Emma. Finished! Of the Austen novels, I've read, I'd put "Sense & Sensibility" first, then "Pride & Prejudice" (I think? It's been a while), then this in third place. But! Emma might be the best heroine. She's always getting carried away with her imagination and optimism, this over-confident meddling... followed by sincere regret and making amends. Repeat. It's great fun.
I'm not sure what's next, sampling a bit.
Running
Taking a few days off and a few days light. Mentally preparing for more time off of running during PTO soon, and trying to get a mild injury back on track.
A few from Fever Ray, moody, icy, vaguely demented...
Fever Ray. "I'm Not Done" is pretty good, love the cross-rhythms in the clapping/snapping. I didn't know I already knew "Keep the Streets Empty for Me", helped job my memory on the connection to The Knife.
Ariana Grande, Petal. The songwriting isn't good, and her voice gets too buried in (sometimes interesting!) synthesizer wash, but it's nice wallpaper and better at high volume. Felt some life breathed back into when we reached the harmonies in "Nowhere, Nobody", but too late by then. Bummer!
Georg Philipp Telemann, 6 Orchestral Suites perf. La Stagione Frankfurt cond. Michael Schneider.
Movies
Fight or Flight. Ideal sunny afternoon action thriller, Josh Hartnett tapping into some zaniness, great physical comedy.
TV
The X-Files, s6e20 "Three of a Kind". Casino setting is fun, but too bad they didn't take full advantage of it. Lots of talking in hallways and bedrooms.
Dark, s4e4.
The Expanse, s1e9–10. Glad I re-watched, if only to re-live the superior books by proxy.
I recommend: every so often to pick a random date, March 26th or whatever, and flip through all the things you did on that day over the years. Ideally you've keeping a journal to make this easy. I did a similar exercise while baking recently, paging through memories while licking batter off the spoon.
This week I played shuffleboard for the first time, on a long deck with the big sticks that you push'em with. Couldn't quite calibrate this time, but if I were retired, I can see how I'd make it a regular thing. I still like the tabletop version more – moves quicker, easier to heckle.
Lots of packages arriving over the last couple weeks, and mixed feelings about it. It's fun to have stuff! It's not fun to want stuff!
"I tallied the colour of every couch in IKEA’s (now discontinued) catalogues from 1960 to 2021. 3,500 couches later, I have confirmed my suspicions." How colour drained from our furniture.
In praise of the Midwest. "It’s not that they are more American than any other region, but that you can view America more easily, more inexpensively, and comfortably."
High School Musical. What fun! Growing appreciation for Zac Efron, but Lucas Grabeel stole the show for me, a committed performance.
The Bride!. Not perfect, but I loved it. Twisted romance, great costumes, not-quite-our-history historical setting. And Maggie Gyllenhaal cast Jake pefectly here.
Interstellar. Holds up! I wish Jessica Chastain had a little bit more to do. How was this twelve years ago?
TV
The X-Files, s6e19 "The Unnatural". Not sure I could say anything that will help you understand what it's like to watch this episode. What a ride!
Dark, s3e3.
The Expanse, s1e8. Feels good to see the plot lines converge.
A very educational week to start: doctor visit, webinars, trainings, reading. I was glad for the change of pace on the back half, a more gentle slope into the weekend.
We moved some furniture around the house and reset the energy a little bit. Friday night fingerpainting on the roof. Saturday snoozing after a long hard run.
I wish Spotify were more adventurous and opinionated in its recommendations. So often it's playlists and singles. The small section with full-album recs is so often more of the same, so rarely the adjacent possible. Take a chance on me! Take a stance!
Emma. Who among us has not been high on their own supply?
Running
Highlights of the week: Tuesday morning trailrun, and a Saturday morning long run to Shirley Chisholm State Park, and being the first one in when they unlocked the gates. :) (I wonder what it was like for long-time residents, seeing the old landfills changed to parkland.)
All Bach, baby! A couple weeks ago I had a breakthrough with The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080. I wanted to seal that in, so that's pretty much all I listened to, a few different recordings:
a piano version by Evgeni Koriolov, meditative bordering on ponderous, but you want to sit up and respect the listening a bit more than the others?
