Media diet for July 2026

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I watched 8h 30m of movies and 98h 59m of TV shows, a total of 107h 29m:

🎬 Movies

  • The Blair Witch Project (1999) – ⭐️ 5/10
    • This had been on my “gotta check that box some day” list for 20 or so years by now. I still don’t enjoy horror a lot, but I liked the genre even less back when the film came out originally. Consequently I skipped the film at release, despite all the hype. Recently it came up at work, and to defend my honor as a millennial it was finally time to close this gap. After all this time I was genuinely curious about it, and ultimately I quite enjoyed watching it – even though it’s still not really something for me. “More interesting than good” is probably the easiest way I can describe how I feel about it. It’s doing a great job achieving what it set out to achieve with very little, it gets a bit repetitive (might have worked better as a short!), but ends fairly strong.
      Reading up on the details surrounding the production was mostly depressing – the actors got shafted and had to sue to get fair compensation. Of course it has been turned into franchise by now, couldn’t leave a unique thing just stand on its own. I did like that a lot of the filming was done “authentically”, i.e. the actors getting little context or concrete direction and being subjected to an approximation of the experience they’re portraying. Setting aside the topic of fair compensation it seems to have happened with at least some degree of consent. As long as the latter is the case, I think this is the only good way to do this particular type of movie.
      It’s still baffling to me that people back then actually thought this might all be real. I know that the internet wasn’t much of a thing yet, I know there was a great marketing campaign that did all they could (including a fake documentary that aired ahead of the release). And given how different international releases worked back then, it was probably easier to see through it here in Germany. Still, though… you had to be either really dumb or or really young to fall for it.
  • Copycat (1995) – ⭐️ 7/10
    • Another recommendation from work, another blast from the past with extreme 90s energy. Given the subject matter, it’s hard not to be reminded of The Silence of the Lambs. But it’s very much its own thing, and rather entertaining at that. The self-destructing Tomorrow.avi email attachment was amazing, the same kind of whimsical hocus pocus computer UI/UX that was great in Jurassic Park or GoldenEye in the same decade. Hearing Sigourney Weaver shout “Heil Hitler!” in frustration (big Pinkman energy!) was very unexpected! Despite being about gruesome murders, the scariest part of the film for me was when she suddenly stumbles upon an ant infestation in her bedroom – just a few months ago I found myself in the same situation. I still remember the sheer terror sinking in when I realized they somehow were even able to come in through the closed window of my bedroom.1 I wasn’t a huge fan of the ending / final reveal, and the cops in this movie might be even dumber than the real ones… but despite all that I enjoyed the film. Bonus points for passing the Bechdel test, apparently thanks to its shockingly based director:

      “I thought it too violent and exploitive of violence against women,” said Amiel, 47, about the first draft of the script written by Ann Biderman.

  • The Odyssey (2026) – ⭐️ 7/10

    • When this was announced as Christopher Nolan’s next project, I was disappointed and worried that this would end up similar to Dunkirk and Oppenheimer. By limiting himself to telling pre-determined stories, most of his potential remained untapped in those movies. While I ended up liking Dunkirk more than I thought, it was sorely lacking the magic of his earlier work: this dance between magic and science fiction, the big, bold stories with their heavy twists… of course The Odyssey’s story could largely be characterized in that way itself, but there’s little mystery to it left today. In the end I was as whelmed by this as expected: Nolan is a master at his craft, and the visuals and sound design were accordingly spectacular. He did attempt applying his trademark “emotional punch at the end” to this story as well, but it didn’t make up for the fact that I largely knew what would happen. That’s by no means something necessarily bad for a movie – but in a Nolan I’m longing for more. Regardless of all the dumb fascist takes around the film I genuinely didn’t like some of the dialogue, and I’m growing a bit tired of Tom Holland and Zendaya – neither of which I thought were cast terribly well or brought their A-game. In terms of pacing this would probably have worked better as a mini-series, because there was both too much and too little in the movie at the same time. Lots of criticism for a 7/10 – that’s just because he used to deliver 9s and 10s for me, so there’s more to mention than with a 5/10 that I never hoped to like better. As of now this might be my least favorite of his movies after Oppenheimer, though after this interview I’m starting to come around to it some more already.

