Category: Long Form

Spotify Wrapped and thus Apple Replay day is my favorite day on social media, and maybe one of my favorite days of the year. I love to see what people have been listening to. Going into the year, I expected Dream Theater or Steven Wilson to fight for a top spot because of their new albums. They were 2 and 3 respectively and only with their powers combine could they overcome number 1… Big Big Train.

A few thoughts on these results. I am genuinely stunned that Big Big Train was only about 18.7% of my listening this year… I felt like I put them on a bit too much. But their live album Are We Nearly There Yet? plus some of the recent singles from their upcoming new album helped propel them to top dog yet again. Such a joyous band to listen to. The surprising entry this year was Ghost, which really peaked my interest at one point this year. I saw them in July and it was a great suggestion from Brian to go see them. I had never heard of them before! The music is not what you’d expect based on their imagery. Lastly, how the heck is Rush #4?! I mean, favorite band, yes. Surprise tour announcement? Also yes. August was a vibe. I guess I spun them a good bit that month? I feel like I seldom listen to them anymore. I told a friend who texted me the Drumeo break down of Tom Sawyer how I felt that was the first Rush I had heard all year and it was released in late March!

It is really special to share a lot of my favorite music with Katherine and see her bop and dance to it. This will probably fade over time, so I am enjoying it while I can. Maybe she’ll pleasantly surprise me.

That said, not everyone is so lucky to have a kiddo who enjoys their music. If you wanna preserve your Replay 2026 from next year’s KPop Demon Hunters, look no further (though those songs absolutely slap). You want to make a Focus Mode for when you’re listening to kids music. Maybe call it that. Swipe down to enter Control Center, long press Focus (might just show Do Not Disturb) and tap the New Focus button on the bottom. Select Custom and give it a name and emoji. When customizing the focus mode, add a filter for Music. Leave the toggle for Use Listening History off and tap Add in the upper right hand corner. That’ll do it. Now just enter that focus mode when you are playing music for your kid.

Another tip is to make a Shortcut to simplify this action. You can have it set the focus mode to your Kid Music focus and start a playlist in Apple Music of their favorite music. If you find yourself frequently in this position in the car, you could also make a Shortcut to exit the focus mode when you leave CarPlay or disconnect from your car bluetooth. I can show you how if you need any help.

Earlier today I recorded with Josh of DolphinsTalk about the upcoming Thursday Night Football game against our teams. It was nice to finally sync up together on his show after interacting in the Bad Faith Times Discord for the last few years.

Also I joined my friend Ellen on her show about healing journeys earlier this month. She summarized the conversation well: Healing Perfectionism, Patriarchy, and Parental Loss. I have really enjoyed Ellen’s podcast and hearing other’s healing journeys. I was weird to be vulnerable on this show but I think it is a good conversation with some nice nuggets.

Got invited to do a show with The Ravens Way and had a lot of fun talking about the state of the Ravens.

They decided to run it back this year, which I think was a fine choice. Next year will be a big change to the roster with the multitude of contracts expiring. That said, might have a change in the coaching staff too. Didn’t see that coming at the beginning of the year. Vas summed it up well at the end of the – Harbaugh is fighting for his legacy this season.

The thing they don’t tell you growing up about life is this: Life? It’s every single day. -Gary Gulman

The last few weeks I feel like I have been just treading water. This feeling started with Greek Festival Week (last post was right before then), and I think MAYBE just maybe it is coming to an end. So let’s catch up.

Festival seemed to be a success from early reports and I’m considering adding a lamb option to my portfolio because souvlaki feels all but conquered. Probably a dumb idea.

I now possess a Cosmic Orange iPhone and it is delightful. Love finally having an iPhone with a personality and the new thermal design and larger sensor telephoto camera have been a delight. The new camera system is so nice that I do wonder if I’ll be able to give it up for a rumored foldable next year. We’ll see how that plays out.

My good buddy and known blog reader Tbama was able to make an AI voice using old videos of him speaking before his ALS diagnosis. I know folks have some strong feelings about AI, but this use case is simply tremendous. Now he is able to communicate with the group using his own voice again and it is a delight to everyone. #tbamastrong

Taylor Swift had the audacity to release her new album the same day as Big Big Train’s new live album. Adele attempted a similar feat launching 25 alongside Rush’s R40 Live album. Adele stuck the landing far better. Don’t think this TS album has the juice. Are We Nearly There Yet? however is a joy. I’m listening to it right now while writing this up! The mix has enough bass pedals to keep me happy 🤣

I am editing this post to add a shout out to a very cool album Brian shared with me as well. Crown Land’s Fearless is pretty darn neat. Two Canadians giving a nod to their Rush influences. I have listened to a few other of their records and their sound is quite diverse, but I dig it.

Lastly, Derek moved his Derek Likes Sports content to a new YouTube channel to get the micro-nations mob off his back. Like and subscribe, etc.

The NFL has purposely transformed itself into the NBA over the last couple decades; ideally they want every game, esp every big game between contenders, to come down to the final possession. And that means you must keep scoring. The Ravens did not.

Love this quote from Jim’s latest article. One reason I wrote my piece on John is because I don’t think he recognizes this change in how the NFL operates. Check it out!

Please consider donating to my 2025 St. Jude campaign. This year I’m offering photography tips, a bag of roasted coffee, and mini family photography sessions if you’re in the Baltimore / DC area. https://tiltify.com/@apulianas/amps-st-jude-fundraiser-2025

If you’re looking for something neat today, look no further than Caleb Denison’s return to YouTube after his legal dispute with his former employer and my appearance on Derek Likes Sports where we discuss the very sad loss the Ravens had with a Bills fan along with other NFL Week 1 happenings. I come in at 48:30 but watch it all!

To follow up on the fire John Harbaugh thing – I find it fascinating that many other Harbaugh supporters flipped after that game, many of which I really respect. To clarify, I’m not expecting or wishing he gets fired this year – I just need to see signs of him improving in game logistics for me to support him again. I worry maybe he’s not progressing with the times of where the league is going. He seemed to be doing so in 19-21 but a regression has occurred in the last few years. Jake Loque has been calling for a common sense czar and I’m here for that as well and mentioned very similar in the discourse that transpire on Bluesky.

I don’t say this lightly, but I have seen enough. He is too conservative in games, no wonder he rubs elbows with Donald Trump. So many inexcusable mistakes, including not going for two to make it a potential 3 possession game and the horrid 2nd down call in the final offensive possession. And to make it worse, they elect not to go for it on 4th down. They so desperately want to not lose rather than win. I trust Lamar and Henry read option and it was not used in the highest of leverage.

I’ve got a lot of stuff I wanna write about that have nothing to do with this but in the meantime, something to munch on.

After complaining about the Blue app (what Meta calls Facebook internally), I decided for the first time in my mobile phone history to remove it from my homescreen. With my new found slot, I finally set up Tapestry and boy oh boy am I loving it. RSS, Bluesky, and Mastodon all under one roof! Should have done this months ago when it launched in February. Reminds me of UberSocial back in the Blackberry days over a decade ago.

And no, I couldn’t remember the name, but ChatGPT did. It also moved up to my first homepage from the second today since Ice Cubes felt redundant with Tapestry. Locket backfilled the ChatGPT spot so that maybe I remember to use it more, but I could see that changing.