Current Things: December 2025
Currently Reading
Currently Watching
Currently In Queue
- The Phoenician Scheme
- Black Bag
- Heretic
- Challengers
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- The First Omen
- Skinamarink
Currently Listening
Currently Planning
- Been too busy planning trips to blog about them!
Concurrently
- On the video game front, I finished Donkey Kong Bananza: who would have thought it would be very very satisfying to just smash stuff for like 30 hours straight?
Finished in November:
Furiosa: George Miller needs to come out with more movies so that I’m not surprised every time at how his camera work is the best there is
Zootopia 2: This series somehow remains thematically sharp despite 8+ years between entries. It’s a good reminder that our problems are deep, but they’re not complicated 🍿
Hacks Season 1: One part throwback to the odd couple comedies of the 70s and 80s and one part modern story of how our society mistreats everyone– albeit unequally. Ashamed it took me this long to watch and have already started season 2. 📺
Finished reading: [Abundance](https://micro.blog/books/9781668023488) by Ezra Klein 📚 The book asks: "What is scarce that should be abundant? What is difficult to build that should be easy? What inventions do we need that we do not yet have?" You can imagine an alternate history where Kamala Harris won the election and these questions became a rallying cry. Instead, it's a vision of a future that takes the can-do attitude of pre-Donald Trump conservatism and the policy sensibilities of modern liberalism and argues the answer to many of our problems is...more. More housing, more energy, more innovation.Unfortunately, while more isn’t quite a bad word among certain political groups, it’s certainly met with a healthy dose of skepticism. Scarcity may be the safer bet in the short term of an uncertain world, but it’s exactly this aversion to risk that has caused America to stagnate. Can we learn again to be ok with crackpot theories that could lead to scientific breakthroughs? Can we rediscover our comfort with subsidizing a thousand million-dollar wrong ideas to produce a trillion-dollar good one? Can we remember that we don’t have to be bogged down by regulatory, societal, and political baggage?
“Can we solve our problems with supply?”
TBDjordon.me
Slow Horses, Season 6: not too much to say specifically about this season. This show just continues to be so much fun to watch. It’s a great reminder that the characters make the plot, not the other way around.
Previously, in Current Things…
November 2025
October 2025
September 2025
August 2025
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, 2024
George Miller needs to come out with more movies so that I'm not surprised every time at how his camera work is the best there is
Zootopia 2, 2025
This series somehow remains thematically sharp despite 8+ years between entries. It’s a good reminder that our problems are deep, but they’re not complicated
Hacks Season 1: One part throwback to the odd couple comedies of the 70s and 80s and one part modern story of how our society mistreats everyone– albeit unequally. Ashamed it took me this long to watch and have already started season 2. 📺
Finished reading: Abundance by Ezra Klein 📚 The book asks: “What is scarce that should be abundant? What is difficult to build that should be easy? What inventions do we need that we do not yet have?” You can imagine an alternate history where Kamala Harris won the election and these questions became a rallying cry. Instead, it’s a vision of a future that takes the can-do attitude of pre-Donald Trump conservatism and the policy sensibilities of modern liberalism and argues the answer to many of our problems is…more. More housing, more energy, more innovation.
Unfortunately, while more isn’t quite a bad word among certain political groups, it’s certainly met with a healthy dose of skepticism. Scarcity may be the safer bet in the short term of an uncertain world, but it’s exactly this aversion to risk that has caused America to stagnate. Can we learn again to be ok with crackpot theories that could lead to scientific breakthroughs? Can we rediscover our comfort with subsidizing a thousand million-dollar wrong ideas to produce a trillion-dollar good one? Can we remember that we don’t have to be bogged down by regulatory, societal, and political baggage?
“Can we solve our problems with supply?”
TBD
Take a few seconds to read the Pope’s thoughts on movies. Love this excerpt that applies not only to movies, but also * gestures broadly *
Slow Horses, Season 6: not too much to say specifically about this season. This show just continues to be so much fun to watch. It’s a great reminder that the characters make the plot, not the other way around.
