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I’d tweaked my back again yesterday, so I’d feared all my plans were lost. But no! I made it to D&D last night, and the opening of the show my friend Brooke curated. My heart is full, even if my back is angry.
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Solving the daily Wordle in two is certainly a way to wake up in the morning! 🧩
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I find it hard to have much sympathy for Charlie Kirk’s death. A man who openly courted and excused rising fascism, who said dead people were an acceptable cost for his interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, who peddled conspiracy theories and outright lies around immigrants, COVID, and the January 9th insurrection, and who stoked hate against anyone deemed wrong by his christian nationalist cohorts, is not someone I will pour one out for.
But he also had a family, a wife and two children, who were reportedly in the crowd when he was shot. He had friends who loved him and felt love from him. I have plenty of sympathy for them, and I hope you, dear reader, do too.
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Over the Garden Wall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
One review called this the Western Spirited Away, and boy does that sum up this beautiful, haunting, sweetly somber tale. It’s close to perfection, made by crafters who understood what they borrowed from and created something unique. Have some cider and enjoy it!
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I love creative protest! 🇺🇸🪧✊🏻
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Ludovico Einaudi - Midsummer Echos
A new album of soft, gentle piano music, perfect for a stroll or sipping tea as you start your morning! 🎹🎶
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More peaches news: I ended up needing a day off work to let the antihistamines do their job. (I always turn into a zombie when I take one; it’s not worth letting a screen destroy my eyes for.) So, in scheduling an appointment to review my allergies. I’d really rather not go through this again.
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Here’s to beautiful late summer mornings with friends who bring you peaches from their backyard! 🍑👯
Edit, 24 hours later: I found out I’m mildly allergic to peaches! So two more of my friends are enjoying the rest of them.
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Monday morning at the cafe. A threesome of twenty-somethings loudly talk about pop culture stars and the movies they’ve liked. Five dogs have walked their owners by. Two babies have stared at my disheveled hair and unkempt beard. No birds have begged for crumbs, while too many cars grumble by.
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Review of _Fantastic 4: First Steps_
[Fantastic 4: First Steps][https://trakt.tv/movies/the-fantastic-4-first-steps-2025] ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I liked it. I loved the aesthetics, a bit of Tomorrowland and 1950s-60s era graphics and style. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie was supposed to have taken place in its universe’s 1950s.
In fact, the whole feel of the film is as if they plucked a writer for the comic out of that era, brought him to this time to show him what we could do, and asked that expat of time to write a movie script. The story is thin, the plot is minimal, the characters more layered cardboard than flat, and the action is a bit underwhelming compared to recent Marvel fare. That’s sums up what I remember from reading comics of that era, too. The core of the story, the family that the Four have made together, is the focus here. The movie isn’t trying to make more than that happen.
It’s as if Marvel has caught itself from trying too hard to replicate the intensity and build-up of the first arc of movies, from Iron Man to Avengers: End Game. That was an intense and gratifying story arc, but not everything following it has to replicate the same feeling. Fantastic 4 isn’t a backpedaling, but a loosening up, a willingness to try new styles and new kinds of stories, and in my eyes it works wonderfully. I found myself asking all kinds of questions about the plot (I won’t spoil them here), and wondering why they were papering over what could have been some good drama and questions (again, no spoilers), but not once did I feel the movie was less enjoyable for avoiding those points. It’s a story about family, a group of outsiders hanging together and trying to do the right thing. It’s not trying to do anything more than that, and it doesn’t need to. If you want to learn more about those questions or plot choices, read the comics.
I hope Marvel takes more of these chances. 🎥
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Hey hey! Puzzmo knew exactly who they made this puzzle for! 🕹️🧩
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When I was in Nashville, I saw my father and stepmother with hearing aids. They’re old, past merely getting on in age, so it’s expected. I myself haven’t crested 50, so I should be fine, right?
Then I attended my D
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Back home, and it seems I arrived just in time for the heat wave to break in Providence. A perfect day to catch up on what I missed at work before finding out how my character will die in D
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There is something about an airplane seat that instantly makes me sleepy. Which would be ok, except I can never sleep in one. ✈️
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The heat broke today, but more importantly, the humidity broke too. I can think without the feel of a shirt suctioned to my body with sweat. A light breeze and evaporation is all I’ve desired these past few days, and relief is here in time for the weekend! 🌞
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Murderbot show thoughts
Murderbot - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Do a quick search and you’ll see why Murderbot is so popular. The books are wonderful, a series of short and sharp action dramadies that speak to the experience of a socially awkward part of ourselves, trying to figure ourselves out amongst the weird others.
