This week at work I had to reckon with not being as productive as I could have been. A bit embarrassing to take a look back at previous weeks, and see with 20-20 hindsight, so much under-used capacity. But as with many things in life, big dividends can come from renewing your focus, cleaning up bad habits, and taking on a little more than you think you can handle. Like I talk about with running a lot, I like checking in every now and then and see where my limits really are. An emotionally exhausting week but it also opened up a lot more. The ceiling is higher than it was a week ago.

Art
A Taino ceremonial seat (duho) or platter. “The large eyes, gaping mouth, and curled toes of this figure suggest a heightened state associated with the consumption of cohoba. This vegetal hallucinogen was used by Taino spiritual healers and leaders to communicate with supernatural forces. The figure lies on his back with fists clenched behind his head, and wears a woven skull cap and bands around his arms and legs. He is identified as a zemi, a deity or ancestral spirit that permeated the Greater Antilles.”

Woman on Rose Divan, oil on canvas by Henri Matisse.

An Ethiopian fly whisk made of bone, dyed horsehair, and plant fiber.

Books
Middlemarch!

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
“If you’re roughly 70% happy with a piece of writing you’ve produced, you should publish it.”

28 Films for the 28 Days of Black History Month. I watched a couple of the shorts, the Sesame Street “Cracks” short is really interesting and I liked the child detective story in The Case of the Elevator Duck, too. The Magnificent Major features a young Tisha Campbell

In How to Change the NYC Charter to Solve the Housing Emergency, Part 1 and Toward a Blogosphere That Can Draft Law, really appreciating Daniel Golliher’s… I’m not sure how to describe it – entrepreneurial civics? There is a lot of progress lying around waiting to be picked up.

“Americans need to know that when the future comes, we’ll all get to go together.”

“Informed rejection is a perfectly acceptable choice. But avoidance, especially with tech, is a default whose feasibility continues to shrink with every innovation.”

“The winners will be those people who have exercised a whole bunch of curiosity.” and “The future belongs to people whose work cannot be easily reduced to a dataset, and who can use AI to become even better at what they do.”

What fully automated firms will look like.

“The time to snoop around for “waste” is when everything else is going so great you’re getting sort of bored.”

Music
Daniel Trifonov, My American Story, with Philadelphia Orchestra. This album helped me have an A+ lovely morning commute.

Adam Rudolph, Archaisms I and Archaisms II. I remember a moment listening to this at work last week when I was growing more and more frantic and unfocused and it’s because “Archaisms A2” was taking over my brain.

Caroline Shaw continues to be one of the most interesting composers. A few singles, choral works, presumably for an upcoming album:

• Inhale
• In Waves
• In the Beginning

Various, Seippelabel, Vol. 11. Lots of ambient space wash. I’ll keep this around for a while.

The Orb, Adventures Beyond the Ultraworld.

Vijay Ayer, Compassion.

Movies
Carry-On. Great fun. Good to see a “regular guy” action movie. From the director who brought you other great regular-guy thrillers like The Shallows, Non-Stop and Run All Night. Reliable!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. Everything is grey! At least we get more color on the core friendships. Ron is exasperating, though. I like the “travel around the world to collect stuff” aspect (a core RPG element), and especially like the zombie/apocalypse movie vibe on the return to Godric’s Hollow.

TV
The X-Files, s4e6 “Sanguinarium“. Witchcraft and cosmetic surgery! This was fun, if gruesome.

Severance, s2e1. At long last, started the new season. Putting out this theory before I continue the season: Ms. Casey is in a coma or something – basically accidentally severed – and she can only wake up and function as a partial “innie” version, and MDR is helping with some sort of sketchy scifi brain repair work.

Yesterday I went to an afternoon choral concert put on by the Park Slope Singers, a local amateur community group. The main work was C.H.H. Parry’s Songs of Farewell.

There was something pleasantly low-key and make-do about the whole thing. It was a refreshing change from the military polish you’d find at your major orchestra and operas and ballets, every moment from arrival to tickets to entrance to first notes drilled to perfection.

It was informal and welcoming, the audience talked back to the conductor, a man got up to use the bathroom during the singing, and there were miscues and wrong notes here and there. And it was lovely. A group of people volunteering their own time to do something they love and share their gifts. A beautiful thing, to gather with others and do your best.

One of the settings was John Gibson Lockhart‘s poem, “There is an Old Belief”:

There is an old belief,
That on some solemn shore,
Beyond the sphere of grief
Dear friends shall meet once more.
Beyond the sphere of Time and Sin
And Fate's control,
Serene in changeless prime
Of body and of soul.

That creed I fain would keep
That hope I'll ne'er forgo,
Eternal be the sleep,
If not to waken so.

Art
A turquoise standing male figurine from the Wari culture of Peru.

Greyhound Bus, photo by Ming Smith, part of the “August Moon” series on exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art.