      Unrelated to the film itself, I cannot help but regret my decision to honor the movie with a rare visit to the theater – I’m not even going to speak about ticket prices and how awful an experience simply booking a seat has become these days, but people are just insufferable. Too dumb to put their god damn smart watch into theater mode so it doesn’t light up whenever they move their idiot arms around, unable to not check their phone a couple of times for three hours. I have absolutely no tolerance for that, and I don’t give a shit about whatever excuses they might have. Don’t go to the movies if you can’t behave yourself, it’s not a necessity. Movie theaters shouldn’t be surprised they’re dying out when they don’t properly enforce their rules – why would I choose to pay extra for this over just sitting on my couch. We live in a society!!1!

  • The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) – ⭐️ 4/10
    • I’m glad this chapter is finally over, I’ve been waiting for this (or the long-speculated fourth/final season of the show) to come out for ages. During COVID lockdowns I got weak and gave into the hype, watching the first two seasons of the show. More on that below: I rewatched it all now that the film is out.
      The movie itself mostly sucked. It started out fairly decent – Mando seemed a bit overpowered and Grogu a bit underused, but all in all the cold open put me in a good mood. I also kinda liked the Blade-Runner-ish looking environment in the beginning, and seeing Sigourney Weaver again after having watched Copycat earlier in the month was fun as well. But very quickly the movie just turned into an absolute CGI2 shitshow: everything looking way too clean and artificial, like a cut-scene of a video game from 10 years ago. It also really took me out how one of the two Hutts early on just randomly switched to English for a few sentences. That felt so un-star-wars-y. Of course I didn’t know yet that the main Hutt character of the film would just speak English the entire time. With no discernible accent or effect on the voice. For all I know it could have been fucking Seth Rogen, only that his movies have better writing. And why was this partly presented in IMAX aspect ratio?! It didn’t make anything better, it just seemed weird whenever it quickly switched between aspect ratios. Some of the puppeteering was really well done, and the relationship between the two titular characters is still something that allows for nice moments. But the story was too inconsequential and disjointed (it clearly was a few episodes in a trench-coat rather than an actual movie), dragging down both the overall franchise and this particular part of the brand – the third season finale was significantly stronger, and would have served as a fine endpoint. But of course there can be no more endpoints, as we Won’t Live to See the Final Star Wars Movie.

📺 TV Shows

  • Lost – S00E16, S02 to S06 (92 episodes with 68h 4m)

    • What a ride. 🥲 I started my rewatch less than two weeks before arriving at the series finale. It was just as mesmerizing as back when it came out, and emotionally it might have hit even harder now that I have endured half a lifetime more of human suffering myself. The show has a different feel to it in the last three seasons compared to the first three. Some of that might be attributable to the WGA strike, but it’s mostly due to their bold choice (for a network television show at the time) to stop treading water and working towards a conclusion. One of the most common criticisms of the show is that “they made it up as they went along”. But that’s how all television shows work – at least to a certain degree. The difference between good and bad shows is marked by how talented they are at making things up. Almost like that’s the entire point of any and all fictional entertainment. As I wrote last month, I enjoyed the last season and the finale when they aired – but it was harder to digest without already knowing what to expect. I certainly had some expectations it didn’t meet back then, just because of how endlessly sprawling the possible space for resolution was after years of speculation and theories. With that in mind, I was a bit worried I would end up changing my mind upon revisiting the show after so much time had passed. But watching the entire story again in hindsight actually reinforced my appreciation for the writers navigating the tricky road to the finale. It is far from flawless, but despite that it’s hard for me to actually put into words how perfect it is. I’m not religious, and (to quote the show) I am absolutely a man of science. But I’d also describe myself as a spiritual person, and strongly guided by faith. Faith in humanity, in morality, in the human condition. That’s why the idea (as opposed to the midi-chlorian explanation) of the force in Star Wars appeals to me so much. And in the same way, LOST connects to the deepest parts of my soul through its characters and their journeys. I don’t remember the last time anything emotionally wrecked me as thoroughly and cathartically as the final episode did. I can’t help but feel that LOST is the greatest story ever told.

