Taskmaster NYT + Snowflake: goals (and question for the hivemind)
L and I are now two episodes behind on Percy Jackson and still haven't watched the Ghosts Christmas special (because then there will be no more Ghosts), but what I did watch immediately was:
Taskmaster New Years Treat: That was FUN! Every time I come back to Taskmaster UK after a break, even a very short one like this, it's such a mood boost -- like magic! I didn't know who four of these people were until the podcasts discussed them, and my only exposure to Lenny Rush was via the comedy awards (he received one and I think presented one). But the line-up played great off each other -- I think Kojey was the MVP here, since he had some great chemistry with both Lenny (15, youngest ever contestant) and Deborah (64, oldest ever contestant, though Julian was about the same age). Like, I loved watching some of the individual contestants on previous New Year Treats -- Mo Farah was basically just a fountain of joy throughout -- but this was the first treat where I get a sense of the panel as a group, which is hard to do in one episode.
New glasses on Greg? they look very shiny. The banter WAS good! (with the Madame Tussauds thing) Oh, and I like Steve's butterfly shirt.
Prize task -- The beef between Greg and Deborah (from Dragon's Den) was a great surprsing addition and I think a first, and "let's get on with giving you one point", which then turned out to be fairly earned. And Koji and Lenny's gleeful "oh shit!" expressions when it all starts going down. Kojey's synchronized robot puppies were great ("Are they yours?" "Yeah, I've been training them myself."), and Lenny's beery and cigarettes, and the exchange with Greg (Greg: "Lenny, can you beat seven synchronized robot puppies?" Kojey and Alex: "Six." Lenny: "Well, if it's six, I can!"), and I also love Steve turning up with the deadliest jellyfish. Zoe's one man band was definitely deservedly the two-pointer, but her miming of it was adorable. And Lenny and Kojey separating their joint first was adorable!
Papadoms task -- oh hey, Kojey is HOT underneath that hat! So of course it turned into a task in not saying the forbidden letters, and it's hilarious how many contestants eliminated X early on even though it's in Alex's name, which they then kept saying. The insults were fun -- Lenny giggling, Steve getting really into it, and then Zoe being coached, in studio, by Greg in how to insult Alex ("Apologies to Lenny's parents.") And of course Kojey taking the opportunity to make Alex eat stuff, and immortalizing it on a shirt. Also, Zoe's little cymbal thing with the sauce covers was so cute!
Portrait with fruit -- Kojey is clearly the person with the most experience of the show ("I don't believe you, Alex!" when Alex tries to claim the time to eat an orange is just small talk, and then both picking a middle of the road answer and then changing it, picking a non-round number each time). Steve with his confident 45 seconds -- and then actually managing a very credible likeness of himself! and prioritizing giving himself a six-pack over drawing the fruit, lol. Zoe's was indeed deranged (and her going "Grr!"), and Lenny drawing with Alex's finger while Alex had his eyes shut did indeed look like someone would get arrested (Lenny: "Won't be ME!"), and Deborah's iPad mishap and "I have a very long tongue. (to Kojey) I'll show you later."
Popping things task -- ahaha Deborah not knowing how toasters work and falling for Alex's voice-activated trick XD Steve's command performance was super impressive -- 18 seconds! When they showed the three people at first go, I was wondering what the other two could have done. Surely nobody could have done better than Steve, so I was assuming one or both of them had crashed and burned in some way, and I was expecting that one of them would've forgotten to pop something in the allotted time, and that was true too (Zoe and the cat feeder, because she didn't work out you could just open it).
Lenny and Steve were tied for first going into the live task, with Kojey just a point behind them, and the two women also within winning distance -- only 4 points separating them. Makes sense that it's not a physical task, given that it would be hard for Lenny to compete with the others in a physical task. I'm not sure I agree that Alex breaking the hole counts as him not fitting through it -- it just means the material wasn't strong enough to test properly -- I've heard the things where, if your head fits through, the rest of you can, too, and his head fit, so, I think that should've been a Steve/Lenny tie.
But it's cute that Lenny won, and I really enjoyed him and Greg sort of helplessly giggling at each other multiple times during the show. It was very cute, and weirdly wholesome.
