I recently changed my YouTube username. Previously, it reflected my name and surname, a choice I made many years ago when the internet was a simpler and generally kinder place. But these days, you never know what attention your online interactions might attract, so I'm separating my real-world identity from my online engagement. Once you put something in the digital realm, you lose control of it.

The start of 2025 seems to be on-theme with this logic. Some examples are self-inflicted. When the Academy Awards announced their latest nominees, a film called Emilia Pérez leaped to the front with an astounding 13 nominations, placing it among the second most nominated movies of all time. For various reasons, it did not find much public support, with some saying it's not that great a film, and others annoyed at its blasé treatment of Mexican cartel atrocities.