Dropping Steps - Posts

The Lost Joy of Encountering Good Throwaway Writing

Greg Gannicott — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I feel like over the years, the quality of writing by the general public has dropped.

What sort of things am I referring to? Just small messages like a Facebook post by a business, or a Teams message in work. Things that are seemingly throw-away.

The grammar is poor, typos galore and just a general sense that no effort has been put into it.

Given that these are throw-away things, I get it. Why bother?

But at the same time, this means that when there is clearly effort put into it, I really appreciate it. When you see someone has put a bit of thought into it, proof read and reworked it, it’s a nice little win.

I feel like even that has now been lost though. Why? Because of AI, and more specifically LLMs.

Previously when I saw a nicely thought out and well written message I’d get a little kick from seeing it.

Now when I see a nicely thought out and well written message, I don’t know whether it is the writer or AI.

And that’s a genuine shame.

How I Approach a Work Disagreement

Greg Gannicott — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Frequently in work I’ll find myself in situations where I disagree with a decision that is being made.

Over the years I’ve come to realise that no matter how hard you try or how right you feel, you’re unlikely to win. People don’t often change their minds (myself included).

If people continue to try and change each other’s minds you end up with meetings that just go round in circles.

So now in these situations, my aims are simple:

Make sure they understand what your concerns are.
Make sure they understand your solution (assuming you have one).

Often getting them to fully understand your concerns is half the battle. If after that they’re still not willing to change their mind, I don’t think anything is going to change and you might as well move on.

The flip side to this of course is to try and make sure you understand theirs. Maybe you’re missing something?

One Movie a Week

Greg Gannicott — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Last summer my wife and I went to the local cinema to watch The Fantastic Four: First Steps.

We like movies, but don’t often watch them. It isn’t something we tend to make time for.

At least that was until last summer.

We enjoyed our little date and enjoyed the movie, and so Becky suggested we go watch Superman the following week. It’s not a film she was fussed by but she just enjoyed doing something, and although I’d not watched a DC film in years, I was intrigued by the hype.

And so we did, and again we enjoyed it.

We watched a couple more where one of us found it of interest, but then an important one: The Materialists. We saw a trailer, kind of found it intriguing and although neither of us were that fussed, we went anyway. It’s important because it was the first one we went to see where neither of us were pushing to see the movie, but rather just pushing to see a movie.

At that point - not through words but through actions - we implicitly formed a pact (or a routine if you want to be less dramatic): to go watch a movie every week, no matter what was on. We’d realised that most weeks there is something on that was of enough interest to gamble on it.

Having a pact/routine to go to the cinema every week has been a bit of a game changer, in several ways:

We learnt that there are movies we didn’t think we’d enjoy, but when “forced” to watch, it turns out we did. Most movies have something to offer. My way of approaching it is - and this rings less true for the blockbusters - is that someone wanted to make this movie for a reason. It isn’t likely to make much money, so what is it the writer/director wanted to share with the world?
We found that we were keener to arrive earlier to catch the trailers, because knowing that there is a good chance you’d act on seeing a trailer means the trailers became far more enjoyable. We now tend to sit there and mention to each other whether it’s something we’d watch or not. The good thing is I don’t tend to remember the trailer - and so I’m not spoilt - but I do remember the sense of whether I want to watch it or not.
We realised that despite what many might think, modern movies are often great.
We also realised that despite what many might think, modern movies aren’t just franchises and remakes. One of the ironies of this whole thing is it was franchises and remakes that got us in the for the first 3 films, but we now watch far more original movies as a result.

And the fact we do it at the cinema rather than at home changes things too:

There is less choice. Some might consider this a negative - and I get it - but as a result we are watching things we never previously would have watched, and discovering we like far more than we thought we would have done. In a weird way the lack of choice has opened up our choices.
It isn’t possible to pick up your phone, which means the film is guaranteed your attention. I think there are films out there which demand that attention and patience and don’t work unless you give it, but those same films struggle to keep the attention. This forces the issue :)
And in a similar vein, you’re pretty much forced to sit through the entire film. I believed it anyway but it’s affirmed my belief that a movie can’t be judged until you’ve seen the entire thing. That sounds like an obvious and daft thing to say, but I think the way films are written and produced means the final minutes can change your entire view of a movie. The conclusion carries too much weight to ignore. Several films have had their ratings increased by me during the final minutes. Not because of plot twists but because the sense of satisfaction and conclusion that the end of the film can give.

