Watched the first 2 of Tig Nataro’s new show, #StarTrekAcademy. Good production, &c. I don’t care for it though b/c I find any story that centers children (or teens) significantly less compelling. Also, I’m *so tired* of cocky immature anti-authority males getting *so much* special treatment.

Do you enjoy movies that depend on a good plot idea well scripted? Then may I recommend The Rip, which is a thriller because it has good guys and bad guys—and identifying who is which is the whole movie. Fab third act reveal, great action sequences, and top chemistry.

Happy Animal Crossing Update Day!! #ACNH

Do you enjoy formulaic child-stealing indigenous spirt monsters attacking modern non-believing mothers who then believe then struggle against non-believing officials movies? Then may I recommend Moogai, which is that and that’s pretty much that. Good creature design though, defs creepy.

Friend Natasha had a brilliant idea: what if the #iPhone Air was a trial production for half the rumored iPhone Fold? I went to an Apple Store to see what such a thing would feel/look like by sandwiching two Airs. While I like the folded-out screen size I’m still not sold on the whole fold concept.

Do you enjoy period piece racing movies that have a surprising number of moving parts? Then may I recommend Ford v Ferrari, which of course is a sports underdog story but has an unusual amount of tension from multiple angles, so has a high degree of engagement. Great sound, great editing and acting.

I think I may be Marvel-ed out. Marvelexhausted. Too many things over too many years is too much. We already saw the newest (ugh, that that even has to be specified) Fantastic Four just recently. Marvel I think is better for us only streaming and only on Pizzatainment Fridays. & no more series plz.

Mr. Chase Cricket contemplated getting up to investigate squirrel activity through the window but thought better of it. #Cat

At last the story can be told (I just got the data). This is the number of hours I played per week of World of #Warcraft in 2025. Things bottomed out in the first part of the year then picked up—then way up with new features like housing and Lemix. Max was 56 hrs, min 0 hrs. Average: 13.8 hrs/week.

Our resident squirrel appears to be gnawing the trunk of our rhododendron—so much that it’s at risk of dying. ❗️ Our first idea: propitiation via bird seed, a food source it will likely prefer to wood.

I tried one year to keep a list of all the movies I saw during the year. That effort showed me that I watch so got damned many that I literally can’t keep track, it’s demonstrably too much effort. I only post about a fraction of the films I actually see. 🤷‍♂️

Do you enjoy movies whose trailers make it seem like it’s a comedy but is *assuredly* not and is instead a might-be-brilliant masterwork? Then may I recommend Bugonia, which…god damn, this movie is different, amazing, new, and so tense that my brow was furrowed so long it was almost painful. Wow.

Speaking of #Warcraft, one thing I’ve been grateful for is past me completing things, like leveling professions and fully participating in in-game events. This behavior has yielded unexpected benefits today with things like Housing.

This inspired a friend and I to go on an alt deletion tour. Feels better! 😃 #Warcraft

Me: “Oh, is it like 8 or 9pm?” Pacific Northwest: “5:30.” Ugh. Still suffering from it. 😆 Upside though is every day is longer than the previous! 🤷‍♂️ #Seattle

Do you enjoy thrillers that aren’t but seemed like they should’ve on paper? Then may I recommend Survivor (2015) which has good stars and a serviceable plot (the line on the poster is actually a better story idea than the movie, tbh) but almost nothing about this movie works as a cohesive whole.

🚨 Extremely dense fog tonight—perhaps the densest of the year. Chances of zombie leper pirates Extremely High! Stay away from anyone appearing to be stumbling home after a debauch, it’s the gait of the undead! ☁️🧟‍♂️🦠⚓️

Heck yeah! Just in time, I got the Minion of Grumpus mount before the Feast of Winter Veil ended. I had three characters—everyone with a garrison—working on it every day. Finally dropped! #Warcraft

What’s your favorite true crime podcast? (If you don’t have one what is going on over there?)

Do you enjoy minimalist movies where “nothing happens” yet the smallest things become significant and somehow add tension? Then may I recommend Perfect Days, carried by an amazing performance and writing/direction that borders on brilliant. Small, big, cozy, grand, quiet, but whisperingly loud.

Do you enjoy superior smartly written and directed thrillers? Then may I recommend Relay, which has a unique and clever premise and schtick, with conversations taking place over TTY (see poster). Super engaging throughout, great third act, well performed, and all around tight. Great find.

I know there’s no point to it really, opening gifts on any character gets the present for every character—but I can’t help but to have each and every one of my characters open their presents from Greatfather Winter. #Warcraft 🎄🎁😊

Among the things that grind my gears is “it was a simpler time.” No it wasn’t. In no manner at all was it—for anyone. The further back in time the more complicated and time consuming every aspect of life was: food, communication, commerce, anything. Things are *ridiculously* easier now, good grief.

Sir Percival Softpaws celebrates Christmas by occupying important game-playing space, namely, and appropriately, my mousepad.

