Robbie Sapunarich


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2022-07-08: Satyr — “Vector”: from one of the best albums I’ve heard this year

2022-07-06: I’ve waited too long for this: Clerks III trailer

2022-07-03: cancelled flights are how the light gets in It’s common knowledge that flying in summer 2022 is a mess. Given the likelihood of a delay or …

2022-05-28: Relevant life update courtesy of my wife.

2022-04-29: GO HOOS ⚾️

2022-04-29: Wise words from the deadlift pad. 🏋️‍♂️💥

2022-04-29: Fun fact, I used to own the exact issue of the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction that had this …

2022-04-27:

2022-04-25: I think Practical Engineering may be my new favorite YouTube channel.

2022-04-10: Visited Orange County for my best friend’s wedding. It’s been a great trip. We return to Cville …

2022-03-26: This one really hit me. I struggle to express the shock I’m feeling, or why. I’ve always …

2022-03-16: Leszek Kolakowski, via Alan Jacobs: Doubt may be considered one of the consequences of original …

2022-02-15:

2022-02-12: Julia Rothman’s “Anatomy” books are probably the most pleasant reference books I’ve ever come …

2022-02-08: Currently listening/watching: Foo Fighters live at Madison Square Garden

2022-02-06: So proud of @jensap for teaching adult education hour this morning.

2022-01-21: Really proud of @jensap and I’s old housemate whose album was recently written up in …

2022-01-08: why I will always prefer print (but still begrudgingly use a kindle on occasion) For a while now, I’ve tried to avoid the Bezos machine as much as I can in my consumer habits. …

2022-01-07: SnowRuck 🎒🏃‍♂️❄️ Partial 📷 credit to @jensap

2022-01-06: (In the spirit of “people should blog more” posts going around, I feel inspired to try …

2021-12-29: So happy with our new record cabinet. It’s nice to have all of our audio gear in one spot now. 🎧🎵

2021-12-28: Notable Reads 2021 It’s hard for me to believe it, but we’re almost at the end of 2021. At one time, I …

2021-12-24: 🌊🎅🏻🧑🏻‍🎄

2021-12-09: Tech and tech-adjacent peeps of Microblog — anyone have any suggested reading on transitioning from …

2021-12-07: I went to Mars Hill. I’ve only listened to a little of the podcast. It’s an experience I have deep …

2021-11-24: Dinosaur Valley State Park w/ @jensap 🥾🎒🦖

2021-11-17: Always a blast to work out with these guys in the gloom. 🇺🇸🏃‍♂️🏛

2021-11-16: Three reasons I’m thankful for the library at The Center for Christian Study

2021-11-11: Veteran’s Day reflection from Jason McCarthy 🇺🇸

2021-10-25: I think I’ll regularly revisit these words from Fr. Stephen Freeman to read, mark, and …

2021-10-25: Stalacpipe Organ, Luray Caverns

2021-10-14: All I could think of was Buddy Christ from Dogma’s “Catholicism Now!" when I read …

2021-10-09: Jeffrey Bilbro’s piece about staying sane in a mad time crystalizes some thoughts I’ve …

2021-09-30: Wesley Hill puts it well: I’ve come to think the reason Gamaliel, Jesus-disbeliever though he …

2021-09-21: Digital detox reflections/an update on this space An update So, as I mentioned in this post, I tried a “digital detox” for about 30 days. …

2021-09-16: Turnstile - “Mystery” —a friend recently turned me on to these guys. it’s like the …

2021-08-12: Because I know there are some people who watch this space — I’ll be going dark here for the …

2021-08-10: I’ve loved Scott Snyder’s writing for a decade now. His work on Batman is some of the …

2021-08-05: Two firsts for me last night: first post-vax concert, and first ever BTBAM show. 🎵🤘

2021-08-03: AT ⛰⛰

2021-08-02: Jack is brushing up on his distributed systems knowledge. 📚

2021-07-30: WITI?: The It Runs Doom Edition The Dispatch’s profile on Chloe Valdary Installing a home …

2021-07-22: Good to hear these guys again. 🎵

2021-07-17: evasions and approaches Supermarkets and Diversity No Social Media Club The Case for Small Towns …

2021-07-15: How the f is there no lighthouse emoji?

