I made a little collage tonight.
Weeknote 001
I haven’t done weeknotes on my blog in about ten years. I want to give it another go, but I don’t see myself doing these every single week. So, I’m going to number them (like Robb).
Side note: I’m continuing my monthly newsletter, which will overlap some notes from weeknotes. And that’s okay. Everything builds.
So this week –
On the blog
I posted my lists for 2025 books and movies.
TV shows
Percy Jackson (Disney Plus) . It’s fun to watch, even though the show suffers from the same thing as many other streaming shows. Instead of episodes that build the story over the season, it feels like one giant movie. So it goes.
Orphan Black (Netflix). This show has been on my list to watch for a longgggggg time. Apparently all 5 seasons were added to Netflix last September, but I didn’t know. I saw the show while I was browsing today, by chance, and immediately hit the play button.
Movies
Tron: Ares (Disney Plus). Tron: Legacy is a great movie, and I really wanted to like Ares. But this is just okay. Characters are thin. The story is a bit too simple. The special effects are the best part, but that’s pretty much a given for a Tron movie.
Reading
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by by Gabrielle Zevin. I finished reading this, and I wish I could recommend it. The book explores a lot of emotional themes, and it has received a lot of praise. But I struggle with novels where the main characters are not likeable.
Arts & crafts
I feel like I’ve been spending more time organizing than making things the last couple weeks. But some art projects are in progress.
- The current zine I’m working on is Planetesimal Issue 2. I have one page to finish writing, and then it’s time for test prints.
- I submitted a page to a contributor zine that’s coming out in February. More to come on that.
- I got a new bead board with different diameters for bracelet sizes. It should make measuring easier and faster.
- I got a new watercolor sketchbook to use with a watercolor set I got at Christmas. Watercolor kind of intimidates me. It feels like a process I can’t wrap my head around. I’d like to take some time just practicing, rather than trying to paint something right away.
Movies I watched in 2025
Here’s the list of movies I watched in 2025. Titles with an asterisk (*) after them are ones I recommend.
My top 5, in no particular order
- Superman (2025) *
- Ballerina (John Wick spin-off) *
- Speed (re-watch) *
- First Man
- Super/Man (documentary) *
Sci-fi and fantasy
- Spider-Man (2002, re-watch) *
- Spider-Man 2 (re-watch) *
- Spider-Man 3 (re-watch)
- Jurassic World: Rebirth
- Atlantis: The Lost Empire (re-watch) *
- KPop Demon Hunters
- Wicked *
- Ladyhawke
- Land of the Lost (2009)
Grab bag
- Karate Kid: Legends *
- Girls Just Want to Have Fun
- Sixteen Candles
- Get Shorty
- Practical Magic
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 2025
Books with an asterisk (*) are ones I liked a lot.
*How to Resist Amazon and Why by Danny Caine (non-fiction)
*Crossover vol 1: Kids Love Chains by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw (graphic novel)
Fables: Book One by Bill Willingham (graphic novel)
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (non-fiction)
*Essentialism by Greg McKeown (non-fiction, reread)
Unthink by Erik Wahl (non-fiction)
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman (fantasy)
If you’d like to see books I’ve read in the past, I have a whole list going back to 2011. 📚
I joined The Story Graph a few weeks ago, and I’ll be tracking my 2026 reading there. If you want to be book friends, I’m @kalikambo. I’ll still post about books I’m reading here on this blog, too.
Watched: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery 🍿
3/5 ⭐️
It was just alright. I still think the first Knives Out movie is the best one.
Recent zine mail
I’m finally catching up on zine mail. These are from the last two months or so. 📬
Witches' Brew #4, 9, 10, 17, and 19; Queer Quest #3; A Bunny Birthday Zine by Echo Zines (Some of these were trades, so thank you!)
Continuity Error by Arthur Mooseman (via Wasted Ink Zine Distro)
Pieces from the end of the matchbox by Andreana Rosnik (trade - thank you!)
Fall Instar; Illustrated Collage and Natural History; Openions by Wormy Orchids
What Can A Ghost Look Like? by Guilty Zines
Home Alone by Faith Lyons
Void Space by Elizabeth Allen Berry
Blood Pen Magazine #4 by Colin Sellers (via Wasted Ink Zine Distro)
This is the Blueberry Queen by elisarocket
Seasons Vol. II; Mr. Marker Zine; Neon Fish Zine by Galaxy Zine (trade - thank you!)
Pocket Thoughts #33 and #34; Eat the Rich; Have Mercy by Pocket Thoughts (trade - thank you!)
Stardew Valley Appreciation Zine by bramblebug
Witches' Brew #20 by Echo Zines
Freshly Squeezed by Jude Pup (trade - thank you!)