The weather lately – temps consistently over 90º, AQI at 150+ for several days – was really dragging me down. So much mental health and motivation comes from stable routines to click into, and a huge part of that is getting outside. When that's taken away, or just more annoying to do... things get tricky. But then Sunday morning was crisp and clear and all was right as rain.
Went to Lincoln Center to hear Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 and a couple other pieces. It's long been a favorite, but I'd never heard it live. So lovely to get a new angle on it – bass plucking I hadn't noticed, counterpoint in the woodwinds, and just to see the camaraderie among the violinists in the moment. Great experience.
After dilly-dallying for weeks on boring admin stuff, sometimes locking in on a good 3-hour block is better than a plan to chip away and make incremental progress. Better yet if you have a companion to lock in with you.
I think my art section below ↓ is one of my favorite weekly rituals. I should go to museums more often – the concert a couple days ago is a good reminder that "there's nothing like the real thing". But also: I'm always free to go looking for things that delight me. Glad I make time for it.
Caliban's War. This is such a slippery franchise. I like how it operates on a solar system strategic level but so many characters I just can't get a hold on, or find annoying. Ditto some of the writing, where sometimes we get lovely allusions to a broader world you're allowed to dream up on your own, and sometimes themes and motivations are just right there in tedious move-the-chains dialogue. And yet... I'd be open to book 3 after a break. We'll see.
Emma. I've read the first few pages of this at least a dozen times. Always seems to come up when I'm on a hunt for a new book – maybe this one? – and feeling like now is the time.
Running
Smoke put me on the treadmill for the first time in a long time. Whatever it takes! Glad to be back out in the neighborhood, though.
"All adaptations are acceptable. The real question is simply: is it good on its own terms, in itself, as a movie, standalone?"
"An easy way to tell if you’re really trying is to ask yourself, 'How would someone who is actually determined to do this go about it?'' Right away, you know whether that’s you."
Sophie Dervaux, La Folia Barockorchester, Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerti and Vivaldi: Bassoon Concerti II. These were nice. I wonder if I get more out of different recordings, as it's easy for bassoon to get a little buried in the mix.
Flying Lotus
Ash (OST). Glitchy and queasy and ominous electronics, fit the movie very well. The opener, "Oxygene" is great, also like the breathing in "It's Out There".
Los Angeles
More of a beat-lounge sorta vibe. I like the all the hand percussion in "Melt!".
Max Bruch, Violin Concerto No. 1, perf. Itzhak Perlman, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra cond. Bernard Haitink.
I've been thinking about a new role in my company. I never consciously declared "this is my path and my passion", but building up expertise over time, identity sort of forms itself. So it feels weird to even consider it, opening up deeper and longer-term questions than when I was first toying with the idea. We'll see!
A problem of affluence: muffins and cupcakes today are too tall. Food is better when you can get the full experience in one bite. Make them smaller!
Caliban's War. Going into the last quarter or so. I'll switch to something older next.
Running
Feeling summer's ticking clock. I need to reevaluate my running to-do list and make sure I'm prioritizing some of the more ambitious and novel ones in addition to routine maintenance.
"I contend that the 21st century has seen a dramatic loss of information on screen, making for a less luxurious and less satisfying experience for the viewer, and trace how this loss was manufactured, department by department."
François Couperin, Second Livre de Pièces de clavecin perf. Christophe Rousset. "Les Barricades Mystérieuses" is a banger. I hear it as one of those songs to play at a morning wedding during a hopeful walk down the aisle, quiet sobs as everyone overflows with joy and love. Many others to like on the album.
Apex. Going in, I was hoping more for battles with nature (like The Revenant, say), and less crazy villain, but still a good ride. Interesting to see the main character keeping her cool in situations where every single alarm bell is going off, a wary confidence. Charlize Theron is good for that.
The Greatest Showman. The music is overall not good, but also not for me. But also: sometimes the heartstring-plucking works, and I love the pace and choreography and melodrama. It's a fun watch. "When you're careless with other people, you bring ruin upon yourself."
Ash. Sturdy trippy paranoid spooky scifi. Perfect for a midnight screening.
TV
The X-Files, s6e16 "Alpha". "Scary dogs in the city", indeed.