2021-07-14: 📖🏊‍♂️🍺👍

2021-07-13: Posting to AO Hard Nocs with F3 Jacksonville and dinner at Cap’s On the Water with @jensap have been …

2021-07-08: The Church is abandoning its flock A Piece of New Jersey We’ll Never Build Again Retributive …

2021-07-02: tales of technocracy Vegas for Squares Things We Left in the Old Web How to Work Hard My shamefully …

2021-06-28: managers and givers Jon Stewart On Vaccine Science And The Wuhan Lab Theory — I really miss his …

2021-06-18: “There’s not a lot of people in this world courageous enough to not change.” — A.B.

2021-06-18: 🌉🗽💁‍♀️

2021-06-18:

2021-06-11: Thanks to Front Porch Republic for publishing this piece of mine: Fitness, Fellowship, and Faith: …

2021-05-31: Jason McCarthy 🇺🇸: BBQ and cornhole and cool kid sunglasses and a boom box you can hear a hundred …

2021-05-26: Armand Bayou Nature Center

2021-05-26: 🌯👍

2021-05-25: First sports game since 2019. I have no horse in this race so…go Astros? ⚾️🚀

2021-05-23: 🎣

2021-05-19: 📚🌳

2021-05-15: Taken with binoculars and a phone.

2021-05-13: Jack is ready to ruck. 🎒🐈

2021-05-09:

2021-05-08: Exploring Annapolis.

2021-05-08: From the F3 Cville CSAUP 5/1/21 🏃

2021-05-06: Currently listening Slay In Hell by Steel Bearing Hand🎵

2021-05-06: I can’t stop listening to this — Michael Olatuja feat. Regina Carter “The Hero’s …

2021-05-04: bet y’all thought I was joking

2021-05-02: Recovery dinner after 9 miles of rucking, running, burpees, and other completely stupid and utterly …

2021-04-26: Jack’s a Real Gamer Cat™️. 🎮

2021-04-20: Guess who’s gonna make out with strangers at Outback Steakhouse happy hour (in two weeks people …

2021-04-17:

2021-04-14:

2021-03-27: 'The Necessity of Bodies: Redux' From Mary Harrington over at Unherd: We’ve paid steeply to control this virus. The price has not …

2021-03-21: After 20 years apart, you don’t look so bad, Florida.

2021-03-21: Enjoying the Low Country and Savannah. This place feels enchanted and haunted.

2021-03-20: Charleston is neat.

2021-03-11: Happy fourth anniversary to my beautiful, hilarious, joyful, and faithful wife @jensaplin. ❤️ Thanks …

2021-02-25: Currently enjoying Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’s CARNAGE. Can’t wait for the physical …

2021-02-22: My friend CJ Green recently published his fiction debut!

2021-02-22: This video is probably the most Orange County thing I’ve watched in a long, long time. Maybe …

2021-02-14:

2021-02-09: Felt good to do this again.

2021-02-08: Recommended reading (experimenting with posting stuff I’ve read over the last week-ish so as …

2021-02-08: New blog: Why we need bodies to heal our body

2021-02-07: Why We Need Bodies to Heal Our Body The strange, new circumstances of 2020 entailed a number of strange, new behaviors — “social …

2021-01-31: Vibes

2021-01-31:

2021-01-29: So @jensaplin insists this meme is old, but I saw it the other day and can’t stop laughing. I …

2021-01-29: A brief devotional/sermonette I wrote is now up at Mockingbird: Technologies, Ancient and Modern

2021-01-22: Justin Giboney on the necessity of biblical peacemaking in the struggle for political and racial …

2021-01-22: Noah Van Niel: Manly Virtues — There’s some really good stuff in here that I’ve been mulling over …

2021-01-21: I aspire to be as impressionable as Bernie Sanders at a presidential inauguration. 🇺🇸

2021-01-20: Between the President quoting Augustine and a prayer from an AME preacher, I would guess this is the …

2021-01-15:

2021-01-15: I wrote up a few thoughts over at Mockingbird reflecting on some ideas about wrestling from @ayjay …

2021-01-14: I wrote up a list of my favorite reads from the second half of 2020.

