I’ve now listened to The Wager and The Zorg narrated by Dion Graham. There is nothing better than listening to this man narrative the history of ships. Every ship book should be narrated by him.

I’m just going to keep saying how much of a problem this is.

During every movie trailer in the previews today, the couple behind me kept saying, “eew no,” and “definitely not,” for every movie. And it got me wondering if they understood that they we were all about to watch the new Sam Raimi movie and that perhaps they aren’t the target audience for this one.

Every day, I wake up sad that sports betting is a thing. I can hardly watch sports on television anymore knowing that every single ad is trying to exploit working class viewers during the one pass time they have. Am I the only one that wants to throw up?

Going to go soothe my nervous system at Barnes and Noble after doing a driving lesson with my teenage daughter.

When John Mayer sang, “One day our generation is going to rule the population,” inquiring minds want to know what Mayer’s timeframe was on that statement. Because the song is going to be 20 years old this year, and the average age of Congress is something like 58 years old.

All I’m saying is that for all of the weird things that evangelical Protestants have critiqued over the years (I’m thinking leggings, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, etc), it would be super great if we could put that same energy toward critiquing sports gambling.

Middle and high school Sunday school was me just making them look at the Beatitudes for 30 minutes and make as many observations and ask as many questions as possible. And telling them not to ask ChatGPT for the answers, which was their first impulse.

Watching Face/Off right now. Trying to explain to my son the chokehold that John Woo had on action movies in the late 90s and early 2000s.

Stranger Things time…see you on the other side!

I’m thinking about watching one director’s complete filmography in 2026. I’m leaning toward Scorsese, but I’m open to suggestions. Any ideas?

Trying to get my boys to take Shutter Island seriously during their first watch, but after Leo found the note that says “Who is patient 67,” they won’t stop saying “Six sevvvvenn!” Literally of all the numbers…Scorsese could never have known.

People say I’m an over explainer. But you know, I’m just saying that if eco-terrorists were freeing zombie chimps that rapidly infect people and they asked me what they were infected with, I would have said more than just, “Rage.” 28 Days Later would never have happened on my watch.

So I’m going to need Barnes and Noble to expand their philosophy section to more than how to be a Stoic because I personally plan on being insufferably loud and emotional for the foreseeable future.

Every time I see a Karen Hao interview I’m both impressed by the breadth of her investigative journalism related to AI and simultaneously depressed on her behalf due to the insane number of absolutely ghoulish facts she knows about these tech companies driving the AI insanity.

Here’s my review of Wake Up Dead Man. If you haven’t seen it, don’t read this thread, as there will be mild spoilers.

24 days of cheese.

I don’t think a show has done a better job of introducing new characters as well as Stranger Things does. Derek Turnbow!!!

Starting to prep the Stranger Things charcuterie.

These Sunrise on the Reaping trailers and edits are already making me cry.

The Perfect Neighbor is probably the most infuriating documentary I’ve watched in a long time.

Since the internet is slop at this point, I’m creating an intentional network of friends who will basically function as a search engine now. If you were to create a network of friends who could function as a search engine, what would your superpower be in that network?

Halloween charcuterie

Why did my middle child just ask for an egg boiler and an electric fly swatter for his birthday?

What in the late stage capitalism is this?

Review of #BlackPhone2. I am a huge fan of the first movie, and generally of all of Scott Derrickson’s work. I was not sure how they were going to do a sequel of this one, so I went in order to skeptically to the movie.

I’m seeing a lot of “the dialogue is corny,” in Black Phone 2, but have these critics ever been in a conservative evangelical context with a high level of spiritual bypassing? Because some of that dialogue was very accurate.

I’m so boring at this point because the thing I’m most anticipating this week is my 2026 planner that is arriving in the mail this Saturday.

One thing about being a boss that is fun is that you can encourage a culture of sweet treats. Did today go badly? Go get a sweet treat. Did you do something awesome today? Award yourself with a sweet treat! My team would tell you that I am really into a culture of sweet treats.

If anyone is wondering how I’m doing, I bought TWO of these on Saturday at 930pm, thinking I would be a healthy girl during my pumpkin spice era. My 9year old warned me that this was a bad idea and it wouldn’t be good and I went against his judgment.

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day? Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

So I’m reading Hannah Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem, and I cannot stress enough that if you’re a human alive today, you should read this book.

www.thetimes.com/business-mon... I was curious to see if any notes from Thiel’s private lectures would be made public. Super convenient interpretive framework that sees any form of external regulation of his hoarding of capital as the hastening of the antichrist.

Pro tip: if you make your cold foam at home, you can put in as much as you want.

Authors miss deadlines all the time. It happens! However, some deadlines are more squishy than others, and the ramifications are different. Laura-Portwood Stacey had a great breakdown today on academic book publishing deadlines. newsletter.manuscriptworks.com/posts/extens...

I wrote this down from Karen Hao’s Empire of AI because it’s so important that we understand how billionaires think.

The summer that Belly sends my blood pressure into the stratosphere. Episode…whatever at this point I can’t keep track.

It’s Barnes and Noble night!!!

This album is still good.

I’m finally in the stage of parenting I was built for! My daughter just took her first high school test and is freaking out because they don’t provide study guides and she’s never done self-directed study for tests. She asked me to take her to Starbucks and help her create a study guide!

The summer I yell at the TV every Wednesday. Episode 10.

Labor Day reading. One more chapter in Fisher’s book, plus a little narrative non-fiction. Also listening to The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. After my great experience with Atmosphere, I decided to jump into another book of hers.

I told my youngest that in the early 2000s, Panera was a great place to eat and we were all obsessed with it compared to other fast food options at the time. It’s taken over his thoughts, to the point that he was asking other soccer moms this weekend if it was indeed true.

Fisher’s Capitalist Realism. I think we can all relate.

Morning #tsitp thought. It’s weird if they had all of Adam’s money that they hired a wedding planner at the club, but no one thought to pay someone to come and do hair and makeup for the bride? Even Lucinda could have done it.

My youngest has three requests for his bday: A bucket of gemstones. Olive Garden breadsticks. Canes chicken. That feels reasonable.

If I could only have one collection of written prayers, it would be Howard Thurman’s “The Centering Moment.” I keep this with me in my bag and try to read one a day. He captures the inner world in a way that is incisive, all while giving words that ease my paralysis when I face systemic evil.

Late night B&N run!

The summer I’m overinvested in a teen television show. Episode 8.

Katabasis released yesterday and I will be buying it today. But this is a reminder to all the critics of Kuang for being too on the nose with her commentary that maybe if we lived in a world where we could all agree that colonialism and genocide are evil then she.wouldn’t.have.to.be.so.didactic.