• I published an article on Medium, ArsDigita University: 25 Years Later. I did this not because I like Medium, but because I thought it was the best - ahem - medium to display that kind of content. An endless amount of thanks is due to not only the students who sent me answers to my questions, but also to Shai Simonson, who responded right away (on Linkedin!) and was very supportive of the whole thing.
• I also put up something I wrote twenty years ago on the same topic here under the Archives: ArsDigita University: Five Years Later.
• By the way, I put up an Archives section which contained some of the things I posted in other forms, over the years. Some great advice; if you really want to embarrass yourself, open up your blog posts from twenty years ago and take a look. I am in the process of slowly, slowly pruning this gnarly tree of unwanted posts and broken links. These are posts that may have been written through JRoller, and then through Posterous, and then through WordPress. I was able to convert a WordPress XML backup to Markdown using this very handy javascript program, and found myself with twenty years’ posts in many different folders.

I wrote a bit about my personal experiences with ArsDigita University in the 5-year post; none of those impressions or memories have changed. I did want to point out that, with twenty-five years of time between then and now, it’s common to find people who don’t remember where we were technologically in the year 2000. Philip Greenspun’s entire claim to fame was building one of the first web development companies at a time where pages were mostly HTML, maybe some CSS, and Javascript was still considered an ‘optional’ luxury. There was no Node, no AJAX, no JQuery. Only one of our classmates had a cell phone. No Facebook, no Twitter. Philip touted the idea of using SOAP XML to scrape Amazon for prices, and we couldn’t get our collective heads around that idea yet.

Our graduation wasn’t until mid-July, and then we all went our separate ways. Some of my classmates wrote about their time after ADUni like “oh, I found a job, it was pretty easy etc etc.” I do not recall it being easy at all. Not at all. We finished in July and I was asking about part-time work in a coffee shop down the street a week later. I wound up doing temp work at Harvard. Oh, and then 9/11 happened. Our entire economy felt like it was under attack. I didn’t get a real IT job until next February, right around the time that ArsDigita the corporation folded itself up like a card table.

Twenty-five years! It’s been a wild ride since ADUni, and I’m glad that I was a part of it.

If you or someone you know is interested in donating to Ukraine’s victory, you can always go to United24, or pick out one or several organizations that I personally support:

• Gwara Media
• Kyiv Independent
• Author Olia Hercules
• Lifeline Ukraine
• HUGS NGO working in Kharkiv
• European Resilience Initiative Center

My own relationship with Bard is now very distant; I attended Bard from 1989 to 1991 and participated in its first exchange program with St. Petersburg, Russia’s Herzen Institute, establishing a foothold for Bard and its relationship with the Smolny Institute years later. I also wrote for the Bard Observer during that time. I interviewed Botstein at least once, probably several times. After 1991, I returned only once, to see some of my friends graduate in 1993. (The graduation speaker that year was a then-unknown Dr. Anthony Fauci.) I don’t have any plans to go back.¹

Even though it’s distant, several things stand out in my mind when I think of Bard:

• In the first month, we could all feel that something was off; Botstein stood before our freshman class the very first day and told us that we could drink and do recreational drugs all we wanted, no one would stop us. Later that month, someone started a fistfight and was summarily expelled with no due process.²
• “Bard is a selfish place” one classmate said to me before leaving; his faculty advisor had decided not to serve on his moderation panel, something every student has to do their sophomore year. I don’t pretend ot have any hard numbers, but each year we saw an exodus of students who just couldn’t pay, wouldn’t pay, or gave up on the place..
• The number of faculty who were dating or married their former students was an inappropriate amount. For me, ‘inappropriate’ is greater than zero.
• I knew students who were institutionalized post-Bard.
• I knew students who committed suicide or were involved in fatal DUIs. If you looked at the fatality statistics you might think it’s nothing special, but for a small college of 1400-1600 students it felt significant.
• The last story I worked on for the Observer, and what sealed the deal for me, was about four students being expelled, again, with little or no due process. I interviewed their lawyer and he spelled it out in black and white; if you attend a private institution like Bard, you give up your Constitutional rights. As a rather waspy guy that rankled with me, and I couldn’t imagine being female or a minority and reporting a serious crime, like a rape, through the gauntlet of the Bard administration.

I went to a top-level state school after that experience. It boasted a well-trained campus police force and a large health clinic, together with an entire Slavic Languages department, not just 1-2 professors like it was at Bard. Nevertheless, Bard shaped me, as it shaped many others, which is why, 35 years later, I followed this unwinding of Botstein’s fate with serious interest.

