Vibe Check №8
Notes from August 2025
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Toronto 📍
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mikie 🇨🇦 @mikie.zip -
mikie 🇨🇦 @mikie.zip 
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mikie 🇨🇦 @mikie.zip
Starter Villain 2023
- Written by John Scalzi
Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital. It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good. In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat.
The Daily Stoic 2016
366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
- Written by Ryan Holiday, Stephen Hanselman
A beautifully packaged daily devotional of Stoic wisdom, featuring new translations of the most celebrated Stoics with historical context and practical tips from bestselling author Ryan Holiday.
The Practice 2020
Shipping Creative Work
- Written by Seth Godin
Creative work doesn't come with a guarantee. But there is a pattern to who succeeds and who doesn't. And engaging in the consistent practice of its pursuit is the best way forward. Based on the breakthrough Akimbo workshop pioneered by legendary author Seth Godin,
Phoenix Vol. 1 2024
Orbital Resonance
- Written by Stephanie Phillips
She is Jean Grey, one of the most iconic X-Men. She is Phoenix, the nigh-omnipotent cosmic entity of pure power. She fights for life. She brings death. One woman, alone in space, who not only must do what no one else can: She yearns to. And when a desperate S.O.S. from Nova brings the Phoenix to the edge of a black hole where hundreds of souls hang in the balance, Jean is dedicated to protecting innocents. But whatever she does — or fails to do — will bring darkness to the universe and haunt her in ways she can scarcely imagine! Plus: You’d think that with all of outer space as her playground, Jean would be safe from family dropping by without warning — but when your father-in-law is Corsair of the Starjammers, anything can happen!
X-Men: The Age of Apocalypse Omnibus 1994
- Written by Various Authors
Charles Xavier is dead - killed twenty years in the past during a freak time-travel accident - and the world that has arisen in his absence is dark and dangerous indeed. The Darwinian conqueror Apocalypse rules with an iron fist, ruthlessly enforcing his dictum that only the strong shall survive - and in Apocalypse's long shadow, hidden among a downtrodden humankind, are a group of ragtag freedom fighters led by Xavier's oldest friend, Magneto: the Amazing X-Men! When Bishop, last survivor of the true Marvel Universe, locates the X-Men and explains how the world went wrong, these embittered mutants and their tenuous allies must risk everything - and undertake a dangerous and multi-pronged quest - to put things right!
Recently Reading 📚
Lore Dump 🤘
“I like my sugar with coffee & cream.”
– Ad Rock, Beastie Boys. ‘Sabotage’ (1998)
“I’m a product of the tube and the free lunch, living room watching old re-runs.”
– Anderson .Paak. ‘The Dreamer’ (2016)
“Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight.”
– Sailor Moon. ‘Sailor Moon Theme’ (1995)
“If it ain’t about a dream, then it ain’t about me.”
– Mac Miller. ‘Best Day Ever’ (2011)
“I'm liable to go Michael, take your pick. Jackson, Tyson, Jordan, Game 6.”
– Jay-Z. ‘Ni**as in Paris’ (2011)
“If I was drunk when I said it, it might have been true.”
– PUP. ‘Guilt Trip (2013)
“Forget longevity, I'm just tryna get by.”
– PUP. ‘Reservoir’ (2013)
“Never thought I'd be nothing at all.”
– PUP. ‘Can't Win’ (2016)
“And as my body aged, the feeling, it never did.”
– PUP. ‘Morbid Stuff’ (2019)
“I'm doin' somethin' productive with my self-destruction.”
– PUP. ‘Rot’ (2020)
“Too old for teen angst, too young to be washed.”
– PUP. ‘PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy’ (2022)
“Bubbles in my champagne, let there be some jazz playin.”
– Frank Ocean. ’Pyramids’ (2012)
“Living so the last night feels like a past life.”
– Frank Ocean. ‘Nikes’ (2016)
Camera Roll 📸
Photos
Is this anything?
Coming Soon?
Letterboxd Log 🍿
Alien: Earth 2025
Season 1
- Created by Noah Hawley
When the mysterious deep space research vessel USCSS Maginot crash-lands on Earth, Wendy and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet's greatest threat.
Peacemaker 2025
Season 2
- Created by James Gunn
Following the exposure of Project Butterfly and the disbandment of Task Force X, the 11th Street Kids grapple with new identities, new friendships, and new rivalries. For Peacemaker, this means reconciling his past with his newfound sense of purpose — here and in an alternate dimension. Meanwhile, Rick Flag Sr. reappears as the director of A.R.G.U.S., focused on controlling metahumans and avenging the death of his son at the hands of Peacemaker.
Binge Mode 📺
In Rotation 💿
From the Archives
Assorted memos, missives, and musings from the desk of Mike Mali.
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Vibe Check №7
Notes from July 2025
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Vibe Check №6
Notes from June 2025
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Vibe Check №5
Notes from May 2025
Mikie Notes
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this ain't fugazi.
Small Worlds
Sometimes, I go outside.
A Touch Grass Production