Alan M
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alanm.in
Alan M
@alanm.in
440 followers 660 following 280 posts
Introverted lurker and old-school nerd
Star Wars | Star Trek | X-Men | sci-fi | comics | gaming | pop culture | various other nerdy stuff

Podcast addict who uses Podcast Addict

Systems Analyst by vocation, progressive liberal by conscience

he/him/his
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alanm.in
Whenever I enjoy a D&D novel or comic, it always turns into homework as I take notes on the characters and settings so I can deploy them in my games.

Currently gathering details on Fielle's family inn as I read this, to use in my Baldur's Gate campaign… Thanks @delilahsdawson.bsky.social 😄
The cover art for Delilah S. Dawson's "Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd"
October 31, 2025 at 1:08 AM
alanm.in
Unplanned werewolf double-feature tonight, as I knocked off the two shortest films on my October watchlist:

The Wolf Man (1941) – ★★★
boxd.it/bxsiYp

Slice (2018) – ★★
boxd.it/bxvb67
Poster for "The Wolf Man" (1941) Poster for "Slice" (2018)
October 30, 2025 at 4:59 AM
alanm.in
Inspired by a @ghweldon.bsky.social moment in today's Pop Culture Happy Hour episode. I regret nothing (except the resolution of the headshot 😕)
The "Is this a pigeon?" meme, with Glen Weldon's head pasted onto the man, and the poster for the Tony Scott movie "The Hunger" over the butterfly, with the caption "Is this camp?"
July 10, 2025 at 5:57 PM
alanm.in
(h/t @greatesttrek.com for the drop)
A gif of Charles Napier's Murdock, a middle-aged white man wearing glasses and a white collared shirt, from Rambo: First Blood Part II, shaking his head and saying "That's a hell of a combination"
July 7, 2025 at 8:41 PM
alanm.in
Oof, this "game" sounds like a relationship destroyer 🫣
An ad for "Décorum: A Game of Passive Aggressive Cohabitation" Game description: "You and your partner share the same objective: decorate your home. The problem is, different things make each of you happy and nobody says exactly what they need. Can you make it work, or is it time to move out?"
May 8, 2025 at 10:40 PM
alanm.in
Probably not the first, but the earliest that's coming to mind is Circuit Breaker from the Marvel Transformers comics. She wasn't really bad, just misunderstood! 🙃
A three-quarter profile illustration of Circuit Breaker — a strawberry blonde, blue-eyed white woman with metal strips framing her face and patterned over her otherwise-naked body. She is holding up her right fist at eye level, with electricity zapping out of it. She's looking at the "camera" with a FAFO expression on her face
April 28, 2025 at 12:48 AM
alanm.in
Hey @nytimes.com Games, got an update for your Spelling Bee dictionary:
The 4/26/2025 New York Times Spelling Bee grid, with the letters A G H I L N O, saying that "GOANNA" is not in their word list A screenshot of the Wikipedia page for "goanna", a species of lizard
April 26, 2025 at 5:17 PM
alanm.in
A film that takes place where you're from

(Kinda. The book was actually set at my high school and surrounding environs, of which Larry Doyle is an alum. Names — and filming locations — were changed for the movie)
Movie poster for "I Love You, Beth Cooper"
April 16, 2025 at 6:31 PM
alanm.in
My brilliant 5yo saw me reading this book by @theradr.bsky.social and asked what it was about. After I explained that it was about what we should do if we've hurt someone and need to make it better, he said "That book should be in every house!"

And y'know, he's not wrong
The cover to the book "On Repentance and Repair: Making Amend in an Unapologetic World" by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
March 31, 2025 at 3:15 AM
alanm.in
Wondering about the voice behind the 5yo's beloved YouTube creator Dr. Binocs, but LLMs have made search engines useless
Title card for "The Dr. Binocs Show", declaring "Educational videos for kids" with the main character, Dr. Binocs — a teal-colored cartoon anthropomorphic beard with binoculars for eyes that have different-sized pupils — wearing a glass bubble space helmet in front of a stellar background with planets, a satellite, a flying saucer, and an astronaut A Duck Duck Go search for "dr binocs voice actor" which offers Joe Ranft, a voice actor who's been dead for 20 years and definitely isn't the voice behind this character who was created within the past decade, as the top result An article with the heading "Who is the voice behind Dr. Binocs?" that then goes on to describe "the talented and versatile Mr. XYZ."
March 6, 2025 at 2:17 PM
alanm.in
Excuse me, Spelling Bee, but I would like to have words with you about how I spend most of my days…
Screenshot of the New York Times' Spelling Bee game declaring that the word "Dadding" is not in its word list
March 2, 2025 at 7:10 PM
alanm.in
Wasn't sure if this break was a creative choice or an accidental conversion-to-digital flub. The fun of e-reading.