Even in the late 80s and 90s, Botstein was aloof and dedicated to the aims of the college, but not of its students³. He would always be very happy to announce the new appointment of faculty such as John Ashbury, Chinua Achebe or Neil Gaiman but never have any answers as to when we’d expand student services or provide campus counseling. As students under his care, we initially lionized him, but wound up despising him. With his attitude, it was inevitable.

I’m not surprised that Botstein pursued Epstein for money. I’m not surprised that he ignored caution and brushed off the warnings of senior faculty. I am surprised that he finally gave in and resigned.

So where does that leave Bard now? Its future is secure; a billion dollars has been gathered for its endowment, most of that collected in the last 5-10 years. Its future without Botstein, is bright. The future leadership will have smooth sailing ahead. But will they ever look back on the last 51 years and think for a moment, what that bright future really cost others? I doubt it.

Featured Image by Andrew Milford.

¹ Though, if this war ever ends and I find myself on the eastern seaboard of the USA I may go back to see this garden, it’s quite wonderful.

² Fun fact: another student came to Bard a year later and would get in fights every weekend like a regular Russell Crowe, but he happened to be white and the son of a famous poet.

³ The one bit of attention he did pay me or my family came when my parents wrote a letter complaining about the condition of the dorms; Botstein replied with a multi-page screed about how we shouldn’t complain and students in the 1940s and 50s had it much worse than me. After that, writing Bard every single tuition check made them visibly wince with pain.

⁴ I heard the initial news that Gaiman would be teaching at Bard and I turned green with envy, but never found out how they landed someone like him. Then the sexual assault allegations came to light and I thought to myself well that makes perfect sense now.

I have not seen the film; I have shied away from all documentaries actually, because I’m living it in eastern Ukraine. I have not seen any of the films nominated, I haven’t seen most of the ceremony, but maybe I’ll find some time to do so later. I will say that not specifically pointing out his own country’s massive war against Ukraine is pretty telling for a Russian. I personally spent Sunday reading about the 1800 drones launched at Ukraine by Russia. Also my power went out from 10pm to 1am due to a nearby drone attack. In short, we were busy with other things.

The title of the film reminds me of an old story we used to tell one another in Scout camp: There are four people and their names are Anybody, Somebody, Everybody and Nobody. There was a job that Anybody could do, and Everybody thought that Somebody should do it, but in the end Nobody did it.

Russia is a country of 130 million Nobodies and they are all looking for Somebody to lead them; Anybody could do it, but Everybody is waiting for Somebody else. Until that day comes though, they are perfectly fine with following orders to kill the neighboring 40 million Ukrainians.

A bit more about this is discussed in this article in the Kyiv Independent:

“Talankin’s anti-war stance is sincere, and his horror at what is happening, especially when his older male students accept the fate of going off to war, is gut wrenching. But the documentary is also analytically evasive. The paralysis of non-ideologues becomes its moral center, and in doing so, fear is aestheticized, survival transformed into quiet heroism. What the documentary gives us is not judgment, but melancholy. And melancholy, however understandable, does not stop the world from burning.”

If you or someone you know is interested in donating to Ukraine’s victory, you can always go to United24, or pick out one or several Patreons that I personally support:

• Gwara Media
• Kyiv Independent
• Author Olia Hercules
• Lifeline Ukraine
• HUGS NGO working in Kharkiv
• European Resilience Initiative Center

Today is actually March 16th. The weather is nicer, the electricity is (more or less) on all the time, we are beating back Russian forces in the southeast. However, it’s darker in other parts of the world still.

So to lighten the mood, I am posting pics of Kharkiv from much happier times.

Highlights

• Severance Seasons One and Two. I didn’t get the hype when the first season came out but then I caught up this year, and it was thoroughly engrossing.
• Noir Fiction. I started picking up books by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and found them to be cracking reads, once you get around all the subtle racism, sexism, homophobia, and smoking.
• Stranger Things Season Five. Such a quality end to a quality series. As someone who graduated in the class of 1989, the whole thing was a lovely tribute to the 80s.
• Common Side Effects. As someone who works in the clinical sciences, I found this an absolutely hilarious dark comedy. I actually watched the season ender first and then went back and watched the whole season.

Other things I have on my list to watch from 2025:

• Andor Season Two. (I know, I KNOW)
• The rest of Star Trek Strange New Worlds. Starfleet Academy is just kicking off and I find that I’ll probably need to finally check out some of the last episodes of Discovery Season Five to make sure I’m properly caught up. And maybe Prodigy Season Two, since the Holo-Doctor is in there, but that’s a lot of Trek to take in.
• Pluribus.