Books
Middlemarch, cont. What a fun book. Happy to keep going. Another round of quotes in the meantime…

• “Money’s a good egg; and if you’ve got money to leave behind you, lay it in a warm nest.”
• “Their eyes met with that peculiar meeting which is never arrived at by effort, but seems like a sudden divine clearance of haze.”
• “I think any hardship is better than pretending to do what one is paid for, and never really doing it.”
• “Time, like money, is measured by our needs.”
• “One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!”
• “I don’t translate my own convenience into other people’s duties.”
• “A sense of contributing to form the world’s opinion makes conversation particularly cheerful.”
• “I call that the fanaticism of sympathy. […] If you carried it out you ought to be miserable in your own goodness, and turn evil that you might hae no advantage over others. The best piety is to enjoy – when you can. You are doing the most then to save the earth’s character as an agreeable planet. And enjoyment radiates. […] Would you turn all the youth of the world into a tragic chorus, wailing and moralizing over misery? I suspect that you have some false belief in the virtues of misery, and want to make your life a martyrdom.”

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Middlemarch is trending…

The past isn’t irrelevant, it’s just poorly transmitted. I love this framework: “We first have to look at legacy and innovation as constants and tools.”

Archaeologists Are Finding Dugout Canoes in the American Midwest as Old as the Great Pyramids of Egypt. (via)

2025: New York City’s Electoral College Election.

A guide to falling in love with New York City.

What is the “Brooklyn” of each city?

“It took visiting roma/la condesa to truly realize that “williamsburg” has been one of america’s most powerful cultural exports of the 21st century”.

How sci-fi can have drama without dystopia or doomerism.

Digital avatars when streaming the Australian Open?

No, we are not producing too many STEM graduates and Ignore the Grifters – AI Isn’t Going to Kill the Software Industry.

Movie critic Tyler Smith of Battleship Pretension fame released Cinematic Suffering: Reviews of Terrible Movies.

Movies
Oppenheimer. I like how it takes care to situate you in the time – The Wasteland, Stravinsky, Cubism, etc.. Emily Blunt’s voice/delivery is so good, and don’t think I’ve ever seen Josh Hartnett so fully in the moment. Maybe the best moment is when the man at the center of it all is suddenly no longer powerful. What do you do next?

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The greyest film to date. Wish we had more Snape story. Good to see relationships building among the students, and to see Harry less angry, and seeing his caring side. Also interesting that Harry doesn’t battle in the end, but only witnesses. I don’t think the mourning scene stuck the landing. One cool thing about Hogwarts I’m just now noticing: the kids have phones, no TV, no Switch, etc.. Just newspapers and books and fireplaces and each other’s company.

TV
The X-Files, s4e5 “The Field Where I Died“. Multiple personalities and past lives and doomer cults. Mulder/Scully relationship is more volatile than usual here, with Scully calling Mulder out on his constant selfishness. I like the rich contrasty images in this episode.

Severance, s1e6–9. Rewatch complete, really glad to have done it. Can’t believe it’s been so long.

Music
Missy Mazzoli, Vespers for a New Dark Age. Inventive chamber choir work, very nice.

Yaminahua, Derelict. Opens ominous, hyperkinetic factory EDM.

Brie Larson (yes), Finally Out of P.E.. I had no idea!

Back to Ajate again, this time a pair…

• Alo. “De De” is the winner.
• Abrada. I like the wa-wa funk in “Okamin“.

Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Challengers OST. If you’ve heard their other work, you know it’s good and you know what you’re in for.

Berlioz, open this wall. Jazz/lounge-inflected house music, see the muted trumpet + found vocal snippets on “nytmp“.

Running
Back-to-back long runs this weekend, practicing running while tired. A few runs in the teensºF, and luckily not windy enough to make it terrible. Race coming in a month and a half!

I’ve mentioned goblin mode a couple times (2024 week 4 and week 36), and this week I had another go-round, a shortened version. For me it usually involves an intentionally horrible diet, and playing videogames too long, and not going to bed on time, and so on. Minor sins, available for a limited time only.

I think about it like a bizarro mirror image of New Year’s resolutions. Every so often, it’s good to think about getting your act together. But it can warp your perspective, turning your life into a never-ending battle of shoring things up. Designing your goblin mode gives you a program for letting go for a time… and a chance to prove you can snap back to your standards. Permission to “fail” is a valuable thing.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
RIP, David Lynch. Kyle MacLachlan remembers his friend. I didn’t love the couple of Lynch films I’ve seen, but appreciated the spirit of gentle, earnest, insistent optimism and goofiness, maybe most apparent in the daily weather reports he did for a while. And I was glad to see the bits of folk wisdom that surfaced in my feeds in wake of his death:

• “I wish what every addict wishes for: that what we love is good for us.”
• “Anger and depression and sorrow are beautiful things in a story, but they’re like poison to the filmmaker or artist. They’re like a vise grip on creativity. If you’re in that grip, you can hardly get out of bed, much less experience the flow of creativity and ideas. You must have clarity to create. You have to be able to catch ideas.”
• “It’s like dipping a white cloth into gold dye; you dip it and that’s meditation, then you hang it on the line in sunshine and that’s activity. The sun bleaches it until it’s white again, so you dip it and hang it again, and each time you do that a little more of the gold stays in the cloth. Then one day that gold is locked in.”

I wish The David Lynch Quote Collection cited the sources, but they have the ring of truth. Lynch directed a haunting PSA about littering in NYC, too.

