Watched Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Fun to watch with my kid. Pacing feels more frenetic than previous ones, but I still like the parallel to the first, even if it is a bit heavy handed. It's not this one's fault that the sequels are painful. Boyega shines in energy. #MovieReview

Doing mildly well landing this heart! Probably still need to get a lot more reps, but 3 out of 4 this week have looked great! #LatteArt #espresso

Finally threw a nice heart! Still small issues, but overall turned out great, especially for a flat bottomed cup. #LatteArt #espresso

Managed to complete my second 5K in 20 years. Started #running for a Turkey Trot last year and have kept up casually. I must be middle aged since it actually feels kinda good when I'm done with it.

Watched Limitless. Pretty tough watch that requires suspending disbelief on a bunch of levels, but a fun ride if you let yourself get swept away in the masculine fantasy. Very much in the vein of "all I need is to be super smart and I can change the world". #MovieReview

"The Road goes ever on and on Down from the door where it began." JRR Tolkien Bags 33 & 34 #lego #parenting #lotr

Finally took the plunge and added RSS support to my site to track my #nowpage updates. katerberg.net/ is the site and katerberg.net/feed.atom is the feed!

Got a new cup for Christmas. Still need to widen the leaves, but these are wild how much they help compared to flat bottomed ones. #LatteArt #Espresso

Watched The Ninth Gate. Had some intrigue and mystery, but was eminently guessable, and the ending was fairly unsatisfying given that a bunch of the "clues" had no payoff. Depp being alone in pretty places was 90% of the draw of the film, and luckily it was also 90% of the shots. #MovieReview

Watched Street Girl (1929). If you can get past the two insufferable leads and the tough sound quality, the side characters and comedy scenes are well worth it. Tough to see through the annoying male lead in particular though. I will always love Ned Sparks in any movie. #MovieReview

Watched Madame Web. In the running for worst movie I've seen, which is a bland take. Script was bad, acting was unemotive and unemptional. Nothing interesting really was explored, and I don't remember any character's name other than the lead. #MovieReview

Watched The Muppet Movie (1979). Still one of the best openings of any movie, but the meta-wrapper is a bit of a bump for me. Still so much heart and full of lovable characters that I can't not love it. #MovieReview

Watched The Black Stallion. Seems like it should have been a snappier switch between the two halves of the film or just been two movies. Both the racing and survival was great, but it ended up feeling like I was in a double header. #MovieReview

"For the Elder King shall not be dethroned while Arda endures." JRR Tolkien Bags 29 and 30. #LEGO #Parenting #LOTR

Completed my first #TurkeyTrot! Never been into #running but this was still fun with the companion and cheer squad

Jamming out to Diana Ross today and man, her greatest hits are bangers. Just bopping all day. Had never heard "My Old Piano" and it has me in my feelings. #music

Watched Our Daily Bread (1934). Assumed it would be saccharine but ended up more complex than I assumed. Predictable plot has engaging characters and real-feeling action where I couldn't look away. Feels very of its time politically and culturally, and a joy to see a time capsule. #MovieReview

Watched The Running Man (2025). They added more of the book but made it more muddled with no time for the emotion to impact of all the new characters. Not sure what anyone's motivations are or what is real, but I guess that's fine. This version could have worked as a show. #MovieReview

Watched SLC Punk!. A pretty exciting movie that feels like a mockumentary before there were visual definitions of it. Lots of interesting scenes, but the voice over feels more like a Ferris Bueller imitation than its own thing. Good acting despite awkward plotline. #MovieReview

Watched Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. My favorite western, even though it's far from a standard one. So much charisma all over, and I had forgotten how weird and long some of the scenes are. Expert pacing by Redford and just a fun romp. #MovieReview

Watched Boogie Nights. This is what Crash wanted to be. Loved seeing all the characters and how they entangled and bounced from each other. Emotional roller coaster and deeply messed up, but has a lot of pathos and every character feels real. PTA is hit or miss for me, but this hit. #MovieReview

Watched Lisa Frankenstein. Similar vibes to Edward Scissorhands. Fun chaotic energy and the main character has a fun arc, but similar to Warm Bodies, it is more of a sensory experience to watch than anything more than intense suspension of disbelief. #MovieReview

"It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish" JRR Tolkien Bags 27 & 28 #lotr #parenting #lego

My "now page" for this quarter is up! If you want to know what's going on in my life or what I'm thinking about, here it is. katerberg.net/now #NowPage

Watched Princess Mononoke. Beautiful vibe-movie. The plot was less important than the feel but the visuals are just so stunning that it's hard to not be enraptured. The harsh violence contrasts with the beautiful landscapes a bit much for me. #MovieReview

Watched Lonely Wives. Comedy is hard to translate and this has some fun moments but felt like an awkward Marx Brothers wordplay film where the characters largely don't have any stable personality. Never makes clear why the main character is a Jekyll/Hyde. Confusing. #MovieReview

I like being married to someone who studied math in college.