Lowlights

• And Just Like That. The thing about editing is that, when it’s great it’s invisible but when it ain’t, you definitely see it. Especially in the last episode when the news had already broken that the series was cancelled.
• Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld. For something that came out on May the Fourth, I would have expected… well, just better. Visions came out later that year and made up for it (mostly).

Other Things in 2025

I got published in early 2025. It took a bit of effort, as it should. I’ll write about it in another post but you can read it online for free here.

The Full List Already

Jan-01: Star Wars Skeleton Crew S01E06

Jan-02: Severance S01E02

Jan-05: Severance S01E03

Jan-08: Star Wars Skeleton Crew S01E07

Jan-09: Severance S01E04

Jan-10: Severance S01E05

Jan-14: AVICII: MY LAST SHOW (2024) 5/10 music was definitely there, nothing else though

Jan-15: Star Wars Skeleton Crew S01E08, Severance S01E06

Jan-16: Severance S01E07, 08

Jan-17: Severance S01E09 ok, I now get the hype

Jan-18: Severance S02E01, Beyond Saturday Night S01E01, 04

Jan-19: Beyond Saturday Night S01E03

Jan-20: Saturday Night Live S50E11

Jan-22: Beyond Saturday Night S01E02

Jan-24: Star Trek Voyager S06E03

Jan-25: Law and Order S24E10

Jan-26: Severance S02E02

Jan-27: most of Saturday Night Live S50E12

Feb-07: “And Here’s the Kicker: Conversations with 21 Top Humor Writers on their Craft and the Industry”, by Mike Sacks

Feb-17: most of Last Week Tonight S12E01

Feb-18: “The Last Continent”, by Terry Pratchett

Feb-20: Severance S02E03

Feb-27: part of Last Week Tonight S12E02

Feb-28: Law and Order Toronto Criminal Intent S02E01

Mar-03: part of Last Week Tonight S12E03

Mar-07: Severance S02E04

Mar-10: part of Last Week Tonight S12E04

Mar-14: “The Long Earth”, by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter

Apr-09: MobLand S01E01

Apr-13: Doctor Who S02E01 (more like S15E01 but okay)

Apr-14: most of Last Week Tonight S12E08

Apr-20: Severance S02E05

Apr-21: Severance S02E06

Apr-23: Doctor Who S02E02

Apr-28: PATTON OSWALT: WE ALL SCREAM (2022)

May-01: Severance S02E07

May-04: Doctor Who S02E03

May-06: Star Wars Tales of the Underworld S01E01, 02, 03

May-07: Severance S02E08

May-10: Severance S02E09

May-16: Love, Death and Robots S04E01, 02, 03

May-17: Love, Death and Robots S04E04, 05, 06, 07

May-19: Love, Death and Robots S04E08, 09, 10

May-26: Severance S02E10, Star Wars Tales of the Underworld S1E04

May-27: Rick and Morty S08E01

May-29: Star Wars Tales of the Underworld S01E05

May-30: Star Wars Tales of the Underworld S01E06

May-31: And Just Like That S03E01

Jun-05: Rick and Morty S08E02

Jun-10: Rick and Morty S08E03

Jun-11: Common Side Effects S01E10, Krapopolis S02E10

Jun-14: And Just Like That S03E02, 03

Jun-16: Common Side Effects S01E01

Jun-20: Rick and Morty S08E04

Jun-21: Common Side Effects S01E02, And Just Like That S03E04

Jun-25: Rick and Morty S08E05

Jun-27: Common Side Effects S01E03

Jun-28: And Just Like That S03E05

Jun-29: Common Side Effects S01E04

Jun-30: THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME (2025) 8.5/10 great story overall

Jul-11: And Just Like That S03E06, 07

Jul-12: Common Side Effects S01E05

Jul-13: Common Side Effects S01E06, 07, 08

Jul-14: Common Side Effects S01E09, 10

Jul-15: Rick and Morty S08E06

Jul-18: Star Trek Strange New Worlds S03E01, And Just Like That S03E08

Jul-21: Rick and Morty S08E07

Jul-23: Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music (2025)