I loved this conversation between Zena Hitz and Henry Oliver on The Common Reader, especially the linked part, analogizing the great literary works to great songs: “Me reading Lady Macbeth’s speech when I was 14 – what use did that get me? Nothing obvious. Except that sometimes the words are still in my head, and they echo in my head the way a great piece of music does.” I’d never thought of it this way, remembering snippets of plot or quotes or emotions, the way we might feel things again when we remember a chorus or a swelling of violins or what-have-you.

And they discuss living with these works, and how it’s good to read the great books early, so you can re-read and grow with them, and draw different meanings. (Made me think of how so many Motown songs were so fun as a kid, and as an adult, I can better recognize the anguish and frustration behind many of them.) The episode also has good critique of common methods literary criticism – “explaining things away, rather than raising problems.”, and a recollection of George Steiner’s encouragement to memorize poetry because it gives you ballast against the tides of life.

Let the user help solve their own problem. “The algorithmic-only model admits only one remedy: Improve the algorithm. But because no algorithm will ever be perfect, you’ll be playing this game of whac-a-mole forever.” This feels most true in e.g. Twitter feed and Spotify Weekly playlist. They will both nose-dive, quickly, if I don’t give it them hard shake every now and then. (via)

Why everything might have taken so long. (via)

Oliver Burkeman on the right dose of self-discipline. “Somehow, I’d turned the thrilling prospect of a better life into a sequence of lifeless tasks I had to execute – and I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.”

Nabeel Qureshi collected some principles for living.

• “Once you are ok with people telling you ‘no’, you can ask for whatever you want. (Make reality say no to you.)”
• “Doing things is energizing, wasting time is depressing. You don’t need that much ‘rest’.”
• “Think in writing.”
• “The most valuable feedback usually hurts a lot.”

Decline the cease-and-desist of winter!

Watching Your House Burn on a Ring Camera. I’d never thought of this possibility.

Art
Farm near Duivendrecht oil on canvas Piet Mondrian. I don’t think I’d ever seen a Mondrian that wasn’t abstract color blocks, so this was really neat peek into the past, trying to imagine the steps in between.

Music
Tchaikovsky & Ellington: The Nutcracker Suites perf. Harmonie Ensemble/New York. Classical and jazz performances, both perfect in their own way.

Dobrinka Tabakova, Kynance Cove, On the South Downs, and Works for Choir. Lovely collection of choral work, peaceful and smooth. The “Magnificat” from Truro Canticles might be my fave.

Laura Cannell, The Rituals of Hildegard Reimagined. Reminds me of Flute 3000, in the best way.

Mount Eerie, Night Place. Languid rock. I haven’t listened to anything like this in a while. Took a while to get my ears situated again!

Mk.Gee, Two Star & The Dream Police. Maybe like Prince x Frank Ocean (complimentary, of course)? See: “DNM” and “I Want“.

Movies
Den of Thieves. I never should have waited so long to see this. I was expecting something more schlocky (like, Expendables-level antics?) but this was tighter than expected. The main characters were all a little… off? I like when a movie can surprise you not for plot reasons but character reasons. That’s good stuff. You can see the fingerprints from Heat throughout the movie – dumpsters subbing in for airport substations might be my favorite. Appreciated seeing Eric Braeden in a small role here – his Victor Newman in The Young and the Restless back in the ’80s/’90s filled me with envy and fury.

Rebel Ridge. Opens with an Iron Maiden song, nice. Echoes of Rambo, with the opening confrontation passing over a bridge, and the contrast of military decency vs. police cravenness. I appreciate the inciting incident is a straightforward abuse of power, civil asset forfeiture, that isn’t strictly personal. At least not at the start. Really liked our main character’s calm, mostly polite, deliberate delivery – you can tell it takes effort, and that makes you more curious than a direct threat might. Excited to see what Aaron Pierre gets up to next.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. It’s good that the core three has loosely expanded to six, because Harry is exhausting to be friends with. Ron and Hermione could use a breather. I love the Death Eater masks!

Books
Middlemarch, cont.

TV
The X-Files, s1e4 “Unruhe“. Spooky predictive death photos + an exploration of mental illness.

Severance, s1e3–5. I like see Cobel/Selvig put on the back foot a little bit by the Board, and clawing her way back. She’s can’t-look-away awful!

For the first time in a long time, I didn’t make it to midnight on New Year’s Eve. Jetlag took me down early, and I was too drowsy to set the 11:50pm alarm I’d told myself I would just a little while earlier. But I woke up and took a walk in the park and saw a new sunrise on familiar streets, a celebration in its own way. I appreciate how many good things came my way in 2024 – wedding, graduating school, new job, family visits – and plenty of other small victories here and there. What do I want from 2025?

“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things.” (via)

Art
I fulfilled my 2024 week 51 hope of seeing the exhibition of Gee’s Bend quilts at the Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. Worth clicking through their gallery there, but to call out a couple favorites:

• Marlene Bennett Jones’s “Gee’s Bend Pockets (2024)“, made me think of barns and corduroy farmland.
• I like how the checkerboard quilt from Rita Mae Pettway, “My Way (2017)” used a few different shades in the lighter-colored squares, and the overstitching guides your eyes across.
• The photo of “Star Bright (2023)” by Mary Hall, Doris Mooney, and Elaine Spencer doesn’t quite do it justice – the ruching gives it a three-dimensionality that only translates in person.

