January 19, 2025
Week 3/2025
We recently finished watching the Marvel series Agatha All Along. While I enjoyed the talented cast, there were moments where I couldn’t help but wonder why I was watching it as I didn’t really care much for any of the characters. My favorite moment was in the second to the last episode, “Death’s Hand in Mine”, when Patti LuPone’s character, Lilia took the spotlight.
In anticipation of Severance season 2 which started on Friday, Audra and I decided to rewatch season 1 to refresh our memories. I’m not actually sure if I’m going to be able to resist starting season 2 before we finish the rewatch. We’ve also started watching Star Wars: Skeleton Crew on Disney+. It feels a little bit like the movies The Goonies meets Stand By Me in a galaxy far, far away.
I just finished reading Kasumi Yasuda’s Fool Night Volume 1 and enjoyed it more than I expected. What I thought would be just another dark dystopian tale turned out to be an exploration of ecological and ethical dilemmas of survival. I’m adding the next volume to my read list!
The jazz/pop duo soraya released their beautiful new single Garden of Words. The track features a minimalist yet captivating arrangement with solo acoustic piano by Kento Tsubosaka and heartfelt vocals by Kurena Ishikawa. The tune’s intimate soundscape was perfect for starting my day. Listen here.
FireAid, a benefit concert happening on January 30th, is dedicated to rebuilding communities devastated by wildfires. The event has an impressive lineup, but what truly caught my attention was that Dave Matthews and John Mayer would be performing together for the first time ever. I can’t believe that this pairing hasn’t happened before and I can’t wait to see what they perform.
It’s been a while since I’ve found a new text editor color scheme that I like. Flexoki by Steph Ango looks great and I appreciate how in-depth they went in explaining how they created the color palette. Many apps already support it, though my favorite, Drafts app, isn’t on the list—yet. Maybe it’s time for me to experiment with creating a custom Flexoki-inspired theme for Drafts.
I just discovered that 1Password has a web-based secure, strong Password Generator. For those moments when I need a strong password but don’t want to fully open 1Password, this tool offers a quick, convenient solution.
I recently read about how OpenAI’s bot overwhelmed a small company’s website, creating what felt like a DDoS attack. It got me thinking: how are others protecting their websites from these malicious scraping bots? While I haven’t reviewed my website logs in detail, I do notice a lot of activity blocked by Cloudflare. So far, it’s been effective, but I’m curious if there are other tools or strategies worth exploring. If you’ve tackled similar issues, I’d love to hear your approach.
Pixelfed launched its mobile apps this week. I guess this is the Fediverse answer to Instagram? I haven’t found a compelling reason to use it just yet.
Honda’s YouTube channel recently featured a retrospective on the Prelude, showcasing the car through all of it’s generations. Now, Honda is bringing it back as a 2026 model, and it’ll be interesting to see how well it’s received after such a long absence.
Video Converter is a free macOS app designed for quickly converting videos from one format to another. It’s easy to use, but it doesn’t offer the advanced features that power users might expect from something like Handbrake. For anyone who needs a simple, no-frills tool for basic video conversion tasks, it’s a handy option.
The Hearing Things website features a fantastic interview with Ginger Root singer-songwriter and instrumentalist Cameron Lew. He shares a memorable story about being recognized by a fan in a Tokyo gyoza restaurant, which led to an unexpected invitation to a Kabuki-themed karaoke bar. This chance encounter inspired a unique recording session for his third album, Shinbangumi, where he even recorded drums inside the karaoke bar. Note: Shinbangumi may or may not be in my favorite albums of 2024…
BONUS: For fans of 80s Japan TV shows, Ginger Root’s SHINBANGUMI Timeline music video series is a must-watch. The series beautifully showcases their latest album while serving as a lovingly crafted tribute to Showa-era Japan. If you’re a fan of nostalgic visuals paired with catchy tunes, you won’t want to miss it.