End of the Year Wrap-up and Plans
Hey folks!
Can you believe that 2025 is already coming to an end? Every time I think about how Second Wind has just celebrated its two-year anniversary a few weeks ago... it still doesn't feel real. I suppose time flies when you're having fun and not stressing about losing your job every day.
Not a day goes by that I don't wake up feeling thankful for what we have here at Second Wind and the community that supports us as much as you do. As we close out 2025, I look back at the channel and all the work we put out this year and just feel proud.
I'm proud that we've built a channel that doesn't find growth in clickbait, but in heartfelt video essays (and columns) about games, movies, tv shows, the industry, and whatever else we come up with that we want to talk about. I'm proud of the podcasts and the livestreams that our community routinely enjoys showing up to and hanging out in every week. I'm proud of the community and the positivity and thoughtfulness you spread in every comment section and in discussions on Discord.
We truly love what we get to do here. While we're all ready for a nice vacation, we're also itching to get right back to it in 2026.
Our last day of work for 2025 is tomorrow, December 19... but don't worry, we weren't going to end this year without one more big livestream. On Saturday we'll be doing our annual End of the Year Party stream to close out the year. We'll start at 11 AM CT and wrap-up at 5 PM CT.
We've also got plenty of videos prepped already to hold you over until we return from break.
This includes new Patreon-exclusive videos like the next Lore video from Yahtzee and a new Clueless Commentary from Jesse. There will also be a Semi-Ramblomatic compilation, new episodes of our Beyond the Pixels podcast, and our end of the year wrap-up videos highlighting our favorite games, movies, and TV shows.
Check back on December 31st for Yahtzee's Best, Worst, and Blandest of 2025, followed up by the annual Fully Ramblomatic compilation. The team will be returning to regular working hours + streams on January 5th.
Thank you for all the support you've given us this year. We've got a lot of exciting things lined-up for 2026 already.
Have a Happy Holidays, from all of us at Second Wind!
Nick Calandra
Editor-in-Chief
Comments (16)
Happy new year, and thanks for everything! I'm so glad you're creator-owned and independent. Sometimes a company can just stay small and do one thing well, especially when there aren't Business Guys™ constantly trying to force unnecessary growth.
Love that you folks are taking a nice long vacation! Enjoy it!
♥️
I'm going to have to get a tiny bottle of sparkling wine and ring in the New Year with Yahtzee. Not personally, but parasocially.
You guys are a perfect example of thriving independent media that stay true to their values and never settle for less. It's been a great joy watching and reading all your videos, livestreams, cursed exclusives (that draw-a-Pokémon video is gonna haunt me), and columns. Enjoy your holiday break, and here's to an excellent 2026!
Thanks for everything! A lot of cool games made it on my radar because of this channel. Yahtzee's recent Semi Ram on the chips was excellent, I would love to see Tina do a short series breaking down a lot of the industry roles/processes like this, fascinating stuff! Cheers to 2026, hope you all enjoy your fill of eggnog!
So happy to see you guys continue to thrive, have a great year!
Weird question but has non yahtzee stuff grown in viewership over the two years? I feel when you have someone like him who's such a big, iconic person he can kinda overshadow the rest (or draw people to the other stuff. I came for no punctuation and stayed for the rest :)) but everything else is also so great so yknow I'm hoping folks are finding their way to stuff like the backdrop
We have. Unpacked does on avg about 40,000 views, The Backdrop has grown significantly, our one-off essays tend to do quite well. We’re always going to have our anchor shows, and then the small passion projects. That’s the beauty of crowdfunding.
Fairly Easy BBQ Chicken Wings recipe: Get some Chicken Wings, and your favorite BBQ sauce (Something sweet and tangy preferred) You can do everything but the last step ahead of time. 1) A few days ahead of time (Or at least the night before). Brine your bird! You can find simple brine recipes online, just sugar, salt, and water, and you can mix in some spices. Put your wings in the brine and let it sit at least overnight 2) Take them out of the brine, toss them in a bbq rub, or just some salt and pepper, and place them in a tray or on a pan, single layer only. 3) Preheat your oven to 250F. Put wings in oven for 3 hrs. 4) An hour before you need to serve them, preheat your oven to 300F. Toss your wings in your favorite BBQ sauce, then bake for an hour. Then take out and serve.
Hello there.
As a day-one subscriber, I'm thankful for y'all continuing your work and making content for us plebs.
Thanks for always being such a nice part of my week, and I hope ya'll enjoy your very deserved time off!
Thank you for a second amazing year!
Thank you💖😊😄
❤❤❤