So, Lenny was funny (being the one person who actually works in comedy on the panel, not surprising), especially in his interaction with Greg. Kojey's mix of personal charm and being clearly a big fan of the show worked really well. Zoe was adorable throughout. Steve ended up being my favorite (he totally won me over with the jellyfish, and then the orange-eating hubris and lukewarm denial he's timed himself eating an orange, and mastery of popping, and the most interesting insults -- I feel like he was the most focused at all of the tasks, and pretty good at most of them -- I think in a longer series he'd be the man to beat. And then Deborah, who would've always been the butt monkey, I'm pretty sure, even without Greg's 15 year grudge over the horizonto-glass, what with the toaster and just generally being less ept, like whatever she did with the iPad in the drawing task -- but that definitely contributed to the mix.
*
Challenge #2: In your own space, set yourself some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.
I've done very detailed KPI-style goals for Snowflake since I started doing it -- which pretty clearly stopped working for me around the time my work brought back actual professional KPI-style goals, probably because now it reminds me too much of work, lol, instead of being, like, ironic. So I feel I need to try something different this year.
First, 2023 goals and how I did on them (spoiler: not great, but mostly because they were not actually aligned with how I wanted to spend my leisure time, as it turned out)
- Read at least 52 books -- LOL, no. I read 10, the least since I've started tracking, but it wasn't a "reading" sort of year, and also the Kindle app on my phone, which has been my primary reading device for the last several years, hasn't been working right since they phased out support for the older formats.
- Read/watch at least 3 things from the updated "to try" list below (which should be kept updated as I keep forgetting things I want to read) -- I tried (but did not finish) one thing
- Make progress on at least 3 "in progress" backburner book series -- I did none of this
- Finish at least 5 books I've been stalled in the middle of -- did none of this either
- Read at least 5 books in my "books I own" TBR pile -- I started but did not finish one thing
- Read at least 5 Hugo-nominated things I have not yet read (from any year and of any length; see list of interest below; I may or may not add 2021 nominees to it...) -- I did not read any of the older Hugo works on my list, but I read Into the Riverlands (novella) and The Golden Enclaves (Lodestar, so not sure that technically counts, but I do consider that part of Hugo homework, so I'm going to count it)
- Read at least 1 book in Russian -- I did this! (Vita Nostra)
- Read at least 1 non-genre book; non-fiction counts for this -- Nope
- Finish off Random Reading Bingo from 2015 -- Challenge mode: non-fiction book written 50 years ago -- Nope
- Finish out a season of at least one show I'm mid-season on or where I'm an already completed season behind (list below) -- I did this, with Person of Interest, where I finished season 2 and watched all of season 3
- Post at least one new thing to AO3 -- I did this (my Yuletide story)
- Actually comment on AO3 -- I also did this
- Post at least 1 more posts for the Kairos 30 days meme (I have two half-written entries but have not posted in almost four years... Hell, at this point I need to revisit some of my lists :P -- made no progress
- Submit at least 5 poems somewhere (raising the bar here since I'm actively doing this now) -- I submitted a lot more than 5, so this is definitely met
- NEW: Update my poetry website with all 2022 publications -- I did this
- Special Hugo related goal: Submit a nominations ballot (since I have a supporting membership for 2022 and am eligible to nominate) -- I did the nominations
You can see I met 6 of 8 of my not-purely-reading related goals (only the 30 day meme went without progress, and there was partial progress on the "to try"), but only 1 out of 8 reading-related goals (book in Russian; 3 had some progress, although not even close to being complete, and 4 had no progress at all).
So, I'm going to keep the non-reading goals, since they seem to be working (75% is an OK range), and revamp what I'm doing with reading, and also the 30 day meme, since I've not made any progress there in years, so I clearly need to change something.