Current Things: November 2025
Currently Reading
Currently Reading: Abundance by Ezra Klein 📚
Currently Watching
Currently In Queue
- The Phoenician Scheme
- Black Bag
- Heretic
- Challengers
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- Furiosa
- The First Omen
- Skinamarink
Currently Listening
Currently Planning
- Been too busy planning trips to blog about them!
Concurrently
- I have to stop buying video games until I actually start playing video games. I’ve bought Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Donkey Bananaza, and Pokemon Legends Z-A and not played any of them. Plus there’s a new Zelda game coming out next month and then a new Metroid in December! Where do you find the time??
Finished in October:
Finished reading: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel 📚 As you’d expect from an ESJM novel, a mediation on what makes us human. I was skeptical of the structure at first, but flew through the last two-thirds of it. Has obvious and explicit tie ins to COVID, but also on how to navigate our current predicament jordon.me
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 3: Uneven season. The last two episodes were essentially (and I think purposefully) lesser versions of two of the greatest TNG episodes. I have a lot of feelings (mostly negative) about them, but damn if they didn’t work emotionally
DiCaprio is going to win an Oscar for OBAA, but del Toro’s performance (and his character) is the real lynchpin of the movie.
Previously, in Current Things…
October 2025
September 2025
August 2025
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
Currently Reading: Abundance by Ezra Klein 📚
Finished reading: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel 📚 As you’d expect from an ESJM novel, a mediation on what makes us human. I was skeptical of the structure at first, but flew through the last two-thirds of it. Has obvious and explicit tie ins to COVID, but also on how to navigate our current predicament.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 3: Uneven season. The last two episodes were essentially (and I think purposefully) lesser versions of two of the greatest TNG episodes. I have a lot of feelings (mostly negative) about them, but damn if they didn’t work emotionally
DiCaprio is going to win an Oscar for OBAA, but del Toro’s performance (and his character) is the real lynchpin of the movie.
Current Things: October 2025
Currently Reading
Currently Reading: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel 📚
Currently Watching
Currently In Queue
- The Phoenician Scheme
- Black Bag
- Heretic
- Challengers
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- Furiosa
- The First Omen
- Skinamarink
Currently Listening
Currently Planning
- Been too busy planning trips to blog about them!
Concurrently
- Now that the kids are back in school and we’re in a more consistent routine, had a chance to finish a lot of TV shows that had been lingering. May even have some time to get to some of these films that have languishing in my Up Next queue!
- I really want to blog more, but it’s been hard with * gestures broadly at the world *. Just when things start leveling out and I try to find my balance, it somehow goes lower. I hope in a few months we’ll look back at this as the low point, but I’m afraid we’ve not quite reached bottom yet. Be kind to everyone you can and try to bear those you can’t.
Finished in September:
Alien: Earth, Season 1: I’m not sure how he does it, but Hawley has this knack for taking nuanced, forward-facing movies and refracting their messages with a more modern lens. Fargo and Alien were essential viewing in their time. Hawley rightly contends that they’re even more essential now.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 17: It’s amazing how well this show holds up considering it’s been consistently running for 20 years without fundamentally changing its formula. If you’ve got the stomach for it, this is the best season in years.
King of the Hill, Season 14: 20 years ago this show argued that the source of our ills isn’t the conservative/liberal split but rather our lack of effort to understand and be decent to each other. Both the message and the messenger have become more vital. Are we listening now?
