Ken Jennings is a haughty, condescending bully who thinks it‘s funny to mock people with disabilities. He‘s the antithesis of a good-hearted and humble legend like Alex Trebek. I have less than zero interest in watching him as the interim host of Jeopardy. Disgusting.

Gorgeous backdrop for finishing off this audiobook. I had this one squirrelled away for a snowy day, and wasn‘t disappointed.

💔

I really enjoyed this trilogy on the whole, and I like the overall ending as well. That said, it feels like a lot of the branching conflicts were resolved in a pretty anti-climactic and less satisfying way. The last 100 pages or so really feels like an exercise in tying up loose ends with footnotes and epilogues. Still an enjoyable read though!

Winter is back, but this time with 53 km/h NNW winds. I was pretty impressed with the fortitude I was showing in going out until it became apparent that it‘s nothing compared to what some of the women in this novel go through 🤐

Running a bit behind as I‘m already almost done the next one, but book #2 was excellent.

Did anyone listen to this on audio? The narrator reads sooo slowly and takes huge pauses between sentences. I never do this, but I bumped the speed up to 1.25x and now it sounds normal? Genuinely wondering if they either intentionally had her read slowly or even slowed it down in studio, maybe they were worried listeners would have a tough time with her Irish accent?? Story is great so far though, and at 1.25x speed it‘s a great listen too 😂

I tried to stick with this audiobook but I kept daydreaming and realizing I‘d missed whole paragraphs or more. Had to admit I wasn‘t engaged, and the new Emma Donoghue came up for loan, so it just wasn‘t meant to be.

A bit of reprieve after some early snowfall. Starting a new audiobook and watching the geese head south.

I don‘t always see eye to eye with Brian Burke, but I always liked him, and was glad we had him with the Flames for a few years. I like hearing his thoughts on HNIC now even when I disagree, he‘s brutal and honest. This was a great read, lots of insider hockey stories and a fascinating life too. Tough to revisit the Bertuzzi/Moore incident, but Brian‘s perspective on it is interesting.

Well no point in fighting it, may as well embrace the cold and listen to some hockey stories.

I shouldn‘t have balked after the iffy reviews, because I ended up loving this. A Hollywood satire that struck me as a blend of Hunter S. Thompson and Bret Easton Ellis, very well written with carefully crafted sentences dripping with vile wit. Carrey‘s humour shines through, but it‘s purely black comedy, not slapstick. Definitely recommend it on audio—Jeff Daniels‘ slouching baritone adds just the perfect amount of underlying venom and disdain.

Went for an audio walk today to see if it‘s still winter out there.

Update: It‘s still winter out there.

Hauntings are usually the sub-genre of horror that spooks me the most (at least on screen), so I gave this a go as a seasonal read. I mostly enjoyed it, but I won‘t be having any trouble sleeping at night.

Winter has arrived on the prairies.
#AudioWalk

I was really excited when I first heard about this, but after seeing some lukewarm reviews I decided not to spend an Audible credit on it.

It‘s come up as a skip-the-line title at my library now though, so I‘ll give it a shot.

Took a chance on this with my audible credit this month, despite seeming to be somewhat out of genre for me, and wound up really enjoying it. One thing bothered me the entire way though...

Found a buddy having breakfast on my audio walk this morning. 🦌

Morning audio walk 🌲⛅️

In an interstellar burst I am back to save the universe.

It was a pretty productive weekend for minimalizing. Here‘s a before and after shot of some of the progress I made in the basement. I can‘t believe how much stuff I have 😨

B is for Bantha

If I had a Bantha
I‘d name it Samantha

I didn‘t want to lose momentum with the epic amount of purging I‘ve done so far since finishing this book, so I took it out again and I‘ve been taking a break from the office for a walk each day while I listen.

