Criterion Closet picks, documented

Recording a complete history of visits to the Criterion Closet, complete with a list of the most popular selections.

2023: A Year In Review

My 30th year was one of drastic ups and downs. Even writing this now, three weeks removed from the new year, I’m finding it difficult to focus on the good of it. Nevertheless, I’m committed to the bit. So here’s 2023.

My Favorite Things: 2023

365 more days repressing the sad thoughts with media. As is tradition, here they are, my favorites for the year.

Ruth Etta Tender

In the early hours of December 27th, 2023, my grandmother passed away following a short battle with cancer.

Closing The Loops: Take 2

This upgraded version of the list is complete with notes detailing on which of all 16 Letterboxd featured lists each film appears.

Closing The Loops

In an effort to close some loops on my Letterboxd stats, page, I've compiled a list of the most shared and critically acclaimed movies on the major lists and have prioritized watching them.

Bedtime automation

It’s only within the past year or so that I’ve properly dived into the world of Apple Automation. The result is a handful of “set and forget” actions that help with night time routines.

Publishing photos

A few weeks ago a person next to me at a Milk Carton Kids show asked if I would be posting the shots I took at the gig. I tried not to be cold, but I think I disappointed her with my answer.

61 Days of Halloween

As my 31 Days of Halloween Challenge becomes less so, I'm changing up the format.

Bouncing from Boing Boing

I love link blogs. I follow a bunch of them via RSS and read them every day. They're light, interesting, and random—pulling videos, images, and stories from corners of the web I wouldn't normally visit. Curated link blogs are incredibly valuable, but some go sour.

Unravelling Threads

So, another Twitter clone. I'm present on all of them, active on one. And while I don't need Meta's take on microblogging in my life, I know it's the most likely to last. The advantage being a built-in network of 2 billion users.

Max Fleischer's Superman shorts restored

Last week I noticed a friend of mine logging a handful of Max Flesicher's Superman shorts from the 1940s. These are currently streaming on Plex and so I thought I'd revisit them as well. The problem was that neither the sound nor the picture quality there was very good. And so I Googled...

Letterboxd tag management

Of the many Letterboxd features I've been crossing my fingers for, proper tag management has been at the top of my list for a long time. Somehow it debuted without my notice some months ago.

Passing Gandalf

I had an afternoon as a passenger in a car the other day and spent it playing through this game. I progressed through levels 1-6 in about 20 minutes. I was stuck on level 7 for hours.

The History of Star Wars (1977) Posters

It's Revenge of the Fifth and I have a quick Star Wars history lesson for you, inspired by a May The Fourth purchase. Let's dive into the history of Star Wars (1977) posters.

My Letterboxd lists

Gosh, I love Letterboxd. It's absolutely my favorite service and so much more than a film diary. It's a brilliant discovery platform, mostly due to the many lists created by the platform's audience. I've talked before about how I make...

The old apartment

Mae, Jazz and I moved into our first house this weekend and, although I'm physically occupied with turning it into a home this week, I can't help but think back fondly about the apartment we just vacated.

I used to write about music

Since leaving Substream 2014 and hanging up my column at AltPress soon after, I haven't done much writing about music. This week, an old pal called me out of retirement.

My best Letterboxd tips

This post collects some of my favorite power-user pointers for organizing and promoting films, lists, and diary entries on the platform.

Resizing video for Mastodon

A quick and dirty FFmpeg command to convert your video to a toot-friendly format.

2022: A Year In Review

This year has felt particularly long, but my memory of it feels very short. Maybe it’s the effects of Long COVID, maybe it’s age. I’m nearly 30 after all.

My Favorite Things: 2022

Twelve more months on God’s green Earth, absorbing hundreds more hours of media. It’s only right to denote them, once again, for future nostalgia.

Farewell To Geekdom

For over 6 years, Deanna Chapman published weekly conversations with a wide variety of guests. Today marks the 300th and final episode of the Welcome To Geekdom podcast.

Some ChatGPT Fun

Seeing some fun ChatGPT prompts and responses floating around the net today, I thought I'd throw in a few of my own. To my great delight, all of them were readable, accurate, and passed any plagiarism tests I could throw at them.

Welcome To Mastodon

In light of the meltdown of Twitter following Elon Musk’s $44B purchase of the platform, there’s a lot of buzz and confusion about this new(ish) platform. This post should serve as an introduction and layman’s guide.

31 Days of Halloween

For the last three years, I've taken on a personal challenge to actually watch 31 horror movies during the month of October.

Night Moves

My friend James Shotwell published an essay today about the last time he and I saw our friend Justin Proper.

My Favorite Things: 2021

Another year, another swath of media to devour, process, and regurgitate in the form of bulleted lists.

2021: A Year In Review

When discussing our favorite moments of 2021 yesterday, Mae brought to my attention a few activities I'm sure happened a year before. My sense of time has been completely rocked by Covid-19. Thankfully, I've got my camera roll to help me recall all the things that have happened since last year.

The great indoors

When we moved into this apartment in October 2015, I figured the only creature residing with us would be our canine companion Jazz. What I didn't know was that the next six years would feature a revolving cast of characters including bats, squirrels, and birds. So very many birds.

What Was Missed

It's been an overwhelmingly isolating year with a lot of moments I will forever regret having missed.

My Favorite Things: 2020

As is tradition, here is a distillation of my favorite media—formatted into digestable bulleted lists for posterity.

2020: A Year In Review

As terrible as the year has been, some landmark achievements have happened in spite of it. Here's a rundown of what I've accomplished this year.