I am going to share with you awesome people a silly joy. I have completed my second ever newspaper-crossword puzzle (thank goodness for online newspaper crossword confirming successful completion). I am successfully turning into an old man.

Today we watched a local production of "The Producers" and it was so good it legitimately amazed me. Tremendous heart, energy, and talent. It brought joy to everyone in the audience and served as a prime example to all of us of what really makes theater great. 10/10.

My most "old man yells at cloud"/hot take for movies is that movies nowadays are way too fast paced. Barely any time for you to appreciate anything at all.

@markalatham.bsky.social FYI: youtu.be/mR6C0hEkFR4?...

One of my personal myths is that every time you hear a person coughing during an opera or symphony orchestra performance, it is always the same person, regardless of time and place of the performance. A sort of consumptive Count of St. Germain, if you will.

Rmi have been rereading Robert Musil's "The Confusions of Young Törless" and Lord, that book is just too painfully relevant in 2025.

Watching opera the way the lord intended: in pajamas drinking beer after a shit day at work.

Just watched this really nice production of Pagliacci and it was all good and all but damn that Silvio running with the six pack like boy this is not what opera singers are meant to look like.

I am here exclusively because we were given some bad news at work and I need to stop cracking jokes about it in the work chat because making jokes has always been my coping mechanism.

"People of Metropolis disappointed rapture was just Superman saving the day" Hire me, The Onion.

Let's be real here for a second, *if* the rapture happened... How would we know? It is perfectly plausible that the 2 or 3 people (being very optimistic here) who did deserve completely escaped our attention.

Had a great time at the HorrorCon. Such a good time, in fact, that I forgot I'm not rich and turned into fucking Lorenzo de'Medici, sponsoring every local artist and writer I came across.

When I did research on Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang 孝莊皇太后 for my 1st historical novel The Green Phoenix, I became aware of how disproportionately scant the official records were for empresses and consorts who had apparent impact on history, let alone female commoners. #Chinesehistory

"We need to open more data centres." -- My contribution to talk like a pirate day.

Holy shit, you guys. My holy grail of lost media has been found. The little stop motion short that 6-7 year old me watched ONCE and scared the shit out of me and left me on a decades long search. It has been found. Watch it and share in the horror. youtu.be/StJEsYarPb4?...

Getting to the end of week one of trying to drastically reduce my smartphone usage and I can already tell this was the right choice. So far the Digital Wellbeing function has been extremely helpful. Relegating social media and news to a few minutes a day has improved my mood significantly.

Watched The Talented Mr. Ripley last night with wife and daughter. Had forgotten just how good that movie is. Planning to show her "Purple Noon" next, but I won't tell her what it is about. Want to see her reaction when she notices. I am such a scamp tee hee.

We all yearn to become medieval monks.

Started reading Jane Yolen's "The Books of Great Alta". Very interesting premise, and I feel nothing but respect for Yolen, but I admit I struggle with stories that lean on the "it takes a village" ideal. There is a side of me that is very individualistic, particularly when it comes to child-rearing

My 2c about Labubu is: "Reject modernity; embrace tradition".

*alien crying* Me: And that’s the end of Watership Down - a book about rabbits

Almost every piece of writing, essay, review, I had read about Richard Adams' "Shardik" mentioned the book being brutal and as I read on I felt "well, a bit, but not that much"... Yeah, it's all on the very end of the book and it is indeed very violent.

Made with fucking Mithril by Dwarves from the Lonely Mountain, apparently.

You, discerning reader with impeccable taste... you want this. I know *I* want this.

I have been reading Richard Adams' Shardik with such enraptured attention that I'm like this close to custom-making a T-shirt with the face of a bear in the front and "ask me about Richard Adams' Shardik (1974)" in big white letters on the back.

"Shardik", by Richard Adams (1974).

Dan Da Dan. Came with no expectations and ended up having a lot of fun.

Not sure it counts as a genre, but my personal rule of anime is: if the title of a contemporary anime is more than five words long, then I'm not watching it.

"Only Yesterday" is the best Studio Ghibli film.

Galaxy Express 999 Neon Genesis Evangelion Future Boy Conan Pluto Extra Olympia Kyklos (it counts as an anime and I die on this hill)

Shiro Amada, cause he said "fuck everything, even the plot of this anime" and left everything behind for the woman he loved.

If Goblin Slayer is any good, I shall never know because I was out on episode 1. This, I believe, answers the question.

A young boy and a beautiful lady board a train to the stars.

Now that my phone is on its last legs, I am strongly considering moving to an e-ink phone. I am increasingly resentful of the amount of time I spend either doomscrolling or brainrotting with short form videos. I think replacing that with even more book reading is the way to go.

You know what word we don't use enough? Propinquity. I would like to invite you to use propinquity, or -perhaps easier to fit in regular conversation - the adjective form propinquitous as much as you can.

I am halfway through Richard Adams' "Shardik", a book he repeatedly referred to as his best novel. I have not read all of his novels, but the more I read this book, the more I am inclined to believe him.

Having a lot of fun playing the Wizardry remake. Finally decided to upgrade my fighters to prestige classes... Which means I get to farm the hell out of the infamous Murphy's Ghost! (Wizardry's idea of fun is grinding).

My two cents about the Cracker Barrel logo change is that I don't care much about it personally, but "modernizing" the logo of a restaurant whose entire identity is based on "old time simplicity nostalgia" seems kinda stupid to me.

A podcast from fantasy mega-star Brandon Sanderson popped on my YouTube feed and the man is just casually autographing a large stack of papers all through the talk and that just felt like the biggest author flex I've seen.

my favorite Mel Brook's movie was not directed by him. "To be or not to be". That clown scene when the old lady stares down the stage. Tremendous.

Daughter just came to talk to me about one of the books I had gifted her that she has been reading and hearing her talk about her thoughts and feeling on it in such an intelligent way just filled my heart with joy...

You have NO IDEA how hard it has been keeping quiet about this. So friends, AT LAST, THE NEXT BOOK IS ANNOUNCED! (I'm usually a bit nervy about new stuff but feel like this one is A BANGER.) reactormag.com/book-announc...

Watched Sinners. Liked it a lot. Really well made. Great cast; great music; great setting; great characters. Excellent.

Playing the remake of the Original Wizardry 1 game. Absolutely fantastic. Incredible design choices and customization options to make a very tough game accessible to modern players, while keeping the feeling of a brutal challenge.

I think my favorite genre of YouTube video is older men with substandard audio talking about old pulp fantasy and SF novels with almost no production and barely any scripting or sense of direction.

Got a leaked list of the next four LotR projects Which Prince of Angmar? (Reality Dating Show.) Young Shelob. (Sitcom) Tom Bombadil's School Days. (Heartwarming Film.) Khazad-Dum Boulevard. (Musical.)

Watched Superman today with the family. It was charming, fun, funny, and a powerful reminder of not just how Superman still matters, but how incredibly important it is to remember what truly matters about him as a character.