The best things I read, watched, and used in June 2025.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Okay, I had a really hard time getting into this book. In fact, I stopped reading it twice before my friends finally convinced me to pick it up again.
And I was so glad I did.
The first third of this book was so slow and boring, as if Brown was simply trying to show how good he was with language, while the story itself felt like an afterthought. After the end of the first act, however, it finally felt like there were serious, relatable stakes for the protagonist. And it finally felt like Brown was focusing on the story. I’m already looking forward to this being one of my favorite series.
Life of Chuck
Stephen King just understands people. I don’t know how he does it, or from whence his characters materialize. But they always manage to hit you right in that part of your heart where humanity lives.
Life of Chuck is one of my favorite short stories, and the movie absolutely nails the humanity of this story. It did such a wonderful job of capturing the beautiful idea that as we move through life, we carry a bit of everyone we meet and everything we do (we contain multitudes!). Those little bits pop up in the most unexpected places and for reasons we don’t know, but that are best left unexplained.
Because sometimes it’s the questions left unanswered that are the most important. Sometimes it’s just magic.
Righteous Gemstones Season 4
One of my friends said it best: “It’s a weird, but satisfyingly fitting end to the story.” This series is such a unique blend of absurdity and humanity. Dark comedy with a soul.
It often felt like a more likable parallel to Succession, and I often imagined John Goodman’s character repeating Brian Cox’s famous Succession line: “I love you all, but you are not serious people.” The difference between the two shows is that you love the Gemstones and felt invested in them, despite their terrible natures (Succession was only interesting as an observer).
You didn’t necessarily want to be friends with the Gemstones, but you still rooted for them.
Kelvin finally finds happiness without being scared of the loss of his mother because he finds someone (Keefe, one of the greatest characters) that can care for him the way his mother did.
Jesse learns humility by realizing that his Daddy was always proud of him, and it is time for him to be proud and supportive of his family in the same way.
Judy gets therapy from a capuchin (“Don’t mis-species him by calling him a monkey”). She realizes that both she and Dr. Watson were put on this Earth to love BJ the way that her own Momma loved her. Loving her family is the only way to fill the void left behind.
And Eli’s happiness is probably the best of all. His outcome is the antipode of the Succession patriarch: his children have each found their own unique happiness and realized that their love for one another is the only thing that can fill the hole left by their Momma. In this way, Elie can finally… really… actually let go, and know that the kids are alright.
John Wick Chapter 4
A fun end to the franchise. But what really blew me away was Donnie Yen’s performance. His martial arts are next-level, but he brings so much depth to playing a blind fighter: as Caine in John Wick and as Chirrut in Rogue One. The man is a legend in two galaxies!
Atomic Habits by James Clear
I usually try to postpone reading of contemporary productivity, self-help, etc.-type books because so many of them are throwaway ideas (or at the very least, could be reduced to a short blog post). So I’ve held off on reading this one for a while.
But several years later, and people are still extolling its virtues, so I finally gave it a shot and came away very impressed.
I consider myself a fairly productive person who is able to pick up habits (and drop bad ones), but this book gave some added structure to my frameworks that has already helped me improve my consistency and follow-through (ahem, I’m finally updating this site regularly).
So, while most of the junk in this subject area is, in fact, junk, this book is quite the shining gem.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
A fitting end to one of my favorite series of all time, and particularly the ending scene reuniting Indy with Marian (one of the greatest couples of all time). There was a bit of over-the-top CGI action sequences–similar to those that made Kingdom of the Crystal Skull almost unbearable (why can’t they just use the practical effects of the first few movies?). However, the “feel” of an Indiana Jones was still there, along with a great script and performance from Phoebe Waller-Bridge. These types of nostalgic franchise-revivals can often leave me feeling as if I wished the story had stayed complete, but in this case, I was left finishing the series with a smile on my face.
BambuLabs A1 3D Printer
I’ve kinda wanted a 3D printer for a long time. I really loved CAD and 3D-modeling in engineering school, but I was always hesitant to get into 3D-printing because of the entry price and by anecdotes that you spend more time working on the printer than actually printing.
Well, it seems that technology has finally solved both of those problems, so I broke down and bought one.
And man, have I been impressed. I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface, but it’s so fun to create something from nothing, and the ease-of-use of this printer couldn’t be better. I’m looking forward to really diving in to some of the more advanced capabilities and creating some custom items. But for now, it’s time to tackle my kids Halloween costumes.
