This comic is dumb, but mostly the funny kind of dumb, but still not quite enough to get more than a middling review.

Honestly, I was getting bored of this series, but this story got me back on track! It helps that it features a Project 2025/DOGE-type villain, anticipating our current nonsense. The characters are also as (or more) compelling as usual, and things felt less outlandish than in some of the preceding books.

I’ve been waiting for this one for a while, and I got weak and ceded to Hoopla rather than wait for the TPB to arrive at my local library.

I continue to appreciate this series, and Issue 43 (the real horror is what’s going on in the world right now) is really good, a highlight of the whole thing. I have to admit, though, that it didn’t otherwise feel worth the wait. Maybe I got my expectations too high, or maybe there are just diminishing returns. I’m not giving up on the series, but I feel like it’s uneven.

Je ne dirais jamais que j’aime la fumée de cigarette (en fait, je la déteste), mais il est vrai que ça me rappelle la France, et ça, c’est quand-même sympa. (Je croyais ce constat méchant, et puis je suis retourné en France, où on fume vraiment plus dans les espaces publics).

Regular verbs in French commonly end in “-er” so I joked to a friend about « charmander » as a verb. After some conjugations, he asked what it would mean; it turns out that « mander » is already an archaic verb (and we knew « char » was a noun), so we came up with a defensible definition.

Trying to figure out if I recognize lines in Star Trek VI because they’re Shakespeare or because they’re lines-quoting-Shakespeare from Star Trek VI.

It’s not great literature, but I don’t remember ever having read it, and it felt like the kind of escapist fun I could use right now. I think the Alphabet Squadron series is a superior successor in terms of having something to say beyond escapism, but Corran Horn is a fun Mary Sue to read about, and I think I’ll keep reading.

It’s not my favorite book in the series, but it isn’t bad. There are some interesting plot developments here, but I also feel like Diana Taverner is stuck with the idiot ball from page one, which isn’t as fun as it could be. Won’t stop me from continuing to read, though.

A few days into finally subscribing to Kagi, custom “bang” shortcuts are my favorite feature so far.

I remembered enjoying this volume, and it lived up to my memory! It’s one of the darker entries in the series, but it’s not as absurd or outright bleak as some of the others. A nice balance that was fun to revisit.

Some pretty good jokes in here.

« Vous savez pourquoi il n’y a pas de mot anglais pour “la mie” ? Parce qu’il n’y a que ça dans vos pains américains, il n’y a pas de croûte ! » - ma professeure de français à l’université

I will be interested to see what the TV adaptation of this book is, since my least favorite books have sometimes been redeemed by the TV adaptation. For the time being, though, I didn’t love this one. It seems to exaggerate all the things about the books I don’t like, and I found the characters especially unsympathetic.

Okay, so, is “Super Smash Brothers” just supposed to be a play on “Super Mario Brothers”? On one hand, I’m embarrassed for not realizing(?) that earlier; on the other, it seems like low-tier wordplay, so it honestly never occurred to me before.

It’s early, and I’m tired, but with some help frim French, I just realized something cool about the etymology of the word “defeat,” so I’ve got that going for me.

There are a few IDW comics that I got in a summer Humble Bundle but couldn’t bring myself to read over the summer. I’m glad I gave this one a try. I figures that after reading so much Ice Cream Man, I might be more open to a horror comic than I thought, and I think I was right. There is a lot of interesting character work, ethical reflection, and even heist plot in this one, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

I feel like I should like this series more than I am. I’m caught between liking the general vibe of the comic and not really relating to the characters (and some stuff from the 2000s really not aging well). I’m committed to finishing the whole series, but I am also wondering if it’s going to reach out and grab me more.

Un donut, ça remonte aussi le moral (même quand je fais des efforts de consommer moins de sucre).

J’aurai une réunion difficile aujourd’hui, et j’écoute donc Les Cowboys Fringants pour me remonter le moral.

This book impressed me in an unexpected way. When I first read it, I didn’t think much of it. I was pleasantly surprised by how good the TV adaptation was. I see why they moved around scenes they did, gave certain characters more to do, etc.

Coming back to the book, though, I think the TV adaptation opened me up to how good the underlying story could be. I appreciated the cruel wordplay and foreshadowing Herron uses in the beginning of the book, which is horrible and delightful when you already know the end. I like the original takes on some scenes even when I also agree with the changes made in the adaptation.

I can’t remember if I’ve read the color editions before, but I know I haven’t read paper copies before, so this is fun. I have never seen the movie, but I’ve seen enough YouTube clips to know it’s my style. After watching enough of those clips, and knowing that I’m not likely to watch the movie (since it’s not my wife’s style, and I don’t watch a lot of movies on my own), I say “I ought to just read the books.” This is my second time doing so, I think?

A clone of Deanna Troi named Deanna Quatr.

Apple refuses to easily sync music libraries between computers because they want me to pay for Apple Music. What it actually does is push me to spend more time listening to internet radio.

Today’s been a lot, but I’ve once again successfully channelled “watching Scott Pilgrim clips on YouTube” into “just check out the comics and read those, already.”

Le minigolf est suisse ? Je savais pas du tout !