Jul-26: And Just Like That S03E09

Jul-27: Star Trek Strange New Worlds S03E02

Aug-01: And Just Like That S03E10

Aug-02: “Reaper Man”, by Terry Pratchett

Aug-04: THUNDERBOLTS (2025) 9/10 not bad, guys

Aug-05: Rick and Morty S08E08

Aug-06: Rick and Morty S08E09

Aug-08: And Just Like That S03E11

Aug-11: Rick and Morty S08E10

Aug-13: Star Trek Strange New Worlds S03E03

Aug-17: And Just Like That S03E12

Aug-22: “Soul Music”, by Terry Pratchett

Aug-23: Star Trek Strange New Worlds S03E04

Sep-03: Alien Earth S01E01

Sep-05: South Park S27E01

Sep-11: STRANGER THAN PARADISE (1984) 7.5/10 classic Jarmusch

Sep-13: BLACK BAG (2025) 8/10 racy spy drama, quite British

Sep-14: “Men at Arms”, by Terry Pratchett

Sep-15: South Park S27E02

Sep-24: Marvel Zombies S01E01

Sep-26: “The Big Sleep”, by Raymond Chandler

Sep-28: “Farewell, My Lovely”, by Raymond Chandler, Marvel Zombies S01E02, 03, 04

Oct-02: South Park S27E03

Oct-04: “The High Window”, by Raymond Chandler

Oct-09: “The Thin Man”, by Dashiell Hammett

Oct-13: “The Last Hero”, by Terry Pratchett

Oct-14: The Sandman S02E01

Oct-22: JOHN CANDY: I LIKE ME (2025) 8/10 heartwarming and sad, we miss him

Oct-24: “The Lady in the Lake”, by Raymond Chandler

Oct-29: Star Wars Visions S03E01, 02

Oct-30: Star Wars Visions S03E03

Nov-02: Star Wars Visions S03E04

Nov-03: Star Wars Visions S03E05

Nov-04: Star Wats Visions S03E06, 07

Nov-05: COCO BEFORE CHANEL (2009) 7/10

Nov-06: Star Wars Visions S03E08, 09 (last one was the most intense)

Nov-14: South Park S27E04

Nov-24: TRON: ARES (2025) 7/10 worked for me, good soundtrack, some pacing issues

Nov-27: South Park S27E05

Nov-29: Stranger Things S05E01, 02, 03, 04 awwwwwww yeaaaaaaaaah

Dec-06: “Pyramids”, by Terry Pratchett

Dec-19: WAKE UP, DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY (2025) 9/10 Benoit and the gang don’t disappoint

Dec-20: Emily in Paris S05E01, 02, 03

Dec-21: “The Maltese Falcon”, by Dashiell Hammett

Dec-24: South Park S27E06

Dec-25: DAVE CHAPPELLE: THE UNSTOPPABLE (2025) 10/10 no notes, Emily in Paris S05E04, 05

Dec-26: Emily in Paris S05E06

Dec-27: Stranger Things S05E05, 06, 07

If you have made it this far, congratulations. I am based in Ukraine and can recommend the following charities or Patreons: that I personally support:

• Gwara Media
• Kyiv Independent
• Author Olia Hercules
• Lifeline Ukraine
• HUGS NGO working in Kharkiv
• European Resilience Initiative Center

We got in a car and headed out in the early dawn. People stopped us in the street and asked us if it was really happening, if the Russians were already in Kharkiv. We said we didn’t know, and drove on, past lines of people in front of ATMs and later, cars parked in lines to get gasoline. The few expats who were in town were already packing and on their way as well. Several expats were supposed to be flying in that day and they got turned away at the airport, some never returned again.

This picture was the only thing I took that day; my cousin-in-law was navigating the traffic at 7am to take us to his home. We’re there today.

We’ve been living in a little speck of a town between Kharkiv and Poltava. People use the term PGT to describe it, Poselok Goroskogo Tipa or “Village based on a city plan”. There’s a school, a graveyard, a Baptist church, an Orthodox church, and that’s about it. We were very fortunate that the Russian army never got this far, but we did have to spend a month sleeping in the neighbor’s basement, while we heard the fighting going on to the north and east of us.

We’ve been here for three years, and life has gone on around us. Many of my coworkers lost their homes, left their homes, some of them have returned already, and some of them may never return. We’ve waited for things to get better, but the most we can have for now is that they are stable. We’re stuck in a very macabre status quo, where Russia is still allowed to bomb innocent civilians and not feel remorse or responsibility. Outside forces are pushing for this status quo to change; some are sympathetic to Ukraine’s cause, many are not. What will be, will be. What is important is that I am around people that I trust, and whtever happens, we’ll face it together.

Slava Ukraini.