(He does this several times in the story, so I figured out it's deliberate, but I do wonder if the "did they mess up" response was an intended outcome…)
#BookSky
Screenshot of a page from Stephen King's "Night Shift" short story collection, in which the text cuts off mid-sentence, then picks the sentence two lines later
February 11, 2025 at 9:21 PM
alanm.in
…you ever get the feeling you're being watched?
A picture of a house at night seen through a window. The house's two second-floor windows are lit bright white, and a first-floor window is lit yellow, giving the impression of the staring face of a Jack-O-Lantern
February 7, 2025 at 12:53 AM
alanm.in
This image was a PR image from DC Comics themselves, ca. 2021 (source: screencrush.com/supermans-mo...). It bears striking resemblance to Renato Guedes' cover to Action Comics #847 (Apr 2007), but I can't find if they just used Guedes' art, or if it's a house-commissioned recreation.
The cover to Action Comics #847 by Renato Guedes, featuring Superman flying towards camera, from lower-left to upper-right, with clouds behind him, through which we can see glimpses of the sky, a body of water, and an indistinct town or city
January 31, 2025 at 9:10 PM
alanm.in
Got my quad-monthly double-red donation vampired out of me today, so that's fun!

www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood...
From RedCrossBlood.org: "What is a Power Red Donation? "Power Red is similar to a whole blood donation, except a special machine is used to allow you to safely donate two units of red blood cells during one donation while returning your plasma and platelets to you. "Maximize your impact and schedule a Power Red donation today!"
January 28, 2025 at 11:51 PM
alanm.in
…I don't think this is how Do Not Disturb is supposed to work?
A screenshot of two notifications: Notification 1: "Incoming call. Answer/Ignore?" Notification 2: "Do not disturb turned on until I turn it off"
January 21, 2025 at 4:19 PM
alanm.in
If you see this, post a pic from your device without an explanation.
A toy version of Mater, the rusty brown towtruck from Disney/Pixar's "Cars" franchise, with a purple rubber velociraptor standing in the truck bed, with the dino's forelegs resting on the roof of the cabin, as if it's taking a joy ride. The toys are at a three-quarter angle, with an out-of-focus color pattern behind them
January 20, 2025 at 5:22 PM
alanm.in
I have questions about @bsky.app's spam filter…
Screenshot of a Mastodon bridge account's "Night all!" post being labeled spam
January 20, 2025 at 1:22 AM
alanm.in
"Waste" is a loaded word, M-W. I prefer to think of it as strategically-deployed non-engagement
Screenshot of "dillydally" Screenshot of the Merriam-Webster definition page for "dillydally", reading: dillydally verb dil·​ly·​dal·​ly | \ ˈdi-lē-ˌda-lē \ dil​ly​dal​lied; dil​ly​dal​ly​ing; dil​ly​dal​lies Definition intransitive ​verb : to waste time by loitering or delaying : dawdle
January 1, 2025 at 3:58 PM
alanm.in
So many options, but…

Without downloading any new pics, what's your energy going into 2025
A Malayan sun bear lying slumped down on what looks like a wooden fence, face wrinkled up, forepaws crossed under its chin, and its long pink tongue drooping down, giving it an expression of "I'm done, y'all. I'm staying right here."
December 30, 2024 at 5:37 AM
alanm.in
Narrator: It wasn't
"Growing up, my mom used to tell me about the stocks or funds she invested in for me. Every week, we'd take the figures in the newspaper, chart them on graph paper, and stick them on the fridge. We mostly invested in mutual funds. That was fun," "That was fun" is highlighted
December 23, 2024 at 12:36 AM
alanm.in
Seemed like the right shirt to wear today, IDK
Selfie of myself (middle-aged doughy white guy with glasses) wearing my Krypton the Super-Dog t-shirt, which features a white cartoon dog flying in front of the Superman logo
December 19, 2024 at 5:55 PM
alanm.in
I think Target is confused about either the definition of "gender neutral" or of "girl" 🤔
A listing from the Target store's app for "Gender Neutral Girl's Mary Jane" shoes
December 16, 2024 at 6:40 PM
alanm.in
20some years ago, I made a database of all my comics. I don't even remember what software platform I used (some cheap-o no-name thing), but it was a good first forray into data scoping and relational tables
A 3.5" floppy disk labeled "COMIC DATABASE (ZIP)"
November 17, 2024 at 8:32 PM
alanm.in
By comparison, when I made him a rainbow cake for his birthday, using the same base cake mix, the colors were plenty vibrant
Rainbow cake Rainbow cake, with ¼ cut away to show the inside
November 16, 2024 at 2:30 AM