2021-01-13: 'Favorite Reads: Second half of 2020' Happy New Year! It feels like it was both so recently and so long ago that I wrote up my list of …

2021-01-13: There’s no shortage of thinkpieces circulating about evangelicalism and …

2021-01-10: Abandoned structures from around Charlottesville’s Woolen Mills this morning.

2021-01-07:

2021-01-06:

2021-01-05: Texas was nice. Here are some photos.

2021-01-02: Slightly emotional. Thank you TX for bringing me a taste of CA.

2020-12-29: Farm cat

2020-12-27: Happy birthday to @jensaplin! I’m blessed beyond deserving to have you as my wife, companion, and …

2020-12-26: Great day celebrating 30.

2020-12-26: Post-Xmas dinner vibes. 📷 credit: @jensaplin

2020-12-25:

2020-12-25: The amazing @jensaplin knows how to give good gifts.

2020-12-24:

2020-12-24: Cville beers rarely disappoint. Windswell Hazy DIPA from Random Row Brewing.

2020-12-17: Mood. 📷credit: @jensaplin

2020-12-17: Icicles from yesterday’s storm.

2020-12-15: John Gardner’s ‘Cruisin’ Across America' | OJ Wheels - If I had to guess why …

2020-12-14: Grant Snider - The Inward Spiral

2020-12-14: My friend Zack wrote some great thoughts on mental health, OCD, and God

2020-12-14: The Kitchen Sisters - Hunting and Cooking with Angelo Garro

2020-12-14: John Berger: How to Resist a State of Forgetfulness

2020-12-14: Richard Hughes Gibson: In Search of Charitable Writing

2020-12-05: 💁‍♀️🧔❤️🎄

2020-12-03: Current listening: TOOL - Fear Inoculum

2020-11-26: Thankful for this amazing woman, and her cooking skills too. 🦃

2020-11-26: Halp

2020-11-24: My friend Zack recently built a dungeon generator in lieu of nanowrimo, and did a little write-up …

2020-11-24: Our new cat, Jack, in peak cat position.

2020-11-23: Finally made it to the Goochland Drive-In. 📍Goochland, VA

2020-11-21: Fun fact, the unzipped archive of data is 28.4MB in size. 24.2MB is photos/videos/stories. The other …

2020-11-21: I opened Instagram for the first time in a looong time today to export my data/tell people where to …

2020-11-19: My good friend Kendall has a new project that I highly commend to you - Negative Love: a resource …

2020-11-18: Leah Libresco Sargeant: “To give an honest accounting of ourselves, we must begin with our …

2020-11-14: this interview with John Milbank and Catherine Pickstock is a great introduction to radical …

2020-11-14: I wrote a blog of some suggested reading for new and recovering Christians.

2020-11-13: Suggested Reading for New and Recovering Christians Over the last couple of years, I’ve read a number of books that have helped me re-learn about …

2020-11-12: Oliver Burkeman: “To stay sane, you need at least one foot planted firmly in your world: the …

2020-11-10: I’m very excited for this new book from John Barclay: “But grace is both richer and more …

2020-11-10: Thrasher magazine: cruisin' with Ace Pelka. Two things I love about this: 1) seeing some skate …

2020-11-08: Since we’re not allowed to meet inside yet and the last two sundays got rained out, our church held …

2020-11-07: 🇺🇸

2020-11-06: election week jams

2020-11-05: Jenkem Mag: Backyard miniramps created during lockdown

2020-11-05: Kendall Gunter at Mockingbird on Maria Dahvana Headley’s Beowulf translation: “We could …

2020-10-26: Theologically-inclined people of microblog: any suggestions for free materials for prepping Bible …

2020-10-14: Richard Feynman explains electricity.

