was one of the founding members of KISS and their lead guitarist from the band’s founding in 1973. 

He spent his formative years in a number of bands and was a roadie for Jimmy Hendrix in 1969.

He was known for the many gimmicks he brought to the stage during live shows (and believe me, if you stand out for being gimmicky in a band like KISS, you have some serious tricks up your sleeve) like a guitar that emitted smoke, a guitar that shot pyrotechnics out of its neck and many others. 

He left the band in 1982 and started touring with his own band, Frehley’s Comet and, after that, as a solo artist.

He rejoined KISS in 1996 and left again in 2002 after what he assumed was their farewell tour. 

Ace Frehley died in Morristown, New Jersey, from complications to a brain injury caused by a fall down the stairs at his home, aged 74.

In sports, we lost several American Football players, among whom Marshaw Kneeland from the Dallas Cowboys, who died from apparent suicide, aged only 24. 

Doug Martin played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland Raiders in the NFL. After being released by the Raiders in 2020, he disappeared off the radar until the Oakland police department was called to a break in, where they found a confused Martin talking incoherently. After a short physical confrontation, he was arrested and taken to the station. He died in police custody from reasons unknown, aged 36. 

Much as I dislike US wrestling because it’s fake and stupid, Hulk Hogan deserves a mention. His trademark ridiculous behaviour and bizarre chair throwing antics in the ring made him an icon of 1980s Americana and, when the internet became a thing, the subject of a million memes that will outlive their subject by decades. 

Hulk Hogan died in July 2025, aged 71, at his home in Clearwater, Florida. The official cause of death was heart attack, but this was probably caused by medical complications resulting from several complicated surgeries he received earlier in the year.

 

 

Former heavyweight champion and grill tycoon George Foreman also passed away this year. 

After winning Gold in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, Foreman turned professional and won his first world heavyweight title in 1973 by knocking out Joe Frazier in 2 rounds. He defended the title twice before losing to Muhamed Ali in 1974.

He first retired in 1977, before making a comeback in 1994, aged 45, when he beat 26 year old Michael Moorer. This made him both the oldest ever world champion and the person with the biggest time span between world titles – over 20 years. 

When he came out of retirement for the first time, he claimed in an interview that his renewed success was the result of healthy eating. 

This piqued the interest of the Salton Kitchen Appliances company, who had just developed a low-fat countertop grill and needed a famous face to hang their new product on. Foreman was just the man they needed. 

Foreman was first paid a commission for every grill sold, but when the grill became a runaway success, earning him $4.5 million a month, Salton offered him a a one-off payment of $138 million for the commercial rights to his name, an offer he happily accepted. It is estimated that Foreman made about $200 million from his grill, far more than he ever made from boxing. 

George Foreman died of natural causes in Houston, on March 21st, aged 76.

And then there was the tragic death of Diego Jota (28) a talented Liverpool forward who died, together with his brother, in a car accident near Cernadilla in Northern Spain, when their car suffered a spontaneous tire failure and their car crashed off the road, killing them both instantly. 

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There are a few more deaths that I haven’t mentioned yet because they stood out for me personally.

Ricky Hatton. 

Most people who know me, are aware of the fact that I don’t care much for boxing. I don’t stay up late to watch the Big Fights, I don’t follow boxing news and really the only time I watch it is when I accidentally come across it during the Olympics. 

But I always liked Ricky Hatton. He was a down to earth guy who didn’t let fame and fortune go to his head. He was an avid Manchester City supporter and went to every game his schedule would permit. He would go to his local pub a few nights a week to play darts and have a few pints of Guinness with his friends. He was a regular guy. Unfortunately, he had mental health issues and suffered from bouts of depression. He was found dead in his home in Manchester on September 14th, having committed suicide. 

His funeral procession was attended by tens of thousands of people and stopped at his favorite pub and the Manchester City stadium. He was buried in a sky blue coffin, the color of Manchester City’s shirt. 

He was only 46.

George Wendt

Cheers is my favorite TV show of all time. I can watch it for hours on end without getting bored even a second. And my favorite character on the show, and one of my favorite sitcom characters ever, is Norm. 

Portrayed by George Wendt, Norm is an on again, off again employed accountant who spends most of his time sitting at the bar in Cheers. He and his best friend Cliff Clavin, a know-it-all mail man, spend their days analyzing the performances of Boston’s sports teams, the problems in the world and making fun of other customers and telling jokes. Norm’s wife Vera is often mentioned on the show but never seen on screen, though she is heard saying something to Norm in one episode. Norm is originally employed as an accountant but also works as a house painter and, for some time, in his dream job, tasting beer at a local brewery. 

Wendt often complained about the beer being served on the show. To prevent the cast from getting drunk while on set, the beer served was alcohol free beer that was poured ahead of the shoot and had salt added to ensure a foamy head that would last. He would often feel nauseous when a scene involving him drinking a beer had to be redone several times. 