What's happened lately... Had rainy date night in the city – starting very grumpy, but I came around – where the rained-delayed outdoor dance performance made a good excuse to pop into a library exhibition on Martha Graham. Took an online class. Spent a whole Sunday on my laptop on a project for work, and loved the happy buzz of relief when I got it all done and went to bed late. Got an idea on a lark and started (inaugural?) Meat Week™, eating a different animal every day, and finding a new encouragement to cook creatively instead of phoning it in. Found a good flow at work lately – maybe just more breathing room from a summer lull, but also bigger chunks of focused time. Made cyanotypes for the first time and loved the rush of ideas and excitement from new possibilities. Life is good.
Caliban's War, cont.. Still enjoying it. It's my morning subway book and my nighttime before-bed book. I often end up re-reading a fair amount that I slept-read, but it's worth it.
Running
Struggling with the heat, but getting through it, sweating through it. An early Saturning on forested trails was the right move to avoid triple-digit meltdown.
This week was back to Bach, though. 😈 Don't think I've ever listened to so much harpsichord in such a small period of time. Never had strong feelings either way, but the instrument is growing on me.
Boren & Der Club of Gore, Sunset Mission. Good one for when you pour yourself a drink and go out for a smoke on the fire escape on a hot summer night, and it's only getting hotter, and you're in black and white and are a scrappy private detective or something, as in
"Prowler".
The X-Files, s6e14 "Monday" and s6e15 "Arcadia". So good when they get in this silly register.
Couples Therapy, s5e4–5.
Big Little Lies, s2e4–7. Confession, repentance, inherited sin, false idols. Our characters have to transform their lives and reject their illusions before they can address the collective lie. Great show.
This week I had to adjust to getting back to work, and having opportunities fall in my lap. After my time away, definitely noticed myself just being nicer than I was before – saying hello, being more willing to detour into office patter, less rattled by distractions. I was riding on a vacation high... and then Friday I fell face-first into a rut. Too much time on the phone aimlessly scrolling, and envying, and doing nothing productive about it! One of those where I eventually could recognize the cycle but not quite recover from it right away. Decided to take the L and sleep it off. The next day brought the predicted rebound: a great run, a wonderfully community-oriented Saturday jaunt – glad I got to see the revival of the June Balloon festival – and all the good things.
More exploration in Canarsie this weekend, and a big jump in mileage. Feeling it, feeling glad I got out for a longer one even though much of it was a struggle.
Took this for granted, but wonder how my experience of elementary/middle/high school would have been different if I could just call my friends directly:
Phones were attached to homes, not people, and to reach a friend you had to make a phone call to their house. More often than not, someone else answered the phone and you had to speak politely to that person before the phone was handed to your friend. Everyone who made phone calls in those days was formed by those conversations, by the need to be respectful to your friend’s family, by the understanding that your friends lived in their own family unit, that your call was noted by others, that you might not be assured of privacy.
The past is a foreign country, and I am more and more a emigrant!
Paul McCartney, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. Had a hunch it wasn't for me, was right, but no worries.
The lesson of this week: it pays to keep your ears open.
While touring some open studios in Greenpoint a while back, I spotted a couple LPs on a shelf:
Alturas, a collab by Kawabata Makoto, Richard Pinhas, Manongo Mujica, Juan Luis Pereira, and Hiroshi Higashi. Trippy multi-instrumental/cross-genre stuff.
My first time listening to Billie Eilish was this week via Hit Me Hard and Soft. Hearing "Birds of a Feather" in a restroom was the initial hook, had to go look it up later.
The Ballad of Wallis Island. I loved this movie and expect it will be near the top of my favorites at the end of the year. Dances between silly and serious and bittersweet, and bitter, and sweet, and that's just life isn't it?
F9: The Fast Saga. These aren't getting better, so just get comfortable and let it wash over you.
Significant Other. Didn't know where it was going. That counts for something! A bit like Annihilation in that it all starts when something falls from the sky...
TV
The X-Files, s6e13 "Agua Mala". I love how this one escalates, just throwing it all into the pot and bringing it to a boil!
Back from a trip to the west coast. A week off came at a good time. Found myself becoming a keyboard warrior at work. I'm usually on the more diplomatic side of the spectrum, so when I'm coming in hot on a regular basis, good sign to step away. It helps to have good colleagues who can hear you grumble and rumble but refuse to feed your worst instincts.