2020-10-13: Drum cam of Danny Carey performing “Pneuma” live with TOOL.

2020-10-09: REBUILDING A SPOT IN HARLEM WITH JERRY MRAZ - Jenkem Mag

2020-10-03: This essay about OnlyFans, the commodification of eros, and capitalism’s encroachment of the …

2020-10-03: God and the Gamemaster - Alexi Sargeant at Plough.

2020-10-03: Camping practice in our backyard. @jensaplin

2020-09-30: New morning read. 📚

2020-09-27: Distraction and Burnout This article by Anne Helen Petersen definitely hits home. The erratic dysrhythmia she describes of …

2020-09-25: Eric Miller at Mere Orthodoxy on “the market” and Evangelical colleges: “The …

2020-09-25: David French on the Breonna Taylor case: “In the contest between the rights of a woman to …

2020-09-19: Brad Edwards at Mere Orthodoxy: “Evangelicals have had it all wrong. Secularism isn’t the root …

2020-09-19: I normally post pictures here, but today’s hike to Blackrock Summit in Shenandoah National …

2020-09-18: Hiking Blackrock Summit It’s hard to believe, but Jenoa and I have lived in Virginia for over a year. But it’s …

2020-09-17: Received goods. More here darkdescentrecords.bandcamp.com/album/hid…

2020-09-13: Lovely day at Grace Estate Winery.

2020-09-12: New neighbor.

2020-09-09: Neighbor from the pond behind our house visited my office today.

2020-09-09: Since I missed Nick Cave’s livestreamed solo concert back in July, I’m very excited that …

2020-09-05: Boatin’.

2020-09-04: Crabby neighbor.

2020-09-04: VA beauty from our drive out to Solomons Island yesterday.

2020-09-03:

2020-09-03: Mini vacation in Solomons Island, MD

2020-09-01: Plafonddeinst by Nandele Maguni Currently listening.

2020-09-01: Today Augustine sounds like Uncle Colm from Derry Girls. “So I says to myself, says I…” 📚

2020-08-31: I’m reading St. Augustine’s Confessions, and I feel like his writings about memory sometimes read …

2020-08-30: Rowan Williams on the purpose and means of theological education.

2020-08-23: Ventured out to Sandbridge yesterday to celebrate our friend James’s birthday.

2020-08-19: Creeper in my office 🙀

2020-08-19: Damon Krukowski at NPR: On Bandcamp, Spotify And The Wide-Open Future - Count me in the …

2020-08-18: This essay on Cormac McCarthy, by Michael Berdan of Uniform, is really good.

2020-08-17: Deluge by Anura Currently listening: Deluge, by Anura

2020-08-15: I am very much looking forward to reading this upcoming book about the history of drone music. …

2020-08-14: Jason Thompson on Natasha Tretheway, at Mbird

2020-08-13: Kendall Gunter, at Mockingbird: ‘the “stammer” of poets, no matter their relation to God, …

2020-08-09: Finally got to check out the Mudhouse on 10th to pick up some beans. Cool wall art adjacent to the …

2020-08-08:

2020-08-08: Visited the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design in Richmond today. More pictures incoming.

2020-08-05: Lagos Pepper Soup by Michael Olatuja Currently listening.

2020-08-05: Zadie Smith on love, compassion, & relative suffering, via C.J. Green

2020-08-03: I’m only halfway through, but I must say that Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby is very, very good. …

2020-08-03: My friend Zack wrote up his favorite reads from summer 2020.

2020-08-03: John Lewis’s last words

2020-08-03: Matt Taibi on Thomas Frank and the anti-populism of the elite left

2020-08-02: I wrote about my favorite reads from the first half of 2020.