      The single best episode of the series remains The Constant, it never fails to reduce me to a sobbing mess by the time it concludes. It might actually be my favorite episode of any television show ever, period.3
      My opinion on the infamous Exposé didn’t change either: It still fucking rules. It is often even incorrectly described as a bottle episode, but regardless of classification: As frustrating as the surrounding cliffhangers may be, the episode provides some vital breathing room, context and even some answers. The unjustified hate towards it reminds me of Breaking Bad’s Fly, which I was flabbergasted to learn that people don’t like – it’s one of the best episodes of the entire show because it doesn’t focus on the main plot.

      So much more great music throughout the series: Downtown as the S03E01 opener is almost as legendary as Make Your Own Kind Of Music from S02E01. Shambala will forever bring Hurley’s happy face to mind and make me smile. Speaking of Hurley’s happy face, Weezer made an entire album on that concept – and it slaps (just like all their other albums).

      Three years ago I watched this mini documentary series on The Story of the Lost Pilot, which provided interesting insight into how unlikely it was for LOST to even come into existence. It’s really hard to put into words how special of an experience this show was while it aired. After the first season, the producers did an accompanying podcast as well, very early adopters of the new medium – I remember giddily listening on my iPod before going to bed. Thinking back to this time makes me so nostalgic for the internet that we lost, no pun intended. Last month I complained that Lostpedia has been infected by the Fandom cancer, but it’s more than just that. It was such a fundamentally different way of engaging with both the show and the community. What you’ll find in Reddit threads today is depressing in comparison, and sadly that’s where most of this discourse is concentrated now. An astroturfed hellscape with little substance as half the comments are just recycled jokes. Everybody’s a comedian.

  • Rick and Morty – S09 starting from S09E07 (4 episodes with 1h 35m)
    • Enjoyed the last four episodes more consistently than the first half of this season. As I said, overall it’s still going strong.
  • The Book of Boba Fett – S01 starting from S01E05 (3 episodes with 2h 43m)
    • Only rewatched the last three episodes of this turd, because those should have been The Mandalorian episodes anyway.
  • The Mandalorian – All 3 seasons (24 episodes with 17h 21m)
    • Yeesh, S01 kinda sucked. Worse than I remembered it, and it’s not like I had a super high opinion of it anyway… the episodes feel too disconnected, the world too artificial. The second season at least got the story going a bit with Bo-Katan of Clone Wars and Rebels fame. Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens Timothy Olyphant was a good addition as well. But still everything looked like plastic. They’re so proud of The Volume, but the things I’ve seen that make excessive use of it look like trash. Aside from the CGI and lighting issues, they also just completely fucked up the HDR / Dolby Vision – absolutely stunning levels of incompetence.4 My final nitpick for the first two seasons (which I had already seen before) is that they re-used the greatest sound effect of all time… but made it sound worse.
      For the third season that I saw for the first time now: Meh. Not great, but not that much worse than the rest of the show. Not to go all Apu for it like this article does, but the drop in audience score it mentions is laughable. The worst part of the season was easily adding fucking Jack Black. Despite his inexcusable crimes against Minecraft, despite all the other money-grabbing crap he’s mainly been in during the last decade, and despite being a spineless shitweasel, I still like Jack Black. I usually enjoy his antics, and I will forever be in love with The D. But I cannot emphasize enough how much I do not want fucking Jack Black in fucking Star Wars. Especially not when he – expectedly – just plays “Jack Black in Star Wars”. Fuck all they way off with that absolute horse shit. What an utter travesty, Jar Jar Binks was nothing compared to this level of debasement. At least that episode also had Christopher Lloyd, who was not awful. The season finale even had some pretty epic moments, though the battle sequence with the compartments opening one after another was very reminiscent of The Phantom Menace. All in all I was surprised by how well the episode would have worked as an endpoint for these characters.
  • Ahsoka – S01 (8 episodes with 6h 15m)
    • The internet told me that to properly prepare for seeing the baby Yoda movie, I would also need to have seen Ahsoka. The internet was wrong. I was going to see this show anyway, as her character was one of the best things from the animated series and I had been hearing praise for this continuation. But I’d have preferred waiting for the entire thing to be finished. It was pretty good indeed, though, so I’m not too mad. The first episode’s beginning was eerily similar to the start of ANH and the ending of Rogue One… it was pretty dope, but how often can you repeat this “dramatic boarding of a vessel” sequence? And shortly thereafter they had a set that felt almost entirely lifted out of the climactic sequence from The Fifth Element. Not meant as criticism, it just seemed rather notable to me. Rosario Dawson is doing an excellent job portraying the older Ahsoka, Ariana Greenblatt as the young live-action version was great, and Ray Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll might be the most interesting Star Wars character currently being explored. Generally a really strong cast, and the show was interesting enough that I wish less time had passed since I saw Clone Wars and Rebels – I might do a full rewatch of those two once this show has concluded. But even without remembering any details around these characters’ past interactions, this ended up being the best of any of the newer shows – in this part of the universe (i.e. when ignoring Andor).

