I traveled this past weekend, down to Maryland for a family reunion on my fiancée’s side. I’d never been to one before. I was mostly surrounded by strangers, but found a warm welcome and I can see the appeal in events like this. Renewing present bonds, honoring the previous generation, encouraging and modeling for the next. Family can be a beautiful thing.
We took the trip down there on Amtrak. Couldn’t ask for a smoother trip. If only the rest of the States had trains as easy as we do up in this corner of the country. Just night and day compared with the usual airport/airplane experience.
We only spent a couple hours in Baltimore, but the Baltimore Art Museum was a worthwhile side trip.
The event was hosted at a local Quaker/Friends meeting space. I liked the Biblical cartoons in the hallway.
School
Capstone project is maybe 1/4 done. (Actually more like 1/2, but I’m hedging for a confidence boost.) (It’s actually more like 2/3-done, just being careful!) Maybe have that wrapped and submitted this week? We’ll see.
Running
The week was just too darn hot, so I leaned on morning runs and kept’em short. Still managed to run a few miles of new-to-me streets. Also trying to make another local park turn red on my personal Strava heatmap.
Our trip out of town gave me a rare treat: trailrunning in a new city. I went out to Broad Creek Park and jogged in swampy suffocating forest and had an absolute blast.
Books
Everything You Ever Wanted. Reading about listless depressed people is not very compelling. (Although it does remind me a bit of The Leftovers, with a group that has lost meaning and chosen to exit…)
The Cyberiad: Stories. Been a while, but Stanisław Lem is usually pretty rewarding. That’s the case so far here.
A Crown of Swords, cont.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
I don’t have time to dive into the new Michael Mann Archives right now. But it’s super cool that he’s taking ownership of this and sharing the work behind the work.
I Went Looking for a Man in Finance. Fun bit of local anthropology.
The Eyes of Lacy. “Owlishness, then, is the opposite of pretty, petty, and shallow; it is a term we reserve for those who are more lens than body, who make us acutely, uncomfortably aware of our own moral and physical imperfections.”
Nicolas Cage Will Always Go Big. “It’s not crazy to think he’s trained (or retrained) some part of the movie-watching public to be more open-minded in general when evaluating quality acting, encouraging them to prize factors other than delicacy.”
A collection of video game skies.
Movies
Top Gun: Maverick. Second viewing, still love it. Those opening scenes with the test flight are just achingly beautiful. I just want to soak them in. Reminds me of the plane/boat travel scenes in Miami Vice.
Music
Lots of electronic this week, and while all were enjoyable, few tracks in particular got etched in my mind.
Ekolali, Playfond 2. The drums and muted droning flutes in “Doggerland” are great. Doggerland!
My favorite of the week is a new one out from Laraaji, Glimpses of Infinity.
Huerco S., Colonial Patterns and For Those Of You Who Have Never (And Also Those Who Have) and Plonk.
Space Afrika, Somewhere Decent to Live.
TV
The X-Files…
- s2e23 “Soft Light“. Tony Shalhoub (!) is scared of his shadow. I reallly like the concept in this one. It’s rare that the weekly “monster” is ashamed, fearful, caring.
- s2e24 “Our Town“. Another warning about food supply chain vulnerability, but with a factory chicken town cannibal cult.
- s2e25 “Anasazi“. Poisoning an apartment building’s water supply is wild. I wonder how much that has happened before. Out to the desert for aliens, and the sloppiest cover-up job you’ve ever seen.
The Leftovers, s1e5. One of the cult people gets a free day and returns with renewed faith. This show is agonizing in a great way.
Mark Larson 