Watched The Second Woman. Thrilling movie with magnetic acting for the first 3/4 suddenly spoiled by an abrupt pacing change and characters that make no sense in the final 10 minutes. Really cool set up that even has a sensical twist but just has no humanity left in the final scenes. #MovieReview

"… the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach." JRR Tolkien Bags 23 & 24 #lego #lotr #parenting

Watched Thelma. Beautifully funny and sad (but mostly humanizing) view of aging and dependency. Brilliant dialogue with an "action" plot to keep engaged. Squibb is incredible and had similar vibes to Thursday Murder Club. Anything but rote. #MovieReview

Watched Primary Colors. Pretty amazing fictionalized view of Clinton campaign. Travolta is amazingly convincing and the movie does great at showing the deeply dark side of politics in a believable way while also showing the inspiring parts. What a ride and way better than expected. #MovieReview

Very bad news for the country that assassinations are happening. Regardless of political actions, this is a very bad thing and usually works out badly for all involved. #uspol

Watched Fallen. Great writing with the cop banter and legendary cast of great actors falls short for me with a weird plot that tries to be Se7en but ends up edgy without a payoff. Happy to have seen it because I love twisty thrillers, but this one made me want a few tweaks. #MovieReview

Watched Sex Drive. Very 2010s coded horny comedy. Aims for the same kind of heartfelt endings of American Pie, Eurotrip, etc but is so deeply predictable that it doesn't land very well. None of the leads are engaging to the point that the Finch character is by far the most endearing. #MovieReview

Watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Amazing how this movie crosses genres with suspense, horror, mystery, drama. Such an epic scope that feels so tight. One of Spielberg's best despite feeling a bit long in the second act. The sound design steals the show. #MovieReview

Watched The Greeks Had a Word for Them. Hard watch, possibly because comedy ages poorly, but it was just full of bad people being bad to each other, and even the characters that had some depth just are clueless. Hard to watch Always Sunny from 1930 and understand the cultural mores. #MovieReview

Happy Ukrainian Independence Day!

Watched Rasputin and the Empress. Kinda a boring story but acting is top notch and worth it to see three Barrymores! Really want to see more John since he blew me away. Tons of fun history on set and in the story for this one so it's a beautiful artifact that is eminently watchable. #MovieReview

Watched Fantastic Four: First Steps. The most innovative superhero film since Spider-verse. Setting it in Earth 828 was a stroke of genius, since it let them have a standalone movie which was so refreshing. Avoiding the origin story worked great and all casting except Johnny worked. #MovieReview

I really wish platforms were less rage-baity. Identica back in the day was so positive but it seems like all of the micro blogs are just so freaking negative all the time now to drive engagement.

Watched Maltese Falcon. Probably the best noir film I've seen (of course) but not at all my favorite genre. Fat Man is my favorite character but no one to really root for. It's fun seeing the Casablanca crossover. What an interesting romp! #MovieReview

Watched Yojimbo. Way more of a comedy than I thought, particularly after the really intriguing political dance at the beginning. Some deeply intense scenes but with so much lightness. Much faster paced than his others that I've seen. #MovieReview

Watched Airplane!. Knew many of the scenes before watching it, but it was better than the sum of the great parts. Silly to the max, it has a lot of charm and feels very much of its vintage. Escalates perfectly and has great callbacks. Maybe the best paced comedy I've seen. #MovieReview

Watched Terminator 2. Absolute gem of a film. One of the best action movies of all time, and one of the rare films that outshines the original (but both are great). The special effect hold up decades later and the casting is perfect. #MovieReview

Just posted my new #NowPage with what I've been doing for the past quarter. It's basically my journal that doesn't require as much upkeep.

Watched It Happened One Night. Possibly a perfect romantic comedy if you can get over the 1930s chauvinism. Easy to see why everyone involved left with an Oscar. The carrot and hitchhiking scenes are some of the best ever. Up there with Marx Brothers for me. #MovieReview

Watched Superman (2025). Deeply campy but still fun. Not a film I'll be super interested in revisiting, but it plays the Suicide Squad formula well, and Fillion et al do a great job as side characters that are truly loveable. Plot seemed busy but that's comic world today. #MovieReview #Superman

Watched Fantastic Mr Fox. Anderson usually misses for me but this one felt brilliant, perhaps because the claymation added enough distance that I could love the characters for who they are. Brilliantly funny and sad, I want to rewatch this one in a year or two. Acting was spectacular #MovieReview

Watched Midnight Phantom. Slow start but ended up being a fun Thin Man style movie. All of the characters were a little icky but fun enough. The smash cut on the ending makes me think it's missing some footage from the original and the lack of music confused me in many parts. #MovieReview

Watched Three Faces of Eve. Way less problematic than I anticipated. Pacing was slow in the middle but I was never not rapt due to the absolutely incredible acting. Not shocked that she won best actress but some magic was in the water because every minor character was also 10/10. #MovieReview