Oct 13, 2024 - 9:38pm

I love people who use social media like it’s 2009.

Yes, please tell me that you’ve brewed some coffee after walking your dog and that tonight you’re trying a new moussaka recipe and Noah Baumbach film.

I love that peaceful and personal vibe. Homely, not hateful.


Oct 13, 2024 - 9:22pm

my google.searches on my.phone.alwuas end up looking.like.this


Oct 13, 2024 - 9:19pm

Newsletters feel inherently uninteresting.

Blogs feel like a digital living room where I can share my thoughts with whoever drops by.

If I’m writing on the web, I want it to be on the web. With oddities like blogrolls and reblogs, trackbacks and pingbacks, atom feeds and webmentions, via’s and tips.


Oct 13, 2024 - 8:50pm

How does my ADHD manifest? Mostly as accidental cardio from running up and down the stairs 20 times a day.


What files from your Mac do you actually need on your phone?

I recently dropped Dropbox to save myself £10/mo. I’ve replaced it with iCloud Drive, which I pay for already.

Mostly I used it so I can access my files on my iPhone too. But I’ve realised there’s only a few folders I need:

  • Documents. For tickets, ID, or personal info.
  • Screenshots. I occasionally screenshot info or as a reminder. So I need access on the go.
  • Blog drafts. I like to write or refine posts on the train.

The other folders I have are temp ones for getting files from my phone to my Mac. For example audio notes, scanned documents, or TikTok videos I’ve downloaded. Hazel on the Mac then auto-moves them to their final destination on the file system.


Oct 13, 2024 - 7:32pm

A hand holding a game controller is pointing at a five-star review on a TV screen displaying movie-related content.

When you review things on Plex your friends can now see them. I love this. I trust my friend’s opinion over a critic or even IMDB/RT/LB/etc.

Blog post. Video demo.


Oct 13, 2024 - 4:50pm

One of the consistently good sources for interesting websites or news is the Pinboard ‘popular bookmarks’ page.

I visit it everyday.


Oct 11, 2024 - 9:37am

I’ve decided to write up my favourite 500 songs. I expect to be done in about 3 years.


Oct 10, 2024 - 10:57pm

I love a cutesy nickname. But I draw the line at “doggo”.

There’s just something about it that oddly enrages me.

It reminds me of cringe reddit slang from 2012.


Oct 10, 2024 - 10:47pm

I love a door you can open just by pushing it. Sure, the doorknob is busted and it should be fixed. But I won’t. It makes my life joyously easier.


Oct 3, 2024 - 11:38am

I’ve written: “On Writing: Short Enough to Finish, Long Enough to Matter” blot.blog/2024/10/0…


Oct 1, 2024 - 8:34am

I’ve written about ADHD and the struggle with internal expectations. blot.blog/2024/10/0…


🍿 Film Review: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

When I saw this in the cinema upon release I thought it was a fairly flawed follow-up to The Dark Knight (2008). It was a very good film. But it was a bit long and had a villain whose motives were more vague and less believable than the Joker’s.

My experience wasn’t helped by seeing it in IMAX and being unable to hear the dialogue for most of the film (there wasn’t a problem, it’s just how Christopher Nolan likes his audio. Which is insane. And it’s the reason I don’t see new Nolan films in the cinema anymore).

Since then though it’s become one of my rewatched staples, and I’ve seen it another 6-8 times. Though my feelings for it remained the same. That it was great, but rather flawed and lagged in parts.

But I’ve just gotten back from seeing it in the cinema again. And I’ve walked away with an increased opinion of it. Firstly, it wasn’t in IMAX, so I could hear basically every word.

But more than that it was just wonderful seeing a proper high-quality blockbuster in the cinema. The cinematography, soundtrack, sound design, and action were great to see on the big screen. Aside from Civil War (2024), I haven’t had a cinema experience come close to it for quite a few years. Sure, there’s some cringy moments – especially from Anne Hathaway’s Catwoman. And it remains a flawed film. But it’s still a Nolan film, so it’s many times better than nearly all the dross that I see these days.

The Dark Knight Rises is still a wonderful film to sit back and experience. 83%

Find out where to stream it. This review is also on Letterboxd. See my original review from 2012.


Sep 27, 2024 - 12:04am

I now fall asleep every time I go to the cinema. I regularly struggle to sleep at night in my comfy bed in total silence. So why do I find sleeping in the middle of day at the loud cinema totally irresistible? It’s actually becoming annoying now. I want to actually watch the film, not sleep!


Digital legacy

I’m 32. So hopefully death is still many decades away. But I still really need to document how I want my family to handle my digital legacy. Especially my websites. I don’t care if my personal files on my Mac disappear. But I’d like my websites to remain online for as long as possible after I die.

Right now I have three sites powered by Hugo and hosted on AWS. They should remain up for a decade or two as long as the $5/mo bill is paid. My biggest concern would be AWS introducing a new login or payment system that requires manually migrating to. A non-techy family member might struggle with that.

I also have my Micro.blog blog. As of today it doesn’t hate enough posts for me to be upset at the prospect of it disappearing. But if I did want to preserve it my main concern would be that Micro.blog could very easily be shut down. Luckily it’s all static pages and is Hugo again behind the scenes, so it shouldn’t be too tricky for a somewhat tech savvy friend/family member to get a copy of it all onto AWS.

My main concern are my Obsidian notes that get turnt into Learnt.me. In many ways that site is the most in-depth digital representation of who I am, so I’d like it to survive after I died. It’s turned into a website via Obsidian’s ‘Publish’ feature. But the site seems very JavaScript-y and not the easiest to have backups of. Luckily all the notes that the site are based on are just Markdown notes. And there’s also at least one other service that offers something like Obsidian Publish. But either way, worse case scenario all my notes could just be uploaded to an Apache web server and be browsed and viewed via the folder hierarchy. However I really like how Learnt.me looks and works. It would be a shame to lose that.

I’m not sure what the best solution is long term. I thought about having all the content hosted on NearlyFreeSpeech. It’s pay as you go, so I could deposit a bunch of money into it. But to be honest, as long as I can find a way for the AWS bill to be paid, that would be the easiest and most reliable route for long term hosting.

But either way, my digital ‘estate’ is in a much more stable long term state than it has been in the past. Sure, I have too many sites, which makes things more tricky. But at least none are powered by WordPress, which would make things very brittle and tough to keep up and running.


Sep 26, 2024 - 11:08pm

Find out what the weather was like on the day you were born. bdayweather.com


Sep 24, 2024 - 12:47pm

I’ve written about ADHD and the burden of possessions blot.blog/2024/09/2…


Aug 11, 2024 - 8:28am

Remembering Robin Williams, who left us 10 years ago today. His comedic genius and deep humanity continue to be missed.


Jul 28, 2024 - 9:13pm

— Ashridge


Jul 27, 2024 - 11:22pm

Some photos from my night of Italian food and English theatre.