I had some Endgame-level convergence of family the last week, and decided to take the group to one of the most stereotypically pictureque parts of Switzerland: the Bernese Oberland/Lauterbrunnen valley. Our original plan was to hike the Eiger trail, then the Mountain View Trail from Lauterbrunnen to Murren and spend the first night there, then hike to the Gspalthornhuette the second day, then the Blueemlisalphuette the third, and finally down to Oeschinensee on the last. Read more...

This past weekend, my partner and I went down to Zermatt for a weekend in the mountains. Day one, we hiked from town to the Berggasthaus Trift, a very cute little hotel nestled in a valley above Zermatt. From there, we went a good chunk of the way to the Rothornhuette before coming back down for supper. The next day, we hiked up to the Platthorn, then futzed around on the glacier between that and the Mettelhorn before returning to the hotel. Read more...

Oof, busy few days. Some family visited, so I gave them a tour of a few places, all of which I’ve done at one point or another, and know are pretty cute. Saentis Not much to say. The knife-shaped mountains are cool, and the route is a nice balance of relatively flat sections and steeper, cable guided ones. Instead of hiking from Wasserauen to Ebenalp, we took the cable car up, then hiked to Saentis proper. Read more...

I’ve come to realize that putting all my hikes in a single doc is pretty inefficient in terms of tracking and updating, so I’ve added a new tag for hikes, and each will get their own post. The old post will stay for posteriority, but won’t be updated. I may go back and retroactively make each hike it’s own post (with the appropriate dates on them, of course). Anyhoo. This hike was super chill, three hours up, two down, nothing too aggressive or technical. Read more...

A big ‘ol list of the hikes I’ve done, with a quick description/review for each, updated as I do more hikes. 2018 Switzerland I visited Switzerland for a week in April while working in Germany. Shilthorn and Lauterbrunnen - Being a tourist, I had no choice but to visit the Interlaken area. Gorgeous valley, great views while hiking along the cliffs on the Shilthorn side, and the falls were pretty magnificent as well. Read more...

Sorry for the review spam. I swear I have a ton of topics I’d love to ramble about, but unfortunately, I’m caught up in exams and don’t really have the energy to do much which requires much critical thinking outside studying, so I’ve been resorting to reading and watching movies, thus my current output. Right, Worm. I had high hopes for this series. Actually creative super-powers? Semi-rational characters? Great escalation? Sign me up! Read more...

This movie is weeeird. For starters, it’s a 2019 film which is in black and white and almost square aspect ratio. For seconds, everything else about it. The setting is simple: two men are on an island tending to a lighthouse, one old and cankerous, the other young and proud, and explores their relationship. As the film progresses, cracks begin to show; Winslow begins to have hallucinogenic episodes, and becomes more and more obsessed with discovering why Thomas is so protectiveness of the lighthouse. Read more...

I loved the idea of an unkillable alien god. Unfortunately, the Shrike alone was unsufficient to carry the novel. I was okay with some of the stories in the anthology, but others were just bland. I gave up part-way through the Consul’s story, as I was bored out of my mind and didn’t want to go through another slog for what I understood was a cliff-hanger ending. I enjoyed some of the stories, such as the priest’s and the poet’s, but as they progressed, I found myself less and less engaged with the novel. Read more...

My partner told me this movie was too long and slow for their taste. I loved it; for the most part, it was pondorous, monolithic, and dripping with atmosphere, letting the gorgeous set-pieces, sound design and soundtrack, costume design, and special effects take front stage. I thoroughly enjoyed the world Frank Herbert built and Denis Villeneuve and his team brought to life. The sci-fi elements are a beautiful blend of furutism, industrialism, and straight-up witchcraft. Read more...

Honestly, didn’t live up to the hype. The one shot of the ship going through the wormhole was super cool, the shots of the black hole were kind of underwhelming, and the rest was just meh. I watched Ad Astra a couple years ago, and “person left alone in a remote location who is secretly evil” feels like an overused trope at this point. I didn’t actually finish the movie; I got to the point where he tries communicating with his daughter and turned it off. Read more...