2024 Goals:
1. Poetry:
1.1 Update my poetry website with all 2023 publications
1.2 Submit at least 10 poems somewhere (raising the bar further)
1.3 Submit at least one chapbook (or micro-chap) length manuscript (NEW -- but I did it this year without a goal, and want to keep doing it)
2. Fanworks:
2.1 Post at least one new thing to AO3
2.2 Actually comment on AO3
2.3 Do at least one fandom meme
3. Television & Movies
3.1 Finish out a season of at least one TV show I'm mid-season on or where I'm an already completed season behind (list below)
4. Reading:
4.1 Fix my reading logistics:
4.1.1 Figure out and resolve the issue with my library card
4.1.2 Figure out a sustainable e-Reader solution -- fix for Kindle app on my phone, a new Kindle, a new phone?/iPad?, whatever
4.1.3 Figure out a way of posting about books that better suits my current reading pace (the "X books I've read since my last post" doesn't really seem to be working; I don't know if Reading Wednesday is my thing either, but I feel like I may need a new system)
4.2 Read some stuff: Read at least 3 things that meet one or more of the categories below
4.2.1 Read something from the "backburner" series where I'm still actively thinking "oh hey, I should catch up on that" when friends post about it
4.2.2 Finish something I've been stalled out on that makes me go "oh hey, I should finish that" when I scroll past it on my Kindle
4.2.3 Read a book I own (mount TBR rules)
4.2.3.1 Read a book I own in paper copy (physical TBR pile)
4.2.3.2 Read a book I own in e-copy (book I bought or was gifted)
4.2.4 Read a book in Russian
4.2.5 Read a non-genre book (non-fiction counts for this)
5. Try new things:
5.1 Read/watch at least 3 things from the updated "to try" list below (which should be kept updated throughout the year)
6. Sudoku: (NEW category, since this is apparently a principal fandom of mine now XD)
6.1 Learn how to solve a new sudoku type or a new trick
6.2 Solve at least one puzzle from CtC Greatest Hits vol 2 book (since I backed the Kickstarter and am getting a copy, I should do something with it)
7. Hugos:
7.1 Nominate for the Hugos -- note to self: I will need to get a supporting membership by Jan 31 to do that (it helps that I actually have some things to nominate this year that I'm genuinely passionate about getting the broader recognition)
7.2 Cast a Hugo ballot
7.3 Read/watch at least 5 Hugo-nominated things I have not yet read (from any year and of any length; see list of interest of older stuff below) -- this is the one principally-reading section that I'm not dropping numbers on, because if I'm going to be voting, this should be the bare minimum
Lists, which I'm starting from scratch because I want a reset. I can edit older things back in if I discover I care about them still after all. I'm also dropping some things that I may eventually want to get back to but don't expect I'll be in the right frame of mind this year, like darker canons or themes too close to home.
The lists
TV shows I'm behind on:
- Farscape (wherever it was I stopped, at the divergent Johns)
- Killjoys (s3)
- Sandman (finish s1)
- Good Omens (s2)
- Person of Interest (finish s4)
- White Collar (~s5)
Backburner book series
- Murderbot (only a little back-burnered, but I tend to forget about these books otherwise)
- The Tarot Sequence
- Magnus Chase (or any of the linked demigod books, in case PJO gives me feelings)
- She Who Became the Sun sequel
- Kate Daniels (or Iron Council series) -- other Ilona Andrews stuff counts too
- Cruel Prince (for Madoc, purely)
- Dresden Files (oh yeah... I never did read Battle Ground, did I...)
- Locked Tomb
Stalled in the middle books
- Reynolds novella for Rivers of London
- Jade City
- Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances
- Face Like Glass
- Deeplight
Physcal book I own
- A Power Unbound
- Babel
- Jade City
- Archer's Goon
- Solutions and Other Problems
- Le Ton beau de Marot
- Deeplight
E-book that I own
- A Taste of Gold and Iron
- Hotel Magnifuque
- Gullstruck Island
- Nona the Ninth
- Nicky Drayden, Escaping Exodus: Symbiosis
- Jo Walton Lifelode
- Octavia Butler collection
To Try
Books:
- Vespertine
- Fire and Hemlock or Archer's Goon (DWJ)
- something by Octavia Butler
- something by Daryl Gregory
TV:
- Live action AtLA
Movies:
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
So, we'll see how it goes... Anyone have any advice on the two things I'm setting as goals to figure out?
1) Has anyone else been having issues with the Kindle app? Mine (on an iPhone) just freezes after a couple of seconds and is thus unusable. Turning off and on the phone doesn't help. Deleting and reloading the Kindle app sometimes helps, but then it starts doing that again, and is a massive pain. Getting a new phone MIGHT help (mine is >3 years old), but is otherwise functional. I am running a downrev OS (iOS 16.1.1) but I kind of don't want to mess with 17 on an older phone when everything else works fine. I think the whole thing started when Amazon ended support for their older Kindle formats, but the issue is an app-level issue, not a book-level issue, and affects newer books, epub, etc.
2) Other than "Reading Wednesday" type of posts and periodic "here's a bunch of books I read since my last post", are you using or have you seen people using any other "systems" for talking about what they're reading on a regular basis? My previous default was "here's a bunch of books" with roughly monthly posts, when I was reading several books a month, but that's not how I've been reading books over the last two years, so I may need a new system.
