Really digging this LP Forward from Santa Cruz-based First Day Back. They certainly have their own vibe going on, but I also hear shades of vintage Rainer Maria and The Get Up Kids. Had I discovered it earlier, it might have been on my favorites list from 2025. Have no fear, the kids are alright.

The Kindness Keeps Me Here: https://staticmade.com/2026/01/09/the-kindness-keeps-me-here/

Welcome to the News Desert: https://staticmade.com/2026/01/08/welcome-to-the-news-desert/

User Error is a Myth: https://staticmade.com/2026/01/07/user-error-is-a-myth/

Gearing up for NRF 2026: https://staticmade.com/2026/01/06/gearing-up-for-nrf/

Watched: Marty Supreme 🍿 Absolutely loved this wild cinematic ride. Beautifully shot, exquisitely written and expertly performed. Chalamet and Paltrow were outstanding. I will not be surprised if this film cleans up during awards season.

Pinnacle Pizza: https://staticmade.com/2025/12/30/pinnacle-pizza/

Finished reading: The Anomaly by Herv Le Tellier 📚 This was a great read. A gripping story chronicling the duplicate lives of passengers on an Air France flight from Paris to NYC.

The Pennsylvanian: https://staticmade.com/2025/12/27/the-pennsylvanian/

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care. Happy holidays to you and yours.

Product Thinking in Newsrooms: https://staticmade.com/2025/12/23/product-thinking-in-newsrooms/ New to me: the News Product Alliance, a nonprofit that supports product professionals in newsrooms with the goal of elevating the product practice and expanding the diversity of product thinkers in de...

Big win for the Steelers in Detroit. That was a crazy game with a wild final play! Now it’s time to root for the Patriots. 🏈

Today I learned there is an annual parallel parking championship held here in Pittsburgh. I’ve lived here for 25 years and I’m still regularly surprised by the quirkiness of this town. Stay weird, Steel City.

My Favorite Records of 2025: https://staticmade.com/2025/12/19/my-favorite-records-of/

Julia Bensfield Luce writing for the BBC about lost digital images from the early aughts: "There’s a black hole in the photographic record that spans across our entire society. If you had a digital camera back then, there’s a good chance many of your photos were lost when you stopped using it."

Joan Westenberg on the death of everything: "In the beginning, there was the pure thing. Then came corruption, commercialization, normies, and death. We’re all walking around with these little creation myths about every domain we ca... https://staticmade.com/2025/12/17/joan-westenberg-on-the-death/

Pittsburgh’s Public Source investigates the uptick of Mister Rogers deepfakes permeating the social internet: "Lobbing curse-laden insults with TV’s famously serene painter Bob Ross. Cracking jokes about school shootin... https://staticmade.com/2025/12/16/pittsburghs-public-source-investigates-the/

Watched: Train Dreams 🍿 A haunting story about a complicated man, his connection with the world, and his love for his family. Strikingly beautiful cinematography. I felt all the emotions with this one.

I was offered a free tickets for tonight’s MNF game between the Steelers and Dolphins. The temperature at kickoff is forecasted to be 15ºF (-10ºC) with wind gusts of up to 20mph. This may be soft, but I politely declined. I’m too old to suffer like that and will watch in comfort on my couch. 🏈

Finished reading: Hum by Helen Phillips 📚 This was fantastic. Like most good futuristic takes, the story of May Webb and her family is rooted in the truth of today. Hum examines our relationships with technology, nature, and ultima... https://staticmade.com/2025/12/14/finished-reading-hum-by-helen/

Freedom of Missing Out: https://staticmade.com/2025/12/12/freedom-of-missing-out/

this is the moment i realized exactly how incredible public schools in america could be if we spent money on educating humans the same way we spend money on educating computers

Today in “Dudes Rock”: A dude playing Dire Straits’s “Sultans of Swing” guitar solo on…a recorder.

babe, wake up. a new twisted teens joint just dropped.

There’s something extremely rich about Time Magazine drawing the visual parity between ‘the architects of AI’ and the hero laborers who risked life and limb in unsafe working conditions to building this country’s infrastructure.

Watched: Death by Lightning Season 1 🍿 This was very cool. I consider myself to be a bit of a history nut, but the story of James Garfield, his presidency and ultimate assassination somehow evaded my knowledge. I’m sure some embellishments were made for the series, but man what a wild story!

