I have been playing around and am now disabused of the notion that iOS is more private/secure (I know there’s a difference) than Android. I’ve got my Samsung device pretty impressively locked down. The app ecosystem is terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad, but PWAs can make up for some of that.
Gregory Pittman
Welcome! This site is more a hobby than anything else. I like to keep a hand in coding HTML and CSS, so this is my playground. Don't take anything you read here too seriously; it's just my opinion.
- Husband to an amazing choral director
- Dad to 7: 3 bio, 2 step, 2 canine
- High School assistant principal (by way of the choral music classroom for 20 years)
- Professional musician
- Enneagram 1w9 and ISTJ-A
- Hobbies: Reading, television and movies, photography, fountain pens, LEGO®, and weather
Recent Ruminations
Bad Actors - ★★★★
Finished reading: Bad Actors by Mick Herron 📚
Probably Herron’s best installment of the Slow Horses series. This will make a great season if the Apple TV+ show makes it this far.
Excalibur - ★★★☆
Finished reading: Excalibur by Bernard Cornwell 📚
Bernard Cornwell’s Arthurian trilogy The Warlord Chronicles reads much like his The Last Kingdom series (which is, by the way, the basis of a great Netflix series). In fact, you might be forgiven if you blindly pick up a book from one series and think you’re reading the other.
You might also be forgiven for wondering in frustration, “Where is Arthur?” If the books were turned into screenplays (there was one short-lived attempt), the artist portraying Arthur would only qualify for a supporting actor award because warrior-turned-monk Derfel Cadarn is the true main character.
Cornwell’s strength is taking characters who actually existed and weaving realistic storylines around their lives. But if you’re a fan of Arthurian mythology, I might suggest you skip this series wherein Arthur is portrayed as a reluctant but oath-bound leader around whom warriors coalesce. Somehow he’s able to command their respect despite the author’s unwillingness to treat him as any sort of hero. Guinevere is smart and conniving. Lancelot is an arrogant usurper. And Derfel is the real hero.
Heretic - ★★★★
Brilliant. Disturbed. Disturbing. Brilliant.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - ★★★★
Just like The Hobbit, Andy Serkis excels at retelling J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien has woven a masterful tale that has easily withstood the years since its first publication. It has captured the hearts and minds of readers for decades. Serkis’s narration brings the entire story to life in a way that not many can.
Now to rejoin Frodo and Sam on their continued journey to Mordor, if you catch my meaning. 📚
Chaos: The Manson Murders - ★☆☆☆
The story of Charles Manson is always intriguing, but this Netflix documentary loses all credibility within the first 10 minutes by subscribing to conspiracy theories that are based purely on speculation with no supporting evidence.
At the start of the day tell yourself: I shall meet people who are officious, ungrateful, abusive, treacherous, malicious, and selfish.
—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations (trans. Robin Waterfield)
My wife did not appreciate my morning recitation of P. D. Q. Bach lyrics over coffee.
My wife has decided that our her Corgi needs a ramp to get on our bed instead of the set of foam stairs she’s been using for years. 🙄