After Cheers he starred in a short lived but critically acclaimed comedy called The George Wendt Show. He also played Fat Sam in 80s Chevy Chase comedy Fletch and had a long list of movie and TV appearances, mostly bit parts in commercially unsuccessful movies. 

George Wendt died of natural causes, aged 76, at his home in Los Angeles and will forever be remembered by generations of beer enthusiasts and bar flies around the world for his portrayal of Norm Peterson.

And then, ofcourse, the most high profile death of 2025 was Ozzy Osbourne.

 

I don’t even know where to begin here. 

Ozzy Osbourne co-founded Black Sabbath in Birmingham, England in 1968. The band made music unlike anything anybody had ever heard. It was dark, heavy, brooding and full of sounds that nobody used. 

They had inadvertently created heavy metal.

Ozzy’s career spanned 7 decades and the music he created reverberates around the globe and across generations. After leaving Black Sabbath in 1983, he embarked on an incredibly successful solo career. He played on every continent except Antarctica. He won shelves full of every music award you can think of and then some. 

He sold over 100 million albums and received dozens of gold and platinum albums all over the world. 

I can continue for a while but I think it’s clear now- Ozzy was one of the most influential and iconic musicians in history. 

After several reunion tours with Black Sabbath in the 21st century, Black Sabbath played their final ever show on February 4th, 2017, in their hometown of Birmingham.

After  Ozzy’s health deteriorated, one last show centering on Ozzy was organized on July 5th at Villa Park stadium in Birmingham, in front of 45.000 people. There were guest performances from Slayer, Metallica and Guns&Roses, to name but a few.

Ozzy played his short set, seated on a black throne as he was unable to walk as the result of Parkinson’s Disease. 

He died 17 days later at home, as the result of heart failure and complications from Parkinson’s disease, aged 76.

His funeral procession was attended by tens of thousands of people, and drove past Black Sabbath bridge, the Black Sabbath mural and The Crown, the pub where Black Sabbath played their first ever live show, in Birmingham city centre. 

Ozzy is buried on his family estate in Buckinghamshire, England. 

The Prince of Darkness may have died but he will live on forever in the hearts of millions of metalheads worldwide.

 

 

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And then, one final thing I want to talk about is movies. I have been going to the movies quite a lot recently, for two reasons. There have been some interesting movies coming out recently, but the main reason I have been going recently is the sad and unfortunate closure of one of my favorite bars in Dublin- Underdog. This left me with a considerable gap in my schedule, which I mostly filled with going to the cinema.

I’ve seen a lot of movies in the past few months, but the one with the most interesting plot for me was Eternity. I’ll brief you on that later.

Aside from new movies, I also had the opportunity this year to see a few classics on the big screen again.

 

 

I saw The Shining on a giant IMAX screen, and it was great to see it again. Every movie enthusiast knows the story- Jack Nicholson plays Jack Torrance, a frustrated writer who takes on a job as winter care taker of a huge, remote hotel high up in the Rocky Mountains and takes his wife and son with him. As winter closes in and snow storms isolate the hotel from the outside world, Jack becomes more and more irate and slowly goes insane. A classic film. 

In the run up to Christmas, the local Lighthouse Cinema had a screening of Die Hard, a great action classic. This ofcourse reignited the eternal debate between movie fans about whether or not Die Hard is a Christmas movie. Spoiler: it is.

It was great to see this classic again on the big screen and, now closing in on 40 years old, it shows some interesting differences between then and now. People smoking in restaurants, Bruce Willis with hair, people smoking in offices, popular women’s hairstyles and clothing, it was fun to see. 

One of the highlights of the movie is, ofcourse, seeing villain Hans Gruber falling off the roof of the Nakatomi Plaza building and plummeting to his death on the pavement far below. If you’re looking for fun movie memorabilia- you can buy a Die Hard advent calendar on Amazon that consists of a cardboard Nakatomi Plaza building with a mini Gruber hanging from a slide and every day you move him one floor closer to the ground until he splatters to his death on Christmas morning. Brilliant.

Another movie highlight this year was the 40th anniversary screening of one of my all time favorite movies- Back to the Future.

I watched this movie many, many times, and it is an all time classic, especially for people who, like me, grew up in the 80s. 

It was an absolute joy to see Marty, Doc, George, Biff and all the other characters on a big screen again. Amazing.

It was close, but I must say that THE cinematic highlight of the year was the release of Kill Bill- The Whole Bloody Affair.

When I happily proclaimed to the world that I had gotten a ticket, I received a few replies saying “I’ve already seen both of them”.

These people were wrong. 

This wasn’t just a cinema showing both movies back to back. This was a new edit, one 4 1/2 hour movie with additional animation added during the movie and, after the credits ended, an additional 10 minute Pixar-like animation film which was basically Kill Bill in 10 minutes. 

It was great to see one of my favorite movies on the big screen again, and relive all the iconic scenes and kills. 

It was a long sit at 4 1/2 hours, but totally worth it. Another highlight in a year that was chock full of them. 

So, that was 2025 and I’m looking forward to 2026. I have several trips booked already and there are many more to come.

Cheers and happy new year!