Recommended

Lying about Money (Book by Dan Davies) — This book on financial fraud is great (assuming you want to read about that). Found this from an article on “Bits about Money.” It’s more about institutional aspects than con men (although con men make plenty of appearances). Here’s a “Today I learned” style tidbit/quote.

As far back as the early 2000s, the left-wing economist Doug Henwood coined a monetary policy rule that “any time Donald Trump is able to borrow money or build anything, interest rates are probably too low.” (in ‘Ch 3: The Long Firm¹‘, p 65 in the hard back)

Men without Women — This collection of Hiraki Murakami’s short stories caught my eye at the library, so I decided to try it, as he is one of the most famous novelists in the world. Excellent. After that I started another collection of short stories (“First Person Singular“) and also like what I’ve read. I am less enamored of 1Q84, which is a doorstopper I couldn’t get into.

Sicario — Well done movie about an ugly subject. Nice cinematography. Dennis Villeneuve directs.

Maybe

Ad Astra — “Direct to Streaming Inception” visually quite nice (I thought the Mars indoors cinematography particularly good), some interesting scenes; but deeply, deeply stupid about space. They did at least get the Earth-Neptune distance correct (looking at you, Prometheus).

Bohemian Rhapsody — Didn’t do anything groundbreaking … understood the assignment.

Last One Laughing (Amazon) — Funny but awkward show. 10 (UK) Comedians tasked to spend 6 hours together and make each other laugh, but since they are all trying not to laugh, it’s cringe and makes it hard (for me) to enjoy. But there seems to be on exceptionally funny moment every 30 minute episode, often from the bizarre mind of Sam Campbell.

Project Hail Mary — The first time I’ve seen a theater mostly full. Even Dune (1 and 2) weren’t as crowded. Didn’t see this opening weekend because tickets were all sold out at 11am. That being said, this movie is the epitome of “did the thing” or “understood the assignment” more than “excellent movie.” It’s just that the bar has been so low for so long that everyone is praising it to the heavens. This is like Independence Day in the 90s, a great popcorn flick. To be fair, this is the best of all the maybes. (And, a few weeks after I wrote this, I think I might have been too harsh).

Weapons — I liked this horror movie for the vibe and feeling, but honestly this felt like a good idea for a X-files episode stretched out to two hours (minus Mulder and Scully). And the reveal is not nearly as interesting as the setup (a typical problem in Horror). If you’d let Vince Gilligan punch up this script (back in the 90s), he’d have made this a Top 10 episode, probably by not trying to explain anything.

Maybe Not

Born a Champion — An explicitly right-wing sports/fighting movie (Brazilian Ju-Jitsu). What’s weirder is that the main character is explicitly the favorite (overdog?) in every fight and the only issues are his age, injuries, and morals (in a sometimes immoral sport). I liked it, but its an odd movie.

War Machine (Netflix) — A “Direct to Streaming” Predator knockoff that I assume had significant DoD funding/help (like Top Gun did) due to the pro-US Army Ranger slant. It doesn’t understand what made Predator such a big hit (and also … its 40 years later, we’ve seen it before) so not great, but an OK popcorn flick. Checks the required boxes. A few of the touches are nice. Alan Ritchson is going full Reacher, but that works for something like this.

Nope

Sunshine — This 2007 movies cast was mostly unknown (or has been) in 2007. In 2026 it’s a murderer’s row of well know names. Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Benedict Wong, Rose Byrne … but it’s a terrible, deeply stupid movie.

1. Bonus Quote — “Etymologically, a ‘long firm’ has little to do with either length or firms. It first appears in printed English in dictionaries of slang and thieves’ cant, and both words are used in archaic senses. “Long” has a meaning from the Anglo-Saxon gelang meaning “fraudulent” and referring to fault or failure, while “firm” (like the Italian firma) referred to a signature …. so a “long firm” is a “gelang firma,” one Saxon word and one Latin, and refers to the crime of signing a fraudulent bill of goods. And if you understand the long firm, you arguably understand a lot more than most professional economists about the way that business is really done.” p28 ︎

Recommended

100 Meters — Not perfect, but one of the better things in recent memory. After Top Gun came out, one of my brother’s college friends made a parody “Top Thumb” about two guys trying to be the best grocery bagger in the world. (“Tom Thumb” being a local grocery chain). Neither of those is art¹, and we’ve seen the genre plenty of times (particularly in sports/competition Anime, which has the protagonist trying to excel at something). This movie (not a series, that’s important!) questions what it means to dedicate your life to a pursuit (the 100M dash), and how your answer changes over time.