💬 Late Night & Talk Shows

🎧 Music

I scrobbled 906 tracks on 27 days in July 2026:

🎶 Top 10 Tracks

  1. Icona Pop – I Love It (feat. Charli XCX) (14 plays)
  2. Billy Talent – Louder Than The DJ (9 plays)
  3. Blumentopf – Antihelden (5 plays)
  4. Billy Talent – Viking Death March (5 plays)
  5. The White Stripes – When I Hear My Name (4 plays)
  6. Billy Talent – Try Honesty (4 plays)
  7. Billy Talent – Devil On My Shoulder (4 plays)
  8. Queens of the Stone Age – Ode to Clarissa (4 plays)
  9. Billy Talent – Afraid of Heights (4 plays)
  10. Billy Talent – Surprise Surprise (4 plays)

🧑‍🎤 Top 10 Artists

  1. Billy Talent (80 plays)
  2. Blumentopf (34 plays)
  3. Queens of the Stone Age (28 plays)
  4. Sportfreunde Stiller (26 plays)
  5. Die Ärzte (24 plays)
  6. Weezer (21 plays)
  7. Madonna (20 plays)
  8. Fettes Brot (16 plays)
  9. Icona Pop (15 plays)
  10. The White Stripes (14 plays)

📚 Books

  • 📘 Jade War [The Green Bone Saga #2] – ⭐️ 4/5
    • Almost wasn’t able to finish the second part before July ended, but “luckily” I had to travel for work and on my flights I managed to get two longer reading sessions in. Both these session had major dramatic events happen that almost made me tear up (not because of sadness, but emotional tension). Needless to say I still enjoy this series a lot. One of the main characters has crossed from “troubled and conflicted” into “actually a villain” territory through one specific act for me, and I feel that the book is not properly acknowledging it yet. Very curious to see if there’s some resolution still to come in the final chapter.

🎙️ Podcasts

I listened to 19 episodes across 4 podcasts in July 2026:

🎮 Games

I played 3 different games for a total of 18.2 hours in July 2026.

  • Rocket League
    • Played 8.2 more hours across 4 days, already unlocked all 88 achievements in the past. I had already written my 👍 review (21 words) back on 2022-09-03.
  • Hollow Knight
    • Played for 6.3 hours across 10 days. Unlocked no new achievements, still at 62/63 total. Haven’t written a review yet.
      • Ugh, just managed short sessions on a couple of days – barely enough to stay in form, but not enough to finally beat the remaining challenge. Hopefully August will leave me with a bit more focus time to get this done.
  • Golf Peaks
    • 🏆 Began and finished the entire game this month, unlocking all 12 achievements in 3.6 hours across 2 days. Wrote a 👍 review (182 words) on 2026-07-12.

  1. Luckily it ended quickly, once the downstairs neighbors had taken care of whatever they did to cause the ants to be drawn to our house in the first place. But those couple of days of constantly spraying repellent onto the windowsill, and vacuuming up any stragglers every couple of hours were not fun at all. ↩︎

  2. I am well aware that CGI itself is not a negative thing. I’m just saying that a lot of specific CGI usage looks like crap. ↩︎

  3. Not a fringe opinion, as proven by this article/interview that came out a few weeks after I had written this paragraph. ↩︎

  4. Not to worry, we have software patents coming to the rescue! ↩︎