If you or someone you know is interested in donating to Ukraine’s victory, you can always go to United24, or pick out one or several Patreons that I personally support:

• Gwara Media
• Kyiv Independent
• Author Olia Hercules
• Lifeline Ukraine
• HUGS NGO working in Kharkiv
• European Resilience Initiative Center

Jan-01: “Persephone” short story by Lev Grossman

Jan-02: “You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop To A Coffee Shop” by John Scalzi

Jan-04: “The Six Deaths of the Saint” short story by Alix E. Harrow

Jan-05: FRENCH KISS (1995) 8/10, first twenty minutes of JOHN WICK CHAPTER FOUR (2023)

Jan-08: Krapopolis S01E11, next half hour of JOHN WICK CHAPTER FOUR (2023)

Jan-09: Krapopolis S01E12

Jan-10: next twenty minutes of JOHN WICK CHAPTER FOUR (2023)

Jan-11: next twenty minutes of JOHN WICK CHAPTER FOUR (2023)

Jan-12: next half hour of JOHN WICK CHAPTER FOUR (2023)

Jan-14: “250 Things You Should Know About Writing”, Chuck Wendig

Jan-15: rest of JOHN WICK CHAPTER FOUR (2023) it was bloody and violent and long and what did you expect, 6/10, first part of JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS PART ONE (2024)

Jan-19: rest of JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS PART ONE (2024) 7.5/10

Jan-21: rest of LEGION OF SUPER HEROES (2023) 7/10, THE MARVELS (2023) 8/10

Jan-22: True Detective S04E01

Jan-24: True Detective S04E02

Jan-26: The Bad Batch S02E07, 08

Jan-31: True Detective S04E03

Feb-01: Monsieur Spade S01E01

Feb-02: Monsieur Spade S01E02

Feb-06: “Daily Rituals: How Artists Work”, by Mason Currey

Feb-07: True Detective S04E04

Feb-13: True Detective S04E05

Feb-14: Monsieur Spade S01E03

Feb-15: Monsieur Spade S01E04

Feb-18: Monsieur Spade S01E05

Feb-19: True Detective S01E06

Feb-20: Krapopolis S01E13, Monsieur Spade S01E06

Feb-22: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E01, 02

Feb-23: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E03

Feb-24: Law and Order Toronto Criminal Intent S01E01

Feb-25: The Great North S04E02

Feb-26: Krapopolis S01E14

Feb-27: most of Last Week Tonight S11E02

Feb-28: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E04

Mar-04: NCIS S21E03, Krapopolis S01E15

Mar-05: Blue Eye Samurai S01E01

Mar-06: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E05, NCIS S21E04

Mar-08: CSI Vegas S03E02

Mar-11: Law and Order Toronto Criminal Intent S01E02

Mar-12: Law and Order Toronto Criminal Intent S01E03

Mar-13: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E06, “Mort” by Terry Pratchett

Mar-14: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E07

Mar-15: SHALL WE DANCE (2004), 7.5/10, first part of JUNIOR (1994)

Mar-16: The Great North S04E03, DUNE PART ONE (2021) pretty good start, 8/10

Mar-18: Krapopolis S01E16

Mar-20: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E08

Mar-21: most of X-Men'97 S01E01

Mar-22: rest of X-Men'97 S01E01, starting on 02, Blue Eye Samurai S01E02

Mar-26: “Guards! Guards!” by Terry Pratchett, Krapopolis S01E17

Mar-27: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E09

Mar-28: X-Men'97 S01E02

Apr-01: part of Saturday Night Live S49E15, X-Men'97 S01E03, “7 Points of Write” by Daniel Middleton

Apr-02: CSI Vegas S03E04

Apr-03: Law and Order Toronto Criminal Intent S01E05

Apr-04: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E10

Apr-05: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E11

Apr-08: Star Trek Discovery S05E01

Apr-09: Krapopolis S01E18, CSI Vegas S03E05

Apr-10: Grimsburg S01E03

Apr-12: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E12

Apr-13: X-Men'97 S01E04

Apr-15: NCIS S21E06

Apr-17: NCIS S21E07, Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E13

Apr-19: Law and Order Toronto Criminal Intent S01E07

Apr-22: Krapopolis S01E19

Apr-24: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E14

Apr-25: CSI Vegas S03E06

Apr-26: JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS PART TWO (2024) 6/10

Apr-27: NCIS S21E08, X-Men'97 S01E05

Apr-28: DUNE PART TWO (2024) pretty good second part, but now we have holy war, 8/10

