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As I've been experimenting with adding a third reading section to the day (basically, post-breakfast, lunch, and dinner), I'm finally using my Kindle for something other than hospital visits and waiting room time-slaying via short stories: reading non-fiction (currently, Cal Newport's latest, SLOW PRODUCTIVITY). Whereas I previously penciled up books with brackets and an overabundance of illegible scrawls that I'd hate myself for never reviewing, now I can read, highlight and, when I'm done, send the highlights to myself and put them in Obsidian. While fiction (except short stories) will remain corporeal-exclusive, it's not unlikely that non-fic will switch to digital-only - though if I want it on my shelf, I'll buy a physical version later.

THE IRRATIONAL, s1 (2023-24)

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(***+ / *****) :: Loved the characters, the stories, Ariely's source material, and the central idea, but: the "Professor Mercer factoid" dialogue – which I'm guessing was intended as a fun character quirk and a way to showcase Ariely's research – came across not only as lazy writing that yanked me out of the narrative for unnecessary exposition, but made an otherwise great character grate. Were it anyone other than Jesse L. Martin delivering the dialogue, I probably wouldn't have given the show a full episode, nevermind a (truncated) season.

That being said, those Professor Mercer factoid moments are essential to the show: they’re what makes it unique – but I have to believe that someone would've conjured a less intrusive way of handling it, like an annotated extra on Peacock. Have Ariely do commentary on each episode? A podcast where he discusses each of the irrationalities used in the show? Something, anything: hope they figure it out for season two because the expository clunk was more than a bit onerous – even from the mouth of Jesse L. Martin.