Chez Wombat

Congrats yet again Addy, was a very quirky and standout track, now please give the rest of us a chance! That whole top 4 is excellent so I have no qualms in being just below, I was worried this one would blend into the background if anything so 5th is a lovely surprise, thanks to all voters, have a cute rat gif x I enjoyed all of that top 10 to some extent so that's a great result and some good ones just outside as well, only bad thing is Metastasis doing so badly, where's the appreciation for the greats x Thanks for hosting, Cody, was a great edition as always, hope we can fit in another one of these before the year's out x

Well phew, that was a bit of a drought x I'm thinking these dishes are doing themselves at the top of the scoreboard?

Day 8: Most misunderstood character you like or relate to: Skyler White (Breaking Bad) I don't relate to her or anything, but she was portrayed excellently and way waaay overhated (despicably so in some cases) in a clear example of online misogyny, I'm not sure how one could be judged so harshly for not acting entirely rational when finding out your husband's turned into a murderous drug kingpin.

Wonderful entry from Jade <3 That would make a great winner too Really did not expect to still be so close to the top l

Well this is a good start, thank you all! It definitely is far too short, but it packs a lot of darkwave punch in that runtime and I figured we wouldn't be short of longer songs (albeit not quite as many as I expected).

I figured Metastasis would be uhsting, but thanks for introducing me to an incredible piece of music. Love these experimental classical pieces a'la Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima. The lyrics to LYR stood out to me, my mind was brought right back to GCSE English Lit when I saw that poet Simon Armitage was in the band *__ Nfract sounded huge too and I wouldn't be surprised if it won (gosh that's a slow start though, more points needed) x

I thought this started out really well, and it had a much darker edge than the other seasons with the characters but it just sort of fizzled out to nothing...the family were just going through the motions by the end despite a lot of promise, apart from the daughter, it didn't feel like any of them had any sort of arc and their big reveal didn't even happen on screen, the three friends' storyline went nowhere and ended on a cliched note (and it's a shame as Carrie Coon, Parker Posey and Jason Isaacs (despite that shocking accent) were all great) Rick and Chelsea felt like the only ones with development and they ended up dead, I just feel there was so much potential they missed this season with all the characters. I did like Belinda mirroring Tanya's immediate rejection of her in the first season as soon as fortunes turn out better for them. Still a pretty good show overall, hope the rumours of a Scandinavian setting for S4 are true x

Is that the biggest margin in these ever? Lol x (Good set of songs here apart from the obvious two duds leaving)

That was another really solid episode, not as good as 73 Yards in terms of Doctor-lite episodes, but it's great to see something that Doctor Who hasn't covered before and a contemporary, real-world issue that it absolutely makes sense to see Doctor Who tackle in this day and age, misinformation can be just as scary as some of the Doctor's foes and while there's only so much the BBC can say given we all know certain politicians are the main flag-flyers of this, I think they handled it pretty well, (and I love how this season is just pissing off the manosphere crowd as they're exactly the anti-woke idiots that will consistently criticise the show, yet clearly obsessing over it). Conrad was played really well, but I'm not sure how I feel about the 'reveal', it surely would've been better to show us how he got to this path rather than a skeleton story and a few sentences explanation. Also, didn't really like the ending monologue, felt a little bit preachy and out of character for the Doctor. Kate from UNIT was great though with the dubious morality. The season finale really did kill off Ruby's character to the point I just find her quite uninteresting to watch now, her PTSD wasn't explored enough. Unrelated but I'm on a bit of a DW high right now - I went to a 20th anniversary show at the BFI at the weekend where they screened two past episodes from the original revival (Dalek and Fathers Day, both still stunning) and Murray Gold and Camille Coduri (Jackie) were there! *.

Day 7: TV show that outstayed its welcome The Walking Dead, I really liked the first five seasons but it just went on and on and I couldn't bring myself to sit through it, and there's still spin-offs going!

Gosh, Sinners has got really unlucky running into two monster blockbusters, but fantastic hold for it nonetheless.

Day 6: Favourite quiz show I'll go with Pointless for the geeky element and the fact I spent many hours playing the app version x

I didn't see that winner coming actually, but it's a good one, The Streets going dreampop isn't something I thought would work but turns out it does x Congrats to Rich (and happy birthday!). I can't begrudge any of that top 10, I either voted or nearly voted for all of them <3 Albeit a shame I couldn't quite hold onto top 10 (if only I'd actually self-recycled Night Tapes x), but I'll take being just about top half in 12th, thanks for all who voted. This was a lovely theme choice and had a good, eclectic set of songs for the most part, thanks Jade for hosting it so efficiently!

