I have voted for the 2026 Hugo awards! I'll post my full ballot soon, but before that, here's what I thought about the six novels nominated this year. You can find these and other reviews on my Goodreads Hugo Finalists bookshelf. An overall takeaway this year is that one thing I love about reading the Hugo nominees is that it encourages me to read things I may not have otherwise picked up. And sometimes I end up loving those things. Thanks, Hugos, for keeping me an open-minded reader!
I've been home from Seattle Worlcon for a couple weeks now, but school starting immediately upon my return has kept me too busy to make a post about it. Until now! I'm happy to report that I had a great time!
Due to weather on Tuesday, my flight from Chattanooga to Chicago was canceled, and I had to rebook for the next day. I barely made it to my first panel in Seattle on Wednesday evening. I walked into the panel a few minutes late straight from the airport. Oh, and they lost my luggage in Chicago (I was reunited with it in Seattle several hours later).
 |
| Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/580823683164479108/ |
I’ve never been entirely comfortable in academia. Don’t get me wrong. I love reading and writing. I enjoy teaching and interacting with students. I’m fond of conversation about subjects most people don’t understand or care to understand.
Spooky Season has been in full swing for almost two full months here in the US. One of the better things my fellow Americans have done in recent decades: turning Halloween into a full two-month-long festival of ghoulish goodness!
I've been watching a lot of spooky movies, from the old school The Wolf Man to The Descent to the entire Pet Sematary cinematic universe (I re-read the novel, which remains better than any of the films, watched both film versions, even got to Pet Sematary 2, which I don't necessarily recommend, and the brand new, Pet Sematary: Bloodlines, which I do recommend). I've also been trying to branch out more internationally with films like Kandisha from France and Kaali Khuhi from India.
And there's spooky TV, too, most excellently The Fall of the House of Usher (Mike Flanagan's fantastic take on Edgar Allan Poe) and The Changeling (based on a novel by Victor LaValle starring LaKeith Stanfield). I may write up some thoughts about my spooky cinematic adventures later, maybe sometime before my horror and philosophy students present their films on November 16! (stay tuned for details on that)
But for now, here are a few of my spooky reads for spooky season 2023! Happy Halloween!
My Random Thoughts series continues with Part 18! Still with random memes for exponential randomness! In fact, my inventory of memes is at an all-time high. These memes have to go! Enjoy!
My series of Random Thoughts started randomly one day almost two years ago. I would wait until the exact two year anniversary of that first post, but that wouldn't be random, now would it? Add in a pandemic and some random memes, and here we are: Random Thoughts, Part 16: Dune the Random Things!
My ever-expanding pandemic journal continues, now with Part 22. I guess a lot of people have decided the pandemic is over, but alas, it is not. And now we're having a new school year with a worse pandemic and fewer protections, so that's... great. But at least the memes continue. In fact, this post is overstuffed with memes, so ... enjoy!
 |
| Made at: https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/ |
My Random Thoughts series continues with Part 15! My last post, Part 14, was on May 31 when I hoped that we were reaching the late stages of the pandemic ... well, that turned out not to be the case. I'm not sure if this is random as the title of this post supposes (see random thought 352 for more), but I thought it was a good title. Also, I have continued to include some random memes for your amusement.
 |
| Made at: https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/ |
My random thoughts series continues with Part 14! (You can see Part 13 here.) With this entry, I've broken 300 random thoughts and made it all the way to 332!
The pandemic has upended many things here on Earth, but my thoughts keep coming and they keep coming randomly. And now that we are (hopefully!) toward the later stages of the pandemic, I have occasional thoughts about that. But don't worry, there's still stuff about philosophy, the Culture Wars, cleaning the litter box, and the Snyder cut. And a few random memes just for a little something extra. Enjoy!
It has been a while since I posted Part 19 of my pandemic journal (March 23 to be precise). The last couple months have brought a lot of changes. Instead of a "new normal," I think we've reached "a different kind of weird." I'm fully vaccinated, my arm is healing (still not back to full range of motion), and I finished the semester. A lot of people are vaccinated here in the US (but rates are slowing down), there was a verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial, India has had a massive COVID surge, there are people (mostly Palestians) being killed in Israel/Palestine, and the CDC announced that fully vaccinated people don't have to wear masks even inside.
