Smalltimore

Finished reading: Dune Messiah by Frank Herbert 📚

Very different from the first book. Much more focused on the politics of the universe.

I’m going to get sappy here, but 9 years ago today my then partner and I walked into Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter, as we did for a few weeks prior, when walking through the kennels I saw a sweet, at most 2 years old pup looking up at me with the biggest brown eyes. She was nervous, but quiet, and I knew we had to meet her. Her name was Nora.

After a couple minutes of meet and greet with her and a BARCS volunteer, we put in our application. Not a second to long considering the couple I held the door open for and who walked in after us also put in an application. Applications are based on chronological order so I think about that moment often and what would have happened if we played with and pet Nora for 10 more seconds before going into the office to put in the application. She was a stray and on a mandatory 3 day stray hold. We visited Nora everyday until we were able to take her home.

During the 9 years since that day there have been home moves, road trips, feline (and human) friends made and lost, life changes, and a genicide of stuffed animals. Through it all Nora has been by my side, as she is while I’m typing this. We both have a lot more grey hairs than we did in 2017, but she is still a sometimes majestic, sometimes smart, often times fart-y, and always silly bean. It’s like the cliché saying hanging at $9.99 wall hanging from Homegoods, “Who saved who?". I don’t know about all that, but I can confidently say that I can’t (and don’t) want to imagine a world without her. Happy gotcha day Nora.

The Incredible Photography of “Obsession” ( via PetaPixel)

It’s been 3 days and i’m still thinking about this movie. It really was a beautiful movie and that made it all more terrifying knowing what was happening in the background.

Started playing Cyberpunk 2077 and I don’t know if I’m getting old or have been playing too many metroidvanias, but this game has almost too much going on. Every time I go into the menus I’m selecting something wrong, I’m almost over stimulated with everything happening, and I’m overwhelmed. 🎮

Wow. What a game! O’s win on an extra inning walk off homer by Cowser. His second in as many days. The O’s can be brutal but when they’re fun, they’re really fun. ⚾️

Oxbow (ME) - Surfcasting. (4.5%, Grisette)

Super tart and really refreshing. Big lime flavor. 🍺

Serious though. Obsession is amazing if you love horror, suspense, thriller, etc. Inde Navarrette’s performance was incredible.

4.5/5 stars.

For the Letterboxd review: “Proving once again that men will do anything except go to therapy.”

Watched: Obsession 🍿

Just got out of the theater. Holy shit. I didn’t go in with any idea other than horror and that was the most anxious I’ve been for 2 hours. That was an insane ride.

Dana White on the New Yorker Radio Hour after being told by David Remnick of Michael Jackson’s numerous child abuse allegations…(via The Independent)

“I don’t know if that’s true, but I can tell you the president had a very good relationship with Michael Jackson and had Michael Jackson around his kids all the time,” White said. “And you know, defended him when that stuff was going down. So to call the guy a racist is crazy. He’s not a racist.”

Jesus Christ these people are stupid.

📚 Dune Messiah. Just about finished listening to the second book of the Dune series. Probably could have finished it this week but didn’t find much listening time that would allow me to take it in.

🎵 Listened to a Spotify playlist called Early Alternative during much of work this week. A lot of gems from late 70s and early 80s. Going to have to add it to the listening rotation.

🍿 The Curse. Modern take on a werewolf movie that takes place mid-to-late 1800s. It was just ok. There was a couple times where I said aloud, “This movie is still going?”

📺 The Boys. Watched the season finale of The Boys. It was satisfying. There were a lot of questions of how they were going to tie up the finale given everything that happened in the finale season and I think they did a good job. I haven’t read the comics so can’t speak to how faithful the series was, but it was entertaining if not frustrating given current events.

🎮 Before I Go. It’s almost a joke that indie games are all an allegory for death, but from the start you would be hard to believe it was anything else. A metroidvania with ok combat and at times frustrating platforming, but enjoyable to play. On the shorter side, but exactly what I was looking for.

❤️ Wine at Sunset fundraiser at Patterson Park was this week. It was wet and rainy but still an absolute blast. What’s not to love? Unlimited wine tastings and small bites from local restaurants. I went years ago when it was called the Wine Soirée, and while that was fun, the new format was even better. Already looking forward to next year’s event.