I started pulling a draft together for my annual ‘ten favorite records of the year’ post. Looking back at my notes and listening patterns, there was so much great music released in 2025, and I connected with a lot of it in meaningful ways. It will be difficult to edit the list down to ten!

Old Graybeard Strikes Again: https://staticmade.com/2025/12/08/old-graybeard-strikes-again/

When Pinegrove announced their hiatus/breakup a while back, I was heartbroken because they had become one of my absolute favorite bands. Even though they’re not actively making music, the band is releasing new work. M... https://staticmade.com/2025/12/05/when-pinegrove-announced-their-hiatusbreakup/

Mike Montiero reads books to get through cold, wet, dreary days: "There is a reason fascists ban books and not guns. Guns are a tool for one thing, books are tools for everything."

Watched: The Beast in Me Season 1 🍿 I really enjoyed this limited series on Netflix. Claire Danes was striking as Aggie Wiggs and Matthew Rhys was unnerving as Nile Jarvis. The art direction & cinematography were also extremely well done.

On Snow Days and Simple Joy: https://staticmade.com/2025/12/02/on-snow-days-and-simple/

Most people know today as Black Friday, but for the past four years I’ve come to know it as Opt Outside — a day when REI Co-op closes its doors and encourages employees to spend time outdoors instead of feeding material consumerism. Th... https://staticmade.com/2025/11/28/most-people-know-today-as/

Finished reading: Dark Wire by Joseph Cox 📚 I learned about this book through Cox’s work at 404 Media. This book is for anyone interested in true crime, emerging tech, privacy & surveillance. A great read.

he never looks at JD that way

New to me: The Tiny News Collective, an organization working to make journalism entrepreneurship more accessible, equitable and inclusive. I believe the future of journalism is hyperlocal and it’s wonderful to see support systems like this beginning to emerge for local newsrooms.

We’re being asked to use AI tools more at work. I just spent 30 minutes prompting & subsequently being gaslit by CoPilot (our approved LLM) for a task that ultimately took me 10 minutes to do with actual intelligence. Is this the productivity they’ve promised us?

Joan Westenberg delivering a message I needed to hear today: "Imagine your 80-year-old self looking back at the day you’re having right now. What would they give to inhabit your body again, to have your knees that don’t ache... https://staticmade.com/2025/11/20/joan-westenberg-delivering-a-message/

Mandy Brown writes about honoring the stability of thingness and the suspiciousness of screens: "Screens are inconstant, unsame, unstable. A screen demands my attention—not only via the regular chirping of notifications, as hu... https://staticmade.com/2025/11/19/mandy-brown-writes-about-honoring/

Watched: The Diplomat Season 3 🍿 This series has quickly become one of my favorites and season 3 was great. The writing is on point, the character development is unexpected and the relationship between Kate and Hal is dynamic. Hopefully Netflix brings it back for season 4!

JOB OPPORTUNITY- open to candidates remote within the US: @techpolicypress.bsky.social seeks an Assistant Editor to manage audience and contributor engagement! More details here: jobs.gusto.com/postings/tec...

Nathan St. Germain, a Pittsburgh-based architect writing for PublicSource, about the cultural potential for the Roberto Clemente bridge linking Downtown to the North Shore: "My vision is for a vibrant linear park crosswoven w... https://staticmade.com/2025/11/19/nathan-st-germain-a-pittsburghbased/

few things in life bring me joy like declining a meeting

South Side. East Carson Street. Caller says he might have upset the mafia. Caller says he needs some help.

because apparently 'come experience the metaverse' works better when you can physically walk out and leave

Congrats to Steel City FC’s U14 Metro team for bringing home the championship from the Hempfield Fall Classic tournament in Lancaster, PA. The girls played strong all weekend long! Addie struck a timely goal to help give Steel City the 2-0 edge over Eagle FC in the championship match.

Explored Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a bit yesterday. First time here. Very cool town. Lunch at Chellas, crate diving at A Day In The Life Records, beers at Our Town Brewery and gift shopping at Lancaster Pickle Company. We could definitely spend a lot more time here and need to plan a return trip.

Romance and companionship-themed AI chatbots are nothing more than a predatory grift on the emotionally vulnerable. futurism.com/future-socie...

My entire timeline is pics and videos north side parking lots. And I appreciate that as I check in from Lancaster. Looking sharp this morning, Pittsburgh.

this use of ai makes the bubble and impending economic collapse worth it