Foundation, Season 3: Say what you will about modern Apple, but there’s no other corporation that would throw the mind-boggling amount of money it takes to bring a hard Sci-Fi show to TV. It could very easily collapse in on itself, but for now it’s keeping all it’s centuries-spanning plates spinning
The Bear, Season 4: back to the basics. A much more enjoyable season than the last, but pretty uneven. I have some quibbles with how some emotional arcs were resolved, but there aren’t many shows that can match its highs
KPop Demon Hunters: messy, but mostly in good ways. Love the nods to ghibli
Previously, in Current Things…
September 2025
August 2025
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
Alien: Earth, Season 1: I’m not sure how he does it, but Hawley has this knack for taking nuanced, forward-facing movies and refracting their messages with a more modern lens. Fargo and Alien were essential viewing in their time. Hawley rightly contends that they’re even more essential now.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 17: It’s amazing how well this show holds up considering it’s been consistently running for 20 years without fundamentally changing its formula. If you’ve got the stomach for it, this is the best season in years.
King of the Hill, Season 14: 20 years ago this show argued that the source of our ills isn’t the conservative/liberal split but rather our lack of effort to understand and be decent to each other. Both the message and the messenger have become more vital. Are we listening now?
Foundation, Season 3: Say what you will about modern Apple, but there’s no other corporation that would throw the mind-boggling amount of money it takes to bring a hard Sci-Fi show to TV. It could very easily collapse in on itself, but for now it’s keeping all it’s centuries-spanning plates spinning
My kids have never gotten so many approving looks from old people than when they’re playing checkers at a Cracker Barrel
The Bear, Season 4: back to the basics. A much more enjoyable season than the last, but pretty uneven. I have some quibbles with how some emotional arcs were resolved, but there aren’t many shows that can match its highs
Current Things: September 2025
Currently Reading
Currently Reading: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel 📚
Currently Watching
- Alien: Earth
- King of the Hill, Season 14
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 3
- It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Season 17
- Foundation, Season 3
- The Bear, Season 4
- Disclaimer
- Shrinking, Season 1
Currently In Queue
- The Phoenician Scheme
- Black Bag
- Heretic
- Challengers
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
- Furiosa
- The First Omen
- Skinamarink
Currently Listening
Currently Planning
- Been too busy planning trips to blog about them!
Concurrently
- I’m grateful for the blogging habits around posting about media– it’s kept me writing despite not really feeling like it. I’ve got a lot of cool trips coming up and I really want to write more about those. Need to figure out a system for doing it!
Finished in August:
Finished reading: Apple in China by Patrick McGee 📚Maybe the most astonishing yet unsurprising book you’ll ever read about Apple. Contextualizes not only Apple, but the geopolitical situation of the past 20 years as well as the next 20 in a way that grows a pit in your stomach with every page turn. Highly ... jordon.me
The Studio, Season 1: comes at you with the same energy as Curb Your Enthusiasm, packaged as an insider Hollywood farce. Totally get where that isn’t appealing to everyone– but man– it’s appealing to me!
Weapons: The most hopeful movie of the year
Gotta say a little more about Weapons. It’s the most visceral reaction I’ve had from a movie for as long as I can remember. Julie literally said that I couldn’t say the things I was saying as we were walking out. All the answers you’re looking for in our current situation are here.
Poker Face, Season 2: It’s so expertly-crafted and the central conceit is so fun that you can forgive when they go back to the well one too many times. TV is so much more fun when there’s a good whodunnit (and a good Star Trek!) on
Previously, in Current Things…
August 2025
July 2025
June 2025
May 2025
April 2025
March 2025
February 2025
January 2025
December 2024
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
August 2024
July 2024
June 2024
May 2024
April 2024
March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
Currently Reading: Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel 📚
Finished reading: Apple in China by Patrick McGee 📚Maybe the most astonishing yet unsurprising book you’ll ever read about Apple. Contextualizes not only Apple, but the geopolitical situation of the past 20 years as well as the next 20 in a way that grows a pit in your stomach with every page turn. This is required reading
The Studio, Season 1: comes at you with the same energy as Curb Your Enthusiasm, packaged as an insider Hollywood farce. Totally get where that isn’t appealing to everyone– but man– it’s appealing to me!