In addition to all that, I've been collecting a lot of memes for your enjoyment. So let's get to it.
 |
| Sign of the times: the collection of masks I've accumulated over the last year |
Today is the anniversary of the day when the COVID-19 pandemic was declared. Here's an entry from my pandemic journal on the topic. I'll keep posting that journal, but I thought excerpting this entry would be a good way to commemorate our pandemi-versary.
 |
| Made at: https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/ |
My previous entry in my Random Thoughts series was in November 2020, so with this post my Random Thoughts series rolls into 2021! There are still plenty of random thoughts to be had in this new and strange year. I've got stuff on philosophy (of course), but also recipes, medical stuff, Taco Bell, conspiracy theories, and Coming to America.
And as I started doing in 2020, I'll include some recent memes that amused me just to keep things more random.
My Pandemic Journal continues with Part 16: Our Non-Normal November. (I tried to think of something catchier. Maybe you can do better!)
It has been a non-normal month (granted, we have had a lot of non-normal months lately). But this one had the bizarreness of the US election on top of everything else.
One thing that has become normal (at least on this blog): memes! Enjoy!
Last week we showcased my horror and philosophy students' films in Horrific Thoughts: Post-Halloween Philosophical Horror Film Fest! (You can see a recording of the full event here, or just watch most of the films here).
Why was it not a Halloween film fest? In previous pre-COVID years, it was. But I figured that life is horrific enough right now, and I gave my students a few more weeks to complete their films. And they did a great job making some fun films during a pandemic (they will be writing philosophical reflections on their films as explained here).
Toward the end of the event, I noted that Thanksgiving is coming up here in the US and mentioned that there are Thanksgiving horror films. And one of the jurors for the film fest, Chris Dortch (who runs the excellent Chattanooga Film Festival), mentioned Blood Rage. I watched Pilgrim last year. After looking into it, I also found The Oath and Thankskilling.
So, I guess I have enough for a short list of Thanksgiving horror films to watch at home instead of spreading the Coronavirus to your family this year! Seriously, don't give your family COVID-19. Small indoor gatherings with people outside your immediate household are a major spreader of the virus. Stay home. Be safe. And hopefully your family will all still be here to celebrate next Thanksgiving. Stay home and watch these movies instead!
 |
| Made at: https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/ |
My long running Random Thoughts series continues with Part 12! We recently had a big election here in the US that, much like the pandemic, has gone on longer than it needs to, so I've had a lot of random thoughts on politics and democracy. I also have things to say about academia, space, books, absurdity, lunch, religion, bibliophilia, and my 2020 hangover.
Just like my pandemic journal posts, my Random Thoughts now come with bonus random memes! Enjoy!
My pandemic journal continues with Part 14! It has been about six months since this all started, or in pandemic time, roughly 25 years.
As usual, I have spent the last month scouring the internet for the finest memes. You can also read about what I've been doing and thinking. But it's also okay to just browse the memes. Do what you gotta do. It's a pandemic.
And for the love of all that you hold dear, vote if you are eligible, my fellow Americans! Jesus fucking Christ, just vote. I don't even know what to say to convince you, but if this serves as a reminder, so be it. Just vote.
My longtime pandemic journal continues with Part 13 (well, it feels like a long time, but it hasn't even been six months...). You can see some of my previous entries here and here.
What do I think about the new school year in these strange days, the 2020 US Presidential election, reading Frankenstein, the labor movement, and other things? Read on to find out!
And of course there's the real reason most of you are here: the memes! Enjoy!
 |
| Made at: https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/ |
My pandemic journal continues with Part 12, Back-to-School Doom-Anxiety Edition.
Tomorrow is the beginning of the 2020-21 school year for me, so this juncture in my life and the lives of many others seems like a good time to post a journal update. You can see my latest thoughts at the end.
In recent week's I've come to feel what I've been calling doom-anxiety about the impending school year.
And as always, there are plenty of doom-memes to make the doom-anxiety go down a little easier.
Whether you're here for the memes, my random thoughts, or you just realized you clicked on the wrong thing: good luck to us all!
