Posts on Paul Cutler

New Site Coming Soon

Sun, 05 Oct 2025 18:30:00 +0000

For the five of you (if that many) that follow this blog via RSS, please check back in a few days as I will be transitioning to a new site powered by mkdocs-material.

I expect this to break a few links, including the RSS feed. You will have to subscribe to the new site’s RSS feed.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

What I'm Watching - Q3 2025

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 06:30:00 +0000

Continuing on my journey to catalog everything I’m watching, here’s what I watched in the third quarter of 2025. Highlights included the first six James Bond movies on 4K UHD, Tron and its sequel Tron: Legacy in 4K UHD, and some great movies on Netflix including some Alfred Hitchcock films I had never seen, and on The Criterion Channel, 90s movies featuring great soundtracks including Pump Up The Volume (1990) and Grosse Point Blank (1997). I was disappointed in Materialists and 28 Years Later.

Updating SongMatrix

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 06:30:00 +0000

One of my favorite CircuitPython projects I’ve done is SongMatrix. Using a microphone on a Raspberry Pi, it records the song playing in the background, uploads a sample to shazamio, uploads the song and artist to AdafruitIO via MQTT, and an S3 MatrixPortal listens for the MQTT update and displays it on an LED matrix.

I don’t run it all the time, but I do like to use it when I’m listening to a new album to learn the song names. I know a lot of music and can sometimes tell you the name of the artist or the album within seconds of a song starting, but not so much the song title.

What I'm Watching - Q2 2025

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 06:30:00 +0000

Continuing on my journey to catalog everything I’m watching, here’s what I watched in the second quarter of 2025. Highlights included kicking off April getting ready for Andor S2 by re-watching the Star Wars Prequels, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor S1. I celebrated the life of Gene Hackman with Night Moves, The Royal Tenenbaums, and Runaway Jury. Other movies I enjoyed included The Long Good Friday, Tombstone, and starting to watch the classic Sean Connery Bond films on 4K UHD.

What I'm Watching - Q1 2025

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 06:30:00 +0000

Each year, the director Steven Soderbergh releases a list of all the movies and TV shows he’s watching. It’s a fascinating look at what he’s interested in and can give a clue to future projects. I’ve also wanted to do something similar, and this year I’m finally keeping track of everything I’m watching. Mr. Soderbergh’s list is a daily breakdown - I’m not going into that much detail, but with the exception of sports, I kept track of all the movies and TV shows I watched.

Favorite Albums of 2024

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 06:30:00 +0000

Like last year and the year before, here’s the list in no particular order:

The Staves - All Now: The trio of sisters returned as a duo on their latest album. The melodies are still sweet and the songs are catchy.
Japandroids - Fate & Alcohol: The duo return and it’s exactly what you expect: loud and fast. It’s their fourth and final album and I will miss them deeply.
Passage du Desir - Johnny Blue Skies: Sturgill Simpson returns under a new name and his fusion of rock, country, and bluegrass does not disappoint.
Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood: This alt-country gem is on a lot of end of year lists for good reason.

Favorite Find: Blade Runner soundtrack by Vangelis. I was floored when I received the weekly email newsletter from my local record store with this album in the restocks section. I had a different version in my wantlist on Discogs for years, and somehow missed this version, which seems to be fairly common. I rushed to Down in the Valley and picked it up right away.

The Return of The CircuitPython Show

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000

When I blogged earlier this year that The CircuitPython Show was over, I really thought it was over. But with the talk of #CircuitPython2025 kicking off, I started to give the podcast some thought again. And while I thought I had talked to most of the community members I wanted to talk to, there were still a few I hadn’t reached out to yet.

But where it really intrigued me, was what if it wasn’t just an interview show and I sprinkled topic based episodes in as well? I quickly brainstormed half a dozen ideas and realized there was more to do yet. I reached out to a number of potential guests and the reponse was overwhelmingly positive.

The Bootloader LIVE on CircuitPython Day 2024

Sun, 04 Aug 2024 13:30:00 +0000

CircuitPython Day 2024 is next Friday, August 16th. I’ll be participating for the third year in a row as Tod Kurt and I will be hosting a live episode of The Bootloader. We’re streaming at 2 p.m. EDT / 11 a.m. PDT on the Adafruit YouTube channel.

Keep an eye on the schedule and I hope to see you there!

One Door Closes, Another One Opens

Sat, 06 Jul 2024 11:30:00 +0000

I realized this week that I never blogged the end of The CircuitPython Show. The show came to end at the end of January earlier this year after 36 episodes. It had a good run and I still had the itch to podcast, so Tod Kurt and I resurrected The Bootloader this past March. We’re on a monthly schedule and have done four episodes so far this year with topics ranging from makers and their cool projects or products to 3D printing and more. It also includes a healthy dose of CircuitPython news if you’re missing the podcast. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts or visit The Bootloader.net.

Fifteen Years of Record Collecting

Thu, 18 Apr 2024 06:30:00 +0000

Fifteen years ago today on April 18th, 2009 I started my record collecting journey. It’s an easy day for me to remember as it was the second annual Record Store Day. I still remember it like it was yesterday. That Saturday afternoon I’d pick up the turntable, so I headed out to the local record store, Down in the Valley, first. There I picked up Neko Case’s Middle Cyclone on clear vinyl and a handful of used records, though I don’t remember which ones I bought. I never imagined my collection would grow like it has.