Running
Returned to running after 10 days away while vacationing. Felt good to get back out there. Now I’ve got a three-month window to prep for a 20-mile trail race in early March.

Books
The Path of Daggers, finally done. I’ll wait a while before tackling the next in the series. Glad to have momentum again.

Middlemarch. Only a few pages in. I’ve heard raves and I’ve heard rants. What will I think?

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
I’m loving Issue 1 of The Metrograph. Great collection. From the “Movies Come To This Place for Magic” interview, a couple of fun excerpts:

“Michael Weber: We believe that as magicians, we don’t keep our secrets from our audiences, we keep secrets for our audiences. […]
Derek DelGaudio: […] There’s this dictum, ‘Magicians guard an empty safe.’ It’s about the disappointment laymen experience when they discover a secret is something simple or banal, like a mirror.”

And when telling a story, magic and drama are somewhat at odds:

“There is a fundamental difference between drama and magic. Drama aims to keep the audience wondering, ‘What happens next?’. But an audience’s reaction to magic is the opposite, it’s reflective. They see something magical and ask, ‘Wait, what just happened?'”

India has too few tourists and how to visit India for normies. I should move it higher on my list?

Enjoyment is a skill. You should buy into this idea, and I like a lot of the suggestions here. “Sometimes, when I encounter creative work by someone from a location I’m not familiar with, I’ll go on Google Street View and take a poke around a neighborhood they’re from, or might be from. I feel like it gives me hints about the lived texture that they’re drawing from or commenting on.”

Learning to Slow Down Time.

Growing a Human: The First 30 Weeks. I appreciate these reflections on something I’ll never experience first-hand.

Using LLMs and Cursor to become a finisher. There will be earth-shattering discoveries and breakthroughs to come, but AI will also unlock a lot of progress by unlocking small, incremental progress that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

Music
The Messthetics and James Brandon Lewis. Funky jazzy big-band. Mostly didn’t click with me but I liked the downtempo “Railroad Tracks Home“.

Mary Halvorson, Cloudward. Angular jazz ensemble. I like the layers in “Tailhead“.

Movies
Alien: Romulus. I have mixed-to-positive feelings, but it is decidedly an Alien movie, and delivers everything you’d expect. I love that our main android is not especially smart. He’s slow, loyal, vulnerable, needs babysitting. “Let me borrow your robot” is a great starting point. Too bad some of the digital effects looked pretty cheap, the sweeping space vistas for one, but most especially and tragically the rival android – really poor choice. I struggled with the young cast, too. They seem too fresh and healthy for indentured laborers in a mining colony? Nice touch with the dipping birds and the canary in the mine. Lots of fan service, cliches, and echoes, but it ties into the mythology well, and it’s all fun!

TV
The X-Files, s4e2 “Home“. Maybe the grossest, most uncomfortable episodeinbreds, gross, so dark

CSI: Miami, s6e9. Calleigh’s life is threatened! I’m astounded by the number and length of time-killing filler scenes – their main use of the crime lab.

Cross, s1e7–8. What a stressful ending! Great wrap-up, and I hope we get another season. The fake-out with the sedatives and faulty execution was brutal. I love the occasional swerves into Shaft mode, in music and tone.

Words of Wisdom
“never underestimate the power of going somewhere beautiful and just sitting there“

Last week I went to London, which I can confirm is one of the world’s greatest cities. I had one previous whirlwind as a teenager, but remembered it mostly in snapshots, or occasionally unlocking a memory when I retraced the same steps. Visiting during the holiday week was a great choice. Everything was quiet and uncrowded for the first week, and we had an easy time making our own fun when some attractions were closed for a few days.

On this trip I realized how nice it is to do a vacation on “easy mode”. Sure, it took a couple days to adjust to some basic differences: which side to walk on, how to get from here to there, some vocabulary swaps. But there are huge advantages in using the same language, ubiquitous and speedy public transit (and here I thought I was lucky in NYC), never needing cash, a density of attractions, and pleasant strolling in any direction you care to walk. Big contrast from other international trips, where everything had a bit more friction. It all adds up. Not better or worse, just different.

We saw a lot of the usual highlights, but I really liked the London Canal Museum. A small one, a bit out of the way, but the narrowboat tour helped crystallize the history and geography I wouldn’t have been able to otherwise. Seeing the maps of England’s canals criss-crossing the country over the centuries helped understand how coal, ice, and limes – for example – would arrive from Leeds, Norway, and beyond, and how London helped center it all. And seeing how I could take a boat to the places I’d walked just a couple days before. It all felt very alive and connected.

Another highlight: sitting in bed, propped up with pillows against the headboard, book in my lap, coffee on the side table, nowhere to be and nothing to do but exactly what I wanted.

Another highlight: finding the WatchHouse family of coffee shops. We ended up visiting five of their locations (Belsize Park, Hanover, Somerset House, Spitalfields, Tower Bridge), each with their own local flavor. I’ll have to check out their only NYC location soon.