Rainbow Scale; Hello News Issue #8 by Elisa Milan
Books every artist, maker, & creative needs to read by Karina Hagelin
You Really Need to Make a Zine! by Leanne Delux
The Office of Lunar Occultation by Allison C. Meier
How to Have Fun at the Ren Faire by Katie Haegele, Joe Carlough, and Emily Penrose
Behind the Zines 20 (various authors) via Antiquated Future
Mail Blog - March 26, 2022 (gifted by véronique - thank you!)
Black Tea #8 by Jason Martin, Jason Young, and Lyal Michel (via Antiquated Future)
Adapt: A Zine About How To Keep Making Art edited by Kelley Meister
Riva Nova: Flash Fiction From the Kitchen by Drew Siasoco-Campbell (trade - thank you!)
Manhole Covers: The World Underfoot by Allison C. Meier and Bronwyn Hazelwood
Sages, Mages, & Wisdom Machines Issue 1 by Parker Settecase
This last one is not a zine, but a full-blown comic book!
Cakeknife Chapter 2: Remnants Part Two by Lucas Keener
🎵 Solstice Baby by Xmas Movie Soundtrack - One of my former co-workers used to write music (I had no idea!), and he released a new track earlier this month. He’s not making Christmas music but rather music about Christmas.
How to Get Art Opportunities When You’re Not on Facebook and Instagram
Exactly what the title says.
Trapped in Notion’s Second Brain — How Notes Joined the Attention Economy (and How to Break Free!) - A great video essay about how note-taking apps can be useful, of course, but also they can create busy work and take time away from real work.
Finished reading: The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman 📚
3/5 ⭐️
The first half is especially slow-paced, and it feels like the book is much longer than it needs to be. Many of the chapters could have been cut without missing anything important.
How to disable AI features across many services
I’ve been meaning to do this for Gmail. Easy instructions to follow. It’s annoying that we have to opt out of AI features, instead of opt in.
Writing Alt Text for Data Visualization found via Accessibility Awareness.
The ketchup test
If you have French fries, and you need ketchup (or any other condiment) to eat them, those are not good French fries.
Good fries can be eaten by themselves. No ketchup needed.
But if you like having ketchup with fries, that’s totally fine.
Portfolio migration
A couple years ago, I created a work portfolio on Journo Portfolio. I like it as a portfolio site overall, but it’s focused on writing samples (or images, if you’re a graphic designer or photographer). I found it’s difficult to showcase a broader range of marketing projects, which is the type of work I have in my portfolio.
This weekend I started re-doing my portfolio as Canva slides. I’m moving over to Canva for a few reasons.
- I spend a lot of time in Canva already, so there is no learning curve for me.
- I like working with Canva slides more than PowerPoint or Google Slides.
- I have flexibility in slide layouts to easily include text, images, and links. For example, I can include context and impacts for each project, which is difficult to do on Journo Portfolio. Their layout is very much, look at the thing I made, and that’s it.
- Right now, I have three categories of projects–marketing content, internal communications, and sales enablement. If I want to make different versions of my portfolio to focus on only one type of work, I can do that easily in Canva.
- I can point a custom URL to the slides' public URL, so they are still easy to share.
I’m re-making and also updating my portfolio, so I’m not just copy and pasting content from my portfolio site over to Canva. Gathering project info and images is taking a bit of time. But I like the direction that the slides are going. They’re a better representation of my work and experience.
Sketchbook pages
For the past three Saturdays, I’ve been spending wonderful afternoons in a local workshop series called “Living Sketchbook.” We were encouraged to use sketchbooks as tools to capture ideas, experiment with types of media, and try new approaches.
During the first workshop, we spent some time writing about the past week. Then we drew over the text. The drawing could be related to the text, or it could be separate.
We spent the second workshop collaging. I liked looking for different textures or contrasting colors to glue next to each other.
The third workshop was to experiment with using different types of media together. I chose Tombow brush pens and Ink Joy gel pens — two things I haven’t tried using together in the same drawing.
Up to now, I’ve used sketchbooks on and off, when I had an idea to work on or new tools to try out. I didn’t know what made sense for me to do in a sketchbook on a consistent basis. This workshop series was helpful to see different approaches to keeping a sketchbook practice.
📺 I’m re-watching Continuum and currently in season 3. It’s a show that starts out interesting and gets better with each season. And okay it’s a bit unsettling that it was made a decade ago and feels even more relevant in 2025.
Capacities - A note-taking app where each piece of info is treated as an “object.” I watched a demo video and don’t think it’s a good fit for me, at least for now. Noting it here for future reference.
✨ I updated my Tools page.
A whole bunch of blogging tips and tools curated by Robert Birming
Stop Giving af and Start Writing More from Joel Hooks