The trip started with a wedding out in Pajaro Dunes, and then we were off to a few days of adventures in Santa Cruz (and a quick dip in San Francisco) and in Los Angeles.
The early early morning flight is always so brutal. I feel mounting dread the night before (though track: "I have a day off tomorrow! I should be able to stay up as late as I want!"), and regret the decision when I wake up... but then on landing with a full wide-open day to work with, it's all worth it.
Another highlight was driving up Highway 1 and using Apple Maps and Google Maps at the same time, both shouting directions and talking over each other, no social graces. The chaos had me cackling. Also interesting to hear the differences in how much info they give ahead of time, and with how much precision, and the in-the-moment encouragement.
Netted seven museums on the trip. Easy winner, by a mile, was the new Geffen galleries at LACMA – beautiful space, lots of room on a sunny weekday to mosey and absorb. The Broad continues to underwhelm and MOCA is an unsung hero in DTLA. Cool exhibition for the 100th anniversary of the Los Angeles Central Library and riding the new D Line subway extension rounded things out. Maybe in future trips I should keep making time to revisit like I did on this one. It's cool to see a city change, to pile up new memories in a place you don't see that often.
For no particular reason, I put my phone's camera in black-and-white mode and left it there for the last week or so. Given how much photos can influence memories, I wonder how that will affect what I recall a decade from now. We'll see!
Art
Hit and Miss, quilt by Mary Lue Brown. Ginza, quilt by Yvonne Porcella. Things on the Wall, oil and magna on canvas by Roy Lichtenstein. F.P.I. 19, pen on folded paper by Dorothea Rockburne. Seek, Find; Knock Open, glass beads and cotton by Liza Lou. Susannah at the Bath, collage with paint, ink, and graphite on board by Romare Bearden. Standing Woman with Jar, slip-painted earthenware from unknown artists of the Jalisco cultures, 200 BCE–400 CE. La Gerbe, ceramic tile embedded in plaster by Henri Matisse. Path of Light, stoneware with inlays of colored clay by Miyashita Zenji.
Taking my running shoes on vacation is very good for me. Ran along a quiet beach all to myself, along a quiet river with ducks, and into dense shrubbery where coyotes gotta annoyed and yipped at me.
Around the Web
On launching a nonprofit. "While waiting on approvals, I was churning out ideas at a rate that became absolutely unmanageable, immediately."
82-0 lets you try to draft an NBA roster that could go undefeated, each round limited to a specific team and decade. (Best I got on hidden-stats mode was lucking into a 65–17 roster with Walt Frazier, Tyrese Halliburton, KD, LeBron, and Anthony Davis.)
Boards of Canada, Inferno. I don't think I've ever listened to them before? Maybe heard some here and there, not sure. All that to say: I have no emotional tie to their reappearance, but glad I tapped in after hearing all the buzz. It's good!
Britten: War Requiem perf. London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, Choir of Eltham College cond. Gianandrea Noseda. Not for me!
Movies
Goodfellas. It has such fluidity, momentum, you just get carried along but ultimately I deeply hated all these miserably awful people and their terrible choices.
Bend It Like Beckham. I laughed, I cried, I had my heart warmed! Mission accomplished.
Ballerina. Slow to start, but gains momentum. At its best when it lightens up.
Influencer. Enjoyed this twisty little thriller. Villains and victims stumbling into different roles, swapping who's on the backfoot.
TV
The X-Files, s6e12 "One Son". Spender's redemption? Once again, Scully stays on track.
Big Little Lies, s2e1. Meryl Streep is gonna torment everyone and it's gonna be fun.
Hannibal, s3e12–13. And with that, the rewatch is finished. Glad I did. The first half of this season is a drag, but once we transition from the Vergers to the Great Red Dragon, things pick up again.
Said goodbye to friends and neighbors last week, as they prepped for a move across the country. What a weird feeling to look over your friends' house from a stoop sale perspective. Trying their life on for size.
This week I tried some basic plumbing tasks that started with excitement, entered into a flow state, detoured into quiet fury, to desperation, and quiet calm resignation to try again later. Fun to learn, though, and cool to be able to take pictures of random parts and get help on the internet.
"One of the lessons of the synthesizer is that the first generation often imitates. This is not a failure of imagination so much as a necessary stage of grief: mourning the loss of the old constraint."
