2025 media diet

movies

• godzilla minus one - highly recommended. great monster movie with solid effects and an even better story.
• alien: romulus - solid effects, really did a pretty solid job of keeping things in the weyland-yutani universe. i was entertained throughout.
• a quiet place: day one - solidly entertaining.
• blink twice - actually, better than i was expecting. i’m surprised that the broligarchy hasn’t been protesting this one.
• the fall guy - i got into this way more than i should have. i loved the TV show as a kid and the stunts were pretty consistently of high quality and didn’t smack of CGI. almost an homage to the stunt man.
• jimmy carter: rock + roll president - what a durably cool and great man.
• saturday night - i was a little disappointed with the depiction of al franken. i don’t think it was really like this.
• back in action - i was on a plane, don’t judge.
• the gorge - entertaining action horror flick. the military industrial complex strikes again…
• gladiator ii - roman age boogaloo.
• old guy - i cannot turn away from a christopher waltz flick. this had its momeents. some amusing twists, worth wasting an hour or two on it when you’re just looking to be entertained.
• inheritance - watched this on the plane back from NANOG. i was entertained, though there was a lot of dull footage of the lead looking pensive while traveling about. intrigue, daddy issues, unfortunately predictable on the plot but good enough for a quick flight when you’re brain dead.

tv

or whatever we’re calling episodic streaming these days. likely with misc. other stuff thrown in.

• love and death (HBO/max) - the spirit of the christian 80s is strong with this one.
• black doves (netflix) - downloaded this prior to a europe trip and i was not disappointed with my investment in ipad drive space.
• dune: prophecy (HBO/max) - plane and insomnia watching while at NANOG 93. interesting. i want to know who’s paying for the room and board for these “truthsayers”. someone really needs to do a deep dive on the economics of the “imperium” in the dune books.
• mo (netflix) - this is a lot more compelling than i was thinking it would be going into it. it’s an interesting take on the 1st/2nd generation immigrant experience. the grind feels uniquely american in its form.
• severance: season 2 (apple tv+) - your outie is …
• white lotus: season 3 (max) - i’m pretty sure the production team is just into livin’ large in exotic locales. this was pretty meh. it did have some cultural moments though.
• the righteous gemstones: season 4 (max) - much anticipation. little wow. bailed.
• the pitt (max) - totally bingeable, one of the best things i’ve seen in recent memory.
• black mirror (netflix) - oh so much fun. oh, and also a cautionary tale for our times.
• hacks: season 4 - i’m amused.

news

lately, i’ve been having a lot of discussions with folks as to where to get news. here’s what i’ve settled on to preserve my sanity and to get access to facts. accurate and truthful information increasingly isn’t free, only the garbage is.

• ny times - the new york times isn’t a news organization any more. they’re at technology company that carries the news and they’re exhibiting all of the trappings of a tech company. they want to pester you with ads constantly, they want to upsell you to get the games subscription, etc.. make no mistake, they are no longer the gray lady with liberal leanings. they are as rapacious as Si valley tech is. all that said, they fact check and they have reporters all over the place. this costs money.
• the economist - when you need a perspective that isn’t shoved up the posterior of the current US administration, you probably need to get outside the US. these folks have a slightly right of center economically conservative perspective with something approximating a moral compass. again, they have knowledgeable reporters covering pretty much every corner of the globe and this costs money. they’re not cheap, but they’re really good. anybody who says they can keep up with the print version of this magazine is totally full of shit. read this online and triangulate.
• 404 media - some of the best tech reporting in the business with a declared and debated bias. their podcast is highly recommended. their FOIA programs are definitely worth a listen.
• the atlantic - pretty solid coverage on a wide range of topics. they’re most definitely an institution and consider themselves as such. there’s plenty of disagreement with some of the regular columnists, but on balance a decided preference for democratic norms and openness to social experience.
• communications of the ACM - very academic, typically well ahead of the curve on a number of interesting topics. they’re particularly solid around the intersection of computing trends and society more broadly. they also do a really interesting rundown on computing activities in other countries. (notably china and india)

podcasts

• the economist podcasts - just suck it up and pay for the subscription, they’re covering things a lot more objectively than we get around here.
• 404 media - some of the best tech and media coverage on the market at the moment. their podcast is always fun and irreverant.
• techdirt - consistently solid and worth the listen.
• the daily - 🤷
• lawfare - really good legal takes on things with very fact driven analysis.
• arms control wonk - destruction dork central
• the ezra kline show - consistently fascinating and worth the listen. to me at least.
• wedge live - best minneapolis politics coverage, full stop.
• racketcast - weekly local snark
• RIPE labs podcast
• hard fork - this is so mid, but if you want a couple of tech fanboys with product manager-lite aspirations, then this might be for you. i find myself skipping episodes with regularity.
• rational security - these folks are the complement to lawfare and just as good. if you’re looking for the facts then they’re well worth the listen.
• BHA podcast and blast with hal herring - first rate conservation news. you don’t have to be a hunter to appreciate what these guys are doing and the insights into the state of legislation on the conservation front.
• Uncanny Valley | WIRED - somehow wired’s been killing it lately.