OPE! Mixtape #61: My seven favorite things of the 2020s so far

Some good stuff here

Welcome to OPE!, the newsletter by writer and music journalist Brady Gerber. This is where I curate the week’s best links, songs, and muses on life. All typos are intentional.

Well, hello there. How are you?

Spring 2025 felt like a good time to do this.

Like all my past “seven favorite things” lists, I’m not including my actual favorite moments from the past five years, which mostly involve all the moments I spent with family, friends, and other wonderful people out and about in the world.

The criteria is simple: What “stuff” made me feel happy to be alive?

Ask me tomorrow, and this list will change.

Again, “favorite” is not “best.”

Listed in alphabetical order.

Let’s do it.

Blue Rev

A perfect indie guitar record. It’s everything I want in an album.

Elden Ring

Maybe the greatest video game I’ve ever played. When struggle is by design.

“I Really Want to Stay At Your House”

If music critics took anime more seriously, this could be a legitimate contender for song of the decade.

Oppenheimer

I’ll never forget sitting in a packed movie theater post-COVID and everyone being together in one place, all of us gasping and in awe at that scene. The reason I go to movies in the first place.

Saint Cloud

The ultimate COVID balm.

We’re Not Broken

Eric is a friend of the newsletter, but still: This is the book I wish I had when I was young.

The Zone of Interest

The rare work of art that genuinely had something new to say. Film as pure litmus test.

Excited to see what new stuff we get in the next five years.

But enough about all that. Here are this week’s best links and songs …

Hey now, become a paying subscriber to access more of my writings along with my exclusive links and mixtapes, all for the cost of one cup of coffee per month.