According to my notes this week, I had a good idea for something to write here and I forgot it. "Jotting this in case it comes back...?" It did not. But for the record, it was "pretty good".
Total Recall by Piers Anthony. I had no idea this was a novelization. DNF, switched to watch the movie instead. Maybe I'll check out the original PKD story at some point.
Yesterday's long run wiped me out. But I think my fitness is finally back up where it was before I went to Japan and took a few weeks off. It's good when your ability can meet your desire.
NFM Choir cond. Lionel Sow, Dialogue, featuring choral works by Penderecki, Daniel-Lesur, Marçot, Poulenc, Messiaen. Proud to have clocked Penderecki by ear on my first listen. Messiaen's "O sacrum convivium!" might be my favorite of the bunch.
Total Recall (1990). Good momentum throughout, and a good thinkpiece, too. I like when scifi futures so closely resemble our own world, just polished up a bit. Not everything ages well here but the practical effects still have visceral impact.
Too Late for Tears. Sturdy film noir. I love how our lead just instantly gets the greedy glimmer in her eyes – no mystery as to exactly when the trouble starts.
Married to the Mob. Loved this. So many oddball characters, "why not?" moments just to keep you on your toes. Movies don't feel weird like this anymore? Is it us?
Caddo Lake. Suspenseful and natureful science fiction, nicely done. I think one of the perks of an acting career would be picking up random skills like running a johnboat. Also, this movie helped me learn about the 160-mile long (!) Great Raft logjam that led to the lake's formation.
TV
The X-Files, s6e10 "Tithonus". So good! Appreciate the modern-day exploration of the new-to-me Greek myths. Top-tier acting. I like when Scully is uneasy and questioning, more engaging for me than Mulder's paranoid-obsessive questing.
Hannibal, s3e10.
Big Little Lies, s1e6–7. Great climax. I still wonder when the trivia part happens.
It can be very nice to have family nearby, whatever the occasion, however long or short.
Took my first trip to Cape Cod last week. It's pretty much exactly what I imagined: beautiful, pleasantly boring, charming. I took Amtrak there and remembered that I don't use it enough. It's so very nice to sit by the window with your book or laptop or whatever and just zip across the landscape with zero effort. If we ever leave the northeast, I'll miss the trains a lot.
I was in Cape Cod for a work retreat. The company I joined with 60-something teammates is now six or seven times as large. I am the grizzled veteran among a bunch of younger and newer hires. I hope I can be as chill and kind and wise and encouraging as the older colleagues that helped me find my feet earlier in my career. An enriching and exhausting experience, lucky to have it, hope we'll do it again.
Travel hack: a slice of pizza in plastic wrap packs easily, tastes great at all temps.
Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors, continued...
Running
Trail runs in Cape Cod were nice, and simply having the time to run for longer in the mornings. When I'm packing I always resent the extra bulk from the running shoes and clothes, but always so glad to have it.
Around the Web
Clout as a service. Always a great time to stop following lifestyle influencers.
The internet has no benches. "Like guerrilla public improvement projects put benches in public spaces, repopulate foliage in neglected intersections, or transform dumping sites into neighborhood gathering spots, we can also retrofit and reshape our digital space."
Tristan Perich, Ensemble 0, Open Symmetry. Three vibraphones, electronics, and 20 speakers. It's great.
Daniel Avery, Drone Logic. Trippy high-energy acid/house or whatever. Also great. "These Nights Never End" is instant stank-face. "Simulrec" covers the washy, flow-ier side of the spectrum.
To Die For. Dark satire, femme fatale, etc.. If Elle from Legally Blonde had an evil streak. Like Dream Lover above, I appreciate proper opening credits!
Insidious. This did nothing for me! We all have different fears, I guess.
TV
The X-Files, s6e9 "S.R. 819". Love a Skinner episode. Nanobots, Mike Tyson references, and frickin' Krychek.
Hannibal, s3e9. "Even if you know the state of who you are today, you can't predict who you'll be tomorrow. You're defined up to now, not beyond."
Big Little Lies, s1e5.
Lord of the Flies (2026), s1e1. Refreshing to see a show with a distinctive look and feel, with the queasy fisheye and shallow focus distortion. I think the characterization in this episode is forcing our sympathies a bit, but I wonder if that will shift as the series goes on.
