🐀😳 Boston’s rats are fighting back ...

🙋‍♀️ This New England logo quiz is STUPID easy … If you’re a true New Englander, that is. Your mission: ID 10 iconic New England brand logos. Not to flex, but Emily and Gia both got a perfect score *flexes anyway*.

🥳 Happy Birthday to B-Sider Jocie Sobieraj! No matter what you scored, you’re a 10/10 in our hearts. Have a great day!

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

💜 On the 11th day of B-Side, the newsletter gave to me … Exclusive Baggu-style totes and B-Side tees! To celebrate our community and this year’s 12 Days of B-Side, we’re giving members limited-edition B-Side merch! Think: 15 custom Baggu totes and 10 B-Side Comfort Colors tees. Designed with YOU in mind, our swag is perfect for errands, classes, gifting, or showing off a little B-Side pride around the city.

👀 Want in? Just be one of the first 10 B-Side Members to fill out the form in your email TODAY between 3–4 p.m.

Now, onto our regularly scheduled programming …

Let’s be real: At times, 2025 felt … very, very, bad. But Boston’s steady stream of wacky and wonderful stories were a bright spot, from unexpected alligators to scandalous jumbotrons to cat elections. 

So as the year winds down, let’s take a (silly) walk down memory lane:

🏈 Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson broke the internet. Remember when this Halloween photoshoot was the most notable thing about Belichick and his 24-year-old GF? Nothing could have prepared us for the WILD year of Super Bowl commercials, flop interviews, tabloid headlines, shady IG posts, and … couples yoga … that would follow.

💋 Gillette’s jumbotron became national news. ICYMI: Coldplay’s Chris Martin unintentionally revealed a co-worker affair via kiss cam, and it became a crown jewel of our brain rot summer. Cue the resignations, a divorce, and … Gwyneth Paltrow ads. 

🐀 Boston’s rats started biting back. The phrase “new nightmare unlocked” has never been more true than when we first saw this horrifying TikTok of a woman explaining that she’d been bitten(!) by a Fenway rat. Never wearing flip flops in Fenway again!

🐊 An alligator swam through the Charles. And it was lowkey … cute! This baby gator made quite a stir when it was spotted taking a dip in the river. Thankfully, a reptile expert successfully saved the little guy before he got too cold.

🐶 Tom Brady revealed his dog is a clone. In 2025’s best episode of “rich people doing stuff:” Brady told the world that his dog Junie is a clone of his former dog, Lua. OK, then!

🐱 Somerville elected a new cat mayor. What happens when one cat jokingly challenges another cat to an election for the made-up position of Somerville’s bike path mayor? Over a dozen cats (and two dogs) join the race, a giant art installation of silly lawn signs appears, and the election actually happens, duh!

💅🏽 Cardi B became a Pats fan. Cardi B and 84-year-old Pats owner Robert Kraft sitting side-by-side in Gillette was NOT on our 2025 bingo card. But as it turns out, nowhere — not even Foxborough — is too random to keep Cardi from supporting her man.

🏈 New England got a new first family … and a new meme account. We’d like to thank Drake Maye for single-handedly making Sundays fun again; Ann Michael Maye for creating the internet’s first non-toxic gathering of New England fans; and @Drakemayelover for, well, everything.

🤔 Did we miss any? You can read through ALL of Boston’s best pop culture moments in 2025 here!

🍕 Is Boston becoming the next pizza capital of the country? With some of the pies at Dirty Water Dough, it may be on its way. Double down on cheese with their Mac Cheesy, topped with Ritz and Cheez-Its, or try their Steak ‘n Cola with cola-marinated shaved steak. Or show your Boston pride with their Green Monster and Fenway Frank pies. Whatever you’re in the mood for, use code BSIDE to get $5 off any large through Dec. 31.

Keep your holiday spirit (and your appetite) going strong with El Barco in Back Bay. When the temps drop, tacos are a love language. Use code BARCOBG on orders of $30 or more to get $8 off your total. Quesabirria tacos? Pollo asado? El Barco has your cravings covered.

🗳️ ~12 questions are left in our ballot Q bonanza. With the first signature collection deadline for 2026 ballot questions behind us, it’s looking like around a dozen potential Q’s are in the running, according to Axios. Which, while WAY less than the initial field of 44, would still be record-breaking. Beyond hot-button topics like rent control, same-day voter registration, and making weed illegal, other potential Q’s would reduce the state income tax, end the MBTA Communities Act, nix “junk fees” in utility bills, and more. Here’s a peek at each one.

🚇 Next stop: An Orange Line extension? It’s possible! A proposal to extend the line south to Roslindale Village is getting buzz on Beacon Hill. The change would be HUGE for Rozzie, which is currently served by the less frequent, pricier commuter rail. Advocates say it could transform local commuting patterns. Last week, the House gave an initial thumbs up to a feasibility study that’ll assess the project’s environmental and community impacts. That said, even if the study happens (it still needs to pass both chambers), we won’t hear results until summer.

🎥 Lights, camera, Karen Read! Clear your calendars on Jan. 10, because “Accused: The Karen Read Story” will officially premiere on Lifetime. While the buzzy murder trial has been covered in many an article and docu-series, this will be the first real adaptation, with actor Katie Cassidy playing Read, and Luke Humphrey playing the late John O’Keefe. Most of the other details are TBD, but we gotta say, this promo picture looks scary accurate … aside from Karen Read lol.

🏆 We’re right in the middle of “best of” list season. But what about the worsts of the year? Lucky for us, the Globe’s film critic Odie Henderson has both. Among his worst movies of the year: “Marty Supreme” (sorry, Timmy!); “The Phoenician Scheme” (sorry, Wes!); and “HIM” (sorry … Tom Brady?). And the best: “Sinners,” "Frankenstein," (not just because of Jacob Elordi’s monster look); and “Sorry, Baby.” You can check out all the best movies of the year here, and the worst here.

Enter our holiday bundle giveaway to win a $75 Shore Leave gift card and sippin' Santa mug, $200 gift card to Eastern Standard, Equal Measure, and Standard Italian, two months of free walk-in studio individual membership to Craft Loft (Jan. and Feb. 2026), and a $20 gift card to A Sanctuary Cafe. 

Enter Here!

21+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.

Nothing gets Somerville residents lit like a … Star Market demolition party? Or at least, it did last Saturday, when residents gathered at a nearby brewery to watch and celebrate the first forklift dig into the Winter Hill Star Market.

We totally get the appeal of the party: The demo has been 17 years in the making after being abandoned in 2008. Attention on the eye sore only increased this summer, when an anonymous artist added a little spice by filling in its fading letters to spell out “RAT.” 

But now, at long last, the ugly Star Market building is on the way out, and soon, it’ll be a multi-use development with rental units, community space, and a park. And judging by clips of the party, folks are pretty happy about it.

— Written by Gia Orsino, Emily Schario, and Claire Nicholas

🐀 Thanks for reading! Rat market, may it rest in peace.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, Dirty Water Dough, for supporting local journalism and keeping our city fed. 

🌴 The results are in: 57% of readers say they’re down for a tropical holiday vacation. One reader said: “My apartment’s heat is broken so… wishing I had booked one starting right about now.” Fair enough!

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].