Taskmaster New Years Treat: That was FUN! Every time I come back to Taskmaster UK after a break, even a very short one like this, it's such a mood boost -- like magic! I didn't know who four of these people were until the podcasts discussed them, and my only exposure to Lenny Rush was via the comedy awards (he received one and I think presented one). But the line-up played great off each other -- I think Kojey was the MVP here, since he had some great chemistry with both Lenny (15, youngest ever contestant) and Deborah (64, oldest ever contestant, though Julian was about the same age). Like, I loved watching some of the individual contestants on previous New Year Treats -- Mo Farah was basically just a fountain of joy throughout -- but this was the first treat where I get a sense of the panel as a group, which is hard to do in one episode.
New glasses on Greg? they look very shiny. The banter WAS good! (with the Madame Tussauds thing) Oh, and I like Steve's butterfly shirt.
Prize task -- The beef between Greg and Deborah (from Dragon's Den) was a great surprsing addition and I think a first, and "let's get on with giving you one point", which then turned out to be fairly earned. And Koji and Lenny's gleeful "oh shit!" expressions when it all starts going down. Kojey's synchronized robot puppies were great ("Are they yours?" "Yeah, I've been training them myself."), and Lenny's beery and cigarettes, and the exchange with Greg (Greg: "Lenny, can you beat seven synchronized robot puppies?" Kojey and Alex: "Six." Lenny: "Well, if it's six, I can!"), and I also love Steve turning up with the deadliest jellyfish. Zoe's one man band was definitely deservedly the two-pointer, but her miming of it was adorable. And Lenny and Kojey separating their joint first was adorable!
Papadoms task -- oh hey, Kojey is HOT underneath that hat! So of course it turned into a task in not saying the forbidden letters, and it's hilarious how many contestants eliminated X early on even though it's in Alex's name, which they then kept saying. The insults were fun -- Lenny giggling, Steve getting really into it, and then Zoe being coached, in studio, by Greg in how to insult Alex ("Apologies to Lenny's parents.") And of course Kojey taking the opportunity to make Alex eat stuff, and immortalizing it on a shirt. Also, Zoe's little cymbal thing with the sauce covers was so cute!
Portrait with fruit -- Kojey is clearly the person with the most experience of the show ("I don't believe you, Alex!" when Alex tries to claim the time to eat an orange is just small talk, and then both picking a middle of the road answer and then changing it, picking a non-round number each time). Steve with his confident 45 seconds -- and then actually managing a very credible likeness of himself! and prioritizing giving himself a six-pack over drawing the fruit, lol. Zoe's was indeed deranged (and her going "Grr!"), and Lenny drawing with Alex's finger while Alex had his eyes shut did indeed look like someone would get arrested (Lenny: "Won't be ME!"), and Deborah's iPad mishap and "I have a very long tongue. (to Kojey) I'll show you later."
Popping things task -- ahaha Deborah not knowing how toasters work and falling for Alex's voice-activated trick XD Steve's command performance was super impressive -- 18 seconds! When they showed the three people at first go, I was wondering what the other two could have done. Surely nobody could have done better than Steve, so I was assuming one or both of them had crashed and burned in some way, and I was expecting that one of them would've forgotten to pop something in the allotted time, and that was true too (Zoe and the cat feeder, because she didn't work out you could just open it).
Lenny and Steve were tied for first going into the live task, with Kojey just a point behind them, and the two women also within winning distance -- only 4 points separating them. Makes sense that it's not a physical task, given that it would be hard for Lenny to compete with the others in a physical task. I'm not sure I agree that Alex breaking the hole counts as him not fitting through it -- it just means the material wasn't strong enough to test properly -- I've heard the things where, if your head fits through, the rest of you can, too, and his head fit, so, I think that should've been a Steve/Lenny tie.
But it's cute that Lenny won, and I really enjoyed him and Greg sort of helplessly giggling at each other multiple times during the show. It was very cute, and weirdly wholesome.
