Logocentric (adj).Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
I have always enjoyed the longer distance running and skiing. The Marathon in Summer Olympics and the 50km Mass Start in the Winter. My wife can't understand how I can watch the same race for several hours. But they are fascinating to me. I like the Downhill Slalom, Bobsled and Luge sports. Attending a Winter Olympics remains on my bucket list.
My favorite sporting events in the Winter Olympics are the Luge, Bobsled, Figure Skating and curling. Initially, I thought I would be bored with curling but I'm not. It's fascinating how they determine each glide's angle and potential score.
When my children were younger we built them a luge course, they loved it. We were lucky that winter to have lots of snow to build up the walls and with some help with pallets that we covered with snow, it kept them and the neighborhood kids busy until it warmed up and melted. I was a lot more at ease with the luge course than I was when they decided to try arial jumps off our house roof. Never a dull moment when you live in Maine.
I am reading ESV through the Bible this time. Like you, I've explored a bunch of translations. My church uses NIV but my women's Bible study group (part of the same church) varies based on what Bible study we're doing.
Hope you enjoy the Olympics! I agree that the every four year thing makes them feel more special.
I read the New American Bible, which is a Catholic Bible. (NABRE) They include Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, which generally aren't included in other versions of the Bible. I would be curious to read an orthodox bible or the Ethiopian Bible as I hear they have differences as well.
As for the Olympics, I love the Winter Olympics. I'm just crossing my fingers I have time to watch!
In terms of the original texts the NASB has the best reputation among conservative scholars. It looks at more translations, has a sensible hierarchy of text selection and the best principles for approaching the translation task. It favors original texts when possible. The ESV and NKJV are on a similar level. The Net Bible gives the best overview of the discussions in its commentary. The NIV renders the original text to make it more readable. It is a more functional text which is why many churches use it but it is also less precise. Greek or Russian orthodox are more Septuagint orientated and there is a considerable amount of ethical or emotional rendering to the text.The disadvantage of the NASB is that it loses much of the Hebrew poetical style in its effort to be precise as this does not translate into the English
I'm very fortunate to have met some practicing and humble Christians. Truly humble people seek to serve, not attain power and influence. The actions of many Christians make me run the opposite way... as fast as I can.
In his book, Sit, Walk, Stand, Watchman Nee states: "Nothing has done greater damage to our Christian testimony than our trying to be right and demanding right of others. We become preoccupied with what is and what is not right. We ask ourselves,' Have we been justly or unjustly treated?' and we think thus to vindicate our actions. But that is not our standard. The whole question for us is one of crossbearing".
Jeff, this is an excellent book. Perhaps one for your reading list?
Haven was unquestionably the song I listened to most last year, thanks in no small part to the fact that I picked it for my ill-fated "Invalid Item" attempt. I spent a lot of time listening to this album and trying to figure out a collection of short stories inspired by it. Ultimately, I only completed one story for the collection (about par for the course for me when it comes to Musicology, lol), but this whole album has so many good songs on it.
I had a hard time picking which one to feature for "Invalid Item" .
Each track has a unique sound and I would listen to almost all of them on repeat at different times of the year. By the time my Spotify Wrapped list dropped at the end of 2025, the only one of the thirteen tracks from this album that wasn't on my year-end, most-listened-to playlist was the title track "Haven." Everything else was something I listened to extensively in 2025.
I'm seriously debating whether to give this album another try for Musicology this year, or if I should move on to another album for 2026.
"Ghost (Lost Kings Remix)"
by Halsey (feat. Lost Kings)
This is an older song of Halsey's, originally off her first studio album, Badlands. I think the original song it just okay; the lyrics are great, but the original music and melody didn't really jump out at me. The original is just a little too slow and haunting, and the pace of the lyrics lends itself to a faster-paced, more upbeat song. Lost Kings managed to pair it with a remixed beat and increased tempo that I think fits the song much better.
