iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I grabbed some hummus at Costco earlier this week and am only just now realizing how weirdly horny and creepy the packaging is

A large container of hummus in my fridge. On one side, a disembodied mouth on legs is carrying a spoon while sticking its tongue out and saying “Extra virgin. Extra delicious!”

Another side of the hummus container, dotted with slogans like “Dip in. Don’t hold back,” “Spoon me,” and “Hot for hummus?”

Another side of the hummus container, with a very suggestive-looking pair of olives and a chickpea that looks like a big butt.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 16h

THE WEIGHT was, as they say, extremely my shit. They don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

Movie poster for The Weight — a rickety rope bridge stretching across a deep ravine

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 22h

I didn’t follow all the twists and turns in the local American Idol murder pastor case, so I’m just now seeing this detail about him + his mistress: “They bonded over Harry Potter and … got matching lightning bolt tattoos, hers on her forearm and his in his armpit to hide it from his wife.”

daytondailynews.com

Jury finds Caleb Flynn guilty of killing wife; sentencing scheduled for Monday

Caleb Flynn was found guilty of murder in the February shooting death of his wife at their Tipp City home and staging the scene to look like a home invasion, and he is scheduled to be sentenced Monday...

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Steven Hyden @stevenhyden.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

For my latest Ask A Music Critic column, a reader inquired about Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" and the recent conversation about what it means to be totally unfamiliar with the most popular song in America for about six months running. stevenhyden.substack.com/p/ask-a-musi...

stevenhyden.substack.com

Ask A Music Critic: Does It Matter That I Haven’t Heard The Year’s Most Popular Song?

Or: What does it mean to have a No. 1 song for almost six months in 2026 anyway?

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NE Ohio Regional Sewer District @neorsd.org · 29/09/2026

bold and wildly inexplicable photo choice here

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A merciless miscellany of waking nightmares, unraveled realities, and supremely unsettling scenarios

My hand holds a copy of Brian Evenson’s short story collection None of You Shall Be Spared

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Finally got to see Princess Mononoke on a big screen tonight, and all I can say is WOW

Movie poster for Fathom’s Studio Ghibli Fest 2026 screenings of Princess Mononoke. A masked princess stands in front of a huge white wolf in the middle of a dark green forest with sunlight filtering through and little white kodama looking on

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Liking the music I like is unquestionably more important to me, with one major exception. I love to imagine scandalizing the voices of my fundamentalist childhood who warned against the evils of, well, just about anything that wasn’t (pre-modernist) classical music or hymns.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Fall lunch hours are the best. A brisk stroll under blue skies followed by heaping spoonfuls of hot made-from-scratch soup.

My shadow cast on cracked asphalt, with a brown shoe peeking up from bottom right

A container — and a spoonful — of homemade chicken chipotle soup with corn, pintos, tomatoes, and cilantro

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Bowiesongs (C. O'Leary) @bowiesongs.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

50! An overflowing album (a double Lp with bonus 45; it seems meant for the CD or streaming age). Its richness still astounds, full of fresh discoveries ("Contusion," "All Day Sucker,"etc)

Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life (rel 28 Sept 1976)

Liner note credits, inc listing by name all the great Motown players and an apology for taking so long to release it

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Highly recommend giving this one a listen

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I listened to “Choosin’ Texas” for the first time this morning and it was … very enjoyable! If this song is what passes for pop-country nowadays, it’s a massive upgrade compared to what I was hearing a decade ago.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This was so refreshing to listen to, especially compared to so many filmed music docs. Extended musical excerpts instead of too-brief clips, *relevant* and *informative* interviewees, lovely poetic interludes. Plus it was made in 2001 when many of Trane's contemporaries were still alive to talk to.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Treated my ears to a day of classical, ambient, and electronic sounds at Cincinnati’s excellent Talk Low Music Festival. Top highlight was concertnova playing the music of Rachel Grimes, and more eaze was wonderful as well.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Looking forward to a day of Talk Lowin’ (Low Talkin’?)

talklowfest.com

Talk Low 2026

cargo.site

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Snowden St. @snowden.st · 26/09/2026

A show is not diminished by “bad people” liking it, anymore than a show is raised by “the good people” liking it. And to me, someone raised in fundie and conservative Christian circles, nothing sets off my alarms like secular folks doing this bit. It’s bad art criticism, full stop.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Terrific evening of rocknroll in Cincinnati last night with Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band + Styrofoam Winos

Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band play at Northside Tavern in Cincinnati

Styrofoam Winos play at Northside Tavern in Cincinnati

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Very funny that one of the very few Vivek Ramaswamy signs in my neighborhood isn’t even placed in front of someone’s house. It’s sitting all by itself in the easement next to a common drainage area.

