September 2024 Top Ten

1.

I finally watched the newest Studio Ghibli movie The Boy and The Heron and loved it. It’s a reflection on loss and grief, but also choosing to live in reality with grief, as opposed to fantasy without the loss.

Need to watch it again, as I’m sure there’s a ton of stuff I missed.

2.

This a cappella version of “House of the Rising Sun” is crazy good.

3.

I also read the graphic novel Zorro by Dynamite Comics from 2009. It’s a sort of “Year One” for Zorro. He’s like a joyful, more virtuous Batman. Going to pick up volume 2 soon.

4.

I also watched the newest Flash movie from D.C. It was fine, almost good. If I didn’t like the characters, I don’t think I would have really enjoyed it.

5.

My favorite musician John Van Deusen released another new single, and this time with a powerful music video.

6.

We read Saint Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton for book club. I appreciated it, but enjoyed it less this time than I did the first time I read it.

7.

I reread Domestic Monastery by Ronald Rolheiser. It has a ton of good reminders about parenting and the spiritual life.

8.

I read How to Talk When Kids Won’t Listen. This is the second book in the series that I’ve read. Going to read the third one, and then start over. Very helpful and practical.

9.

Milo asked me if a character in a story is real, to which I responded yes, but it’s led me down a rabbit hole about fiction being real or not, so I read On Fairy Stories by J.R.R. Tolkien and a few essays on fiction by C.S. Lewis, and found them both helpful. Still processing.

10.

Youtube served me this video of a guy asking the newest ChatGPT tool specific questions when he doesn’t understand something he’s reading, and it’s properly disgruntled me ever since. Still processing exactly why.