One of the main reasons why I listened to thing song so much this year is that both of my kids, for reasons that are a mystery to me, absolutely love this song. Like, to the point of, "Dad, can you play it again?" while we're in the car driving somewhere. It's adorable to see both of my kids trying to repeat after the lyrics but not quite get all of them so they just kind of trail off halfway through a verse.
I'm a big fan of Halsey; it was fun to have a little flashback this year to some of her earlier work.
While we're on the topic of The Eras Tour from my last blog entry, I might as well get my obligatory Taylor Swift entry out of the way. The Life of a Showgirl has proven to be a somewhat divisive album for her, with a lot of people thinking it's a great as per usual, but a not-insignificant number of fans who feel like it's a bit of a miss.
If I'm being honest, I'm probably more in the second camp.
Granted, the problem with having such an extensive and great catalog of music is that everything inevitably gets compared to the absolute heights of what she's been able to achieve. And the truth is, just like even the best hitters in baseball can't possibly hit home runs every single time they have an at-bat, it's statistically impossible for Taylor Swift to have every album be Reputation or 1989 or Lover, where almost every song is an absolute banger.
For me, this is probably the song on her new album that I bop along to the most often. There's some other good songs on the album (and some eyebrow-raising ones like "Wood"), but this one has the right combination of melody and lyrics that just hit right.
"Close To You" & "Dancing On My Own"
by Gracie Abrams & Robyn
Gracie Abrams is one of my favorite artists of the past couple years. Last year, I featured her song "That's So True" on my playlist for "Invalid Item" , and this year I'm following it up with a song I might have listened to even more this year than I did that track last year. And rather than include just the original song, I figured I'd share a video of one of my favorite live performances in recent years, where Gracie Abrams performed this song in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois at Lollapalooza 2025... and surprised everyone by bringing out Robyn to perform her hit song "Dancing On My Own" (also one of my favorites). This was an incredible performance that really highlights how good both of the songs are.
The first time I heard Gracie Abrams was actually when she was one of the opening acts for Taylor Swift's "The Eras Tour" when my wife and I attended in Los Angeles in August 2023. We were standing in line at one of the merch tents and listening to Gracie belting out her songs from the stage. After the concert that night, I added her to my Spotify playlist and she's been heavily featured ever since.
FUN FACT: Gracie is actually the daughter of writer/director J.J. Abrams!
"The Thrill"
by Wiz Khalifa (feat. Empire of the Sun)
While we're on the topic of sampling and covers, this was another one heavily in my music rotation in 2025. Sampling heavily from "Walking on a Dream" by Empire of the Sun (released in 2008), Wiz Khalifa illegally sampled the song for his first iteration of "The Thrill" which he released on a mixtape in 2009. It wasn't until the end of 2020 that the song finally received an official release after the collaboration had been formalized.
Like the first three songs on my playlist this year, "The Thrill" was a song that I often listened to on repeat while I was working. It has a great beat and catchy lyrics, and it's easy - after listening to it half a dozen times - to let the song bleed into the background and focus on the task at hand while the upbeat tempo of the song keeps you going.
I think this is probably the anthem of the past year for a lot of us. It samples "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye to great effect, and it's certainly topical. Doechii originally worked on the song in 2019, but after a resurgence in 2025 on TikTok, she re-released it as an official single and I think that was a really wise choice. Anxiety is something that's pervasive in today's society, and I think this song really speaks to a lot of us.
Anxiety, keep on tryin' me
I feel it quietly
Tryin' to silence me, yeah
Anxiety, shake it off of me
Somebody's watchin' me
It's my anxiety, yeah
2025 ended up being the perfect year to release an updated version of this song; as with the first Trump Administration, there's been so much chaos and uncertainty in the world. Which is not to say that the Trump Administration is responsible for everything that's going on in the world, but they definitely embrace a theory of wielding political power that's inextricably tied to upending things and keeping people in a state of disregulation. Whether you're concerned about the political climate, social justice and civil rights, climate change, wealth inequality, international affairs, etc., there's probably something for you to feel anxious about right now, and this song definitely taps into those vibes.
