Shamelessly stealing from the two Jasons, whose posts summarizing the things they’ve been watching/reading/watching/otherwise enjoying are always delightful, to share a list of my own “multimedia diet” from August.

Miscellaneous

Uni-Ball Signo DX 0.38 - I’m always on the search for the perfect pen; I don’t know that this one is it, but it’s my favorite for the moment. I bought one with black ink, but if I reorder, I will try the blue-black ink. I’m using it primarily for writing in a new Leuchtturm notebook - dotted ruling forever

The National Parks - I simply cannot get over how enormous this country is, and what an astonishing variety of natural beauty it contains.

Vinyl records - More thoughts to (probably) come on our recent conversion to listening to music on vinyl, but it’s been probably the biggest change in our media habits of late. Gillian Welch got a lot of play this month, and most evenings find us spinning jazz albums from our ever-increasing collection.

Nebraska Cornhuskers volleyball - If you’re not already watching college women’s volleyball, may I suggest that you start? Fast-paced games, explosive athletic talent, intense rivalries, and an ever-increasing infrastructure support to grow the sport (there have never been so many regular season matches on major network television as there are this season). If you have any affinity with a university or college, they probably have a team you could cheer for. If not, there is definitely room on the Nebraska bandwagon. Our team this year is absolutely stacked with talent…should be a fun season! Go Big Red!

Shaken espresso with oat milk and brown sugar syrup - my order of choice on the rare occasion that I buy something from a coffee shop. I have been making the syrup at home myself so I can make my own to take to work, and it makes a nice change from just straight coffee/lattes. Man cannot live by Aldi energy drinks alone, after all (though on night shift, I sometimes try).

Books 📚

John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs by Ian Leslie

This Is Happiness by Niall Williams

Midwest Futures by Phil Christman

Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War by Jon Grinspan

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

Heartwood by Amity Gaige

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

Cabin by Patrick Hutchison

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Great Big Beautiful Life: Reese’s Book Club by Emily Henry

A handful of books from the Prey/Kidd/Flowers series by John Sanford to

Gave up on Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Devotions by Mary Oliver (still currently reading a poem or two each day from this)

Movies 🍿

Ronin (1998) - A classic for a reason. I generally get weary of action movies, with their interminable scenes of explosions and ever-more-elaborate chase sequences, but this felt like a throwback in the best way. Those high speed car rides through tight, winding European inner city roads were more suspenseful than anything I’ve seen in more recent action movies. The real standout for me, though, was all of De Niro’s turtlenecks he wears throughout the movie, with this grey cashmere number under a suede sport jacket being the high watermark. Men, what’s stopping you, etc. (A-)

Vinyl Nation (2020) - a documentary about the resurgence of vinyl records in recent years. Enjoyable, but a bit heavy on Record Store Day content imo. Would’ve liked to see even more history and production process than we did (the sequences at the factories that they included were a real highlight - very soothing a la Mr. Rogers at the crayon factory). (B)

Black Bag (2025) - delightful, stylish spy movie, with bonus reflections on trust and marriage, all in a tight 93 minutes. Make sub-2-hour-movies the norm again! (B+)

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) - repeat viewing number 3(?). It’s been a few years since the last time I watched, and it always holds up. The animation is of course stunning, the soundtrack an instant classic, and the character development and storyline so rich and satisfying (even to this non-superhero-fan). (A+)