§ The last week of the year, huh?
§ I got Caroline a Playdate for the holidays.
After being disappointed by the build quality of Teenage Engineering’s EP-133 I was nervous about the Playdate. I’m happy to say that Heavy use over the past week has assuaged my fears—it is both well-constructed and absolutely adorable. Root Bear was an instant hit during all of the holiday get-togethers.
Caroline gifted me a Combustion Inc. meat thermometer which is, coincidentally, the exact same shade of yellow as the Playdate. I’ve only had the opportunity to try it once, briefly, but it seemed great. I think it will become particularly handy come grilling season.
§ Panic really won me over with the Playdate so I downloaded Untitled Goose Game on a whim. There is a lot to like—it is chock full of little puzzles and silly mischief. I ran into a lot of issues running it on my Switch, though. The camera and character movement were both frequently frustrating. Still, that didn’t stop me from beating the game in one marathon afternoon.
§ Christmas Eve and Christmas day was comprised of fourteen different events across northeast Ohio. Can we all just agree on one time and place next year?
§ Post-Christmas I spent a few days exploring parts of Ohio I hadn’t visited before. I ended up seeing two taxidermied moose heads in as many days. The first was next to a candle making facility that has been in operation since 1869. As you might imagine of a 150 year old candlery, the fragrance was overwhelming. The second was at the offices of a local tea producer.
§ I was finally able to get a plumber to install our new dishwasher. It is one of those models with no visible buttons on the front panel which seems to be in vogue. I think it looks nice but I did quickly learn that the downside is that there is no way to know how much time is remaining on a particular cycle.
§ Fargo is really gunning hard for the best TV show of 2023. This week’s episode was particularly great. The puppetry scene reminded me of the wild animated act in the middle of Beau Is Afraid.
§ Astroid City was odd. It’s as inspiring as all of Wes Anderson’s work but it ultimately rang a bit hollow. It was all maybe too artificial—too flat, precise, rehearsed. Everything was deadpan, robotic, and perfect but stripped of all emotion. Charles Pulliam-Moore, reviewing the film for The Verge, describes it as “exquisite and soulless”—apt. Its density would, I’m sure, reward repeat viewings. I’ll probably give it another shot sometime.
§ I finished reading part one of Mountain in the Sea. I didn’t realize how much I appreciated that Penumbra stuck with one character’s perspective for the length of the novel. Jumping between multiple perspectives, which Mountain does frequently, is often the reason I abandon novels partway through. There are inevitably characters I am less invested in and sometimes getting through those passages can be a slog. It isn’t a big problem yet with Mountain though. I am still engrossed with the story and the troublingly plausible dystopian world Ray Nayler has crafted. I would have preferred he stuck with Ha Nguyen‘a central storyline though.
§ See you next year.