Hitting a patch of seasonal depression, I realized a few weeks late. Tally up the symptoms and recognize I've been through this before. Remembering when to ignore myself, to keep doing the good things that get me to the other side in one piece.
We took the train up to Greenwich, CT this weekend. Breakfast at Méli-Mélo hit the spot. The main destination was The Bruce Museum, which was more than I'd hoped, rewarded the visit. Greenwich the town was what I expected (suspected?). Not for me, and that's okay.
Art
Baigneuse (sur les galets), oil on canvas by Georges Braque. I've seen so much of the canonical Andy Warhol stuff that I tend to breeze right by it in museums, so seeing his hand-colored flowers was a breath of fresh air. Number 311D, wood, compressed cotton, and pulped paper on paper by Leonardo Drew. She Offered You a Garden, quilt by Sarah Nsikak.
Books
On the Calculation of Volume, Book III. Breezed through this one. Strangely plain yet mesmerizing like the previous two. Loving how each book takes a particular lens on the situation – seasons, relationships, responsibility to society.
"The dailiness of it meant that I knew I’d do it again the next day, and it took pressure off whatever I was working on right then. Nothing was final. It was all part of an ongoing conversation and observation I was having with the woods."
In reading about the Celtic cultures and what led up to them, I learned about
rare golden hats and the
Ogham alphabet, which has a great look.
Let moms have Waymo. Reduced labor, increased safety. I'd guess there's a tradeoff with bonding/together-time, which I also guess would vary with age, but maybe the rewards come in other forms – rest, independence, etc..
Tristan Perich, Drift Multiply
for 50 Violins and 50-channel 1-bit Electronics. I eat this up. Love how things disintegrate into static every now and then.
Movies
The Last Witch Hunter. I don't watch a lot of witchy/fantasy material. Really like how earthy and creepy the magic is here, the other-worldliness of the visuals.
Send Help. I think it dawdles a bit when it should race, but love a good villainous turn.
TV
The X-Files, s6e8 "The Rain King". Fun! Lighthearted matchmaking, sentimental Wizard of Oz vibes.
American Gladiators (1991), s3e26. I was obsessed with this show as a kid. Fun to rewatch. People were different in the '90s, and sportscasting has come a long way.
Had a bit of a minor reset this week: new glasses, new shirts, new pants on the way. Reinvention by acquisition!
I managed to unblock myself a bit at work recently. Brain feeling too bottled up, fragmented, sludgy. I think it happened because – I'm mildly ashamed to say – I made myself focus more and also let go of knowing about other things. Always pride myself on having my finger on the pulse but, if I get more of what I want done, it's probably worth learning about things a few hours later.
This morning I had the house to myself for a few hours. I didn't do anything that different. Coffee, chores, breakfast, music. But I felt myself expanding and unshriveling a bit, easing into a larger container. It makes a difference.
Back into my rhythm for now. Took a while to get revved up again on my morning runs. Also pushed it a bit too much on the weekend long run after my down week last week, but no regrets, just a little creaky.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. Deeply uncomfortably nihilistic and grisly, and then pleasantly unhinged. Iron Maiden! Fiennes is a gem.
The Town. Third time I've seen it (first, second). Noticing more slice-of-life Boston this time around.
Bone Lake. This was just okay. Props for at least one jaw-dropping moment I've never seen on film before. Learning that I prefer horror with more supernatural menace, and less of the sadistic/zany human sort.
TV
The X-Files, s6e7 "Terms of Endearment". Some episodes can be intense, but they don't usually get into material this dark/traumatic. Interesting!
Last week I traveled to the Bay Area, adding layers a place I know pretty well (4-5 trips?) but not deeply. Time in Palo Alto, and San Ramón, and Oakland, and SF. Managed to visit five museums visits and two public libraries while we were out there. Libraries in particular are a good way to get a sense of the community. (Oakland is not happy with ICE right now!)
I also got sick a few days after we arrived, and it all came crashing down. I was hoping to work from one of our SF offices, but ended up holed up in the hotel for several days, working from a blanket mere blocks away so as not to infect everyone.
