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What We Read, Watched & Listened To – September 2025

Jacob Stansky
Watched September
5.56

people use the internet

20

Of the population has a disability

250

Legal Demand letters are sent to businesses each year

Key Takeaways

  1. All work and no play make us a dull company

  2. Inspiration can be found anywhere

  3. Sometimes you just got to take a break

  4. Stopping to smell the roses

Every month, we like to pause from pixels and page speed to catch a few movies, read some books, or listen to something interesting. Here’s what our staff consumed this month — and what we thought!

The Departed (2006) 

Watched by: Zakary Williams
Genre: Thriller / Crime / Drama
Rating: 5/5

This was my pick for movie club, after waiting a long 6 weeks from my last I was tasked with the difficult choice of which movie to watch. Oscar winners, nominees, and cultural classics tend to be the ones I bring to the table. This type of film reminds me of something my dad and I would watch, but I supposed we never got around to this Scorsese masterpiece.

After watching I was speechless, with such a deep plot and character development it’s hard not to be bought in from the jump. The ending is nothing short of stunning. Immediately after watching I logged the movie into my Letterbox account and couldn’t help but put it as one of my favorite movies of all time. The suspense was agonizing (in a good way) with each character playing amazing roles.


Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (2001)

Watched by: Zakary Williams
Genre: Adventure / Fantasy
Rating: 3/5

Confession… I haven’t (or that I can remember) seen the Harry Potter movies…

I know, terrible right? Well, I have (this past year) been on a reading spree (audiobooks that is… so it’s technically a listening spree?) of the Harry Potter books, which I have read all but Deathly Hallows. So, I figured it would be good to get some of the movies down as well now that I have read most the books.

Well, if you’re a HP fan maybe you will agree or disagree, but after watching the first movie I was quite upset. The movie was okay compared to the book. I mean, I understand that they have to take a 10 hour book and condense it into a 2.5 hour movie, but geez it really felt like the spark-notes version of the book. The dialogue was just to move from one scene to the next with not a lot of getting to know the true identity of the characters.

But, I am biased, there is almost no way that the movies are able to capture the amount of information that the books carry. I am just hoping that the movies are able to match up in quality to what the books offer.


Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Watched by: Paul Richards
Genre: Western
Rating: 5/5

In honor of Robert Redford’s recent passing, I rewatched this classic film from 1969. I remember that my dad took me to see this movie in the theater when I was a little kid. It may have been the 2nd movie I saw in a theater after The Sound Of Music. I may have seen it again when I was a teenager, but I don’t think I watched it again until now. This movie stands the test of time and it’s obvious why it solidified Robert Redford and Paul Newman as superstars. The filmography is superb, filmed mostly the beautiful southern Utah. The music from Burt Bacharach is often quirky for a western film, but somehow it works perfectly, such as the scene with Cassidy riding the bicycle with Etta on the handlebars to the song Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.

What I liked (or didn’t):
My favorite scene is when Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are trying to escape from the posse, they are cornered at the top of a cliff over a river below. The two of them struggle to get the courage to jump and as the posse gets closer they both run yelling and jump to the river far below and escape the posse. The end of the movie is very dramatic with Cassidy and the Sundance Kid running out to fight the Bolivian Army. There is nothing I didn’t like about this movie. A true classic and wonderful film.

 
The Conjuring: Last Rites
Genre: Horror/Thriller
Rating: 3.5/5
 
Horror/Thriller movies are my guilty pleasure by association, my wife is a huge Horror Genre fan, and I like going to the movies with her. The final chapter (so they say) of the Conjuring franchise fittingly ends with “Last Rites.” The paranormal adventures of Ed and Loraine Warren, pioneers in a field that is so widely accepted now that there’s over 12 reality TV shows based on their life’s work foundations, take us on a reluctant quest to help one last family terrorized by a demon al la another artifact. Last Rites brings in Judy, the Warren’s daughter who we’ve seen grow up through in several of the Conjuring movies and take the main character role in Annabelle Comes Home, into a first-time familial team battle against evil.
 
Overall, the movie follows the same formulas as series predecessors but instead of a hiccup of disbelief that potentially derails the ultimate pursuit of the battle of good vs evil, it’s the health of Ed Warren and the toll of this line of work has had on Loraine that give pause to stepping in. Alas, Judy, who has her mother’s gifts, is the hook to step in, forcing her parents to become a part of “team banishment” one more time. If my review is sounding, chippy or terse, it’s because it is.
 
Since the movies are based on true life folks in a skeptical universe, these movies walk a tightrope on a “do you believe or don’t you” premise. The problem with the Conjuring series, for me, is always the theatrical fantastic levels of the final scenes they take it to, smashing any semblance of the reality of the paranormal world or belief. I feel like Ed and Loraine (who cameo’d the original Conjuring) would be disappointed/dissatisfied with these movies. I always feel like the Conjuring/Annabelle movies were amazing scripts in origin ruined by Michael Bay’esque direction come opening credits time. But, at $2 Billion franchise worth, director James Wan must know what he’s doing. There is definitely no Hitchcock subtlety in horror here though.
 
Separating from my criticism, it’s a fun and full Universe (nine connected movies in total) spread between origin stories (The Nun), the possessed item as a star (Annabelle) and the victims experience (The Conjuring). Since Valak, the persistent demon of demons in the series, has been fought and banished repeatedly since The Nun, movie one in the chronological series, it’s impossible to say that Last Rites has any effect on this go-around’s banishment of said demon. I’ve always enjoyed the Conjuring plot of; meet unsuspecting family, meet family’s new demon, see superheroes meet poor family and form the “good” union to prepare for battle. It’s just the portrayal of the final act battles the suck in the series.
 
The movie closes with an amazing cameo sequence, giving us one more chance to say goodbye to the lineage of characters we’ve met along the way, and for that I give it one last “golf clap” of well done.
 
 
Dave Matthews Band Live (Vinyl) – Flood Zone – Richmond, VA – January 27, 1993
Rating: 5/5

Adding to my vinyl collection in September was the remastered release of a DMB live show from the classic early days. I’m a sucker for live albums, doesn’t matter which band, which genre, if it’s a live recording, I’m in. The gamble with live recordings is real, they can be amazing, straight from the soundboard, or very, very rough.
 
DMB Live Trax never disappoint, so taking a gamble on a vinyl release, albeit from 1993, seemed like a pretty safe gamble and it was.
 
I was a late adopter of DMB so I didn’t get to live the “early days” and I’m fully aware I’m missing some of the magic that does not exist with “modern Dave.” This album put the classic DMB on full blast. Hearing the sax of the late LeRoi Moore come alive on Jimi Thing, The Best Of What’s Around and Warehouse are true musical “oh shit” moments. The violin of Boyd Tinsley is unmistakably brilliant in so many of the songs. Yes, it’s still bittersweet to hear such beauty from this disgraced musician, but the talent is timeless and it adds such a realism to “big band” emotion that is/was DMB.
 
It’s a true step back in time album. Hearing the original renditions of some of my favorite songs like Two Step, Seek Up and Dancing Nancies that have now evolved for 30 years is quite simply a trip. The time capsule into a storied band was a vinyl experience to proudly add to the collection.
 
Radiohead – High/Dry (Vinyl)
Rating: 4/5

Another live album addition! Recorded live in Galway circa 1996 this is vintage Radiohead. Creep has paved the way for the past four years and OK Computer is still a year away. Honestly a 5/5 rating for the vibe, the songs and the band but the audio was definitely 1996 and not direct from the soundboard. Audio quality ding aside, a fantastic “limited number” addition to the collection.