Apr-29: CSI Vegas S03E07, Krapopolis S01E20, Law and Order S23E10

Apr-30: NCIS S21E09, Doctor Who S14E00

May-01: Star Wars The Bad Batch S03E15

May-06: Law and Order Toronto Criminal Intent S01E08, parts of Saturday Night Live S49E18

May-07: Star Wars Tales of the Empire S01E01

May-08: Star Wars Tales of the Empire S01E02, 03

May-09: Star Wars Tales of the Empire S01E04

May-10: Star Wars Tales of the Empire S01E05, 06

May-11: CSI Vegas S03E08

May-15: Krapopolis S01E22

May-16: CSI Vegas S03E09

May-24: CSI Vegas S03E10

May-27: Krapopolis S01E23

May-28: “The Color of Magic” by Terry Pratchett

Jun-03: SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) still 10/10 all these years later

Jun-04: “The Light Fantastic” by Terry Pratchett, Last Week Tonight S11E13

Jun-05: The Acolyte S01E01

Jun-06: The Acolyte S01E02

Jun-11: part of Last Week Tonight S11E14

Jun-12: The Acolyte S01E03

Jun-15: “Sourcery” by Terry Pratchett

Jun-17: Last Week Tonight S11E15

Jun-19: The Acolyte S01E04

Jun-20: Blue Eyed Samurai S01E03

Jun-24: “Eric” by Terry Pratchett, part of Last Week Tonight S11E16

Jun-26: The Acolyte S01E05

Jun-27: first part of THE BATMAN (2022)

Jun-28: rest of THE BATMAN (2022) 9/10, perfect, no notes. Star Trek Voyager S06E01

Jun-30: Star Trek Voyager S06E02

Jul-01: first half of MARS EXPRESS (2023)

Jul-02: rest of MARS EXPRESS (2023) the French can sometimes do something right, 9/10

Jul-03: The Acolyte S01E06, Star Trek Prodigy S02E01

Jul-09: NCIS S21E10

Jul-10: The Acolyte S01E07

Jul-11: Sunny S01E01, Star Trek Prodigy S02E02

Jul-12: Star Trek Prodigy S02E03, “Titanium Noir” by Nick Harkaway

Jul-13: Star Trek Prodigy S02E04

Jul-14: “Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons and Dragons” ed. Peter Bebergal, HEAVY METAL 2000 (2000) 5/10 all French animation ain’t great.

Jul-16: first half of JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS PART THREE (2024)

Jul-17: last half of JUSTICE LEAGUE: CRISIS ON INFINITE EARTHS PART THREE (2024) 7.5/10, The Acolyte S01E08

Jul-19: Sunny S01E02, My Adventures with Superman S02E07

Jul-22: Star Blazers S01E01, 02

Jul-24: parts of Last Week Tonight S11E17, Star Blazers Space Battleship Yamato 2202 S01E01

Jul-25: Sunny S01E03

Jul-27: first half of DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE (2024)

Jul-28: rest of DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE (2024) 9/10

Jul-29: Futurama S12E01, part of Last Week Tonight S11E18

Aug-01: Sunny S01E04

Aug-05: part of Last Week Tonight S11E19

Aug-06: My Adventures with Superman S02E08

Aug-07: My Adventures with Superman S02E09, 10

Aug-08: part of Sunny S01E05

Aug-09: rest of Sunny S01E05, Batman Caped Crusader S01E01

Aug-10: Batman Caped Crusader S01E02

Aug-11: Batman Caped Crusader S01E03

Aug-12: Batman Caped Crusader S01E04, 05, 06

Aug-13: Batman Caped Crusader S01E07, 08

Aug-14: Batman Caped Crusader S01E09, 10

Aug-16: last 2/3 of HEAVY METAL (1981) 7/10 for 1981 the animation was pretty good, forgot about the Devo influence

Aug-19: SAVING MR. BANKS (2013) 7.5/10, part of ANGELS & DEMONS (2008), part of Emily in Paris S04E01

Aug-21: Rick and Morty The Anime S01E01

Aug-23: Emily in Paris S04E02, 03, 04, 05

Aug-25: THE GREATEST LOVE STORY NEVER TOLD (2024) 7/10 but a little odd now that they split

Aug-26: Sunny S01E06, 07, 08, part of Slow Horses S01E01

Aug-28: Sunny S01E09

Aug-29: first twenty minutes of FANTASIA (1940)

Aug-30: first half of TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (2019)

