iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 02/10/2026

Good morning from the vicinity of the giant corn cobs.

A photo of the Marina City buildings, near the river in Chicago. With their tall cylindrical shapes and their curved inset windows, they really do look like corn cobs.

A view up the river from the bridge on State Street in Chicago. It is morning, and the river is flanked by tall buildings.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 01/10/2026

If you see this post a vampire that isn’t Dracula.

Two faces of the same character. On the left: a white man looks into the camera. On the right: the same man, with the fangs and crazy glowing eyes of a vampire. Who is he? He’s Nick Knight, cop/vampire hero of the Canadian TV series FOREVER KNIGHT.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 12/09/2026

Isn’t that a lovely sight. (And a big obstacle sitting in my front hallway, but that’s beside the point.) #books #writing

An open shipping box containing paperback copies of QUESTIONS FOR THE DEAD, a psychic mystery novel by Matthew Porter. The book’s cover shows a gray and black silhouette of the Denver skyline with the Rocky Mountains in the background.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 08/09/2026

Don’t know much about this but it sounds pretty weird. I’ll know more soon. #movie #DrafthouseDiary

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 03/09/2026

Post your favorite 40k kill team, wrong (right?) answers only.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 21/08/2026

Software should not be allowed to make decisions about hiring, firing, or any management in between. And if it is, the person who chose to use it should be legally liable for those decisions.

From a 1979 IBM document:

A COMPUTER CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE

THEREFORE A COMPUTER MUST NEVER MAKE A MANAGEMENT DECISION

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 19/08/2026

This morning's coffee: Mystery Blend. A collection of coffee beans left from various bags, each too few to brew a cup on their own. Today's version turned out to be pretty good.

A V-60 pour-over cone, being used to brew coffee into a white mug. The mug site on a black coffee scale.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 05/08/2026

It's not fair, man. Now AI is even taking away the new life that awaits me in the off-world colonies.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 05/08/2026

Oh, man! Now AI is even taking away the new life that awaits me in the off-world colonies.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 01/08/2026

More fun coming up! I'll be a featured author at the Book Lovers Winter Festival at Salt Lake City, Utah in February. Tickets available now. Should be a good time! bookloversfestival.com/authors/matt...

Flyer for Book Lovers Winter Festival. Image depicts a winter scene outside an event center. Text reads:

Get cozy. Get bookish.
Book Lovers Festival is a highly anticipated, reader-driven event designed to bring book lovers together in a cozy winter storybook setting.
Spend the day meeting bestselling authors, discovering new reads, shopping bookish vendors, sipping hot drinks, creating book-inspired crafts, and connecting with fellow readers as you soak in the magic of awinter storybook experience.

Your next favorite chapter starts here!

This is the Place Park, SLC, UT
Saturday, Feb 6, 2027 9am - 8pm

Tickets available at bookloversfestival.com

Promotional image for Book Lovers Winter Festival. Graphics include an author photo of Matthew Porter (a white man with short gray hair, wearing a maroon turtleneck and a blue jacket, with a bookcase in the background) and a drawing of a wintery village nestled in a book like a pop-up.

Text reads:

I'm a Participating Author!
Join me at the inaugural festival to celebrate books, stories, and readers!
Book Lovers Winter Festival

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 28/07/2026

The four states of #cheese: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma.

A bag of Sargento cheese labeled “4 STATE CHEDDAR”

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 26/07/2026

Fine choices, but I’d have to go with Glynis Johns in THE COURT JESTER. She has so many different looks in that film, and every one of them gorgeous.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 23/07/2026

Fun news to share: just got invited to participate on a panel at Bouchercon this October in Calgary. Not my first ever appearance at a convention, but it *is* my first appearance at a mystery convention with a published novel to promote! #books #mystery #bouchercon2026

Graphic depicting the Calgary skyline with mountains in the background, and the text: PANELIST - Join me at Bouchercon, October 21-25, 2026, Calgary Canada.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 23/07/2026

Guys, guys — did you know they already made a movie version of that new J.D. Vance book? #Communion

Poster at the Alamo Drafthouse for the movie COMMUNION (the 1989 adaptation of Whitley Strieber’s alien encounter book, starring Christopher Walken.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 17/07/2026

Brushing up on the classic #book in preparation for a special screening of the 1988 #movie next week. #ufo #alien

Mass-market paperback of COMMUNION by Whitley Strieber. The cover illustration shows an archetypal "gray alien."

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 13/07/2026

Good morning. Caffeine is imminent

A mug with a Hario V-60 pour over cone, on a countertop scale. The brown mug bears the seal of "Sheriff, Absaroka County." (Absaroka is the fictional Wyoming county in Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire novels)

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 12/07/2026

This week I learned that the plural of "giraffe" is "giraffe." Either that, or this institute has a very low bar for conservation. "Hey guys, do we still have a giraffe? That's a win! Good job! "What, we have TWO? Nice! You're hitting it out of the park!"

