Eric Spiegel
@ericspiegel
Voracious reader, indoor gardener, cat dad, casual gamer, film lover, technical writer. Alexandria, VA.
The August issue of Ritual arrived. What a fun little love letter to cinema.
A fun set of films this week. Barbarian was deeply disturbing yet well done. The Holdovers should become a comforting Christmas classic. Thunderbolts was better than expected thanks to our frowning queen. And the first MI film will always be my favorite.
A nice morning to finish up a very good book. DCC #7 keeps ramping up the stakes, humor, and heartstring pulls.
This book really surprised me with how simple yet engrossing it was. Quality speculative fiction akin to The Handmaid's Tale.
Happy birthday to @justcheri.bsky.social! Currently celebrating at The Hobbit restaurant in Ocean City.
I really loved this book. Cozy sci fi featuring found family and great food writing akin to Psalm for the Wild-Built or Legends and Lattes. Looks like I'll be ordering some noodles from Xi'an this weekend thanks to this book.
Fantasy plus murder mystery done right. The second book in this series proves to be just as good as the first. Looking forward to the next one.
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure freaked me out as a kid, and still does as an adult. #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday
The B&N Criterion Collection sale was well timed for a long weekend movie marathon.
Had a delicious lunch at Little Birdie. They are a welcome addition to the avenue's restaurant scene.
This book was so surprising to me. Incredibly sobering. This is the type of thing everyone should be reading.
The Eno documentary was my favorite this week. His career is amazing and the generative nature of the film is a fascinating experiment. #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher was so so good. Think dark fantasy Snow White prequel with great humor, a forensic investigation, and Lovecraftian body horror.
This book hooked me from the start and just kept me fascinated the entire way. Science fiction, meta fiction, robots, and a messy family make for some incredible storytelling.
The second book I finished this weekend—a very good short story collection by local writer and NVCC professor Stephanie Dupal.
This was pretty good for the first two thirds and then just really dragged in the end for me. I’m very interested to see the movie adaptation for comparison.
Sentimental Value was the highlight of the week for me. Well written, acted, and shot. #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday
Mykonos has been beautiful. Heading back to Athens today and then back to the A to the LX.
I can’t believe a silly book about a guy and his talking cat would make me cry. The Dungeon Crawler Carl series gets better with every book.
I was only able to squeeze in a couple movies this week: Enter the Dragon and Sing Sing. I was floored by Sing Sing. Such a beautiful portrayal of the healing ability of the arts. #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday
Rex Manning Day, Dags, Popes pope-ing, and Detective Denzel. #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday
Even though The Will of the Many recycles some common fantasy/YA tropes (outsider with a secret past infiltrating dark academia, hunger games style competitions, Roman influence everywhere) it all works super well and is very engaging throughout.
A great neo-noir, one of the best thrillers of all time, a decent work-place dramedy, and my third-favorite Tarantino film. #LastFourWatched #LetterboxdFriday
This week's #LastFourWatched includes questionable dialog choices; isolation and anti-consumerism disguised as a kids' movie; unrealistic but highly enjoyable courtroom scenes; and David Byrne being a genius. #LetterboxdFriday
This was a bit bloated for a poetry collection but when it hits it **hits**.