No, I'm not kicking off any big anything. But I did do one new thing yesterday, which: yay, me? Sort of?
I know some people believe that the way you spend New Year's Eve or the way your life is on New Year's Day sets the tone for the coming year. I don't feel strongly that way, though I will say that if it's true, I'm good with that. I spent NYE reading, was asleep long before midnight in my time zone*, slept in a little, and had a mostly lazy day.
*Ironically, one night last week I was up until almost midnight, reading.
The new thing I did, amongst all that pleasant sameness, was to sign up for HBO Max in order to watch Heated Rivalry. I am not a consumer of streamed shows, and despite hearing many friends have conversations about have you seen this show, it's on Netflix, or that show, it's on Hulu, etcetera etcetera, I have never signed up for anything that doesn't bring me live hockey games. (I didn't even sign up for Apple TV last spring when they did Murderbot, though that was in part because I know and love the books so much that I was hesitant to watch the series.)
Sidebar: Have you heard about Heated Rivalry? I started to feel like I was reading about it everywhere. Here's what Wikipedia says:
Heated Rivalry is a Canadian sports romance television series created, written, and directed by Jacob Tierney for Crave. Based on Rachel Reid's Game Changers novel series, it follows two rival professional hockey players, Canadian Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Russian Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), whose on-ice animosity conceals a passionate, secret romance. It also stars François Arnaud, Robbie G.K., Christina Chang, Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova, Sophie Nélisse, and Dylan Walsh.
The first season premiered on Crave on November 28, 2025, and was picked up for streaming on HBO Max in the United States and Australia; Neon in New Zealand; and Movistar Plus+ in Spain. The series received critical acclaim, with praise for the directing, writing, and the lead actors' performances and chemistry. It also achieved strong audience viewership, becoming Crave's most-watched original series to date and HBO Max's top debut for an acquired, non-animated title since the platform's launch in 2019. The series has been described by media outlets as a global sensation and a break-out critical hit. In December 2025, it was renewed for a second season.
Basically it’s a gay hockey romance relationship show. There, you’re caught up.
So I signed up, watched season one (it's only six episodes), and whoa, so good! This series is NOT for everyone, and I don't mean that not everyone wants to watch a show about hockey, though truthfully it's not about hockey, it's about the relationship. But it's also a show with candid representation of sex on-screen, which isn't everyone's thing whether it's gay or straight. I mean, it's not full frontal, but you see plenty, and can definitely infer what's going on.* Frankly, it's hot as hell, and the people involved, both on screen and behind the scenes, deserve the kudos they are getting.
*Does this bother me? No. But I’m not watching it with my mother, thank you.
Funny thing, I’m sure plenty of people haven’t heard of it, but I was seeing stories about it (even the WaPo had an interview with the costume designer), and once a clip showed up on my Insta feed and I watched it, more and more showed up, and then memes, and now most of my feed is about it and even FB is showing me merch. This one is from a company that seems sketchy as hell, but I would buy the shirt if it was legit.
Since season two has been green-lighted but not started, it may not come out until 2027, so I will cancel the streaming at the end of the month. But until then, I’ll poke around and see what else to watch. And probably watch season one a few more times.