Aug-31: rest of TERMINATOR: DARK FATE (2019) 8/10

Sep-03: Terminator Zero S01E01, LOTR: Rings of Power S02E01

Sep-04: Sunny S01E10, part of FANTASIA (1940)

Sep-06: LOTR: Rings of Power S02E02

Sep-08: “Interesting Times” by Terry Pratchett

Sep-10: LOTR: Rings of Power S02E03, 04

Sep-12: first part of STEVE! A Documentary In Two Pieces S01E01, LOTR: Rings of Power S02E05

Sep-14: Emily in Paris S04E06, 07, 08

Sep-15: Emily in Paris S04E09, 10

Sep-19: LOTR: Rings of Power S02E06

Sep-20: In Vogue: The 90s S01E01

Sep-21: In Vogue: The 90s S01E02

Sep-22: Agatha All Along S01E01

Sep-24: Twilight of the Gods S01E01

Sep-27: LOTR: Rings of Power S02E07, Twilight of the Gods S01E02, In Vogue: The 90s S01E03

Sep-28: Twilight of the Gods S01E03, In Vogue: The 90s S01E04

Sep-29: In Vogue: The 90s S01E05

Sep-30: Agatha All Along S01E02

Oct-02: Krapopolis S02E01

Oct-04: LOTR: Rings of Power S02E08, The Legend of Vox Machina S03E01

Oct-07: The Legend of Vox Machina S03E02, 03

Oct-09: Agatha All Along S01E03, 04

Oct-10: Agatha All Along S01E05

Oct-11: The Legend of Vox Machina S03E04, 05

Oct-13: The Legend of Vox Machina S03E06, Twilight of the Gods S01E04

Oct-14: In Vogue: The 90s S01E06

Oct-15: first twenty minutes of ALIEN: ROMULUS (2024)

Oct-18: The Legend of Vox Machina S03E07, 08

Oct-19: The Legend of Vox Machina S03E09, The Peripheral S01E01

Oct-20: The Peripheral S01E02, 03, 04, 05

Oct-23: Agatha All Along S01E06

Oct-25: The Legend of Vox Machina S03E10, 11, 12, Agatha All Along S01E07, The Peripheral S01E06, 07

Oct-26: The Peripheral S01E08, Star Trek Lower Decks S05E01

Oct-30: Star Trek Lower Decks S05E02

Oct-31: Agatha All Along S01E08, 09

Nov-03: part of Satruday Night Live S50E05, Star Trek Lower Decks S05E03

Nov-07: Twilight of the Gods S01E05

Nov-08: Star Trek Lower Decks S05E04

Nov-11: Krapopolis S02E06

Nov-12: Arcane S02E01

Nov-13: Arcane S02E02

Nov-15: Star Trek Lower Decks S05E05

Nov-18: Arcane S02E03

Nov-19: Arcane S02E04

Nov-20: Arcane S02E05

Nov-23: Star Trek Lower Decks S05E06

Nov-26: Arcane S02E06

Nov-27: WATCHMEN: CHAPTER 2 (2024) for a tale as old as time, still was an ok watch 7/10

Nov-28: Star Trek Lower Decks S05E07

Dec-01: Arcane S02E07, 08, 09 a bit rushed but very pretty

Dec-04: Star Wars Skeleton Crew S01E01

Dec-05: Star Trek Lower Decks S05E08

Dec-06: Star Wars Skeleton Crew S01E02

Dec-07: Creature Commandos S01E01, 02

Dec-10: Severance S01E01

Dec-11: Secret Level S01E01, 02, Star Wars Skeleton Crew S01E03

Dec-12: Secret Level S01E03, 04

Dec-13: Secret Level S01E05, 06, 07 hoo boy warhammer 10k didn’t disappoint

Dec-15: Star Trek Lower Decks S05E09, Secret Level S01E08

Dec-20: Secret Level S01E09, 10

Dec-21: Star Wars Skeleton Crew S01E04, Secret Level S01E11, 12

Dec-22: Secret Level S01E13, 14, 15

Dec-23: Star Trek Lower Decks S05E10

Dec-24: What If…? S03E01, 02

Dec-25: What If…? S03E03, 04, Star Wars Skeleton Crew S01E05

Dec-26: What If…? S03E05

Dec-27: What If…? S03E06

Dec-28: What If…? S03E07, Twilight of the Gods S01E06

Dec-29: What If…? S03E08

Dec-30: Twilight of the Gods S01E07, 08 payoff was a bit meh

Dec-31: Doctor Who Christmas Special

So, what’s been happening?

