The Blog

3 months of custom built treehouse mini edited down into a 53 minute video. I’ve followed Gameyy Builds for a while, but never seen him take on something at this scale. And Adventure Time too, easily the show I enjoyed watching the most as my kids were younger. There may be a rewatch in my future. Bonus, he used original art (below) from Max Degtyarev as reference for most of the build.

After El-P left Rawkus, started Def Jux, and before he released Fantastic Damage I was spinning The Cold Vein and having my eyes opened to another facet of hip-hop with Aesop’s Labor Days. This week was it’s 25 year anniversary and spent it exploring the album all over again. Between it Blockhead’s Music By Cavelight 3 years later, they might be up there with the albums I’ve listened to most.

It is already back and this new series is already great. Isy Suttie is the only contestant that is an unknown to me, but that probably says more about how much my feed has become UK panel shows.

“Tom Hardy the rapper” is a headline that induces a bit of acid reflux at first glance. I know him as a late 40’s British actor who has a decade and change worth of films I’ve mostly enjoyed. But has he merely adopted the dark or was he was born in it? Turns out he has been rapping since he was a teenager, but then the acting took off?

I was still going to skip it, but caught a long drive up and back to DC last weekend and gave it a spin. I don’t know how much he is actually contributing to what I enjoyed, but the Czarface production, rapping, and all of the features left me questioning my initial reaction. It is good and fun and worth a try. Its actually pretty good and leads down a whole Czarface rabbit hole I am less familiar with.

New entries in the 26 in 26 challenge this week. We are so ahead on the challenge and I am so behind on the write ups. We ate at these two back in April [grimace emoji].

Ciao Capri

We are not the target demographic for Ciao Capri, it tends to skew much older than us. But it is the neighborhood restaurant we pass by to head to other places for ten years running. So the four of us popped and had a nice meal. The atmosphere doesn’t do enough to whisk you away from the strip mall exterior, but the food is a very traditional Italian menu and solid.

L’Opossum

When we started the ABC challenge in 2025 L’Opossum was high on the list, but it turns out there are way too many great letter “L” restaurants in Richmond. We finally got to it this year it was worth the wait. Fine dining with character, humor, and personality. The food mainly classical French with their own twist and delicious.

There is an awesome new Ghost in the Shell show! That was exciting news to me recently shared by a friend at coffee. I was a fan of the original movie, had a poster even, and of the Stand Alone Complex series in the early 2000’s. But beyond that there hasn’t been much new to match my enthusiasm.

On top of that it is animated by Science SARU, of Dandadan^ and many other great shows fame. Short episodes, beautifully animated action, and plenty of weird humor in between. Toss in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners season 2 coming this fall and Neuromancer coming in early 2027 and its a great time to be a fan of the genre.

^Do yourself a favor and enjoy the Dandadan theme song

I’ve been on a gradual journey to fill my kitchen with high quality, as close to forever tools since I bought my first house 20 years ago. There are a ton of outlets keen to give you a recommendation. But my go to, all the way back to the start (via PBS), has been America’s Test Kitchen. This video is a great summary of their picks that have stood the test of time. And it turns out I own some and can confirm:

• Victorinox Fibrox Chef’s Knife – My first actual chef’s knife I bought w/ purpose. I have two others I rotate through now, but this one is still a workhorse.
• OXO Locking Tongs – I own them in two sizes and they just do their job. No slipping, no accidently unlocking when you don’t want them to.
• Technivorm Moccamaster – This was a last year replacement for what we thought was a killer coffee maker. Nope! The Moccamaster is pricy, but essentially automated pour over quality coffee.
• RSVP International Colander – New purchase based on this video. What it replaced in our kitchen looked a lot like the one they dragged in the video.

2026 has unintentionally turned into a year of reading books from Joe Abercrombie. Historically this has been a losing formula for me. I read one book from an author, get excited, another, maybe another, and then I run out of steam. Not the case here, I am loving this run.

The Devils Trilogy

The first book in a new historical fantasy series that came out last year and I loved it. Think Suicide Squad, but a band of monsters employed by the Pope in 17th century Europe. I started here, but the next book isn’t coming till 2027, so I dug into his more recent work.

The Age of Madness Trilogy

A fantasy series that released from 2019 to 2023. It picks up a generation after the First Law books. Fantasy world reckoning with industrialization and capitalism. An excellent series, but I made the mistake of reading it out of order. Still a great story, but now the prior series is reading a bit like a prequel.

The First Law Trilogy

I should have started here, but my cautious wavering on author deep dives got the best of me. The series came out between 2006 and 2008, and was his first work. Turns out I was 100% wrong. Start here and enjoy. Traditional fantasy that borrows and also introduces new ideas. Excellent characters and now I know which ones will be merely history or feature prominently in Age of Madness.