Not perfect, sometimes infuriating, but after it was over I kept thinking about it.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die — I liked the ‘cafe clip‘ (which is just ~2 minutes of the opening scene) quite a bit. The movie doesn’t sustain that high (difficult to do for two hours) but is genuinely funny and yes, also talking about the present as much as the future. I suspect this will be a well regarded cult classic, but not a monster hit.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence — A strange movie, with much of the cast working in their second language. Not only featuring David Bowie, but also Takeshi Kitano’s first film and he’s just as magnetic. I also rewatched Moonage Daydream on Netflix, which I saw in theaters 3.5 years ago, and enjoyed it again.

The Muppet Special — OK, I haven’t actually watched it except the clips on Youtube, because I’m not going to subscribe to a new streaming service just for a 90 minute special, but it’s close. Seth Rogen understood the assignment … don’t change a damn thing.

Sandy Skoglund Exhibit — The local museum has an installation of Sandy Skoglund’s work. Exceptional. (Wikipedia page)

Maybe

The Closer — An OK police procedural, mostly. Formulaic, but sometimes strays from “Whodunnit?” to “Howcatchem?” (or “How to get them to confess.”) I’ve taken to fast-forwarding through her personal life. Update — The main character also has a level of hubris that would make Achilles and Homer shake their heads; and this also gets more annoying as the series progresses. But I did finish it.

Ford vs Ferrari — One of those biopics where the ending has you going “Nope. Too fanciful. Didn’t happen.” But it did. Wild. Solid movie, great cast.

Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams — A documentary covering two of the teams trying to make it to the 100th annual Koshien, Japan’s World Series of High School Baseball. Of interest if you like baseball and/or Japan.

My Dinner with Andre — I watched this after reading the New Yorker article on Wallace Shawn. Interesting enough to watch throughout in one sitting; but not interesting enough to keep me off my phone, scrolling Reddit. Ebert called it “a film that has no cliches,” (although it has become one). But (some of the) conversation struck me and stayed with me because the topics are still relevant², and arguably more than in the 80s … I suppose that’s why Wallace Shawn & Andre Gregory were avante-garde … reality caught up with them. I suspect this is actually a “Recommend” assuming that the idea of a 2-man 2-hour play where nothing happens except two men discussing art, living and reality sounds interesting.

The Outfit — Kinda like a Mamet one-set play (really two sets, the front of the shop and the back) and dealing with crime and double crosses … except the dialog isn’t up to snuff and the ending is too pat. Still, not terrible.

Maybe Not / Turned Off

Nurse Jackie — After the first season I thought this would be a maybe but the second season focused too much on stalkers, bullies, etc that I simply never finished a (20 minute!) episode in one sitting. Finally turned it off for good.

1. I never saw Top Thumb, but probably a safe guess. ︎
2. In particular, the idea that media consumption degrades our intellect and autonomy, which hit pretty hard because I was … scrolling through reddit. ︎

Recommended

Still enjoying The Great British Baking Show as a cozy watch. But even if you don’t watch it, here’s a great phrase — “A total bag of pants” (meaning a disaster). Has entered my lexicon and I’m experimenting with all the “<container> of <garment>” combos. And also watching Prue Leith (an 80 year old proper British Matriarch type, but with an Austin Powers 60’s flair) innocently ask things like “Tell us about your beaver,” or “I am interested in your large nuts” never gets old. Sadly only have a series or two left to watch.

Maybe

The 9th Configuration — An insane 70s movie (although released in early 80) set in a military insane asylum where the inmates apparently have access to a Hollywood prop department to enact whatever crazy stuff they want. Written, Produced and Directed by William Blatty (fresh of The Exorcist) so the studios were willing to let him do whatever he wanted. Some great scenes and mostly great but nonsensical dialogue. I had to watch it in chunks. Definitely a noble failure and not a cookie cutter movie.

Grantchester — A Masterpiece Mystery that is definitely ripping off Father Brown¹. (Except that the priest is Anglican? Church of England? In any case, Not Catholic and it’s post WW-II instead of WW-I). But I like Father Brown and this is close enough for me. But as the series goes on it gets less about the mystery of the week and more about the main character(s) being miserable, and lost a fair chunk of the joy². (Netflix only has the first four of the ten(!) seasons).

In the Mouth of Madness — A (90s) rewatch of which I remembered almost nothing. Attempts to capture Lovecraftian dread, but the execution isn’t quite there. Some genuinely creepy moments but also too reliant on “repeated dream awakenings” and re-used footage. Amazing to think that John Carpenter did this a decade after The Thing, because the monster effects are a step down; less is more would have been so much better here³. But …. any schlock horror movie is elevated by David Warner & Jürgen Prochnow looks very anti-christ-like. Clever ending, but “ah, that’s clever” clever instead of a gut punch. I think it works better if you simply lop off the last few minutes.⁴

The Long Kiss Goodnight — (90s Rewatch, pt II). Shane Black makes another Shane Black movie. Action movie? Check! Partners who don’t like each other? Check! Banter? Christmastime? Checkity Check! Sadly this isn’t up the the heights that Lethal Weapon started, but its not bad.