In the time leading up to this trip, if the topic ever came up, I’d ask people for their advice, requesting two items: a “must do” and a “don’t bother”. You can learn a lot this way. There’s a lot of information e.g. in whether or not the answers come easily, and how I respond when I hear them!

Art
My favorite work of art from the trip was The Three Fates / The Triumph of Death, a tapestry from 16th c. Netherlands at the Victoria & Albert Museum. It’s huge – 8ft x 10ft – and so richly detailed. I learned the word for one style I like more generally – millefleur. (I think there’s a parallel here with some music I like – the piles of notes in the Bach-era baroque organ, for example, or polyrhythmic layers in classical Indian percussion, or in 20th-century Steve Reich compositions, etc.).

Also got a kick out of Lauren Halsey‘s installation at the Serpentine Gallery, emajendat.

And a few good ones from the Tate Modern:

• Lady with Fruit, paper collage by Benode Behari Mukherjee. “Mukherjee turned to paper collage as a medium for artistic expression in 1957 when he lost his sight. […] His sight loss restricted him to working with simple shapes in flat colours, with which he was able to compose complex images from memory.” Cool!
• Los Moscos, mixed media on canvas by Mark Bradford.
• Cathedral (1950), oil painting on canvas by Norman Lewis.
• Fire! Fire!, oil paint and meccano on woven fabric by Enrico Baj.

Running
Not applicable during this travel week. I thought about packing extra stuff for running, but we already had a healthy interesting schedule. Away from the areas crowded with foreigners like me, London seems like a really fun city to run and get lost in. Next time?

Books
The Path of Daggers, continued. As usual for Robert Jordan, things pick up quite a bit in the second half. Looking forward to finishing in the next couple days.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Jimmy Carter, cyclist. Got my photo taken with him after a Sunday school session down in Plains, Georgia. Glad he represented my home state so well in office and after.

An appreciation of Zakir Hussain, RIP. I’m lucky I got to see him perform when I was in college. His charisma was off the charts, contagious joy.

“read the book, get a treat (movie) is an undefeated teaching strategy. and you can also just keep doing it as an adult!”

Marya Gates released her annual Directed by Women Viewing Guide for the year.

What is the most divisive film?

Yes, Americans are much richer than Japanese people. It’s easy to look at other countries and get jealous, so I appreciate the nuances added here, aspects that don’t make the headlines and that I don’t readily consider – more overtime, more elderly still working instead of retiring, longer commutes, etc..

Dwarkesh Patel’s sketched some notes on China.

“Rule #1: Build your castle on land you own.”

“The best, healthiest response […] is to reject all this insanity entirely.”

“There are two key emotions that drive my research habits: wonder, and pure unadulterated rage.”

“Automated vehicles would be a huge positive technology shock to suburbanization the way trains and elevators were to urbanization.”

The AI-Native Product Manager.

Music
Standards, Fruit Galaxy. A half-hour of clean prog rock instrumentals.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI OST. I appreciate the sunny optimism I hear on this album. Fun to hear “Spain (The Medieval Era)” covering Tarrega’s “Recuerdos de la Alhambra“.

Movies
Deathtrap. Fun! Full of twists, violates your expectations. I love seeing evil Christopher Reeve.

Twisters. It’s fine, gets the job done. Leans a bit too hard on American and trauama, or maybe the problem is that it rushes through it? The spectacle in the movie theatre is cool. No kiss!

Freaky Friday (2003). I had no idea this was a remake, several times over. I get it, though. Fun, lively, tugs at the heartstrings at just the right moment.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I really loved this one. It’s dark and dreary, heavy vignetting, Dementors looming. Harry carries more anger with him. I like that we don’t have as many record-scratch moments to watch things be magical, we just see it as the story moves along. I wish Ron had more to do, but I liked seeing Hermione’s early reflexive draw to him, and her using magic to… attend more classes. 🙃 I need to get one of those marauder’s maps.

And that makes 125 movies seen this year. I’ll share my favorites soon.

TV
The X-Files, s4e1 “Herrenvolk“. We’re going to keep going back to the disappeared sister.

Columbo, s5e1 “Forgotten Lady”. Janet Leigh as a tragic, murdering dreamer clinging to youth and celebrity that will never return. I found this surprisingly touching?

Cross, s1e6. I knew the pregnant cop would have a role to play. “Only the road knows.”

This week I went to a white elephant party. Aside from a renewed appreciation of Brooklyn brownstones, we took away our prize – a handful of scratch-off lottery tickets. I had no idea they were so awful. Just a really terrible experience, the manual labor, the numbing futility of it all. I felt very… repulsed by it. (That said, I think I’d get a kick out of picking numbers and then watching the TV inevitably not say them.)

I was thinking the other day about detective shows, and how it’s so common for the protagonists to work cases at a couple different levels across a season. Maybe the primary case is a new string of crimes that’s hot in the community, and that drives the day-to-day. And in parallel, they’ll work something older, more deeper, more personal. Minus the murders, I wonder if that’s a useful frame, the detective mode of living: give your best to something present that needs your more urgent, frequent attention… and also to continue chipping away at something deeper that’s gnawing at you. Do we all need a cold case?

