Started August 11, 2026, finished August 15, 2026Richard Helmling and I have been emailing each other for a year or so now, ever since I discovered his book Athena: Emergent and he gave me…

Yeah it was as bad as I remembered. I might watch season 2 later.

Book review

Damaged atomizer and typo on back of box: "And her" should be "And hers." This vintage box and bottle survived all these years because it was probably pulledstock that was taken out of…

Tim Foust, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Things have been slow around here, due to travel, a crowded schedule, and catching up on things, but they should start picking up a bit more next week.

My daughter released an EP today titled Crush. It’s available on all major streaming platforms and it’s pretty great. Check it out! Spotify YouTube Amazon Apple Music

The Cat Came Back (1988, Cordell Barker) Runaway (2009, Cordell Barker) Another good batch: two movies where a cow is on the railroad tracks. The cow makes a quick appearance in The Cat, while cow…

Today I learned that Ford never owned the trademark to “GT40”, even though that was what they called their car that won Daytona and Le Mans in the late 1960s. The brand was later trademarked in 1985…

A question that’s often very easy or very hard to answer, but rarely anything between.

Book review for The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin. I rated it 4 stars. The Word for World is Forest is rather a short read, clocking in at only 189 pages. The storyline reminds me of…

This is the first in a series about things I love. Starting with physical books felt obvious. I own e-readers but sitting with one isn't anywhere near as satisfying as physical books. Tactile…

Mars low-society underdog ascends. By Pierce Brown Rating: 4 / 5. If George Saunders was right that a story is “a continual system of escalation,” then this was a masterful one. I won’t ruin anything…

A sign in Oakland - I can't help but reading this as a brave protestor against the ongoing onslaught of neverending road work... So this week I read China Miéville’s The City & The City , which was…

At this point, I tend to average 1-2 podcasts a week. I’m in hybrid work mode, which means I drive to an office on a local college campus two days out of the week and work remotely from my home…

This month’s subscriber-only playlist and podcast episode offers a collection of ambient techno for focus and contemplation.

mysharona1987:ALTView on TwitterYikes. Best case scenario is there is nothing on there. This is almost the exact plot of 8mm.

Gravest Gravy by The Cramps

"Wonder of wonders! Miracle of miracles!" This seems to be the year during which half of the books on my want list have turned up for sale. And of course I pounced upon all of them. Of the final six…

Frank Beard, the drummer for rock band ZZ Top, died on August 17, 2026, at the age of 77. Frank Beard was born on June 11, 1949, in Frankston, Texas. He grew up in Irving, Texas. He met future ZZ Top…

This edition of the (not quite) weekly ramble talks about one of the most exciting pop stars going.

“When it comes to the most fierce of my kin, in their direst of moments they are capable of donning an aspect both beautiful and terrible. Take comfort in this: as much as this is the pinnacle…

William Desmond. The Voiding of Being. Washington: Catholic University of America, 2020. Trent Horn. Why We're Catholic. Catholic Answers, 2017. Edward Sri. Who Am I to Judge? San Francisco:…

After a few weeks of fiddling with margins and tabs in Word documents, wrestling with anxiety over font sizes and being driven up the wall by Amazon, the paperback version of 172 Forgotten British…

We ought not mistake tears for truth.

Collective Soul Unlocking A Core Memory

© Howard Gardner 2026 Dating back to adolescence, I have loved going to the theater—seeing works of drama as well as what are generally called “musicals.” I went with my parents, friends, and often…

Today, I'm writing a brief post of praise for an album that's been inspiring, freeing, and encouraging for me: the latest Erstwhile release, a collab between titans Taku Unami and Kevin Drumm.…

Brek @ Snax 1 - Derek Demko Lunch @ Nile Valley 3 - MC Hammersmith 4 - Gyles Brandreth Dins @ Noodles Home 7 - David O’Doherty 930 - House of Life where you come alone but end up bowing onstage…

Bob Marley and the Wailers with the mighty "Exodus" I have always heard the lyric as " movement culture people " which I prefer to what I have just established is the actual lyric "movement of Jah…

Proto-metal band Master continue a storied career with Among the Seeds of Death, slated for release on Hammerheart Records. If you liked On the Seventh Day… this release continues that…

I track my reading on Goodreads. The site has various challenges that you can track toward different goals. The one I use is setting a goal for how many books I read over the year. For 2026, I set my…

I'd never heard such simply soul-piercing music!

In which I reminisce about the girl who introduced me to Narnia and how The Silver Chair helped us negotiate our friendship. The post The Silver Chair and a Childhood Love first appeared on Better…

Jandek has a female family member? A sister? Does she denies knowing of his existence?Anyway...... Recorded at The Elias J. Halling Recital Hall, Minnesota, way back when on October 20th, 2012.Where…

Looking back from the vantage point of today, it’s hard for even me to believe, but it’s true all the same: I used to be a full-blown car guy. I bought my first car, a 1966 Volkswagen…

Netflix’s A Toxic Love Story has left viewers with one burning question: where are Ian Diaz and Angela Connell now? The documentary unpacks a twisted scheme that landed an innocent woman in jail, and…

The Spire by Simon Spurrier art by Jeff Stokely Boom! Comics 2016 The Spire collects an 8 issue comic book miniseries written by Simon Spurrier and drawn by Jeff Stokely. It tells a neo-noir mystery,…

I went with another old favourite for today – 1999’s killer shark flick, Deep Blue Sea. Right off the bat, let me say it’s very much the sort of monster movie I enjoy – simple…

Link: TEENAGE SEX AND DEATH AT CAMP MIASMA | Official Trailer | In Theaters August 7 My favorite pieces of art make me understand and appreciate things I’ve never cared about before. Horror is not my…

This week we have upcoming Melbourne and Sydney major events, a moving documentary portrait of Jon Wilson, more orca trouble, Viking sailing, Easter Island good news and the happy by-product of…

Agent November's Indoor Escape Game: Murder Mr EThis was a 30 minute pop up escape room. I ended up playing it solo on a gifted ticket from Hazel, for reasons I was never entirely clear about.…

For a brief time in the early 80s, cinema was awash with sword and sorcery flicks – some of which were so spectacularly bad they made absolute stinkers like Hawk The Slayer or The Sword &…

Translated from Japanese into English by Margaret Mitsutani. I fell in love with Yoko Tawada's writing last year and I've been reading through all of her available works since then. This was another…

xkcd: Perseids: Sounds good, xkcd.

You're getting this because you follow my global (everything) feed — if you'd like to filter what comes through, you can find all my feeds at edleeman.co.uk/rss. Regardless, thanks for reading over…

The bassline got us immediately! Kenton Slash Demon’s "Lange" has a sleek mid-2010s electronic-pop feel, but there’s plenty of fresh energy beneath those hypnotic club pulses. The post Kenton Slash…

Déyyess takes us straight into the emotional minefield of situationships with “She’s the Only One” — an alt-pop confession about loving a girl who can never quite love you back enough. The post…