2020-08-02: Black Skaters Share Their Experiences In Skateboarding

2020-08-01: 'Favorite Reads: First half of 2020' Hard as it may be to believe, we’re well into the second half of 2020. Here are my favorite …

2020-07-30: Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on China’s persecution of Uighur Muslims

2020-07-30: Currently listening: From Clay Pipe Music - Adlestrop by Gilroy Mere

2020-07-30: Scientists trace source of Stonehenge boulders

2020-07-29: For anyone whose knowledge of Docker is ad-hoc and piecemeal, the Docker Handbook from freeCodeCamp …

2020-07-29: How flash games shaped the video game industry

2020-07-29: CJ Green: The God Who Needs

2020-07-29: Strong Towns: Is This Development “Out of Scale”?

2020-07-29: David Zahl on nostalgia and emotional time-travel

2020-07-28: Brian Mcmillen: Choosing the right computer

2020-07-26: Playing with focus at Old Westminster Winery & Vineyard in Westminster, MD 🍷

2020-07-25: Visited Londontowne, MD today, and saw and osprey carry a fish to its nest.

2020-07-23: Towards a Christian Aesthetics - Tara Isabella Burton

2020-07-21: Alan Jacobs: “A few years ago I would have said that the greatest danger facing the Christians …

2020-07-19: Explored Wintergreen in the Blue Ridge Mountains today.

2020-07-18: First time deep frying chicken!

2020-07-18: John Lewis on Love, Forgiveness, and the Seedbed of Personal Strength

2020-07-13: I’m not well-versed in poetry, but I am loving Felon by Reginald Dwayne Betts.

2020-07-12:

2020-07-12: Date night with @jensaplin at Selvedge Brewing/The Wool Factory last night.

2020-07-12: The quest to find signs of ancient life on mars

2020-07-09: Perks of homeownership: rollerskating in the dining room because you’re a grown-up now.

2020-07-08: Two new tracks from John Carpenter

2020-07-07: My friend James and his coworker Julia recorded a “quarantine” recital from his living room, and I …

2020-07-04:

2020-07-03: Went for a ride this morning along the Rivanna. Good to be home.

2020-07-02: A note on the American flag from John Scalzi

2020-06-28: Sherk is showing at the drive-in

2020-06-27: Miraculously, no major injuries. EDIT: brother in law did scrape an arm.

2020-06-26: Wheeler Branch Park. Passed on Corpus Christi for Obvious Reasons.

2020-06-24: Crossing the Mississippi

2020-06-24: See anything familiar?

2020-03-28: Update 13 So, as you can imagine, Some Things have happened since the last post. To be honest, it’s been …

2020-03-06: Update 12 I’m struggling to conjure some thoughts to share here today. The past couple of weeks feel like a …

2020-02-22: Update 11 I think I’ve more or less given up on the “weekly” commitment to posting here, though I’ll still try …

2020-02-07: Update 10 So I’ve really breached the “blog every week” commitment I made to myself. Two full weekends …

2020-01-19: Update 9 Week 2 of the new position was a success, I’d say. Feeling more productive and contributing to the …

2020-01-11: Update 8 This is my first post since starting my new gig. I’ve learned a lot this week, and have much more to …

2020-01-04: Update 7 And it’s the first update of 2020. I hope you had pleasant and safe New Year celebration. Jen and I …

2019-12-29: Update 6 I spent the majority of last week traveling for the Christmas holiday and for mine and Jen’s …

2019-12-19: Update 5 Four entries in and I broke the weekly rhythm, hence the title change to “update”. Oh well. To be …

2019-12-06: Weekly Update 04 So I’m a day late on this one, but I did publish a thing yesterday, that the good people at Mbird …

2019-12-05: “A word that would light up the night” - Listening to Nick Cave’s “Ghosteen” in Advent As a relative newcomer to the Anglican tradition, Advent’s significance as a season, while not …

2019-11-28: Weekly Update 03 This is the first entry that’s testing the fortitude of my commitment to regularly publishing here. …