Art
I wish heard sooner about the Gee’s Bend: My Way Today exhibition at the Nicelle Beauchene Gallery. Hope I can pay a visit early in 2025 before it wraps up.

Running
Returned to the Tuesday/Thursday run club cycle after some irregular weeks. On some nights, it’s really annoying to have made the commitment to lead the group, and have to follow through on it. But it’s in the repeatedly showing up that makes it valuable. “We dedicate ourselves daily anew.”

On Saturday morning, my first snowy run of the season.

Books
Native Nations, cont.
The Path of Daggers, cont.

I’m trying to decide what my loose reading goals should be for next year. My goal this year was to start 50 books – mission accomplished, 58 started, and many proud DNFs to get there. Back in 2021 I caught up on a bunch of Shakespeare plays. Next year, I think maybe get I’ll back to tackling some Big Books™? Middlemarch, War & Peace, that sort of thing. We’ll see.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Favorite first-time watches this year from Letterboxd critics and contributors.

Ted Gioa submits his 100 best recordings of 2024, part one and part two. And Amanda Petrusich’s list of best albums.

“I start with the question, What do you want your relationship to paid work to be?”

“the trick is you can just keep “getting undergrad degrees” in your regular life by going through phases of stuff you’re into. It’s the ideal lifestyle”

The Underrated Joy of Being a Working Mother. “To focus only on her struggles is to miss an equally vital truth: the joy that comes from holding two worlds in tandem, and finding pleasure and meaning in both.”

An interview with Annie Rauwerda from Depths of Wikipedia. “I think that one shared quality of every single person I’ve met who has stuck around Wikipedia for a long time is that they have very little hesitation to work hard, and they put a low value on their own time.”

“Agathonicity is usually described as the property of objects getting better with use.”

“An Anti-Tag Cloud shows you the most common English words that never appear in a text, visualizing the “negative space” of a literary work.” (via)

Why is Spain’s social housing so well-designed?

Atlanta Can’t Afford to Punt on Beltline Rail – Part One: Density and Part Two: Connectivity.

Music
A few from Caroline Shaw…

• In Waves perf. Ars Nova Copenhagen. I really like the “spray”- or “steam”-like sounds the chorus makes here and there.
• Rectangles and Circumstance perf. Sō Percussion. Big fan of this album. “The Parting Glass” is so lovely – vibraphone + voice is a winning combo. I love the way the percussion droops out of tune, turning the harmonies a little sour and bittersweet.
• Leonardo da Vinci OST. It is simply not very interesting!

VOCES8, Nightfall. Pleasant choral arrangements to pluck at the heartstrings. Sigur Rós “Fljótavik“, Max Richter’s “On the Nature of Daylight“. “Zelda’s Lullaby” was a fun surprise!

Bruce Liu, Waves: Music by Ravel, Rameau, Alkan.

Handel, 8 Great Suits for Harpsichord perf. Asako Ogawa. The Allemande from HWV 426 is really nice.

Schubert: Chamber Works perf. Tetzlaff, Tetzlaff, and Vogt. I like the Adagio from D.821.

Movies
Happer’s Comet. Vignettes from the middle of the night in the suburbs. Almost no speaking, just observation, very meditative… and weird, because people are! Roller skates, corn fields, glowing lights, chirping frogs and bugs.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The kids grew about 5 years in the year between movies. I’m glad they dialed down the “look how magical” moments, and amped up the stress levels – I audibly gasped when Hermione got petrified. And while last week I complained about quidditch, I recognize now that those scenes are useful for a bathroom/snack breaks. Only two movies in, but so far I’m glad to be rewatching this series.

Batman Returns. This time around, I really appreciated all the kooky sets. And I like the chaotic circus henchmen, and the Penguin’s theatrical flair, always playing to the cameras. I should watch more Michell Pfeiffer? For as long as she’s been going, I haven’t seen that many of her films. (my previous viewing)

TV
Cross, s1e5. I like that we spent most of the episode in one building, a good way to escalate this turning point in the movie. The almost-escape scene was really solid – I don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like it. Cross’ pride will be his ruin – don’t play with your food!

This week my team at work had an off-site gathering. Highlight was learning improv for a couple hours. Mark of 10 years ago would not have been so ready to fully commit. It’s really cool to see and feel how much more comfortable I am in my own skin, a feeling of safety, new perspective on what counts as risky.

I also did my first escape room, which was amusing.

Lowlight was sitting down for dinner in a fancy restaurant for a couple hours. I appreciate the generosity, but… they’re not for me. I find restaurants more and more tedious. Impatience? Casualization of taste?

We also had an office holiday party this week, which I skipped entirely. It made me think back to earlier in career, another period where I was fully bought-in to a role and team, and how much more time I invested in the social side of things. Spending time with out-of-towners, joining team events, etc.. I remember how I felt a little mild annoyance with the never-joiners… and now I am one. Perhaps I can take it as a sign of better boundaries and more compelling opportunities outside of work, the perks of growing older and wiser?

Art
Incredible glaze on this Qing dynasty porcelain vase. (via) I like how The British Museum can let you search by culture/period or object type.