This show mostly hits the mark the books target. I think it suffers a bit from being the first season; it hits its stride in the last few episodes, going from being happy fan service to a compelling character study and social commentary. (One could do a nice essay comparing the Corporation Rim scenes with Andor.) I also think it suffers from its fandom cheering and celebrating a little too hard for their favorite series; if you push past that, and give it a few episodes, it’s a solid start to what could be a good series.
Ultimately, I cheered for Murderbot on screen for the same reason I did in the books - I see myself in the awkward, anxious robot who needs to pretend to be something else to fit in and not be hurt, but has a lot of affection for its weird, nonsensical clients it has, despite its better judgement, formed a bond with. 📺🤖🚀
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The bat is just as defiant of prediction as the Big Bang – small winged evidence that the possible is always vaster than the probable and the imagination of life is always greater than that of the living.
Maria Popova is more eloquent and clear than three quarters of science content on social media, and the rest can only aspire to be as well read as her.
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Sat down for a beer at Moniker Brewery, and the flower pot started a conversation with me. 💬🌸🍺
If you could have the credit for creating any piece of art - painting, music, movie, book, etc. - which would you choose & why?
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I admire this random person’s attempt to add some dark whimsy to an otherwise banal gas station. 📸🖼️🐦⬛⛽️
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It’s the return of one of my favorite times of the year: sitting outside my cafe, sipping tea and eating a muffin while I solve my morning puzzles. For every two bites, I sprinkle a pinch of muffin on the ground for the sparrows. The morning and I hold each other in quiet regard. ☕️🧩🐦⬛🌞
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Building the Reading Habit - Hild
Hild has been the perfect book for my work towards reinvigorating my long dormant reading habit. I highly recommend it to everyone looking for a solid work of fiction, especially if you’re into historical fiction or works like A Song of Ice and Fire.
The book jacket summary pretty much works, to know broadly what you’re in for. Honestly, what drew me to it was the blurb from Neal Stephenson, and the promise of a good story about realistic medieval life from a girl’s point of view. I’d have slogged through it by now if that was all there was to this work, but it’s been more
Hild is a thick book, filled with deeply researched details and descriptions that not only bring the world alive, but assumed I was keeping up and wasn’t afraid of looking up a detail on google. It requires attention and time, but not so much that I’d lose track of what’s happening if I put it down for a day when life intervened. As Hild herself grows into herself and in her relationships with others, learning to use her weirdness and the rumors about her to shape her life and her destiny, I find myself growing with her and appreciating my own gifts and weirdness, which makes me anticipate and enjoy the times I spend in her world.
It’s the combination of the length of the book and the rewarded investment that I find perfect for exercising my reading habit. I’ve read other excellent books, but they’ve been with a goal in mind - for my book club, or for work, or because I thought I should read them and was pleasantly surprised. Or they’ve been smaller books in series - The Witcher series, for example. With the smaller books, the size becomes a distraction: however good the book is, I want to hurry up and finish so I can move on to the next one I feel I should be consuming. If it isn’t entertaining or immediately clear, I just need to slog through it and get my reward so I can get to the next book, rather than engage with the author and the work. Hild is big and rewarding enough that I can savor it, and there is no goal in mind, just a book that looked interesting, and with that combination, my attention and habit get stronger.
I’m on the last 150 pages. I’m not sure what I’ll read next; there’s a sequel, which I’ll likely pick up. Even if I reach for a shorter or more goal-fulfilling work, though, I’ll approach that with a different mindset, thanks to my experience with Hild. 📚
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Only thing worse than no AC on a hot day, is your favorite cafe with broken AC on a hot day. 🥵🌞
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A busy day today! I’ve just hit Providence Pride to avoid the worst of the heat and the crowds, and picked up some Girl Scout cookies and a pretty moon-shaped necklace.
Now for lunch, then a presentation on being a GM for a TTRPG, then to Middletown for my friend’s band!
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My local burger joint hung these flower decorations and lights from the ceilings, and instantly turned a utilitarian, blandly masculine vibe into a whimsical, delightful place that still serves a great burger for a great price. 🌸🖼️
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My sister’s husband’s dog is, um, particular about his name. 🐕
Transcript: Me: Got it! My best to Lisa and Brad and their dog! Dad: TRUMAN [photo of annoyed Truman] Me: 🤣 My apologies!
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