If you’ve been an SOS subscriber from the beginning, you know about my beef with Valak, the demonic nun that made its first appearance in The Conjuring 2 before getting a spin-off prequel with The Nun in 2018. Five years later, Valak is back in The Nun 2, which came out this fall. Pete and I recently devoted a weekend to catch up on recently released horror movies, including The Nun 2, and I can confirm: VALAK STILL SCARES THE EVER-LOVING SHIT OUT OF ME.

Just a quickie today, before I take off for a week in Florida with my mom: Last week, in the Los Angeles Times, Wendy Lee posted an update to the story of author Gabe Hudson’s passing. It’s the first time since he died on November 23rd, 2023 that I’ve seen an official cause of my friend’s death: Hudson, 52, had undiagnosed diabetes and a contributing factor in his death was chronic kidney disease, according to the death certificate from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Click below to get seven free days of access to the twelve sections and over 200 reports at Retro. Get 7 day free trial {Note: For brief introductions to sealed-and-graded video game collecting, see here and here. I also recommend Gamer Stonks for top-notch market analyses and GetTheGreg Games for the friendliest, most helpful flesh-and-blood guide those new to this particular hobby could want.} Collecting sealed and graded video games began around 2008, when the first game-grading company, VGA, was founded, but it didn’t really take off until the founding of the second such company WATA, in 2018.

Good Morning, The Mets are bringing back Michael Pérez on a minor league deal, and the timing of this news is perfect. Today, I will answer a subscriber question by diving into the art of catcher framing. 📬 FROM JONATHAN: Pitch framing is one of those skills that seems to get touted, but I’ve never known what to look for when watching a game. I don’t recall seeing a great pitch frame highlighted on Sportscenter.

Welcome to Body Type! Check out my full archive. If you’d like to support this lady-run, independent publishing enterprise and read my paid subscriber-only posts, please consider upgrading for $5/month or $50/year 😊 P.S. Body Type has become a bestseller less than a year after I turned paid subscriptions on. Thank you so, so much for supporting my work. Amanda Mull is a staff writer at The Atlantic who covers health and consumerism and has written a lot about exercise and the fitness industry.