So, Lenny was funny (being the one person who actually works in comedy on the panel, not surprising), especially in his interaction with Greg. Kojey's mix of personal charm and being clearly a big fan of the show worked really well. Zoe was adorable throughout. Steve ended up being my favorite (he totally won me over with the jellyfish, and then the orange-eating hubris and lukewarm denial he's timed himself eating an orange, and mastery of popping, and the most interesting insults -- I feel like he was the most focused at all of the tasks, and pretty good at most of them -- I think in a longer series he'd be the man to beat. And then Deborah, who would've always been the butt monkey, I'm pretty sure, even without Greg's 15 year grudge over the horizonto-glass, what with the toaster and just generally being less ept, like whatever she did with the iPad in the drawing task -- but that definitely contributed to the mix.
*
Challenge #2: In your own space, set yourself some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private.
I've done very detailed KPI-style goals for Snowflake since I started doing it -- which pretty clearly stopped working for me around the time my work brought back actual professional KPI-style goals, probably because now it reminds me too much of work, lol, instead of being, like, ironic. So I feel I need to try something different this year.
First, 2023 goals and how I did on them (spoiler: not great, but mostly because they were not actually aligned with how I wanted to spend my leisure time, as it turned out)
- Read at least 52 books -- LOL, no. I read 10, the least since I've started tracking, but it wasn't a "reading" sort of year, and also the Kindle app on my phone, which has been my primary reading device for the last several years, hasn't been working right since they phased out support for the older formats.
- Read/watch at least 3 things from the updated "to try" list below (which should be kept updated as I keep forgetting things I want to read) -- I tried (but did not finish) one thing
- Make progress on at least 3 "in progress" backburner book series -- I did none of this
- Finish at least 5 books I've been stalled in the middle of -- did none of this either
- Read at least 5 books in my "books I own" TBR pile -- I started but did not finish one thing
- Read at least 5 Hugo-nominated things I have not yet read (from any year and of any length; see list of interest below; I may or may not add 2021 nominees to it...) -- I did not read any of the older Hugo works on my list, but I read Into the Riverlands (novella) and The Golden Enclaves (Lodestar, so not sure that technically counts, but I do consider that part of Hugo homework, so I'm going to count it)
- Read at least 1 book in Russian -- I did this! (Vita Nostra)
- Read at least 1 non-genre book; non-fiction counts for this -- Nope
- Finish off Random Reading Bingo from 2015 -- Challenge mode: non-fiction book written 50 years ago -- Nope
- Finish out a season of at least one show I'm mid-season on or where I'm an already completed season behind (list below) -- I did this, with Person of Interest, where I finished season 2 and watched all of season 3
- Post at least one new thing to AO3 -- I did this (my Yuletide story)
- Actually comment on AO3 -- I also did this
- Post at least 1 more posts for the Kairos 30 days meme (I have two half-written entries but have not posted in almost four years... Hell, at this point I need to revisit some of my lists :P -- made no progress
- Submit at least 5 poems somewhere (raising the bar here since I'm actively doing this now) -- I submitted a lot more than 5, so this is definitely met
- NEW: Update my poetry website with all 2022 publications -- I did this
- Special Hugo related goal: Submit a nominations ballot (since I have a supporting membership for 2022 and am eligible to nominate) -- I did the nominations
You can see I met 6 of 8 of my not-purely-reading related goals (only the 30 day meme went without progress, and there was partial progress on the "to try"), but only 1 out of 8 reading-related goals (book in Russian; 3 had some progress, although not even close to being complete, and 4 had no progress at all).
So, I'm going to keep the non-reading goals, since they seem to be working (75% is an OK range), and revamp what I'm doing with reading, and also the 30 day meme, since I've not made any progress there in years, so I clearly need to change something.