“A” is for AT-AT

I‘m seeing all these #90sPlaylist and #90sSpringFling posts and I‘m not sure what they are for but that‘s my decade so I‘m joining in 😬

Of course in the middle is the first EP from my forgettable high school garage band circa 1998 🤦🏻‍♂️

1. Gemini
2. Recently? Nothing! But in cleaning out my storage I was recently reminded that in 1999 I was the FREAKING GUITAR SOLO CHAMP PEOPLE 🎸🎸🎸
3. Caliban‘s War. I can‘t decide if I want to go back to this series, or if it‘s just not for me.
4. Like most weekends I‘ll be writing freelance game/tech reviews for Best Buy Canada

#FriYayIntro

I resisted the urge to buy something new at Indigo on Tuesday and picked something unread from my bookshelf instead. This one‘s been waiting for a couple years at least. Feel free to tell me how fabulous it is, I‘ve only heard it from everyone who has seen me reading it this week 🙄😂

So I was almost finished my book last night when I turned the light out like a responsible adult at 11pm in anticipation of a busy day at work today... then proceeded to lay in bed awake for 2 hours thinking about my busy day of work ahead 🤦🏻‍♂️

Slowly emerging from a lengthy reading drought. I could swear I love this series but this is the 2nd time I‘ve taken months to finish one 🤔

I‘m completely on board. The great household purge of 2019 is in full swing.

1. Probably Sci-Fi
2. Oh my, yes
3. Goaltender for the Calgary Flames
4. -10°C
5. WHAT‘S GOIN‘ ON?

#FriYayIntro

Sometimes I feel a bit inferior on Litsy, seeing how much other people read and knowing that I divide my potential reading time a lot between other things—especially gaming.

Then I see N. K. Jemisin streaming Mass Effect 3 on Twitch and I feel a lot better again 😂

IT‘S NOG SEASON 🥃🥃🥳

Just on my way to the

🔴DANGER ZONE🔴

#friyayintro

Here‘s a shot of the new central library in Calgary, taken by a talented friend of mine.

Happy 🇨🇦Legalization Day🇨🇦 to my fellow Canadians.

I‘m not offering any hot takes on the moral debate around using or abstaining from cannabis, I‘m just happy to be living in a country on the forefront of civil liberty :)

Old Goriot, 1835

Translation, 2018: “You‘d be pretty if you smiled more”

😝

It‘s that time of year! What‘s your favourite Stephen King Classic? IT? Carrie?

...Ready Player One? 🤔

Current read is not even remotely scary.

Srsly.

It‘s called “Pet Story”, but it‘s spelled “Stary”, because kids spell badly. Hilarious!!!

I think this would make an incredible script for a 60 minute episode of Black Mirror. As a 270 page novel though it wasn‘t quite what I wanted.

1. September is sports game season. I think I‘ve done 6 in four weeks. This weekend was NHL 19 and NBA 2K19
2. The Smashing Pumpkins 2 weekends ago
3. I‘m going to go with drinking from the container.
4. Better Call Saul, Last Week Tonight
5. The Chrysalis
#HumpDayPost

1. Wristcutters: A Love Story
2. My son, who has ASD, being completely mesmerized by the World of Colour show at Disneyland
3. Autobiography
4. Depends on what I‘m colouring
5. What is best sandwich?

#friyayintro

1. Memphis Belle
2. Onion Rings if they‘re fresh. Fries if we are talking frozen.
3. This Will Destroy You, Mount Eerie, Mica Levi, awakebutstillinbed

#FriYayIntro

1. I work in law, and moonlight as a freelance writer for a major Canadian tech retailer

2. Projectionist

3. Best: Bartender circa my early 20‘s
Worst: Roguing sweet clover from Alfalfa crops

4. William Butler Yeats‘ drinking buddy

#HelloThursday

Sorry it‘s not book related, but this is how I‘m spending my Saturday night. Siamese Dream came out 25 years ago this weekend. Anyone else feeling old af right now?

First in line for another fresh library book 😬 #WinTheQueue

1. It‘s Stampede time in Calgary. Here‘s my band playing a gig last night at Heritage Park
2. The Outsider
3. Less movies, I‘m more excited for season 4 of Better Call Saul on Aug. 6
4. 😐🙄😑🤨
#FriYayIntro

Shanghai Red looks super cool! #NewComicsDay

#NewComicsDay for me is this week and last week‘s books, as didn‘t make it into the shop last week.

I haven‘t read much DC the past few years, but I‘m going to see what Scott Snyder does with JL, and Bendis switching teams is still huge news.

If you‘re looking for a new creator-owned book, try Oblivion Song, it‘s incredible 👍🏻

It‘s my daughter‘s birthday today, so I took her to Chapters to pick out a book for one of her gifts. She went with Renegades.

It‘s also buy 3 get one free right now. I knew this going in. I told myself that this didn‘t concern me. I don‘t need anything anyway. My daughter‘s single pickup would be just fine.

...then I impulse-bought the Broken Earth trilogy

🤷🏻‍♂️