Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold

Super fun to see good ole Miles Vorkosigan go on further adventures, further enraging his elders, but I am sad to mention that the darkness and sadness that made the earlier books in this series so special has basically disappeared, by now, which is a real shame. 

den of thieves 2 pantera (2025)

I dunno why I watched this, the first one was bad, but hey sometimes a little pain is good for the soul, which is definitely what happened here.

den of thieves (2018)

exceedingly dumb movie that i think i watched once before but it was so forgettable i’m not even sure

The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

For some reason Bujold had a story in mind she wanted to tell that required a very kooky setup, is the only way to describe it, in a big break from the last two books of her's that I just finished, so although I spent the first two thirds of this book shaking my head at how downright silly some of the events were, the payoff was fantastic and I couldn't put it down.

Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold

Bujold has the rare ability of writing easy, fun, exciting stories about some truly dark themes (this book’s being child disfigurement, among others), and the combo works much better than you’d think. 

Starfish by Peter Watts

Watts has this way of threading 3-4 different core themes through an exciting narrative, and unlike a more conventional novel, he doesn’t really try to make them all relate explicitly; the result in Starfish is dense and difficult, but leavened with exciting plot and compelling, tragic characters, and absolutely mesmerizing. 

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

This weird classic is great for being weird, great for being family-friendly but interesting, great for weirdly enough having a plot about an anti-tram pro-freeway conspiracy, and it’s funny it took me this long to see it for the first time. 

Blindsight by Peter Watts

So difficult, like frequently rereading paragraphs to try to glean some meaning from the dense, razor-sharp descriptions - but i reread and reread because i really wanted to, because it was so good!

Speedboat by Renata Adler

Adler has a wit so dry, so subtle, it comes back around and seems accidental or naive (although it’s definitely deliberate) - if that sounds fun, i highly recommend this quick serving of vignettes, ideas, observations. 

Night Watch (1973)

Honestly this old thriller really pulled me in from the moment it started, then in the middle I thought it was getting a bit too dramatic, but it turned out I should have had more faith because by the end it made perfect sense and i loved it. 

Smile (2022)

As horror movies go it’s so obvious and unoriginal, but on the other hand people doing creepy smiles is definitely the scariest thing ever, so if you like feeling scared it’ll probably do that. 

Mistborn Wax and Wayne series by Brandon Sanderson

If you like Sanderson’s general style, these 4 books are very him, easy entertainment, quite fun tho predictable most of the time, with a major theme of therapeutic personal growth for basically all of the characters. 

Flight Risk (2025)

mel gibson is a terrible director and nobody should watch this but if on the off chance you find yourself exhausted on a saturday afternoon and want something totally brainless to complain about to a loved one you could do worse.

Carrying the Fire by Michael Collins

Although he has a tendency to wax poetic a bit more than he really needs to, Collins’ description of the NASA programs he flew with and his two pioneering space flights is exhilarating and full of interesting tidbits, with a good sense of humor and a really unique voice. 

Pontypool (2009)

Another hilariously bad movie from the Boonta Vista podcast extended movie lore universe, Pontypool is very Canadian and very silly, and I can't really recommend it because it doesn't work in any way, but I guess if you are like, drunk with friends and hoping for a dumb horror movie to watch that isn't very scary but does have some gore, you could do worse.

Mistborn original trilogy by Brandon Sanderson

Like most of Sanderson’s writing the Mistborn series does a lot of very midbrow storytelling and philosophizing, a lot of “compassion beats cruelty and don’t forget it”, but the thing he does so well is tell a great story with great characters in a great setting that never ceases to entertain.