It’s really good!

(also also, I missed the hoopla about Sandra Bullock's praise of GenAI, so that's another major strike against.)

I'm more iffy-to-no on the first question, but Yes to the other questions. (Also, I know there was some green screen work in the first movie, but why does this look especially fake?)

A turntable is on a wood credenza. Behind the turntable is the cover of the soundtrack to Normal People.

A pre-dinner snack of fresh bread and green elderberry jam was enjoyed as I listen to this fantastic album.

A glass vase with a purple lilac bloom sit on a white table.

First flowers of the season are in the house.

Loaf of bread on a green cutting board. One heel has been cut and is also on the cutting board

For the last few weeks I’ve been varying a no-knead bread recipe to make it work in a lidded loaf pan. Variables have been percentages of flours (bread, all purpose, light rye, dark rye) second proofs, and preheated pans.
Today’s 1/3 dark rye & 2/3 bread flour; cool pan; 1 hr second proof: win.

What I’ve learned from Record Store Day about what I neither want nor need in my vinyl collection:
- live recordings, especially with audience interaction
- commentary in between tracks
- glitter in the discs
- singles

And in case you to replace the previous, now-defunct “no alt text” labeler, this one seems to be working:

bsky.app/profile/alt-...

It was this one, btw. Had to use the third party label search to find it.

bsky.app/profile/asuk...

It’s shocking how difficult it is to find labelers on this here app. I want to subscribe to the one that labels profiles as transphobic and transmisogynistic. But my search just finds posts with screenshots showing the effective labeled.

I use the phrase “I’m supporting the local economy” when I outsource, and it’s both as a joke to cover the shame of not doing the work myself and as a reminder to myself that I don’t have the skills/knowledge that the experts will.

This is it for me.

A house with multiple inflatables and flags showing how dedicated the owners are to the sitting president

Imagine not being embarrassed to have this front yard display in April 2026.

A hand is holding two vinyls: Carly Rae Jensen’s 7” single Disco Dancing and the soundtrack to Yentl.

“Why no, I’m not straight. Why do you ask?”

It is not mine (yet?). The last (of 12) was nabbed by someone about 10 people in front of me. All nine were also gone from the other store in town.

But: I did get the last (of two) Sophie Ellis-Baxter’s Read My Lips (25th Anniversary Edition).

I was looking forward to seeing Michaela Cole in back-to-back weekend movies, but now I see James Corden is in ‘The Christophers’ and I just can’t do it. Why is anyone still hiring James Corden?! Haven’t we suffered enough?

I’ve just created my ProStitcher files for quilting. Let’s see if I still want to use them tomorrow/this weekend.

A screenshot of a table created from these data: Platform | Free option | Cheapest option | Paid subscription | Avg cost --- | --- | --- | --- | --- [Pencilbooth](https://pencilbooth.com/) | 250 emails/month | then $0.003/email <br/> <10k email/month | Yes <br/> 0% cut taken | $0.003 [MailerLite](https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing) | <500 subscribers | $13.50/month <br/> <2,500 subscribers | Yes <br/> 0% cut taken | $0.0054 [EmailOctopus](https://emailoctopus.com/pricing) | <2,500 subscribers | $28/month <br/> <5,000 subscribers | No | $0.0056 [Buttondown](https://buttondown.com/pricing) | <100 subscribers | $9/month <br/> <1,000 subscribers | Yes <br/> 0% cut taken | $0.009 [Kit](https://kit.com/pricing) | <10,000 subscribers | $141/month <br/> <15,000 subscribers | Yes <br/> 0.6% cut taken | $0.0094

How could I have not included the obligatory comparison table?! That's now added.

High-level take on various email newsletter platforms | Ben Millett Because I see questions about what email newsletter platform to use continually pop-up, I’ve prepared this to give a very high-level view of the options available and their entry costs.

I've had this as a word doc for a while, but seeing another artist newsletter move to Substack, I wanted an easier thing to point at.
Unfortunately, it does get really expensive across the board once you have more than 1000 subscribers.

That sucks!

Good to know!

Anything that helps like that is truly a blessing, even if it’s slight.
I know I was so glad to see the end of infusions, so sending extra good vibes for you with these last ones.

Record Store Day exclusive “(Mine)” by Hilary Duff will be mine somehow.

Track list:
1. Wake Up
2. So Yesterday
3. What Dreams Are Made of
4. Sparks
5. Come Clean
6. Why Not
7. With Love

Looking forward to engaging with this!

Two hostas are growing amongst violets

A hostage is growing among white-flowered violets

It makes me so happy that these hostages have survived being transplanted. They kept coming up in the side garden after our yard work and rather than trashing them, they now have a life amongst the violets under a red bud tree.

It really is. Who needs depth when your appearance counts most?

Also: maybe this is why Chotiner seems to get people to flay themselves? Because he’s asking for clarifications when the interviewee (stupidly) expects just to hangout?

This really explains to me why my podcast list is way down and why I’ll not be renewing some magazine subscriptions.

Truly!

I feel like they’d get such an attendance record if they had a QC there.