✨Ben Hamill✨ @benhamill@witches.town

I finished Dragonoak: The Sky Beneath the Sun by Sam Farren today. It's the second in the trilogy. The first book has this really sweet through line and while that is still there a bit, it's overshadowed, I felt, by some dramatic and traumatic plot events. It's not nearly as uplifting a book. That's not bad, just something some folks might want to know before diving in. The world building in the series continues to be really strong along with creating connections with the characters. #books

@Qwyrdo OOooooh this is too much fun. I miiiiiiiiight have to buy it.

@Qwyrdo Thanks! I'll check it out! Thanks.

@Qwyrdo … What is this… "Vulgar"?

@Tom @soft_chomps It's just… metadata, though, right? Like… did they run out of room in their playlist join table or something?

@lindar If that becomes real, LMK. I'd be interested in updates or crowd funding, etc.

@lindar Yeah. That's a good call.

Also I bought that set recently and it is really rad.

@lindar This sounds like me, but it's Legos, not clothes. 😜

@lindar I see. I don't know most of those stores you named in the mall, but I guess that implies I'm not the full-pay customer for the shoes you mentioned (even though I spend plenty of money on frivolous shit).

@lindar Yeah. I think you'd still lose to Chucks because they have history and Nike money behind them and cost only $60 or whatever. That's still a giant mark up on whatever they cost to make, of course. IDK. I'm feeling cynical this morning, I think.

@lindar Yeah. I looked at alternatives a few years ago. Even just supporting a smaller company would be preferable. I didn't really find anything I super liked.

One of the things I like most about Chucks is that they're aggressively unisex and so all colors are available in most sizes. So I can get brightly colored shoes that fit. Ties into the "not overtly masculine" theme.

I read the first trade of the new Archie comic series over the weekend. I'm not sure what I think of it. I've likes some of Mark Waid other stuff and Fiona Staples's work on Saga is really great. And I'm trying to feed my enjoyment of teeny drama. But… IDK if it did it for me. I think I'm hung up by also watching Riverdale and having started that first. I also read an issue of Betty & Veronica and thought it was Pretty Bad™, so maybe that's souring me. Anybody else read this? Or volume 2 and wanna share thoughts?

I guess another element is that my kiddos often wear Chucks, too, and I really like it when a stranger notices the whole family is in the same shoes. It makes me feel, IDK, connected to them. Without being, like, that annoying family all wearing the same sweater or whatever.

@balrogboogie That's rad. My groomsmen were all in classic black Chucks and my wife also wore chucks (a cream color that matched her dress), but the bridesmaids did whatever they thought fit with their dresses best.

IDK. I also don't know if they'll be breathable enough for me and stuff, but they're pretty comfortable so far. I just have a lot of mixed feelings. Like I've betrayed some part of myself, but also that that's silly.

On the other hand, it feels weird to be in low tops for the first time in more than a decade. And the soles are so squishy. And they don't tighten down the same way. And UA doesn't seem to make men's shoes (or many items at all, in general) in as bright of colors as I've taken to liking in the last few years. And, like, replacing a Nike-owned Chuck Taylor with a UA sneaker isn't super revolutionary, either. There's no ethical whatever under capitalism, etc.