So I actually found this quite a challenge to send something to as all of my go-to dreampop discoveries (Ozean - Scenic, Chapterhouse - Pearl and Slowdive's discog) are ones I've sent to other song contests here. While I wouldn't describe NewDad's current sound as dreampop, I did remember this having a distinctly dreamy sound so I am pleased I got to send it. Very much a 'before they were cool' moment as well, all the way back in 2021 x Thank you for the votes so far (including a 12 woop x), there are three excellent songs revealed so far as well x

Day 5: An underrated TV show Utopia. I've literally written a dissertation about it, but a really great, distinctive ahead of it's time show that was cancelled too soon and sadly has a shit US remake to it's name I loved the first season of Yellowjackets, but it's been going steadily downhill since :'( (I'm only halfway through S3)

Day 4: TV show you've deliberately avoided watching: Mrs Brown's Boys, do I need to explain why? x

I'd meant to make a topic but never got round to it, I saw this on BFI Imax on day of release - seeing it on such a big screen and so high up was insane! Really great film, I agree that Blues scene with the music going through time was an incredible piece of directing and the highlight of the film, though the horror action was still a ton of fun and the performances were great to make you care about the characters too. The post-credits scene was a great choice too and gave a fitting, more unpredictable closure than the first ending. Wonderful to see a fully original movie do so well, just a shame it had to run into sodding Minecraft so won't have a chance of topping the box office.

Day 2: Favourite new TV show released in 2025 The Studio on Apple TV+. Great skewering of Hollywood's shady practices and some great takes from directors/actors playing themselves. Day 3: Favourite on-screen friendship Mark & Jeremy from Peep Show. Toxic and completely terrible for each other, and wonderful for it x

Holding you responsible for me not being a place higher -___ xx

Aww I was really rooting for the other Debbie there, 1/17 is so euphoric, but I can't deny I did enjoy the ABBA-style throwback of the winning Debbie too, and fair play on it being a pretty close run thing even though she was seemingly an obvious winner right from the get-go, congrats to Addy! I'll gladly take 9th and being nestled between two of my top 5 (still looking for that elusive 4th place finish to complete the top 10 but I'll get there) x I am fairly sparing with the 'epic instrumental' sound these days just because I've sent so many and I want the ones I do send to be really worth it, this beautifully melodic and ever-changing song from that beautiful neo-classical Japanese corner of the internet definitely stood out and I'm really pleased it connected with so many, especially after the 'rough year' (certified by ChatGPT x) I've been having thus far. Many thanks for all voters and I'd highly recommend his other material should you really like this, if you've got a spare hour, the 51 minute epic Sons is a similarly ever-changing journey in sound. An excellent top 10, I liked all of them to some extent. Would've been lovely to see Persephonia keep up that early momentum but still a great result. East Ruk too low, but I was pleasantly surprised that even qualified, thanks for reminding me SuicideSheep has still somewhat got it x Thank you for the great, enthusiastic hosting, Josh, great to see a good deal of discussion this month.

Oh that's a real surprise, thank you Macromia <3 Love how this has appealed to countries I don't normally get points from

Another 18 woop, thank you Colm and everyone else <3 Top 10 seems a tight one at this point, but nice to be back there x Pestolia's was just outside my votes so would be a good winner, and the song that just beat it to that point is just behind x

Thank you for the generous points haul so far, especially the 18 from FKA Eastovka <3 Cautious of over-estimating, but I'd be really happy with a top 10 to sit along my other epic instrumental top 10s. Thelonia's has clicked with me more each listen, what a banger, would love to see that win, failing that, Scotland 2 would be a great choice x

Great idea! Day 1: Favourite trans character Dennis/Denise Bryson from Twin Peaks, a minor role but it was treated with dignity and respect while just making her a detective that's great at her job that happens to be more comfortable as a woman.

I can only imagine my enjoyment of this would've been enhanced had I not seen spoilers, but that's my bad, nonetheless, I think I'd comfortably put that up there with RTD1 era standard, I honestly thought I'd ever enjoy a Doctor Who episode as much as I did then. I mean that was just sensational - a real sense of tension and dread, well-paced, well-rounded supporting characters that you actually felt for and didn't just feel like extras to be axed, an innovative casting choice that felt important to the plot and not just a diversity tokenism and why this creature is one of the best Nu-Who enemies - it truly stumps the Doctor, it's not clear what it is, wants or where it came from, yet it delights in making people become their worst selves through psychological torture just because it can and it makes it stronger every time. Even the Daleks don't feel as pure evil. They'll never recreate the original terror of Midnight, but they did a good job developing the creature's nature without losing the fear factor. The Mercury thing they used initially to get out of the room wasn't terribly well-explained, but that's the only qualm I can really find. The great thing was (much like the original Midnight), it worked completely as a standalone episode so I'm hopeful it can go down as a classic (unlike 73 Yards which seemed excellent, but hinged on the series arc which turned out to be a total letdown which taints it in retrospect). I'd honestly question anyone that calls themselves a Doctor Who fan that found nothing to enjoy here, I cannot think of what else you could want. This show really seems to have massively improved at the wrong time, I at least hope it keep this up for this season as the ratings were up this week which indicates there's good word of mouth.