The promotional seal for the International Center for Care & Conservation of Giraffe.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 08/07/2026

Surely this will improve my play, as it helps me wrap my head around the flow of #MagicTheGathering. Nice work, @loadingreadyrun.com !

A Magic the Gathering playmat from Loading Ready Run. It is divided into specific areas with the labels:

Commander's Hangout
The Pile
Dead Stuff
Really, Really Dead Stuff
Fighty Place
Dudes
Lands & Junk

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 06/07/2026

"Senator Mitch McConnell has not been seen since June 14th. But you're not helping. Why is that?"

Harrison Ford as Deckard administering a Voight-Kampff test in BLADE RUNNER.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 01/07/2026

Only one screening of this j-horror film from 2003. Didn’t want to put it on hold. #movie #horror #drafthousediary #alamodrafthouse

Alamo Drafthouse digital display of lobby poster for the Terror Tuesday screening of the film ONE MISSED CALL.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 23/06/2026

Less inherently scary than the “Be Bear Aware” signs we get other times of the year.

On a patch of grass, a sign with a picture of a deer and text that reads “FAWNS FOLLOW MOMS - SLOW DOWN FOR WILDLIFE.”

Looks like something has been nibbling on a corner of the sign.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 19/06/2026

Please, please tell me that’s 2:44 PM?

Screen shot from delivery service site:

This order is scheduled for delivery.

Order is scheduled for delivery on Saturday, June 20, 2026. We estimate your carrier will arrive at approximately
02:44.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 16/06/2026

For maybe the first time ever I’m tempted to attend an Alamo Drafthouse movie party. #alamodrafthouse #drafthousediary #ItsAboutFamily

A screenshot from the Alamo Drafthouse app promoting "THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS 25th Anniversary Movie Party."

Featured prominently is Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, his arms wide, orating before a crowd at an illegal LA street race as he is about to deride undercover police officer Brian O'Conner for "granny shifting" among other grievous lapses in motoring skill.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 16/06/2026

“By the power of graysk—“ I mean, “By the power of the Alamo Season Pass!” I’m going to see this before it disappears. #MastersOfTheUniverse #AlamoDrafthouse #DrafthouseDiary

Digital lobby poster at the Alamo Drafthouse for a screening of the MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE movie (2026). I’m attending a 6:30 screening, but for some reason the poster still shows the 3:30 showtime.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 11/06/2026

Okay, I'll confess. My novels are written entirely by me, but I use sophisticated tools for “organizing” and “brainstorming.” Here are some of them. I prefer retractable-nib fountain pens. Not picky about notebooks, but I've stopped using Decomposition Book brand due to bleeding and feathering.

A haphazard stack of small notebooks, including a yellow "Decomposition Book" and an Archie McPhee "Bigfoot Pocket Journal." On top of the stack is a blue Pilot Vanishing Point fountain pen.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 09/06/2026

1. This is an excellent product. 2. Its name MUST be spoken as a very dramatic onomatopoeia. Every time.

A bottle of “WHOOSH!” Screen cleaner. The bottle is a clear plastic cylinder with black and orange labeling. Nearby are a tiny purple owl figurine and a white Stream Deck.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 31/05/2026

Plans for the new office/study/studio (study-o?) are proceeding apace.

Page from a bullet journal notebook showing a diagram of a square room, with dimensional measurements.

MacBook screen showing the same square room modeled in Sweet Home 3D. Includes furnishings: bookcases, desk, chairs.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 27/05/2026

This Writech Clictek retractable fountain pen has been a delight. Much less costly than my Pilot Vanishing Point, and it writes like a dream. A little too fiddly to take over for the Lamy Safari as the daily workhorse, but it's close. #pens #fountainpen

A white retractable fountain pen, closed, sitting on a brown notebook.

Close-up of the tip of a retractable fountain pen. The nib is extended. Also visible is the little door that seals away the nib when retracted.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 27/05/2026

I am assessing and evaluating tiny Ouija boards. This critical task is vitally connected to my work.

Sitting on a table with a blue tablecloth, an official Hasbro “World’s Smallest Ouija Board,” in its original packaging, and a very tiny wooden Ouija-type spirit board, including a minuscule planchette

A very tiny wooden Ouija-type spirit board, including a drawer for containing a minuscule planchette that now sits near the board.

An official Hasbro “World’s Smallest Ouija Board,” in its original packaging. The package proclaims, among other things, "Yes! Actually works!"

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 18/05/2026

Pajama Sam 1 (Humongous Entertainment, 1996) Now we just need to invert this so the game matches up our socks in the real world.

Screen from a children’s point-and-click game showing a variety of socks in a blue laundry basket.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 15/05/2026

white, blue, black, red, green, and colorless

The symbols for the five colors of mana in Magic: the Gathering. Sun (white), Water (blue), Skull (black), Flame (red), Tree (green)

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 11/05/2026

"Crazy thing is… it's true. FidoNet. Sysops. ASCII art. All of it. It's all true."

