My August 2026 Media Diet

In August we took a trip to New Mexico for some hiking and a friend’s wedding. I really enjoyed exploring the Pueblo cliff dwellings and eating as much New Mexican food as possible. Sopapillas need to become a nationwide phenomenon. One day they’ll have their time in the sun.

August also saw the launch of my new app, Leaf! Leaf is an EPUB reader for people who already have a collection of books and want to read them across different kinds of devices. It syncs your reading position with KOReader on compatible Android and e-ink devices like Boox and Kobo readers. I’ve had a blast building it over the past few months and I’m really proud of where it ended up.

It’s always a little humbling to release something you’ve been so focused on into the world. I’ve never enjoyed marketing my apps, and it’s something I have to force myself to do if I want to give them a real shot. I think Leaf is something special though, so I’m going to try my best to give it the chance it deserves. I’d love for you to check it out and give it a shot!

Here’s what else I was up to last month:

📺 Batman: The Caped Crusader. The second season of this kinda-sorta reboot of the 90s Animated Series. I loved how long they took to introduce the Joker and the surprising amount of violence they let Batman get away with. My only complaint is that this version of Batman has absolutely zero levity. Let the man crack a joke once in a while, ya know? 👍

🍿 Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Spider-Man is back, baby, and this might be my favorite installment of the Tom Holland variety. Officially bringing the X-Men into the fold this way with Jean Grey was a smart move. Jon Bernthal as Punisher never gets old and his relationship with Peter / Spidey was so much fun. 👍

🍿 Evil Dead Burn. None of these sequels quite live up to the original trilogy, but I’m really enjoying this new batch of entries. They’re nowhere near as funny, but they’re gross in all the right ways and absolutely relentless. Keep them coming. 👍

📺 The Agency. I’d completely forgotten about this show until the second season came out. That’s a shame because I think it might be the best spy show on TV right now. This season was also a model for how to build on a great first season without blowing everything up and starting over. Loved it. 👍

🍿 Leviticus. Watched this very late one night and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep. I liked what I saw though, even if the execution didn’t totally work for me. Maybe I should actually stay awake and give it another shot.

🍿 Supergirl. This absolutely does not deserve the hate it rather predictably received. Was it incredible? No. Was it anywhere near as bad as the internet would have you believe? Also no. Milly Alcock was easily the best part and I hope she gets another shot at the role.

🕹️ Under the Island. Played this Zelda-like during the in-between moments of our trip to New Mexico. It was exactly the right length, the art style is bright and charming, and it never overstayed its welcome. I’ll be keeping an eye out for whatever this developer does next. 👍

📺 Reacher. Is this show good? I don’t think it is. Is it fun in exactly the right ways? Absolutely. I was also genuinely surprised by the twist, which mostly left me annoyed at myself for not seeing it coming.

🍿 The Invite. Seth Rogen is incredible and must be protected at all costs. This movie’s sense of humor is exactly my cup of tea and every member of the cast plays their role perfectly. High anxiety, funny as hell, and just the right amount of Seth Rogen physically eating shit. Loved it. 👍

🍿 Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma. I’ve now seen two of Jane Schoenbrun’s three films and this convinced me I need to complete the set. Both have this deeply meta quality that really works for me. Gillian Anderson also deserves some kind of award for whatever the hell she was doing here. She absolutely nailed it.

🍿 Drive. I hadn’t watched this in at least a decade and it absolutely holds up. Gosling is a force of nature here and the man can apparently communicate entire paragraphs by moodily staring at something. 👍

🍿 Motor City. There are maybe three lines of dialogue in this entire movie. I see what they were going for, but I’m not convinced it worked. Somewhere in another universe there’s a version of this movie with all the dialogue left in, and I think I might like that one better.

🍿 Batman: Knightfall (Part 1). I loved the comic when I was younger and this seems to be a pretty faithful adaptation. DC’s animation division has always been quietly great and this is no exception.

🍿 Tuner. I went into this knowing absolutely nothing about it. The main character has a hearing condition that makes him exceptionally good at cracking safes and, naturally, he quickly gets himself into trouble. I really enjoyed this one. Highly recommended. 👍

📺 Lanterns. Somehow this is the fourth piece of DC content I watched this month, which is a little upsetting. That said, I’ll watch pretty much anything Damon Lindelof makes. His Watchmen series was incredible and Lanterns is off to a great start. The buddy-cop setup works surprisingly well and I’ve genuinely looked forward to every new episode. 👍