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I've watched 83 movies so far in 2023. Title (Year of Release) - Date Watched (ツ) = Re-watch Watcher (2022) - 01/01 The Black Phone (2022) - 01/02 Silent Night, Deadly Night III: Better Watch Out! (1989) - 01/03 Significant Other (2022) - 01/06 Pearl (2022) - 01/08 (ツ) Silent Night, Deadly Night 4: Initiation (1990) - 01/10 Sick (2022) - 01/14 The Lobster (2016) - 01/15 (ツ) A Trip to the Moon (1902) - 01/18 Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker (1991) - 01/24 American Movie (1999) - 01/...

I've watched a few seasons of various shows so far in 2023, and much Guy's Grocery Games. (ツ = Re-watch) Difficult People - S1-3 (ツ) Baking It - S2 Derry Girls - S1-2 (ツ), 3 The Traitors (US) Poker Face Hacks - S2 Survivor - S44 Girls5eva - S2 Apple & Onion - S2 Love is Blind - S4 Yellowjackets - S2 Mrs. Davis The Great - S3 Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets (2023) John Mulaney's Baby J (2023) Party Down - S1, 2 Based on a True Story Cruel Summer - S1 The Bear - S2 Claim to Fame - ...

I read Arkady Martine's book, A Memory Called Empire, back in 2019. Shortly after reading it, I wrote this review on Goodreads (which I've since left) that, while procrastinating, I just found in my notes. Please enjoy this poem/review: Political intrigue in space! Interplanetary deceptions taking place! A tale of friendships on the brink of becoming something more! The possibility of empirical annexations causing civil unrest in the face of a potential intergalactic war! (This book was ter...

My wife and I have freed ourselves from Comcast/Xfinity as our Internet provider. We will still subscribe to Peacock, however, because we both love NBCUniversal's (a subsidiary of Comcast) portfolio of entertainment properties and find Peacock's programming content to be rich in value. Fin ...

Difficult People is one of my favorite shows of the last decade. In it, Julie and Billy, two jaded aspiring comedians who live together in New York City, navigate through their thirties while dealing with their individual careers and personal relationships. (I copy/pasted that from IMDb.) Julie lives with her boyfriend, Arthur, and just about anytime he addresses her, he calls her by some sort of nickname. I recently rewatched the series and, much like noting when the Asian Man said anything in ...

I've finished two books so far in 2023. Author/Publisher - Title (Year of Release) - Date Completed Stephanie Butnick, Liel Leibovitz, Mark Oppenheimer - The Newish Jewish Encyclopedia (2019) - 02/09 Rabbi Shai Held - The Heart of Torah, Volume 1: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion: Genesis and Exodus (Volume 1) (2017) - 03/17 Currently Reading Rabbi Shai Held - The Heart of Torah, Volume 2: Essays on the Weekly Torah Portion: Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy (Volume 2) (2017) Fin ...

It took me just a hair over two years, but on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 - or 16th of Sh'vat 5783 - I officially became a Jew. There are a few neat things about this date... While the Gregorian date is easy to remember, the day before my birthday... ...the Hebrew date is easy to remember as well! The 15th of Sh'vat is one of the four Jewish New Years (this one is Tu BiSh'vat, the New Year for Trees), so my conversion date is the day after. The Parsha (Torah portion) for this week is the same as...

My wife and I did a watch-through of Gilmore Girls a few years back (like, five years-or-so ago). One guy I loved spotting was a waiter at Luke's Diner; an Asian man hustling about, often in the background of other Stars Hollow community events, but was never given any lines. He always added a little something to the scenes in which he appeared. In season 4, something incredible happened and I started taking note: He finally spoke! "Hey Luke, coffee?" (from season 4, episode 15) Hoo-boy! Sma...

