2026-02-04 04:14:47
The final book in Cooper's epic The Dark is Rising Sequence ties all of the loose ends up neatly in a quite satisfying way that doesn't feel forced.
There's a lovely twist towards the end that plucks a heartstring or two but I won't spoil it here for anyone.
I will say that I was quite impressed with the denoument; the way Merriman explains what will happen now The Dark has been defeated for the "final time" feels oh so pertinent now.
We have delivered you from evil, but the evil that is inside men is at the last a matter for men to control.
The responsibility and the hope and the promise are in your hands—your hands and the hands of the children of all men on this earth.
The future cannot blame the present, just as the present cannot blame the past.
The hope is always here, always alive, but only your fierce caring can fan it into a fire to warm the world.
Merriman Lyon
2026-02-02 05:16:47
Happy February!
Here are a few photos from my phone from the last month with neither rhyme nor reason to the theme.
2026-02-02 00:39:16
Storm Chandra hit this week bringing a stupid amount of wind and rain. We were issued with a severe weather warning; snow is predicted but no ice which is good because fuck ice.
One lunchtime, I went for a walk as I sometimes do. I was heading past the farm to where the path cuts back between the fields when I heard the unmistakable barking of a pheasant. I have occasionally heard one faintly over the fields from the other direction but never from this end of the village. Which probably explains why the pheasant's loud booming was alternating with the furious chakka-chakka of a Jackdaw.
The broken dashboard from last week was fixed and returned and successfully reinstalled. The client is now happy — not as happy as me though because I don't have to deal with PowerBI until the next round of amends in 6 months' time! 🎉
In other work news, I have been building some small utility programs for the team to help facilitate in workshops. Nothing mind-blowing but using my ability to write software to genuinely help people has been extremely rewarding.
I'm really sad that, despite (or maybe because of) the aforementioned software for work, progress on my personal media tracking software has stalled considerably. I'm working on building up the bothers to get it over the line. It's a shame because I'll really enjoy using it when it's finished!
The storm blew itself out before the end of the week, thankfully without any damage around here. I have since noticed the first shoots of daffodils and clusters of flowering snowdrops. The hardest task in this false Spring is convincing my wife it's too early to send me out to do gardening 🤣
I hate your tattoos
You have weak wrists
But I'll keep you
Deftones, Mascara
2026-02-01 04:38:01
I am a fan of software that does one thing well. I also have a tendency to use Todoist for pretty much anything because two opposing things can be true at once.
Todoist is brilliant and amazing and so easy to use that I find myself using it for bookmarks, project tracking, file transfer, and quick notes. I also filled it with recurring daily reminders to do all kinds of things that I'd otherwise forget.
The downside to all this is that, without some careful curation, everything gets dumped in my Inbox and is given equal weighting. I will stress this is not a failing of Todoist but me, as a user — I'm using it in the laziest possible way.
I decided to break away from this abuse of a lovely app by using apps dedicated to specific tasks. Recurrent daily tasks says, to me, "habit tracker". So I had a look around for a nice looking, private, Android-based habit tracker.
I don't need too many bells and whistles; add some tasks, check them off when they're done, the crop up again the next day.
I found Habo on the Play Store which is free and open source, privacy-respecting and ticks all my boxes (no pun intended). I've been using it for a week now and it's good enough for me to have already removed my recurrent dailies from Todoist!
Now to find some decent light-weight project management software…!
2026-02-01 03:39:25
Since I moved out of the city centre I often miss the opportunity to photograph the bustling streets and unique architecture of my adopted hometown. I often use mandatory office days as an excuse to take my camera and wander around on my lunch break.
This particular day I left my camera at home. I reasoned it wasn't practical; I was going to an event in the afternoon with bag checks, there was a team lunch beforehand so little opportunity to actually take photos, plus a named storm was rolling in and torrential rain was forecast. None of this screamed "take your camera with you".
As it happened, the storm fizzled out (at least round me) by lunchtime. I found myself walking back to the train station alone through bustling streets in clear, crisp, fairly sunny weather. It would have been a pretty good time to take some pictures but I didn't have a camera on me!
I debated sticking my headphones in and zoning out; I've done the walk a million times and can do it on autopilot, but instead I decided to treat it as though I did have my camera.
Walking through the early commuter crowd blending in with the late shoppers, the perennial town centre inhabitants, and those early starters heading for drinks that will probably end at 4am, I observed.
I watched the way people interacted with each other, the way light interacted with them. I saw the shadows cast long and hazy from low winter sun cutting through tall buildings. The argument by the statue of Victoria and the kiss at the bus stop. I saw a child drop a toy from a pram and a kind stranger return it. I saw gold highlighting brick and outlining cobblestones, reflecting off glass and buses and billboards.
I saw. And I appreciated.
And I didn't take a single photograph of any of it.
2026-01-30 18:55:55
Fresh for 2026, "The Weight of Sound" from Crystal Lake is classic metalcore; breakneck galloping rhythm session, demonic vocals, technical guitar, touches of synth/effects. Somewhat of a tune in there. From its piano ballad intro, "Coma Wave" transitions through a gorgeous guitar solo that's almost "classic rock" to a disintegrating fuzz of static — a standout track in a wall of same-y wall-of-noise metal.
I'm actually rather surprised that Scene Queen hasn't popped into my recommendations before now! Righteous anger with a sense of humour, "18+" is bubblegum metal.
I haven't listened to The Devil Wears Prada in years so I gave their new album a whirl. It was OK. "Play the old shit" actually just made me want to listen to the "Zombie" EP. Which I did.
After a handful of teasing singles, Softcult finally released their debut album "When a Flower Doesn't Grow". Bang on 30 minutes of timeless riotgaze; grumbling bass, fuzz, spackly drums (whatever that means!), this is a strong debut from the Canadian duo. For fans of Heartworms, Svalbard, and July Talk.