And so the last chunk of holiday break comes to a close. A few highlights: Sunday morning walk to a cafe to read, and then to a diner. A brief return to the office for a couple of days, and blasting country music all afternoon on Tuesday. Making red beans & rice on New Year’s Eve. Re-arranging the furniture and refreshing the apartment for another year. Playing Breath of the Wild for too long. Visiting a new coffee shop. Date night dancing to music videos. The usual early wake-ups feeling even earlier in a quieter city.
Art
Openings, Red Rock Variation: Lake Superior Landscape, acrylic on canvas on board by George Morrison. Man and Newspapers in Grass, Central Park, gelatin silver print by Tod Papageorge. Vokeo Island Lewa mask in wood and varnish.
Books
War and Peace. I feel a bit of wind going out of my sails during the battle scenes. They are beautifully written and fresh, but right now I’d like to get back to salon drama.
Running
I really like running in the snow. Such fun. There’s often the nervousness the night before when the temps hit a new low, the shock of the cold on the first steps out the door, the sluggish pulse and shortness of breath, but then on warming up: bliss.
Around the Web
2026: “We’ve officially landed in the “made up years” era, where the years don’t feel real, rather, opening lines for a YA doomsday sci-fi book.” Let’s try that again. This year is our year. Only 12 months until the late 2020’s.
“When there’s no meaningful resistance, is there any real transformation?”
“A thick desire is one that changes you in the process of pursuing it. A thin desire is one that doesn’t.” (via)
“Luckily because of the way I began, I’m the cockroach of this industry. I can survive any version of it.”
It’s cool how many different cultures have some form of psychopomp in their stories of the afterlife.
“A question no writer wants to raise in a reader’s mind is ‘why are you telling me this?’”
“It is more important to see the stories in ourselves than to see ourselves in the stories.”
“Everyone’s house looks like a dentists office now” and Merchandising the Void.
“Doomerism assumes you can opt out and hold your position. That refusal is neutral. That the world will wait while you decide. It won’t.”
53 Directors Pick Their Favorite Films of 2025.
Paper Jewels: Postcards from the Raj.
On the creativity of videogame pixel art made for CRT displays.
“You can take a barbell strategy to travel. Either go for a year, or two, or ten, however long you need to go to open a bank account. Or, stay no longer than a few days in the same place, and come back often. The world is changing, and […] there will be combinations of place and time lost to us forever.”
“Why aren’t there more intermediate options between eating in a sit-down restaurant, and cooking your own meals? […] There is a magical place with plentiful such options, and it’s called Taiwan.“
Music
Le grand embrasement: Music for a Mad King perf. Into the Winds. Bouncy, festive olde musicke. I really liked it.
Chopin: The Complete Nocturnes perf. Tom Hicks. They’re all lovely but I have trouble staying inside the music. Attention drifts.
Shostakovich: The Piano Concertos; Solo Works perf. Yuja Wang, Boston Symphony Orchestra cond. Andris Nelsons. The Andante from the second concerto is brilliant. The rest, familiar and didn’t capture me.
Freddie Roulette, Spirit of Steel. Slide guitar, mostly bluesy, sometimes Hawaiian-tinged. I liked “Song for My Father“.
LTJ Bukem presents Earth, Vol. 1, good compilation of various drum & bass. This music used to grate but I think I’m better at hearing past the drum chatter now. “Faith” makes me think of Pilotwings 64 (complimentary).
Movies
Hercules (1997). I don’t love it, but I think we can all relate to Hades’ mood swings. Read up on the first 15 minutes.
Tenet. Third time I’ve seen it? Steadily growing on me. Each time I watch I find something new.
Presence. First movie of 2026. A ghost moves through an empty house as we see through its eyes, and a family moves in, and they learn about each other. Director Steven Soderbergh: “The beauty of projects at this scale is I can just do them without having to talk to anybody.” Another quality Soderbergh I saw recently is Black Bag.
Grand Theft Hamlet. Actors out of work during the pandemic decide to stage a play in the videogame world of Grand Theft Auto. It’s funny, crazy ambitious, and has a few touching moments. Quality documentary!
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Extended Edition. “Forth, and fear no darkness!”
TV
The X-Files, s5e13 “Patient X“. Back on the season arc. Fox Mulder has lost his mojo!
Hannibal, s2e4–8. Will Graham has regained his mojo!
Land of Sin, s1e1. Every country has its rednecks.
Mark Larson 