An ongoing series on books, movies, and music I’ve encountered recently. Portrait of a Lady on Fire. 🔥 Watchmen (TV show). This whole limited series is something special, but the three-episode stretch of "This Extraordinary Being", "An Almost Religious Awe", and "A God Walks Into Abar" is spectacular. I went into this basically as a … Continue reading Media of the moment
Pick up your kid
There’s a post by Jason Kottke I’ve thought about almost every day since he wrote it last year. He links to an animated version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, then reminisces about reading picture books with his now-older kids: We’ll likely never read any of those books together again. It reminds me of one of … Continue reading Pick up your kid
Are You Paying Attention? On ‘The Social Dilemma’ and ‘My Octopus Teacher’
I don't have to go looking for synchronicity because it always finds me. This time it was on Netflix. The other day I watched Netflix's new docu-drama The Social Dilemma (trailer) based on the recommendation from a friend and a lively text thread about its implications. The film's thesis is that social networks are engineered … Continue reading Are You Paying Attention? On ‘The Social Dilemma’ and ‘My Octopus Teacher’
An Iceberg to Remember
One of my favorite books of all time is Walter Lord’s A Night to Remember, a retelling of the Titanic’s demise. I finally got around to watching Roy Ward Baker’s 1958 film adaptation of the book on a beautiful Criterion Blu-ray from the library, and it got me wondering: what about the iceberg? In both … Continue reading An Iceberg to Remember
Little Book of Typewriters
I’m a little tardy on this, but I wanted to share what my wife got me for Father's Day. After a great deal of secret preparations, she presented a one-of-a-kind Little Book of Typewriters for me and our son: The first page includes a scan of something we got from Tom Hanks in reply to … Continue reading Little Book of Typewriters
Recent Views (in my kitchen)
We’re finally redoing the original kitchen in our 1956 house. Once the old metal Youngstown cabinets were removed, I noticed this collision of patterns on the unfinished wall: I also discovered some old-school miscellanea:
American Virus-Response Solutions
Magazine mashups from American Libraries, September/October 2020
Ghost Papas: Fatherhood in ‘The Patriot’ and ‘Interstellar’
I recently rewatched The Patriot for the first time in a long while. I was big into this movie as a lad, so rewatching it as a thirtysomething dad was something of an experiment to see how my adolescent tastes hold up. There's good (John Williams' score, Mel Gibson as likeable movie star) and bad … Continue reading Ghost Papas: Fatherhood in ‘The Patriot’ and ‘Interstellar’
Recent Views
More photography here and on my Instagram. As much of a selfie I’m willing to muster: From back in coat-wearing weather, the cover art for our future family band’s debut album: Backyard greenery: Exploring the tiny patch of wildness in our suburban backyard: A fence post in the local park that’s seen better days: Our … Continue reading Recent Views
The Last Dance
Pretty much inhaled the Michael Jordan docuseries The Last Dance on Netflix. As I was a mere lad during the Chicago Bulls’ extended championship run in the ‘90s, the series really added color and context to the on- and off-court happenings I wouldn’t have understood at the time. Though a Wisconsinite, I didn’t feel any … Continue reading The Last Dance