What I’ve Watched

I started off the year watching True Detective Season 4 and Monsieur Spade. True Detective spawned an amazing first season, and then went off a cliff for many years before giving the viewer what they really wanted; give Jodie Foster a badge and a gun again and deliver Silence of the Lambs on Ice. Which it did.

Clive Owen in Monsieur Spade was a great juxtopose to True Detective, in summertime post-WW2 France with noirish twists here and there. Maybe the ending wrapped itself up a little too neatly, but sure, I’d see a second season of that.

I then discovered a guilty pleasure; Law and Order Toronto Criminal Intent. As if you couldn’t put more words in the title. I’m surprised they didn’t get to a case involving hockey until episode 8. This led me to go back and pick up some other Law and Order, and even take another look at NCIS.

This all leads up to what everyone is watching this last month: The Acolyte. After the first episode I was going to start comparing this to Marvel’s Secret Invasion but no, this is becoming way way worse. At least with Secret Invasion you had some standout performances. I’m not an acting coach or a writing coach, but killing off Carrie-Anne Moss in the first ten - okay, maybe five - minutes of your opener stoked the ire of many many fanboys, and now it’s like looking at a train crash in slow motion; there’s absolutely no chance anyone can look away. Only two more episodes to go…

Pleasant Surprises

So I finally watched The Batman and Mars Express and really enjoyed both. I’ve also been reading more; mostly due to Good Omens’ success, I started to pick up Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels. He’s Douglas Adams with a decent work ethic, and most of his books don’t disappoint.

I’m also reading Titanium Noir right now and it’s great. Go read it now, if you haven’t.

In general, I sought out Hugo as the lightweight Wordpress alternative - I would have WP on another hosting service, and all of a sudden get dinged for an extra charge if the latest version of PHP didn’t work with the plugins I had installed, which I found very very annoying. So I started moving away from WP and getting into static site generators a while back, and found that Hugo was the easiest to install and work with.

That having been said, there are a few tripwires you need to be mindful about when you start working with it. Namely, the following:

1. When you pick a theme, make sure you are confident in the documentation. Namely, make sure you understand how to add new content, and how to update the style to match your own personal taste. If you’re not 100% confident in your theme’s documentation, move on quickly.
2. Hugo by default won’t let you use most markup in the markdown - this can be remedied in your config file if you want - but instead you should lean into the shortcodes that it does provide.
3. Besides shortcodes, you should keep the markdown guide handy, just in case.
4. When you start to work with Github pages, keep in mind that a previous post I linked to a reference that prompted you to roll-your-own Github Action. That is no longer necessary, as you can just go to Settings > Pages and then select ‘Github Actions’ under ‘Build and deployment’. The ‘Hugo’ action works very well out of the box, which was a nice surprise.
5. That having been said, if you are setting up a custom domain, make sure you read and then re-read the docs thoroughly. Setting up the apex domain is straightforward, but you may need a few trys to get the ‘www’ URL to work for you.
6. Never use git clone to download your themes, always use git submodule. This means you won’t be able to change anything in the theme, but instead you can copy the file you want to change into your Hugo site’s layout/partials directory, and change it there.
7. If you don’t have a good idea of which theme you want to use, I found an excellent suggestion here. You can download some sample content, download a whole lot of themes, and just run hugo server -t theme_name a bunch of times, reviewing each one.

In general, there were quite a few times I wanted to take the whole site and start again - and several times I did - but in general you can make mistakes and correct them easily. It just takes a little practice.

PS - I did find out that running hugo server does not fill in the public directory but keeps the site in memory instead, which is great because after that you can just run git add -A to add all changes, and not have to fill in the file names.

I was going to post a longer rant about what was good and bad about this year, but honestly the bombing of the center of Kharkiv last night has made everything I write sound pathetic. So I’ll just leave you with this for now.

The best thing I watched in 2023 was Poker Face with Natasha Lyonne.

The thing I’m the most proud about in 2023 was my ability to stick with a habit:

That’s about it. Everything else was meh. Happy New Year, and let’s hope 2024 is a better one.

I originally started with a short article about deploying to Github with Hugo, however a few things had changed since then:

• Hugo itself now uses a hugo.toml file instead of config.toml
• Github now offers a one-click support for Hugo actions, so there’s no need to roll your own Action .yaml file

Also it’s worth it to research your theme locally for a while, before pushing anything to Github. I rushed that a bit and had to change themes mid-stream, but am now getting it all working.

Working with Github Pages has also helped me understand Git a little more, like using things like git rm and git submodule.