This was a big year of change for our family: we had our first kid in May! Wild times. 7 months later and the before times feel like a distant memory. It’s true what they say about your life changing with kids.

Gaming has mostly taken a back seat to ensure evening downtime is spent with my wife. I usually steal a few minutes in bed with the Retroid Pocket 5 to bounce between a few games like Pokémon Emerald Seaglass, Chrono Trigger, or Zelda Wind Waker with Hypatia’s texture pack.

I also migrated my site to Micro.blog and have really enjoyed the cross-posting and easy posting (compared to 11ty).

I have so much to be thankful for: we spent Christmas with grandparents, cousins, and life-long friends. If you’re out there reading this, I hope you have a wonderful new year.

Movies and TV Here’s what I watched in quarter 4 of 2024:

  • Finished season 2 of Shrinking and Bad Sisters on Apple. Shrinking is a such a wonderful heartfelt show with a fantastic season finale that had me in tears.
  • Almost done with Silo on Apple.
  • Rewatched The Grinch (with Jim Carrey) on Christmas Eve.
  • Started Skeleton Crew and X-Men ‘97 on Disney.
  • All 4 seasons of A.P. Bio with Glenn Howerton and the unforgettable Paula Pell on Netflix. So fun and weird.
  • The excellent The Night Manager (2016) with Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, and Elizabeth Debicki, and Olivia Colman on Amazon Prime. Merlin raved about this so I finally had to watch it. Outstanding. BBC says it’s coming back for two more seasons.
  • Rewatched all of Slow Horses on Apple with Gary Oldman. I couldn’t get my wife to watch it the first time around but my glowing review of no it’s really good got her hooked on it!
  • The Penguin on HBO Max with Collin Farrell and Cristin Milioti was a good time. Excited to see how it’s woven into the next Batman movie.
  • Disclaimer with Cate Blanchett on Apple was a slow burn and we kept wondering, when it going to become a thriller? but it gets there by the end.
  • We watched seasons 1 and 2 of Hacks with Jean Smart on HBO Max. Loved it! Took a break afterwards but will watch season 3 soon.
  • English Teacher with Brian Jordan Alvarez is an FX show on Hulu. We found it hilarious.
  • Season 2 of The Big Door Prize on Apple.
  • Season 2 of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power on Amazon. Spoilers(?) but it was so obvious that “the stranger” was Gandalf. Who else would it have been?
  • Sunny on Apple with Rashida Jones was interesting but not sure it “stuck the landing.”
  • Really enjoyed Penelope on Netflix. This caught my attention after hearing Mark Duplass’ interview on The Town where I learned it was self-funded and he retains the rights — not Netflix.