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 08/05/2026

The #DailyESPtest may be for entertainment purposes only, but that doesn’t mean it’s a joke. Every expense has been spared! Only *official* Low Cost ESP Testing Cards are good enough for my followers.

On a desk, surrounded by electronic equipment: a pile of Zenner cards with blue patterned backs and faces bearing symbols such as stars and crosses.

Above them is a packaging label identifying the set as “Low Cost ESP Testing Cards”

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 06/05/2026

Some days it’s hard to know exactly how much snow we’ve gotten. #colorado

A stick sanding in a snowy yard. The stick is a snow gauge, but snow has stuck to it, obscuring the inch markers and making it unreadable.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 03/05/2026

And lo, the box of parts long darkening my garage has become a shed.

Tucked into a corner outside a suburban house, a large outdoor shed with gray double doors.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 28/04/2026

Just thinking about ways to find an upside to the absurd ballroom business.

Scene from a charming Thomas the Tank Engine story, for children, in which Henry, a vain locomotive who is afraid to go outside, is bricked up inside a tunnel.

Forever.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 19/04/2026

Meanwhile, at @alamodrafthouse.bsky.social. We’re required to use our phones to order, where cell reception is minimal, and the in-house WiFi does not work. The Alamo’s mobile ordering is a bad decision, poorly executed. Not ready for prime time.

iPhone screenshot of WiFi settings, with the message “Unable to join the network ‘AlamoWifi’”

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 19/04/2026

Of course it’s playing in Theater 8. I’d be so disappointed if it were anywhere else. #alamodrafthouse #Exit8 #movie

Movie poster for the film EXIT 8, at the door to Auditorium 8 (labeled with a large lighted numeral 8).

The movie poster depicts people walking on a möbius strip that bears tiles and signage like a train station.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 16/04/2026

A movie couple that would definitely have a podcast.

Indigo and Fezzik from THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 30/03/2026

#ScribesAndMakers 3/30 Do birds ever feature in your work? Give an example. A tiny bit? In one scene in QUESTIONS FOR THE DEAD, Mark -- a psychic who can talk with animals -- appears to have a brief exchange with some rude, snarky sparrows.

Page from a novel:

"I suppose he could have the phony sculpture, and maybe the remaining jars," Harris said.
"Right. And if we can wrap up who pulled off the heist, and prove that Wells killed Vargas, that should clear Fielding."
"All right," Harris said, "I'll leave you to it." He extended a hand to Mark. "It was good meeting you, Mark. Every time I meet one of Martin's associates, I'm impressed, but I had no idea he had an art expert in the bull pen."
Mark shook the hand, but he gave a steely sideways glance at me.
"Glad to meet you too," Mark told Harris, "and glad to help."
With a nod, a wave, and a stop at the counter to pay for his extra cookie, Harris was out the door and driving away.
A minute later Mark and I had followed him outside. A pair of sparrows hopped out of our way on the walk, pausing in their fight over a large bread crust to look up at us with sharp black eyes and give a synchronized chirp.
"Well, Mark," I said, "looks like we have a few people to talk to."
"Who asked you?" Mark demanded.
I turned to him. "What the hell?"
"Sorry," Mark said, gesturing down the path. "I was talking to the birds."

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 25/03/2026

Going to have to start a new notebook for my #bulletjournal at the start of the month. Time to go down to my notebook cellar.

A gray notebook and black pen, sitting on a black desk pad and surrounded by stationery, electronics, and other accessories.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 24/03/2026

“Every day, once a day, give yourself a present.” - Special Agent Dale Cooper Today’s present: a stop at Corvus Coffee for a cappuccino and a restock of fresh beans.

Three bags of coffee beans with the label of Corvus Coffee, standing on a red and white checked tablecloth.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 01/03/2026

Farewell panel for #LeftCoastCrime 2026 in San Francisco. Hard to believe it’s time to say goodbye!

Panel of speakers at a table. Three women and one man (l-r): Wendall Thomas, Robin Burcell, Leslie Karst, and Randall Brandt)

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 01/03/2026

Having a terrific weekend at the #LeftCoastCrime convention in San Francisco. Special thanks to everyone who came to my talk on Thursday about the basics of lock picking for mystery fans! #writing

In a large meeting room, a man in a black shirt on a dais speaking to an audience.

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ByMatthewPorter @bymatthewporter.com · 26/02/2026

Enjoying some excellent empanadas and foggy atmosphere at the Ferry Building before the start of Left Coast Crime in San Francisco. #LeftCoastCrime

Interior of the ferry building marketplace in San Francisco. A long corridor lined with shops and stalls, with a mezzanine overlooking from above.

An empanada shop in the ferry building marketplace in San Francisco. A display case of glass and dark wood shows several varieties of empanadas.

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