Notable movies, in the order we watched them:

The Fantastic Four: First Steps. The one that started it. You might say our… First Steps…
Materialists: First film we weren’t fussed about watching but watched anyway.
The Life of Chuck: First weird film we saw and still enjoyed.
The Roses: The best movie we’d seen by this point in terms of we both wanted to watch it and both really enjoyed it. And despite that, I don’t think we would have gone had it not been for the new routine pact, as we didn’t tend to go to the cinema prior to this.
Caught Stealing: First violent film that Becky enjoyed. The movie wasn’t typically her thing yet she enjoyed it anyway.
Honey Don’t!: The first dud. Neither of us enjoyed it. And yet… we survived! It wasn’t the end of the world. We had no regrets. We learnt could handle future duds :)
The Long Walk: A film Becky was very hesitant to watch. The plot looked depressing and it looked violent. And yet she really enjoyed it. I think it’s probably the biggest swing for her in terms of expectations and outcomes. Important that this happens I think as it encourages us to gamble more. Great film by the way!
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey: I didn’t know what this was going to be about (the trailer was weird) but I really enjoyed it. Probably my most pleasant surprise.
After The Hunt: Probably the worst movie we’ve watched. All the way through I was thinking “maybe I’m just not bright enough to get this”, but having read reviews after, I don’t think that was the problem.
I Swear: The best film we’ve watched. I absolutely loved this. Incredible how many emotions you feel. How uncomfortable you feel. How happy you feel. And what you learn.
Project Hail Mary: A good example of sticking with a film. Becky said that to begin with she was worried she was going to be bored senseless, but by the end of the movie she loved it. I believe she would have picked up her phone/stopped the movie at home.

All movies watched at the cinema together to date (05/08/2026):

The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Superman
The Naked Gun
Materialists
The Life of Chuck
The Roses
Caught Stealing
Honey Don’t!
The Long Walk
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
One Battle After Another
The Smashing Machine
After The Hunt
I Swear
Regretting You
The Choral
The Running Man
The Housemaid
Fackham Hall
Marty Supreme
Song Sung Blue
Mercy
Is This Thing On?
Crime 101
How To Make A Killing
Project Hail Mary
The Drama
California Schemin’
Michael
The Devil Wears Prada 2
The Sheep Detectives
Top Gun
Finding Emily
Tuner
Masters of the Universe
Spider-Man: Brand New Day

I should probably point out a couple things:

Circumstances have changed since the early months and so we’re not able to go every single week. We do go whenever possible, and some times more than once a week.
We’ve also got into the habit of going to the cinema by ourselves. We try to make sure we watch one a week together, and if there is something one of us is particularly interested in that week that the other doesn’t want to watch, then we go by ourselves or with friends.

The Art of the Recap

Greg Gannicott — Wed, 05 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At what point did recaps at the start of TV shows almost become a work of art?

I remember being a kid watching Neighbours, and it use to be a collection of clips with next to seemingly no editorial thought going into it: just a set of clips, one clip after the other. Anything that acts as a reminder of what happened the previous episode (and eventually, previous episodes).

But these days they’re brilliantly edited, often telling a story, complete with their own pacing.

At times they’re even used to set the pace and tone of the start of the actual episode.

And when done well they can instantly pull you in.

Why?

Greg Gannicott — Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Why have I started this blog at a time when blogs seem to be dying?

Many reasons actually.

It certainly isn’t to make money, to grow a readership or anything like that.

So, in no order in particular:

I enjoy writing

This one is pretty simple: I enjoy writing. Always have.

I like sitting down and getting things out of my head. But more than that, I like editing and refining it. As much as it can feel like you’re hitting your head against a brick wall at times, I enjoy the act of trying to express something, doing a bad job and then finding a way to make it work.

And it feels mad that I don’t have a place to do this when it’s so relatively easy to put something out there.

I enjoy sharing what I love

When I hear a good song, watch a good film, listen to a good podcast episode, encounter a useful new app, or read a good book I’m always eager to share it with others.

If I watch a good film on a Friday, that’s all I’ll want to talk about with people that weekend. Any reason to drop it in.

So it’ll be nice to have an outlet for such things.

I enjoy sharing what I learn

I’ll often learn things, benefit greatly from it and feel compelled to share it with others.

I like it when others benefit from that knowledge, and I also like it when I benefit from others doing the same.

I want a reason to learn

I’m hoping that occasionally I’ll write about something that I’m not entirely sure about, and that having a need to describe it to others will encourage me to go a little deeper to form an understanding. To help with the illusion of clarity.

There’s a surprising lack of blogs for the things I enjoy

Given that much of what I enjoy is tech related, it surprises me how few blogs there are out there which cover the things I like (specifically Neovim, tmux, and the command line in general). YouTube has probably taken that market, and although I’m not doing this to gain hits or to seize on an opportunity, it still feels like a hole I can try and help fill.

To get over fears of judgement

Finally, I’m very self conscious, I don’t like the idea of putting my thoughts out there and people judging them. So this is as much about putting myself out of my comfort zone as anything else.