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. 🤭

A bag of Herr's Fire Roasted Sweet Corn popcorn is displayed on a granite surface.

📺 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 ⭐️

Cutting out some magazine images for collaging. No plan. Just gathering stuff.

Various photos cut out from magazines on a black cutting mat. Photos include decorative pumpkins, a decorated Christmas tree, and nature-related imagery.

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. 🙄

Flip Chess

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?”

Where do your ideas come from?

This post is for WeblogPoMo AMA, a challenge to write AMA-style (“Ask me anything”) blog posts during November.

Read about the challenge.

I’m answering my own question today. If you decide to answer this question in a post on your site, please let me know.

The question

Where do your ideas come from?

My answer

For context — Earlier today I visited a graphic design class at a local college. The professor invited me to talk to the students about making zines. I gave a short presentation about my process and brought examples of zines made by other people.

During the Q&A, the professor asked how I come up with ideas for zines. How do I decide what topics to make zines about?

My straightforward answer is, I just come up with stuff. But that’s not helpful. If someone is asking you how you come up with ideas, it’s because they realize coming up with ideas is difficult. They want to know how you move past that difficulty.

My more complete answer is, I look for inspiration in a lot of different places.

When it comes to movies, TV shows, and books, I lean toward sci-fi and fantasy. But I go broader than that, too, because there are lots of different things to explore in other genres.

I read a lot of articles, newsletters, and blogs from a wide range of people. I read a lot of non-fiction books, on all kinds of topics.

I make a habit of paying attention to ordinary things. Some of my zines were inspired by a random conversation with a friend or an interesting observation on a normal day.

I keep a running list of zine ideas, and I add ideas even if I’m not sure I’ll ever make a zine on that topic. Then when I have time to sit down and work on a zine, I have a list of topics to choose from. There isn’t any pressure to come up with an idea, and it doesn’t feel like I’m starting from scratch.

It’s officially fall weather, but I drink iced coffee all year round. 😋

A glass of iced coffee with a straw sits on a black cutting mat near jars of colorful pens and markers.

My November newsletter is out!

Today finally felt like fall in Lancaser, PA. ☺️🍁

Colorful autumn leaves on tree branches set against a clear blue sky. A scenic park features a paved path flanked by autumn trees with vibrant red and gold leaves. A small green tree stands on an oval-shaped stone island surrounded by a shallow creek in a park with autumn foliage. A gazebo is situated in a park surrounded by trees and a small flock of ducks resting near a stone walkway.

Zoom in on this last photo to see ducks napping. 🥹