A Vivek Ramaswamy sign, in a housing addition but nowhere anyone’s house

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James Poniewozik @poniewozik.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

But the show I want to single out—the one on my personal 10-shows ballot that did not make the list at all—is this beautiful, and apparently now largely forgotten, creation. Do yourself a favor and seek it out. (86 Ted Lasso to make room for it.) www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/a...

nytimes.com

In ‘Rectify,’ Life After Prison and the Chance to Be Reborn (Gift Article)

The final season of the SundanceTV series uses deep Christian themes in telling the story of an ex-convict who is unequipped for freedom.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

William Parker. A sound so deep and vibrant I could fall into it forever.

youtu.be

Black Cherry

YouTube video by William Parker - Topic

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

“And then she looked more closely at it, then at the baby, and realized the face was beginning to resemble the baby’s. The face was remaking itself. It was on the wall now, she felt, but it planned to be on the baby.” —Brian Evenson, creeping me the fuck out again (complimentary)

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Reach out, boys, I’ll be there

Sonny the orange and white cat stands on his hind legs, places one front paw on my thigh, and reaches toward me with his other front paw, mouth open in mid-meow

Benny the white and gray kitty reaches through the railing with one paw to play with a toy I’m dangling

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Josephine beckbook.com Riesman @josie.zone · 24/09/2026

Ladies and gentlethings, I present to you the first excerpt from @beckbook.com Many thanks to @nymag.com for putting it in print and to @vulture.com for presenting it so beautifully online Please read, if you are so inclined CW: Uh… intense emotional distress? I don't want to give anything away…

vulture.com

Losing Beck

His acclaimed album, Sea Change, was inspired by a breakup. For his ex-partner, it was the story of how the Church of Scientology took over his life.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Anybody here use and like Qobuz? I’m close to ditching Tidal because of their bug-ridden dumpster fire of an app.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It’s been a busy day, but now I get to settle in with the GOAT

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Joel Pinckney @jpinckney.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I wrote this to try and bear witness; I hope you'll read it. If you do, I hope you'll later find some quiet to think about this man, pray for him if you'd like, and then find out what you can do to help those impacted by this violence and terror in your community.

welcometohellworld.com

His car is still sitting there

An ICE kidnapping in Austin

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I’ve somehow never watched any of Nathan Fielder’s projects (no reason in particular, just haven’t gotten around to it). May have to ease myself into this one with some of his TV work first.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

And SPEAKING of “100 Years Today,” here’s to the 100th birthday of John Coltrane! I’m forever grateful for his sound supreme.

A photo of John Coltrane playing the hell out of his sax

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jesse jarnow @bourgwick.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

thorn wych's debut album is good & weird & gorgeous, too. in more song-like portions, even. thornwych.bandcamp.com/album/aesthe...

thornwych.bandcamp.com

Aesthesis, by Thorn Wych

10 track album

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I got married 8 years ago today, and it’s definitely the best thing I’ve ever done

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

This gorgeous license plate design is an instant hit of nostalgia and fall vibes from my teen years

Indiana’s “amber waves of grain” license plate design from the 1990s. A vibrant red, orange, and yellow sunset gradient above the silhouette of a rural skyline.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Every so often I catch a glimpse of “literature is rejecting men” discourse, and it is genuinely incomprehensible to me. My to-read list contains hundreds of fiction and nonfiction titles by/about men! It would be sadly and embarrassingly easy for me to only read dude books if that’s what I wanted!

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bikesforcenturies @theodora2b.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

The Lucas county Stonewall Democrats (Toledo area, Ohio 9th house district) have sent a letter to Congresswoman Kaptur over her transphobic ad and demand it be taken down and will be highling the ad and Rep Kaptur's open transphobia until election day.

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Smooth Dunk @smoothdunk2.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

when ai leaves u behind

7 panel comic.

Panel 1:
A Red Guy with AI across his chest looks like he’s about to run away. A Yellow Guy stands next to him. Red Guy says “I’m the future, buddy. You comin’?”
Yellow Guy replies “Nah”

Panel 2:
Red Guy is almost out of the panel. He leans in and says “Enjoy getting left behind, pal”
Yellow Guy replies “ok”

Panel 3:
Yellow Guy stands alone.

Panel 4:
Close up on Yellow Guy, there is a quiet “huff-huff-huff” noise coming from behind him

Panel 5:
Yellow Guy turns to look behind him

Panel 6:
Close up on Yellow Guy’s face as if from the point of view of an attacker.
Yellow Guy yells “Jesus Christ”

Panel 7:
AI Red Guy is now chasing the Yellow Guy.
Red Guy: “Use me”
Yellow Guy “No”
Red Guy “USE ME”

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Hello? Fall? Is … is it really you?

A screenshot of a 10-day forecast in southwest Ohio. The first two days forecast highs in the 80s, but the next eight show highs of 68-70 and lows mostly in the 50s.

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Got to see Ratboys whip ass tonight

Ratboys play an outdoor show at Fountain Square in Cincinnati

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

A shocking tour-de-force of investigative reporting by @pamelacolloff.bsky.social, this book tells the story of an innocent man condemned to death by the lies of a serial con artist and pedophile (who got preferential treatment from the prosecution in exchange for being a jailhouse snitch).

My hand holds up a copy of Pamela Colloff’s book Catch the Devil: A True Story of Murder, Deception, and Injustice on the Gulf Coast

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Caleb @calebjcook.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I’m sure I’m not the first person to make this connection, but I love how @jasonkirk.fyi and @adamvoith.bsky.social started with similar themes and subcultures and used them to create very different (but equally compelling) works of art.

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