2019-11-21: Weekly Update 02 I spent the bulk of this past week in Nashville for RubyConf. I arrived late Sunday night, and flew …

2019-11-12: Weekly Update 01 Given the fact that I flew to California and Texas for two separate trips AND bought a house in the …

2019-08-20: In Cville So, Jenoa and I moved. I’m writing this from Charlottesville, VA. We made it. We drove the whole …

2019-06-21: June 2019 Update It feels like periodically I write these “it’s been a while, but been really busy and all you know …

2019-03-02: The Good Enough To Shame the Great In a recent op-ed for the New York Times, Avram Alpert writes, Ideals of greatness cut across the …

2019-02-16: Messages In Bottles For those who know me, it’s no secret that I’m averse to social media and its black-box network …

2018-12-24: Favorite Reads of 2018 I read a number of books this year, and as seems customary, I’ll share a few highlights. Since I’m …

2018-11-25: Recently started Founding Brothers by Joseph Ellis and really enjoying it. I wrote up some initial …

2018-11-25: First post!

2018-11-24: Acrimony & Intimacy From Joseph Ellis’s Founding Brothers: The political dialogue within the highest echelon of the …

2018-10-29: The Crucifixion So I finished Fleming Rutledge’s The Crucifixion today, and, yeah. I felt like I should write …

2018-10-05: SPAs, CORS, and GraphQL The popularity of single page applications (SPAs) has grown significantly in the world of web …

2018-07-16: Further Thoughts on Simplicity Following up on the last post’s thoughts, I am finding myself more and more fascinated by the …

2018-07-14: Space and Simplicity Here are a few quotes/links from Alan Jacobs and Austin Kleon, who are frequently in dialogue with …

2018-06-29: Catchup It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, and I’ve done/experienced/read/thought about a few …

2018-06-04: Deserts A piece my best friend wrote was recently posted over at Mockingbird. (Trigger warning: this story …

2018-05-23: To be self-forgetful From Alan Jacobs’s essay, Reverting to Type: In many respects, going back to the kinds of …

2018-05-09: Capon and Cambridge Analytica From Robert Farrar Capon’s recently republished marriage anti-advice book, Bed & Board: I became …

2018-05-06: I’ve been everywhere So it’s been over a month. Hello again. That having been said, I suppose the fact that I travelled …

2018-04-02: Thorin’s Dying Words From J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Hobbit— ”If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, …

2018-03-30: Penumbra’s New Fiction So this “blogging consistently” thing is really hard. Anyway, hope you’ve had a good March. Mine was …

2018-03-11: Vulnerability Seth Godin recently wrote, Role models are fine. But not when they get in the way of embracing our …

2018-03-06: Reflections on Reflections Seven days in and March is proving to be a hectic month, full of good things, but full of things …

2018-02-25: Quiet I attempt to make a habit of blogging at least once per week, if not twice. Given that the last post …

2018-02-13: Generosity In Free of Charge, theologian Miroslav Volf writes, “Left unchecked, the slide away from generosity …

2018-02-07: “Artemis” Andy Weir’s Artemis can best be described as an organized crime thriller on the moon. It’s quite a …

2018-01-31: Against Nostalgia I’m starting to become less patient with nostalgia. I get it. I enjoy playing Goldeneye and …

2018-01-24: “Interdisciplinary Insights” Aside from blogging here, I’ve been trying to build my writing habit by working on a short story. I …

2018-01-22: “Too much power, too little knowledge” In “Damage”, from his collection What Are People For?, Wendell Berry writes— The trouble was a …

2018-01-08: Newspaper Renaissance A recent episode of Virtue in the Wasteland mentioned the notion of a “newspaper …

2018-01-06: At Home Jenoa and I recently returned from a three-week trip back east to visit my extended family for the …

2017-12-21: Stuff 'n Things 2017 It’s been a couple of years since the last time I published a “cool stuff from …