My wife and I started watching the 10-episode reality competition show, The Traitors (US version), earlier this week on Peacock. Throughout most of the first episode, we both weren't feeling it; the game was slow, the competitors mostly irritating, and it felt like it wasn't going anywhere. And then we got to the last, I don't know, 10-or-so minutes and everything came to a head. We were hooked. We binged the rest of the episodes before week's end, and I have a few thoughts: That there was a ...

I logged on to Twitter for the first time in a couple of weeks - I'd been doing this for a while now to check on like three people - and the site's a flippin' mess, and so I've pulled the plug and started the deactivation process. Weird to think about how I had that account for roughly a third of my life, but here we are. R.I.P. ERIC ON TWITTER 2008 - 2023 SIC TRANSIT GLORIA...GLORY FADES SAY A PRAYER FOR SURFBOY...WHEREVER HE IS Fin ...

Here's a piece of trivia about me no one will care about: The way I say "Anyways..." is inspired by Deadwood. The times I double it up and say "Anyway...anyway..." is inspired by Deerhoof. Fin ...

I'm not going to call this game stupid - it's actually smartly made - but for reasons too complicated for me to explain right here and now (laziness), I started playing Marvel Snap the other day and it's really quite good, even for someone who doesn't give two figs about Marvel or its properties. So good, in fact, that it has its hooks in me much like Asphalt 9 on the Switch did a few years ago. More like Asphalt 195 hours. I imagine I will eventually stop playing it, but it probably took two ...

To some level of completion, I've played one game so far in 2023. Marvel Snap (Mobile) Fin ...

A 2022 recap in a similar fashion as my 2021 recap? Well, I can certainly try! I continued on my journey converting to Judaism (fast approaching) (and by that, I mean my date, not a day without eating) My wife and I went on a few getaways - some small, some grand - and all were great(!): A weekend in Saugatuck, MI Five days in Santa Fe, NM (stayed at Los Poblanos Ranch, highly recommended) A weekend "up north" (Crystal Lake, MI) A weekend in Chicago, IL, for a wedding Two weeks in France (st...

I watched many seasons of many shows/specials in 2022. (ツ = Re-watch) The Sopranos - S3-7 Love - S3 Al Madrigal's Why is the Rabbit Crying? (2013) Sort of - S1 American Auto - S1 Yellowjackets - S1 Ghosts (US) - S1 Top Chef - S18 Derek DelGaudio's In & of Itself (2020) Love is Blind - S2, 3 Love is Blind: Japan - S1 Veep - S1, 2 (ツ) Severance - S1 Search Party - S5 The Dropout The Great - S2 The Great Pottery Throw Down - S5 Apple & Onion - S1 The Baby - S1 Under the Banner of Heaven F...

I watched 106 movies in 2022. Title (Year of Release) - Date Watched (ツ) = Re-watch tick, tick... BOOM! (2020) - 01/07 The Matrix (1999) - 01/08 (ツ) The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - 01/08 (ツ) The Matrix Revolutions (2003) - 01/08 (ツ) The Matrix Resurrections (2021) - 01/09 A Quiet Place (2018) - 01/09 (ツ) A Quiet Place Part II (2020) - 01/09 Beanie Mania (2021) - 01/14 Writing With Fire (2021) - 01/30 The House (2021) - 02/03 Chess of the Wind (1976) - 02/05 Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (19...

To some level of completion, I played nine games in 2022. Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair (Switch) Wordle (Browser) Quordle (Browser) Heardle (Browser) Framed (Browser) Actorle (Browser) Box Office Game (Browser) Moviedle (Browser) Posterdle (Browser) ...

I read eight books in 2022. Author/Publisher - Title (Year of Release) - Date Completed Ari Shavit - My Promised Land (2018) - 02/27 Alana Newhouse - The 100 Most Jewish Foods: A Highly Debatable List (2019) - 04/02 Lawrence A. Hoffman - The Art of Public Prayer (2009) - 05/01 Peninnah Schramm - Jewish Stories One Generation Tells Another (1993) - 06/21 Stella Suberman - The Jew Store (1998) - 08/03 Dennis Prager, Joseph Telushkin - Why the Jews? (2003) - 10/02 Mordecai M. Kaplan - Judaism as...