Doubt-Forest4, 2009 acrylic painting by Dae-Won Yang. (via)

Running
Yesterday morning I ran the NYRR Frosty 5K and set a new adult-era PR of 24:07, a full minute faster than I ran the Harlem 5K back in August. I could have broken under 24 minutes, but [if I had any excuses, they’d go here], but more importantly – it was super fun! I think I enjoyed the Harlem race more for the surprise of running on streets I don’t know very well. But I can’t deny the boost I got from racing on a loop I’ve done hundreds of times. Big advantage on the climb up Battle Pass Hill – no need to get psyched out, I done it twice a week for years, it’ll be over in a minute, keep pushing, harder!

Another great reason to get out of bed early on a 24º morning: sunrise on a lake.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Reflections on donating a kidney.

“Not everyone learns best from the top teacher out there, not everyone enjoys the writing of the most prolific blogger you know, and not everyone uses the most popular app for their problem. You don’t know who might benefit from what you offer.”

Each of the critics at RogerEbert.com shared their top 10 movies of the year.

“One of my colleagues had said that the Internet is the most effective short-term, nonprescription painkiller out there.”

“Tedium and boredom are both patterns of thought, not circumstance.”

6 lessons I learned working at an art gallery. “It is not that I’m some grumpy person who thinks that some people are great and others aren’t, in some predetermined way—I think you can to a large extent decide which kind you want to be. But if someone else isn’t measuring up, I have no idea how to convince them to do so. So I look for people who have already decided.”

A few nuggets from Things learned in 2024 from James Dillard…
– “78 percent of Christmas hits were penned before 1990“
– “Lake Superior is about the size of the state of Alabama”

…and from 52 things Tom Whitwell learned:
– “London Underground has a distinct form of mosquito, Culex pipiens f. Molestus, genetically different from above-ground mosquitos”
– “In the 2020s, over 16% of movies have colons in the title.”).

“The core intuition is simply that you should be asking more questions.”

“IMO one of the biggest benefits of travel is just acquiring a scaffold to hang future knowledge on. Places that had similar embeddings in my mind before I saw them (Chongqing vs Chengdu, Abu Dhabi vs Dubai, Wroclaw vs Warsaw, etc.) become extremely distinct, and future facts become much stickier.”

Books
Meditations for Mortals. Finished, recommended! “Going through the world with the default belief that it’s full of people or things that need holding at bay is a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

Native Nations, cont.

Build a Large Language Model from Scratch, cont.

Music
Blood Incantation, Absolute Elsewhere. I like how this album balances metal with Pink Floyd-style stadium/galaxy rock.

Beethoven, Complete Piano Trios perf. Weiss Kaplan Stumpf Trio.

E-40, My Ghetto Report Card. Exploring some of the Bay Area sound.

Reformation: Keyboard Works by William Bird, Orlando Gibbons, John Bull, & Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck per. Mishka Rushdie Momen. “Delicate” is the word that comes to mind. Really lovely.

Galina Grigorjeva, Nature morte perf. Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir.

Movies
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Dated effects, but I’d forgotten this thing is a couple decades old now. We spend a LOT of time showing how magical everything is. Quidditch is not interesting, never has been! The chess match also kills momentum, goes on a bit too long. I forgot that Voldemort was barely present. I appreciate the skill of the talent scouts, they did a great job finding these kids. And I appreciate the characterization through costume – e.g. Hermione with necktie sharply knotted and cinched, Harry’s knotted loosely under an unbuttoned collar, Ron’s untied and draped over his shirt.

Farewell, My Lovely. The line delivery felt really stilted here. Like they were reading or reciting what they’d memorized, rather than speaking. It didn’t fully make the transition from the page. Fun to see young Charlotte Rampling – don’t think I’d ever seen her without wrinkles, grey hair, etc..

P2. I like when horror movies play on common everyday fears, e.g. being trapped in a parking deck with a creep.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League. It is a vision all its own, which is great. Surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I was expecting a movie where I’d end up half-watching while scrolling Twitter, but… I was lured int. Like a bunch of 25-minute stories strung together. We need more episodic movies! (I liked that about Furiosa, too.) And the 4:3 aspect is cool! Widescreen ≠ inherently epic. For as many epic events we see, it’s a shame that our heroes merely look… deeply concerned? when someone dies. Also a funny contrast where Gal Gadot has such limited range, but Wonder Woman is very fun to watch in action scenes. I really like those Parademons henchmen, cute waspy cannon fodder (like the flying monkeys in Wizard of Oz!). Having Joe Morton as the father of Cyborg is a really great touch, seeing as how he also led to Skynet. I wish Superman would use the ice breath more.

Monkey Man. The action is bloody and frenetic. I won’t pretend to understand the connection to current Indian politics, beyond the broad strokes. Hijras play a fun role in the film, and the goat Zakir Hussain is a minor but prominent character, too, so that’s another good reason to watch.

TV
The X-Files, s3e24 “Talitha Cumi”. I lost the plot here! Aliens, an ailing mother, The Smoking Man, Mr. X, The Bounty Hunter. All systems going… somewhere.

Cross, s1e4. My prayers from last week were answered: we got more scenes of Cross thinking through things. There’s even a “he’s wired in“-type moment!

