For sure, the technology and fashion is all VERY late-90s. But the way that The Matrix informed SO many action and scifi movies to follow, and spawned so many cultural touchstones made it break containment.

And then you’ve got subjects that it brings up, like mixed technophobia and technophilia, gender identity, anti-authoritarianism, and so on that are still at the forefront of our cultural awareness. The Matrix has stayed relevant and meaningful in ways that very few works have managed to.

Hackers

Romeo + Juliet

There’s a filter that I apply to these kinds of questions, and it’s that there are some works that are of a particular time, but they ascend beyond that time and just become a part of culture, broadly. Like, Wizard of Oz just IS, Bohemian Rhapsody just IS; they aren’t bounded by their decades of origin.

I’d argue that at least Jurassic Park, and arguably also The Matrix, are above and beyond the '90s in ways that other movies can’t quite achieve.

Clerks is a lot closer to real people’s experience of the '90s, as opposed to quintessential '90s fictions, like Pulp Fiction or Hackers.

Most bugs do groom themselves, but here’s a fun fact! Bed bugs don’t groom themselves, and this makes most standard insecticides ineffective, because they won’t ingest any of the poison they might get on their bodies!

Another fun fact: bed bugs are the fucking devil and I don’t hate them, I haaaaaaaaaaaaaate them.

I bought a warhammer. Then I bought a second warhammer. Don’t regret either purchase.

Highly recommend Pod Save America and their spinoffs / associates. The Pod Save guys are ex-Obama staffers, so they know how the sausages are made, but they are by no means full-time DNC cheerleaders. Just lately their conversation seems to in the realm of “Biden is the nominee, but we have a responsibility to have a level-headed conversation about if that is the best idea; every possible choice comes with risks, and we aren’t doing ourselves any favors if we don’t consider them.”

They make no secret about the fact that they are pushing a progressive agenda, but they also aren’t blowing smoke up your ass about how well we are or aren’t doing, or if democratic figures have made gigantic fuck-ups, which I appreciate.

I was trying to watch the original Nosferatu but the version I was watching had dogshit Casio keyboard accompaniment. I muted it and had Spotify put on a playlist based on “Danse Macabre.” Much better. That said, a proper silent movie with live accompaniment is fucking fantastic. I saw Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall that way and loved it.

“My grandpa worked at the gives-orphans-cancer factory until he died of cancer, my daddy worked at the gives-orphans-cancer factory until he died of cancer, I’ve been working at the gives-orphans-cancer factory for the last twenty five years and by God I’m proud of my recent cancer diagnosis, and I will fight with every fiber of my being to make sure that my son grows up to work at the gives-orphans-cancer factory!”

Laser thermometer. It makes cooking things at really specific temperatures a lot easier.

Some long-handle sundae spoons. They’re incredibly useful for getting to the bottom of a deep jar or yogurt tub.

Collapsible screw-together travel chopsticks. They take up virtually no space, come with their own holder so they stay clean, and you’ve always got some nice chopsticks to eat with.

Blue painter’s tape. You can label anything (especially stuff that’s going into the freezer), and it’ll peel off again without leaving any residue.

Beaded reusable cable ties. It’s always nice to be able to tie up a power cord.

A nice headlamp. It’s really nice to be able to put on a headlamp and have your hands free when you’re doing stuff outside at night. Fair warning: you may fall down a nice flashlight rabbit hole.

We got the under cabinet Un-skru kind, and it works like a dream.

I got a Zojirushi at the thrift store and I love it, but then I realized that the pot has a nonstick coating inside, and there doesn’t seem to be a replacement that doesn’t have nonstick. No more rice cooker for me. :(

I haven’t seen Come and See and based on what I’ve read I’m not really inclined to.

I was curious about a guy who bullied me in elementary school so I looked up his name on Facebook. His profile picture had a pro-life message in it. I was not at all surprised.

There’s a thing I heard somewhere about how your magical system needs to have a balance between how well it’s understood vs. how useful it is, or else it will break the plot.

If a magic system is extremely useful, then it must also be extremely mysterious, so that you can say “Well, it can’t immediately fix all problems because the gods work in mysterious ways.” Gandalf or Tom Bombadil seem incredibly powerful, but they don’t solve all of the problems in Middle Earth, and that’s okay because they’re terribly mysterious.

If a magic system is extremely well understood in-universe, then it has to have hard limits on how useful it is, so you can say something like “Well, the Law of Equivalent Exchange says that to solve all our problems would require a blood sacrifice of the entire population, so that’s not an option.”

If your magic is pretty well-understood AND very useful, then by all rights it OUGHT to solve all your problems, and when it doesn’t then readers rightly begin to question why any of the plot needs to happen at all (see, for example, the time turners in Harry Potter).

1 moa (minute of audio in 128000 bps mp3)

Give me 320000 bps or give me death!

Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry in Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Ian McKellan and Christopher Lee in The Lord of the Rings

Bruce Willis and Bonnie Bedelia in Die Hard

Ukoala bag. Visited their booth at a con and liked them well enough that both my wife and I bought one. She wears hers over her shoulder, and I keep mine on my hip.

At work I frequently need access to an assortment of things like little scraps of paper, pens, pencils, Sharpies, knives, gloves, and a little Bluetooth keyboard. I can keep all of those neatly organized in my bag and I keep on my feet moving around all day without any problems. 9/10, would recommend.

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