My wife doesn't like listening to this song because the beat and the lyrics actually make her anxious. That's actually why I dig this so much; it's one of those songs that becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy and - honestly - if that's not a true encapsulation of what anxiety feels like, then I don't know what is.
This was my second most listened-to song last year. I think that's probably largely due to the fact that the song is less than three minutes long, so when I would listen to it on repeat, I ended up listening to it dozens of times in the course of a half hour. When I need to focus on something, I tend to do that a lot with a song; I'll pick something that has a catchy beat or lyrics that I can have run in the background on repeat while I'm in the zone working. This was one of those songs for me last year, and the fact that I listened to it over a hundred times is a testament to that.
I don't really know much about this guy as an artist; he doesn't have much of an online presence and doesn't provide much information on his various profiles. All I know from Spotify is that he released two songs in 2023. This was one of them, and the other was "Moment" (which is also a really good song). I'll be curious to see if he comes out with another single or an EP one of these days.
I was a little surprised to find that this song wasn't on my "Invalid Item" playlist from last year given how much I listened to it in 2024 as well, but it also ended up being the top song that I listened to in 2025 as well, so I guess that's just all the more evidence that this needs to be the first song of my 2026 playlist!
The Strike released their first album in 2017 and have been building a steady following ever since, thanks in large party to their catchy, energetic songs that I find reminiscent of the pop/rock stuff that I grew up on in the late 1980s. They're one of the bands that I'm listening to most right now, and I would love for the chance to see them in person one day.
Based on how much I've been listening to this album, don't be surprised to find it again as my "Invalid Item" selection this year, or see other songs featured in future Soundtrackers activities. I don't see myself losing interest in listening to them anytime soon and I've only added more of their songs to my playlist this year!
To qualify for my Watch List every month, a title has to be something that I've watched that's new to me. It doesn't necessarily have to be a current show, but it can't be reruns or rewatches of something I've already seen. If I'm including it in this list, it means this month is the first time I've watched it. I'll put "DNF" (Did Not Finish) next to anything that I stopped watching and have no immediate plans to finish. If I'm watching an ongoing season of a series across multiple months, I'll only list it once.
Movies
Elevation Greenland Greenland 2: Migration Mercy People We Meet on Vacation The Woman in Cabin 10
I didn't love any of the movies I watched this month. Of all of them, Mercy was an entertaining faced-paced thriller that was pretty well done, and I thought the first Greenland was surprisingly tense and emotional. The sequel felt more like a paint-by-numbers money grab to replicate the success of the original without much heart, and Elevation was a good idea for a sci-fi horror movie but ended up veering into B-movie territory pretty quick. People We Meet on Vacation was a decent romantic comedy; Netflix seems to have found their sweet spot for these types of movies. They find a charimastic couple of actors, write a few decent jokes and set pieces, and set it to some good music and it gets the job done. The Woman in Cabin 10 is based on a book I've been meaning to read but now probably won't because I already know how the murder mystery ends and I wasn't that impressed by it.
Documentaries
Billy & Molly DisneyNature's Bears
We've been trying to find stuff for our kids to watch that isn't just pure entertainment, and they both seem to really enjoy animals, so we checked out a couple of Disney+ documentaries. Billy & Molly was a really sweet documentary about a guy (Billy) living on the Shetland Islands north of Scotland who befriends an otter (Molly) and bonds with her. And DisneyNature's Bears was one that the kids really enjoyed also.
Television
Emily in Paris (Season 5) Murder in a Small Town (Season 1) Run Away (Season 1) Stranger Things (Season 5) Task (Season 1)
My favorite television series that I watched this month was Task. It started a little slow, but got really compelling as it went on. It was well-acted and tense, and I'm thrilled they renewed it for a second season. The fifth and final season of Stranger Things was good (definitely better than the last two seasons), but it felt more like they were ending it because they had to rather than because it was a good time or narratively satisfying to do so. I absolutely loved the first season of this show, but it felt like every subsequent season failed to live up to the promise of the first. Run Away was just an okay thriller based on a Harlan Coben book, and Murder in a Small Town is a VERY Canadian procedural/drama series that I couldn't make it past a couple episodes of. And Emily in Paris I can't really honestly recommend to anyone, but my wife likes it so we continue to follow along with Emily and her group of Parisian friends who are all super good looking, super fashionable, and complain to each other about how opportunities of a lifetime that fall into their laps time and time again just aren't the perfect thing they're looking for.