Speaking of hotels, a soapbox: by and large, today's "nice" hotels have have overly-soft beds! It's one thing to have a squishy mattress, but then also the extra padded top, and then putting a padded bedsheet on top of that? People, come on. I'm over 40! I need more support! And then covering it with floofy down comforter? It's a recipe for overheating. Gotta rethink this whole thing from the ground up.
The First King of England: Æthelstan and the Birth of a Kingdom. Finished. Very detailed and meticulous. Gave me new appreciation for: how much cultural blending was taking place at the time and how big that world was, even though travel was atrocious; how much organization / bureaucracy there was even in the olden days... but also how power on paper ≠ power on the ground. Also fun: historians using basically meeting agendas/roll call to identify social climbers vs. who was falling out of favor among the elite. Interesting for the historical period, but also a good view into how history gets done. There is cleverness in every job done well.
Had a nice run in Palo Alto, but then too sick to do any others while I was in the Bay. Alas! Saw some new streets in East Flatbush on a long run this weekend.
Around the Web
"God created you with 3 Claude skill files and you're supposed to figure out when to call consequentialism, deontology, & virtue ethics. Make no mistakes".
"When you decide what to consume, you ask: 'What do I want?'. When you decide what to produce, you ask: 'What do other people want me to do?'. The former is a lot more individuating than the latter."
MoviesRatatouille. It's fine? This might be a victim of hearing so many good things about it for so long before I got to it. Didn't land at all. Also too much swirly moving camera.
Love, Brooklyn. Maybe some home court bias, and I love pointing at the screen like Leo when I recognize local places, but I really liked it. Several views on several key relationships, and we get to see them sympathetically from each side. Benefits from the compression in a shorter film. "Don't say it." Bittersweet, hopeful. Andrê Holland reliable as always, but Nicole Beharie especially stood out. Perhaps pair with Past Lives?
X-Men: Days of Future Past. Better than expected! I like how we have several ~villains to work with here.
The Outfit. Still good but lost some of the zip the first time had. Narration like The Prestige now that I think of it.
I've gotten back into coding more recently. Well, vibe-coding. Maybe that's the right speed for me. I coooooooouuuuuuld learn more, and incrementally I do, sniffing around the edges. But lately a more mercenary approach from zero to one. Did some work to update a browser extension and other tools for work stuff, updating my white noise app from late last year, and moving this blog to 11ty for no particular reason. It's fun!
Last week I went to the A's–Yankees game. It felt weird being at that stadium, enemy territory for a kid who went through a period of staunch Braves loyalty. But a lovely night out. I think that's my fifth or sixth MLB stadium – two in Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, and San Francisco, and a handful in the minor leagues.
I also went to the dentist. I miss my old one, even if she did try to sell me whitening treatments all the time. At least I could count on some gospel music.
Not much can top a sunny Sunday morning stroll in the city with a little coffee in your system.
Books
On the Calculation of Volume, Book II. Finished up. The container theory of time is right there out in the open huh. What about all the Roman stuff though?
Blake Clawson, Renova New Music Ensemble, Aric Vyhmeister, Peyton Magalhaes, Myrkvun. There's a melody in "Haust" that I can't quite place. It sounds so similar to something, just can't put my finger on it. Maybe a tune from Holst, Grainger, Delius, Vaughan Williams?
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You. I like how reality bends and blends. Good to see Rose Byrne's comedic talent used for something much darker, but often still funny.
Boiling Point. Stressful little ensemble piece with a lot of empathy. Really growing to appreciate Stephen Graham.
Hannibal, s3e6. The reunion scene! "If I saw you everyday, forever, Will, I would remember this time." The romance you don't want to see (but kinda do?).
Big Little Lies, s1e1–2. Let's see where this leads...
Books
War and Peace. Done! Finished in a hot sprint before March came to a close. I think the latter parts of the book dragged. Much more focus on the warfront, troop movements, and theory-of-history essays. I was itching for closure on the characters we started the story with. I'd read it again, in abridged form.
Running
Dialing back just a tad on the mileage. First proper warm-ish run in the city this year on Saturday morning, t-shirt and shorts. It's going to take some adjustment.
Around the Web Title Scream, graphics from 80s–90s videogames.
Movies Crime 101. Ah, such fun! Mashes up a bunch of things I love but a bit more than a simple reheat, pun intended. I love seeing Hemsworth so bottled up and socially awkward. I will watch again some day.