Madcap comedy is good. But it strains when the way to enable it is to have adult characters who’re incapable of being functional adults with basic competency. Compare to It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, where it’s desperation, not incompetence. Buffoons evoke no sympathy, so hijinks aren’t fun. 😕

Hells yeah! Samara hears my wish! 🎅

The windstorm was supposed to have been going for hours now but we’ve yet to feel a breeze. That’s fine. If it could not happen at all, that would be amazing. 😅

“I’ll just play some—oh, hmm.” #Cat

Please enjoy this exceptionally rare pic of both Ms. Opal Huntress and Mr. Chase Cricket on my shins. Chase is always there, and for hours at a time, but Opal rarely is—rarer still if Chase is present—and only for some minutes at a time. #Cat

These f’ing clues. Make this make sense. ‘Bridge broken, chains given way.’ Uhm. What about that perfectly intact functional bridge says broken? Where are the broken chains? I stumbled across this one when my eye caught the sparkle. I had ignored it—because that bridge is crisp. #Warcraft #Housing

Do you enjoy dramatically overlong action films with impressive but unnecessary-to-the-point-of-being-tiresome stunts wrapped around dialog that repeats its own catch phrases as infinitum? Then may I recommend Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, a movie that ends so dumbly it’s antagonistic.

Do you enjoy not-bad thrillers? Then may I recommend The Ruse, which has an interesting premise though convoluted resolution but the movie is carried by the lead actors, Veronica Cartwright and Madelyn Dundon, who kept me engaged.

Do you enjoy light sci-fi horror with literally zero dialogue from the main character and only two half sentences from an alien? Then may I recommend The Trail (2024) which isn’t a great film—it’s…fine really—but I appreciated the novelty, scenery, and idea behind it.

Somehow, I’m sick. Now this is twice in the same year, so what exactly TF. It started with shivers and I just could _not_ get warm. But then I got a heating pad, three blankets, and Mr. Chase Cricket curled up on my legs warming them, genuinely helping me feel a lot better. Will see tomorrow.

>600,000 people without power on the US side of the #PNW. Dunno about Canada. This from a particularly bad windstorm after the #flooding from the atmospheric rivers that’ve caused so much destruction—entire towns have been isolated, highways to be closed for months. This kicked our ass. #Seattle

The internet went out for a minute or two. Scary, considering all the flooding and road closures and such. 🙁 #Seattle

I know this is premature…but I’m just not seeing it. Why would I need this? How long could the battery last—my mini can’t even last the day with (one assumes) a larger battery and nowhere near the same amount of use and it’s not constantly transmitting like a phone needs to. Humbug.

Yikes. Levee broke and flooded/closed this road we took to see The Shining on Saturday. 😬

Whoa, for a solid two minutes, we had an actual righteous downpour—like the kind you see on TV whenever they set something in #Seattle. It’s uncommon for that to actually happen IRL. Usually it’s more like an aggressive drizzle or a weak rain. 🌧️

It’s my first day of vacation! And I’m spending it enjoying the first day of the Feast of Winter Veil in #Warcraft. 😊 With new #Housing, #Lemix, and more, there’s quite a bit going on in #WoW right now. The cats are helping by sleeping on my blanket-shrouded shins and all is right in the world. ☺️

Do you enjoy Knives Out mystery movies? Then may I recommend Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. It has all you’re looking for and certainly had us guessing and discussing and theorizing. At one point we had to pause and spent a good amount of minutes going over everything. Fab! Loved it!

Saw the IMAX re-release of The Shinjng today as an early Christmas present. It was cool to hear the sounds—particularly this one audio cue that I learned about on YouTube but could never hear. But there it was, clear, if you knew to listen for it. Glad I went!

This fuckin’ guy. He gives clues for treasure hunts every day. Problem be, either the clues are obvious, akin to “go to the lighthouse,” or so impenetrably vague it could be anywhere, akin to “under a tree,” so I wander forever and ever. I never feel clever solving them. 😕 #Warcraft #Housing

Do you enjoy graphic and horrific cozy Christmas horror period pieces set in the ‘70s? Then may I recommend that you see The Sacrifice Game cold as snow—don’t read the log line and don’t watch the trailer, lest ye be spoiled. Well directed, performed, and practical effected. Solid slasher-like.

Do you enjoy low budget zombie Christmas horror comedies? Then may I recommend A Cadaver Christmas, which is those things. I knew before the opening credits that this was going to be the best low budget zombie Christmas horror comedy of the season—likely my only one, but still.

Do you enjoy crazy good movies about a sport you know nothing about but is nevertheless crazy engaging? Then may I recommend F1 The Movie, which is so sharply directed, edited, & sound designed it’s an exemplar of the genre. Insane big production. It’s tense with more tense. You’ll like it.

I’m liking the outside design of my #Warcraft #Housing. The inside though? I clearly have the design sense of a potato. However, I learned how to make my own spiral staircase fwiw. I think I have an overall theme…-ish? I’m on my third from-scratch attempt to make something remotely not terrible. 🤔

Sir Percival Softpaws thinks naught of my desire to harvest coldwind lumber in #Warcraft for my #Housing

Do you enjoy movies that weren’t good in 1955 but got a cult following then a resurgence in modern times—but it turns out 1955 got it right the first time? Then may I recommend Night of the Hunter which has ~amazing~ cinematography and visuals. Everything else tho? Too…too a lot of things, really.

Oof. Such a busy and complicated day, I wasn’t able to even get out of my seat for five hours. But now I can’t get up because of cat. I prefer the latter reason. 😄