My January newsletter is out.
In this issue:
- Spaced Out zine
- Annual lists: books, movies, and zines
- Some thoughts on mainstream social media and having your own place on the web
A lot of my friends on Instagram are moving to Bluesky. I’m debating starting a Bluesky account vs. not starting an account but following friends through Micro.blog. 🤔
Even if I started a Bluesky account, I would be mostly cross-posting from Micro.blog. Same as I do with Mastodon now.
🍿 I watched First Man today.
Making a movie about real events can be difficult because the audience likely knows the outcome of the story. The movie felt boring to me most of the time. But despite that, I recognize the cast was great, and the filmmakers included a lot of details to make the movie authentic to real life.
Finished reading: How to Resist Amazon and Why: The Fight for Local Economics, Data Privacy, Fair Labor, Independent Bookstores, and a People-Powered Future! by Danny Caine 📚
Good overview of Amazon’s workplace conditions, unions (and union busting), data collection, and effects on the economy, small businesses, and politics. The book is written from the perspective of a bookstore owner, but a lot of his points apply to any kind of small business.
My favorite part of the book was the end, which encourages people to be pro-small business and engaged in your local community.
Movies I watched in 2024
Here’s the list of movies I watched in 2024. Titles with an asterisk after them (*) are ones I recommend.
My top 5, in no particular order
- Predestination *
- Deadpool & Wolverine *
- Spy Game *
- America’s Sweethearts *
- tick, tick…BOOM! *
Superheroes
- Deadpool (re-watch) *
- Madame Web
- Glass
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (re-watch) *
- Superman: Unbound
Documentaries
- Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV *
- Jim Henson: Idea Man
Prequels, sequels, and re-makes
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park
- Jurassic Park III
- Wonka
- Code 8, part 2
Sci-fi
- Jurassic Park (re-watch) *
- The Adjustment Bureau
- Uglies
- Somewhere in Time
- Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure
- The Lobster *
- Planet of the Apes (1968) *
Grab bag
- The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
- The Fall Guy
- Carry-On
- Inside Man *
- Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (re-watch) *
- American Splendor
- Kung Fu Panda *
If you’d like to see movies I’ve watched in the past, I have a list going back to 2015. 🍿
Books I read in 2024
I had a slow year for reading books in 2024.
Here are my favorite 2 from the year:
- Moonbound by Robin Sloan (sci-fi and fantasy)
- Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar (non-fiction)
And the other 3 I read:
- Principles for Newsletters by CJ Chilvers (non-fiction)
- Things are what you make of them by Adam J. Kurtz (non-fiction)
- This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (sci-fi)
I have a whole bookshelf of unread books, so here’s to more reading in 2025.
If you’d like to see books I’ve read in the past, I have a whole list going back to 2011. 📚
Perks of living in the snack belt. Potentially unnecessary flavors, but fun to try. 🤭
📺 Doctor Who Christmas special - “Joy to the World”
The acting was great, and the concepts were interesting. Plot was a bit messy, and the last few minutes got really sappy. That made the episode feel flat to me. 3/5 ⭐️
My December newsletter is out. A little zine preview, some links to share, and what I’ve been watching.
Does anyone have strong opinions about moving a company/business site from WordPress to Webflow? (Specifically from a marketing perspective, because I would not be doing the development or design work.)
I added a few links to my postroll page. ✨
📺 I finished watching Black Doves (streaming on Netflix). They left an opening for a season 2 but I would be fine if this were the only season. It’s a complete story. 4/5 ⭐️ overall but 5/5 ⭐️ for casting.
📺 Currently watching Black Doves (streaming on Netflix). It has some awkward moments, but overall I like it so far.
I mistyped my email address on an online order (at a pretty major retail site), and customer service cannot correct the email address on their end.
But their site is clearly tracking me with cookies and sending customer survey emails…to my correct email address.
We’re living in the future. 🙄
Pocket chess game where each piece gets promoted after you move. So your pawn becomes a knight, and then a bishop…up to king. It looks fun but also chaotic. 😆
I updated my phone to iOS 18, and I don’t hate the new Photos app. To be fair, I didn’t like the previous version of the Photos app either. I just put up with it. 🤣
I started a Postroll page. 🙂 I’ll keep a running list of posts that I think are worth sharing. Once the list has 15 posts, the top posts will start coming off the list. I might make a blog post with some of the links that will go away. I haven’t decided yet.
Sometimes when people read my zines, they say, “This is so clever! How did you come up with this?” Or another version, “I would never think of making a zine about this topic. It’s so cool that you did.”
Those comments are always meant as compliments, and I say thank you for the nice words.
But I feel the exact same way when I read other people’s zines. 😅 There have been SO MANY times I read other people’s zines and thought, “Wow, how did they even think of this?”