TV
The X-Files, s6e4 "Dreamland". Not sure these early-season two-parters work for me. I do like the switcheroo, though!
Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, Robbie Avenaim, Placelessness.
Movies The Naked Spur. Really liked this western, sort of a moving chamber piece. James Stewart as greedy bounty hunter, Robert Ryan's sly intellectual villain needling him along, like we later see in 3:10 to Yuma. Protagonist sort of crumbles rather than triumphs into a better state. We hope.
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man. It doesn't work for me, but it's fine. I have no attachment to the TV show, so I'm not the audience anyway. At least I know what a toff is now.
TV
The X-Files, s6e3 "Triangle". The will-they-or-won't-they has been answered… sort of.
Hannibal, s3e3–4. Everyone using each other to sharpen their motivations.
DuckTales (1987), s1e1. "Uhhhh yes and no, Uncle Donald".
One of the highlights of the last week is "hobby night", where we took a couple hours just to scratch a creative itch. I pulled out my new loom and weaved a couple inches of progress. Then pulled out my old guitar, basically the first time in several years.
One thing that struck me was just more awareness of my body, in a different way than the everyday stuff I can do on auto-pilot – laptop work, cooking, running, chores. When weaving, so often something would feel difficult and I'd realize it's because my shoulders had gotten all scrunched up, or posture was wacky, or fingers too tense. (It also felt difficult because I'm new and bad at it.) Ditto when playing guitar. I know enough to get too far ahead of myself, so I had to stop, rewind, force myself back to basics: focus on simple finger placement, just enough tension, making clean transitions, staying relaxed, etc..
The creative outlet felt really good. Keep your hobbies available to you!
Books
War and Peace. Down to the last 30%.
Running
Trying to find my morning flow again. Still not adjusted to the time change, and it's been hard to get through everything efficiently. For the weekend long run, more exploration in Bushwick/Ridgewood.
Movies Best in Show. DNF. Couldn't hang with it. The quirky characters semd to trend in the same direction, maybe the tone flattening them. Too unmotivated to reel me in this time.
Sorry, Wrong Number. Loved this one! Suspense and intrigue, and an immobile protagonist like Rear Window a few years later. NYC movies hit different when you've lived here a while.
After Hours. Fun little film. Scorsese! A weird-as-dreams or sharper-than-life Oz-/Odyssey-like attempt to get back home over the course of a long night, thwarted again and again.
The Pelican Brief. Solid thriller. Roberts and Denzel just leap off the screen in ways that few others do.
TV
The X-Files, s6e2 "Drive". Really fun episode, great pace.
Last week I went back home. Visited old friends, bopped around Atlanta, got my Waffle House fix, sat for an impromptu photoshoot, walked by a lake, walked in the woods, worked for a few days from my parents' house, ate too much, slept too late, went on gentle hikes, and explored some parts of the state I'd never been to before.
Hadn't had a proper museum visit this year, so we fixed that thrice over at the Museum of Papermaking at Georgia Tech, Emory's Carlos Museum, and the Etowah Archaeological Museum at Etowah Indian Mounds. Also paid a visit to the New Echota historic site. The mounds were the coolest of the set – just about every place on Earth has the echoes of a previous civilization…
Coming back home with a full heart, and very pleasantly tired.
Running
Very glad I took my running shoes with me on my trip. Didn't run as much as I initially thought I would, but there's no outlet like it, and came back home in better shape than I usually do after week-long trips.
Last week was Sunday afternoon reggae into Sunday evening blizzard. It's nice to feel cozy inside while outside is chaos. But you have to take care to get back out again.
Last year I went to a weaving workshop. This year I got a loom. Just a small one to scratch the itch. Now the question is figuring out where this thing fits in my life. I feel like it'll be a great evening time-passer.
My latest lifehack – from lazy accident – is doing (some of) my chores on weekdays. It's a great way to wind down productively – engaged, but not stressed – and helps the weekends feel more spacious.
Movies Ghostwatch. Maybe a progenitor of the found footage horror genre. Interesting more for historical reasons. Maybe would have landed more if I'd watched it at nighttime!
Juror No. 2. This one had been lingering on my watchlist forever. Glad I made time for it. Need to keep going with legal thrillers.