Webseries
Tales from Woodcreek
One of the YouTube TTRPG channels that I follow (Dungeon Dudes) helped produce this webseries, which was a live-play game run by actress Deborah Ann Woll (of Daredevil fame, among other things). It was a really cool mix of both TTRPG play (sitting around with your friends, telling a story by rolling dice) and LARP (live action roleplay, where you act out what your character does).
She basically had each player pretend to be their character and carry their character sheets around on lanyards around their neck as she physically took them to an abandoned town that had been fitted with puzzles and challenges that matched what their characters were experiencing. So instead of just sitting around a table and imagining, she'd be like, "Quick, to the old schoolhouse!" and they'd all run to the old schoolhouse and she'd show them a puzzle or prop that she was describing and they had a chance to interact with physically as they figured the story out.
It was honestly a really, really cool idea for a game, and her players (two of which were the titular Dungeon Dudes, and others which included Woll's actor friends) absolutely loved it. I hear there's already talk of a second season and, if true, I'm definitely in for another go-round. While the story itself didn't blow me away, the creativity and work that must have gone into setting this up to be a memorable experience for the players was well worth the watch for anyone who admires game design and unique gameplay.
January 28, 2026: What is your favorite version of the Bible and why?
The version of the Bible I've read the most - owing to the fact that my last three churches all use it - is the New International Version (NIV). However, I also went on a bit of a compare-and-contrast kick for a few years and have also read the vast majority of the Bible in the English Standard Version (ESV) and New Living Translation (NLT), as well as sizeable chunks of it using the New King James Version (NKJV) and The Message (MSG). My wife and I started attending a second church with friends from time to time, and they use the Christian Standard Bible (CSB), so I've been thinking about picking up a copy and continuing my compare-and-contrast efforts.
Ultimately, I think the NIV is fine. I appreciate its attempt at modern readability and the fact that it's written to be globally accessible (it's often the English translation that non-native English speakers are most familiar with). So that's probably my go-to version of the Bible for everyday use. I like the ESV for Bible study, and the NLT is great for casual reading and general comprehension.
That said, some of the language in the KJV and NKJV is absolutely beautiful and poetic, and I often find myself looking up particular passages in those translations just to see how the Word is crafted.
Ultimately, I suppose my "favorite" version of the Bible depends on the task at hand. I have a different "favorite" translation for casual reading than I do for intense study than I do for church attendance to follow along with.
Day 4072: Are you planning on watching the Winter Olympics ? If so what's your favorite sporting event?
If not, what are you watching on television these days?
I always try to watch the Olympics whenever they're taking place. For the Winter Olympics, I enjoy watching Figure Skating and Speed Skating, Luge, Ski Jumping, and Snowboarding. Biathlon is the event I always think I'd be interested to watch and turns out to be pretty boring, and Curling is the event I always think will be pretty boring and ends up being pretty interesting.
The Olympics (both Summer and Winter) are up there in terms of sporting events that I really enjoy watching. Along with the World Cup, I think it's the scarcity of the event (only once every four years) that makes me want to prioritize tuning in and watching. In terms of regular sporting events, though, I'm currently really into Formula 1 racing, after having watched several seasons of Drive to Survive on Netflix, then following the 2025 season very closely. Initial testing and work is being done for the 2026 season now, so I've been enjoying following along with all the news and details of the Barcelona shakedown, and the upcoming testing in Bahrain in February.
I will occasionally still tune into tennis every now and then, but I don't follow it nearly as closely as I did 10-15 years ago when Federer and Nadal were at the height of their professional competitiveness.
For other television watching habits, check out some of my recently monthly watch lists, where I detail all of the things I watch in both theaters and at home on TV:
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