Good week. Last week’s R&R helped a lot. Came into this week with more focus and more time-in-chair than I’d been able to do previously.
After launching runwear.app, I decided to let all the ideas in the backlog simmer for a little while, and switched over to a new coding project. Feels good to have a clean sheet of paper and a steep learning curve again.
I think it also helped that I returned to my old burger place again. And again. I’m realizing the extra time and energy is worth it, even on a 90º afternoon…
School
Finished up two projects for my current class. One to go.
Running
Three of four Wednesday evening hill workouts complete. Really happy I worked this in. Next month, switching to trail runs. Trails at twilight? Can’t beat it. Falling in love with running again. I’ve been on such a high, and knock on wood, healthy as can be. So many ideas and goals bubbling up. (Maybe that’s one thing hobbies are good for: a low-stakes area of continuous work, experimentation, reward… so you can better recognize by contrast the areas where you don’t have it!)
Books
The Good Thieves. Katherine Rundell strikes again. Her writing style doesn’t strike me as much as it did the first time, but that’s to be expected by the time you a writer’s fourth book. It’s still as lively as ever, and I still appreciate the relentless optimism and mild deviance she promotes. 😈
Music
This felt like a “clean-up” week, not as focused as previous ones. Just tidying up some stray albums I’d saved for later.
Overseas, from Tommy Flanagan. I really like how his toms are tuned, high and resonant. As on “Dalarna“, the piano + brushes combo is still undefeated.
Thom Yorke, Suspiria OST. I like “An Audition” for all the wiggly static. Short but sweet.
Thom Yorke, Anima. I like “Twist” for its full saturation. “Not The News” has this wonderful brush/sandpaper sound, along with sirens and bleeps and bloops. Just perfect.
No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom. I gained a glancing awareness of the “I’m Just a Girl” discourse, which led me to better things: re-listening to this album. “Spiderwebs” is due for a revival?
Electrelane, The Power Out. I don’t listen to rock very much anymore! Just really lost the taste for it, unless it drifts more into the prog/metal realm. I really like hippie/folk/cult/choral flavor in “The Valleys“.
Masego, Studying Abroad: Extended Stay. “Sides of Me” is the best one. Love the looseness in the snaps.
Moodswings, Moodfood. Easy listening wallpaper. Always appreciate when nature sounds work their way in, as on “Thailand“. Really nice orchestration – saxes, bass, shaker – in “Yebo/Sema“.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
It was Black Writers Week at RogerEbert.com, your finest source of movie and TV writing. Robert Daniels introduces great writing on…
- a Wild Wild West reminiscence
- Black couples in ads
- Black “final girls”
- Masculinitity and vulnerability
- The Shield vs. The Wire
- Black villains
…and much more.
The Hands Behind New York City’s Hoop Dreams. Talking with NYC Parks employees that make replacement rims for public basketball courts.
The mysterious tyranny of trendy baby names. The graphs of most popular ending letters, changing over the decades, are super cool.
Movies
F/X. A movie special effects genius is recruited by the Justice Department to help stage a fake assassination, so they can move a key witness out of sight and move a big case move forward. Lots of fun. They don’t make’em like this anymore!
TV
The X-Files, s2e19, “Død Kalm“. I hope Scully & Mulder have generous hazard pay. Impossible task for the makeup team.
The Expanse, s2e9–10. I’m coming around on those Martians a little bit.
Bodkin, s1e7. Season finale in the books. Decent show overall, starting strong and coasting to a pleasant stop.
Mark Larson 