2024 Goals:
1. Poetry:
1.1 Update my poetry website with all 2023 publications
1.2 Submit at least 10 poems somewhere (raising the bar further)
1.3 Submit at least one chapbook (or micro-chap) length manuscript (NEW -- but I did it this year without a goal, and want to keep doing it)
2. Fanworks:
2.1 Post at least one new thing to AO3
2.2 Actually comment on AO3
2.3 Do at least one fandom meme
3. Television & Movies
3.1 Finish out a season of at least one TV show I'm mid-season on or where I'm an already completed season behind (list below)
4. Reading:
4.1 Fix my reading logistics:
4.1.1 Figure out and resolve the issue with my library card
4.1.2 Figure out a sustainable e-Reader solution -- fix for Kindle app on my phone, a new Kindle, a new phone?/iPad?, whatever
4.1.3 Figure out a way of posting about books that better suits my current reading pace (the "X books I've read since my last post" doesn't really seem to be working; I don't know if Reading Wednesday is my thing either, but I feel like I may need a new system)
4.2 Read some stuff: Read at least 3 things that meet one or more of the categories below
4.2.1 Read something from the "backburner" series where I'm still actively thinking "oh hey, I should catch up on that" when friends post about it
4.2.2 Finish something I've been stalled out on that makes me go "oh hey, I should finish that" when I scroll past it on my Kindle
4.2.3 Read a book I own (mount TBR rules)
4.2.3.1 Read a book I own in paper copy (physical TBR pile)
4.2.3.2 Read a book I own in e-copy (book I bought or was gifted)
4.2.4 Read a book in Russian
4.2.5 Read a non-genre book (non-fiction counts for this)
5. Try new things:
5.1 Read/watch at least 3 things from the updated "to try" list below (which should be kept updated throughout the year)
6. Sudoku: (NEW category, since this is apparently a principal fandom of mine now XD)
6.1 Learn how to solve a new sudoku type or a new trick
6.2 Solve at least one puzzle from CtC Greatest Hits vol 2 book (since I backed the Kickstarter and am getting a copy, I should do something with it)
7. Hugos:
7.1 Nominate for the Hugos -- note to self: I will need to get a supporting membership by Jan 31 to do that (it helps that I actually have some things to nominate this year that I'm genuinely passionate about getting the broader recognition)
7.2 Cast a Hugo ballot
7.3 Read/watch at least 5 Hugo-nominated things I have not yet read (from any year and of any length; see list of interest of older stuff below) -- this is the one principally-reading section that I'm not dropping numbers on, because if I'm going to be voting, this should be the bare minimum
Lists, which I'm starting from scratch because I want a reset. I can edit older things back in if I discover I care about them still after all. I'm also dropping some things that I may eventually want to get back to but don't expect I'll be in the right frame of mind this year, like darker canons or themes too close to home.
The lists
TV shows I'm behind on:
- Farscape (wherever it was I stopped, at the divergent Johns)
- Killjoys (s3)
- Sandman (finish s1)
- Good Omens (s2)
- Person of Interest (finish s4)
- White Collar (~s5)
Backburner book series
- Murderbot (only a little back-burnered, but I tend to forget about these books otherwise)
- The Tarot Sequence
- Magnus Chase (or any of the linked demigod books, in case PJO gives me feelings)
- She Who Became the Sun sequel
- Kate Daniels (or Iron Council series) -- other Ilona Andrews stuff counts too
- Cruel Prince (for Madoc, purely)
- Dresden Files (oh yeah... I never did read Battle Ground, did I...)
- Locked Tomb
Stalled in the middle books
- Reynolds novella for Rivers of London
- Jade City
- Tchaikovsky's City of Last Chances
- Face Like Glass
- Deeplight
Physcal book I own
- A Power Unbound
- Babel
- Jade City
- Archer's Goon
- Solutions and Other Problems
- Le Ton beau de Marot
- Deeplight
E-book that I own
- A Taste of Gold and Iron
- Hotel Magnifuque
- Gullstruck Island
- Nona the Ninth
- Nicky Drayden, Escaping Exodus: Symbiosis
- Jo Walton Lifelode
- Octavia Butler collection
To Try
Books:
- Vespertine
- Fire and Hemlock or Archer's Goon (DWJ)
- something by Octavia Butler
- something by Daryl Gregory
TV:
- Live action AtLA
Movies:
- Everything Everywhere All at Once
So, we'll see how it goes... Anyone have any advice on the two things I'm setting as goals to figure out?
1) Has anyone else been having issues with the Kindle app? Mine (on an iPhone) just freezes after a couple of seconds and is thus unusable. Turning off and on the phone doesn't help. Deleting and reloading the Kindle app sometimes helps, but then it starts doing that again, and is a massive pain. Getting a new phone MIGHT help (mine is >3 years old), but is otherwise functional. I am running a downrev OS (iOS 16.1.1) but I kind of don't want to mess with 17 on an older phone when everything else works fine. I think the whole thing started when Amazon ended support for their older Kindle formats, but the issue is an app-level issue, not a book-level issue, and affects newer books, epub, etc.
2) Other than "Reading Wednesday" type of posts and periodic "here's a bunch of books I read since my last post", are you using or have you seen people using any other "systems" for talking about what they're reading on a regular basis? My previous default was "here's a bunch of books" with roughly monthly posts, when I was reading several books a month, but that's not how I've been reading books over the last two years, so I may need a new system.