A few years back, I switched from an iPhone (the SE that looked like a 5S) to using a Google Pixel 3a. The phone was so great that my wife also switched (iPhone 6S to Pixel 3a) (it helped that our batteries were on their way out and the trade-in deal Google had was pretty tremendous). Two years ago, I decided to go from 3a to Pixel 5 pretty much for two very stupid reasons to get a new phone: The size (just a smidge taller than the iPhone SE). The color (a beautiful sparrow's egg/sea foamy co...

I don't love that it's called Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch - Sugar Cookie Crunch or Sugar Toast Crunch might be a better fit - but I do love that the General (Mills, of course) captured the flavor essence of eating a sugar cookie in cereal form. Some might find it too sweet, sweeter even than its cousin, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and I suppose the absence of the cinnamon really only shines a spotlight on the sugary sweetness of this one, but I find them equally sweet and equally delicious in their ow...

If someone with good ears could please confirm or deny that Carly Rae Jepsen's song "The Loneliest Time" samples a small chunk of The Moog Cookbook's cover of Green Day's "Basket Case", that would be great. I'm like 98% sure it does, but I can't tell if my mind is playing tricks on me. Links to the parts I'm talking about: Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loneliest Time The Moog Cookbook - Basket Case "The Loneliest Time" is a jam with a fun video, so even if you can't confirm or deny what I'm hearing, ...

As I was putting together my year in review, The Year That Was: 2022, I was writing little blurbs about each movie I saw this year that I really liked. It got to a point, however, that the list was getting a little too long for a post meant to just wrap-up the whole year, so I decided to cut it from there and put it into this, its own post. With that said, here's a list of all movies that I enjoyed this year presented in the order in which I saw them: Writing With Fire (2021). Directors Sushmi...

I hope that Trip Hawkins has a nice Thanksgiving. Fin ...

A few years back, detailed slightly when I wrote about Signal (please use Signal!), I got a little too deep into the weeds regarding privacy/security. Not that that's a bad thing to be thinking about and take actions to protect, but it also got me to a spot where I started making an effort to try and be less on my phone and more engaged in the moment. And not that that's a bad thing either, but the two together have resulted in me not being on Instagram anymore and me not pulling out my phone as...

Belvedere Vodka's new commercial has Daniel Craig pulling a Christopher Walken, dancing through a hotel (no flying though). A fun watch if you want to see Craig having fun, loving life. Also, it's directed by Taika Waititi. Fin ...

A lovely write up on longtime Coen Brothers collaborator Carter Burwell. The Polymath Film Composer Known as “the Third Coen Brother” by David Owen, The New Yorker Fin ...

Still reelin' from the Ti West, X / Pearl double-feature I did with my good friend Jesse the other night. Both are great-yet-different movies, but also: Mia Goth forever? Fin ...

We bought two 18-count variety boxes of full-size candy bars. We have 12 left. Everyone received a treat this year, so happy Halloween, y'all. Fin ...

This is a story that makes me sad about a restaurant my wife and I enjoyed on our honeymoon. Sounds like she and I made it in just before its decline. I'm happy to have had a good experience and that memory, but it's a bummer to hear about how the past few years have not been so great for the place. The decline of Arpège by Meg Zimbeck, Paris by Mouth Hey, that's my wife you asshole!(Alain Passard, chef/owner of L'Arpège, embraces my wife after our meal.) Fin ...

Some random weekend things: Friday Wife and I had a nice impromptu night out on Friday. Dinner and good drinks at FRAMEbar. Just feelin' it, and it was worth it. Also, I order myself a Pixel 7. More as that develops. Saturday We're back to the beginning of the Torah cycle, and study was a really good time at Temple on Saturday morning. Sunday Good times and joy flew out out the window on Sunday when 17 bags of landscaping rocks were hefted about. The end result looks nice - almost m...