Nobody Wants This (S2) — A reasonable ‘comfort food’ romcom/sitcom. Sometimes veers into cringe, but it understands that a romcom/sitcom must be funny (and heartwarming) so that both Mr. and Mrs. Tao will watch.

Under the Skin (book) — Read this after watching the movie (see Sep-Oct). Good, but in a very different way (books can show inner monologues, movies are visual). I think that the near silence of the movie was a good choice, but that necessitated changing the story to make it much more ambiguous. Note — Not for the squeamish.

Wick is Pain — Documentary on the John Wick Franchise. Reasonable if you liked the franchise. What impressed me was seeing stunts that I said “Obvious CGI” in the theater and then discovering that the CGI was only for the environment, not the stunt itself, which was real. (The building fall at the end of John Wick 2)

Maybe Not

Turned Off / Not Recommended

“Oh, Hi!” — I saw this recommended by Marginal Revolution. The plot is that a young couple go on a weekend vacation, find some bondage equipment, he gets tied up and (after sex) reveals that he doesn’t consider this a serious relationship, at which point she leaves him tied up and tries to convince him that she is girlfriend material. BUT nobody is sympathetic. She’s crazy. (It’s established that she considered stabbing her last boyfriend). “Leave him tied up” isn’t played for laughs, and isn’t funny. On the other hand, she’s right. You don’t go on a weekend trip alone after dating for four months and expect her to think it’s a fling. In Re: “Crazy girl” vs “Idiot Boy” I find both guilty. Turned off at the 30 minute mark (or less), tried to continue a few times. Failed. Now re-reading Marginal Revolution I realized that “better than expected retelling of…” isn’t necessarily an endorsement.⁵

Tenet — This finally showed up on streaming and … man; was Christopher Nolan trolling us the entire time⁶? “What if I just didn’t have a plot at all, but did as much cool stuff as possible?” Turned off before the hour mark; tried again and couldn’t get through another few minutes. It’s like a Bond movie with truly excellent set pieces and locations. (Off-brand Bond but not skimping on quality). Plus Time-travel special effects. But when you break it open it’s just Nelson Munz “Hah hah!”-ing you, the sucker audience.

1. OK, its an actual series of books on its own that started a few years ago, and the author’s father was formerly the Archbishop of Canterbury, but still … ︎
2. After finishing season 4 I realize that part of that was the requirements to switch the lead actors. ︎
3. Such as the people in an oil painting moving. If they never moved on camera and if you thought they had but weren’t sure, it would have been creepier. ︎
4. For example — Sam Neill’s character “sees” the carnage in the hallway (a ‘less is more shot’, where you see vague shadows and hear screams), realizes the door keeping him the sanitarium is busted … and then chooses to retreat to his room & close the door. ︎
5. But then I see it’s on his years best film list, so uh, whatever. ︎
6. No, mostly he’s pretty good. I guess this was just a misfire. ︎

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A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.

When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me, that it might be the mirror of my soul, as my soul is the mirror of the infinite God!

I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.

O my friend — but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendour of these visions! A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents.

When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects.

The post Podcasting Gear Review appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.

A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents. I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.

When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects and flies, then I feel the presence of the Almighty, who formed us in his own image, and the breath of that universal love which bears and sustains us, as it floats around us in an eternity of bliss; and then, my friend, when darkness overspreads my eyes, and heaven and earth seem to dwell in my soul and absorb its power, like the form of a beloved mistress, then I often think with longing, Oh, would I could describe these conceptions, could impress upon paper all that is living so full and warm within me, that it might be the mirror of my soul, as my soul is the mirror of the infinite God!

I should be incapable of drawing a single stroke at the present moment; and yet I feel that I never was a greater artist than now.

O my friend — but it is too much for my strength — I sink under the weight of the splendour of these visions! A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in the exquisite sense of mere tranquil existence, that I neglect my talents.

When, while the lovely valley teems with vapour around me, and the meridian sun strikes the upper surface of the impenetrable foliage of my trees, and but a few stray gleams steal into the inner sanctuary, I throw myself down among the tall grass by the trickling stream; and, as I lie close to the earth, a thousand unknown plants are noticed by me: when I hear the buzz of the little world among the stalks, and grow familiar with the countless indescribable forms of the insects.

The post Learn How We Started Podcasting appeared first on Board Game Design Lab.