Words of Wisdom
“i recommend exploring niche interests in public“

“it’s important to know at least one guy who you find really annoying but who is also very similar to you. it keeps you humble and aware”

I’m typically in the office ~5 days every week. The rare, random days when I decide to work from home are a real treat. That may be the key for me – regularity, with potential for a surprise here and there?

I was supposed to run in a race in Central Park on Saturday: an irregular event in a place I’m very familiar with. The thought of it became less and less appealing as the day grew closer. Going out of my way to do two laps I’ve already seen plenty of times?

So I skipped it. And did my usual Saturday morning long run (regularity), filling out my map in Brooklyn, exploring some new-to-me streets (potential surprises) on a sunny 28º morning. I’ll never know what sticking to the plan would have been like, but can’t say I regret my choice.

Art
“Woodland Elves VII“, bone china with transfer-printing, hand-painting, and lustre glaze by Daisy Makeig-Jones.

On Brooklyn Bridge, oil on canvas by Albert Gleizes.

A Zapotec ceramic vessel in the form of a seated male figure.

A tatanua funerary mask from the New Ireland area of Papua New Guinea.

La Pythie Philippise, bas-relief terracotta by Emile-Antoine Bourdelle.

Books
Build a Large Language Model (From Scratch) by Sebastian Raschka. Part of a weekly book club at work, we’ll see how far I make it.

Meditations for Mortals, cont.
Native Nations, cont.
The Path of Daggers, cont. (again!)

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
10 Rules for Students and Teachers. “Consider everything an experiment.”

Bilge Ebiri’s top 20 films for 2024, for now?

MGMT playing “Kids” in 2003. Clearly came a long way since the self-conscious beginners in the video, a lesson for us all.

Big-city people walk faster than they used to. (via)

“Cruise ships continue to grow: a natural experiment in what can be achieved outside the constraints that have stifled progress on dry land.”

“Conversation with others often emphasizes the most well-understood elements of an idea.”

I’d never thought about citation in the age of AI, until now. Chicago beats MLA?

Every UUID and a write-up on building it.

Music
Highlight of the week: Kevin Puts, Marimba Concerto, The City, & Oboe Concerto No. 2 “Moonlight” perf. Katherine Needleman, Ji Su Jung, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra cond. Marin Alsop. Marimba was my favorite instrument to play, back when I was deeper into music in high school and college. The concerto is a beautiful piece, had me falling in love again.

I continued the old-school French from last week with a couple more from Guillaume Dufay…

• Le Prince d’amours perf. Ensemble Gile Binchois.
• Choral Music perf. Cantica Symphonia.
• …and Johannes Ockeghem, Missa “De Plus en Plus”; Chansons, perf. Orlando Consort. I remember studying the mass in college. Funny feeling, that little tickle of recognition after 20 years.
• …and Guillaume de Machaut, Sacred and Secular Music perf. Ensemble Gilles Binchois. Monk chanting kinda stuff.

The Human League, Dare!. It’s sad how many bands I know for one (1) great song (“Don’t You Want Me“), and only many decades later do I learn they have a lot of great songs (like “Do Or Die“)! A good reminder as the year wraps up and best-of lists arrive: there are treasures to find everywhere you care to look.

Lucio Battisti, Una giornata uggiosa. Italian pop recommended to me at work. Reminds me a bit of Gipsy Kings crossed with… something else I can’t quite put my finger on. The guitar in “Gelosa cara” made me think of “Used Ta Be My Girl“. The soft rock in “Con il nastro rosa” made me think of “Seabird“.

Anne Paceo, S.H.A.M.A.N.E.S. “Reste un oiseau” is the pick here.

Movies
Monolith. A disgraced journalist-turned-podcaster goes kooky when chasing down a story. A solo performance, like The Listener and others I recommended in week 16. I’d recommend The Vast of Night for other powerful over-the-phone storytelling. Echoes of Annihilation at the climax.

Red Rooms. Along the same lines of tech-enabled perversion when chasing down a story… phew! This draws you into the most queasy, vile territory. We never directly see much violence, but we see the harm it does to people who feed on it. Our protagonist is uncomfortably lacking in affect – except a horrifying climax where she participates in an auction.

Lots of medieval allusions at play. She uses the screenname “LadyOfShallott“, and has a painting of the character on the wall of her mostly-empty apartment (which is high in a tower, where she observes the darkest parts of life remotely from the web, mostly nocturnally, and comes out because she finds a male figure so compelling…). The killer’s last name is “Chevalier”. She drinks wine from a silver chalice, and wears a cross bottony. And there’s an olde-style period instrument soundtrack, but with modern (dis)harmonies.

Really solid movie I probably can’t bear to watch again. An even better movie about a woman obsessed with criminal court proceedings: Saint Omer.

Hundreds of Beavers. Made me feel alive again! Talk about a palate cleanser. A masterclass in escalation. Zany blend of animation and practical effects, Looney Tunes silliness and an improv troupe’s “why not?” go-for-broke attitude. One of my favorites of this year.

TV
The X-Files, s3e23 “Wetwired“. TV transmission brainwashing! A reappearance of Mr. X and the Smoking Man. Surprising impact from the scene of Scully paranoiacally tearing apart her hotel room in search of a bug – really well done.

Cross, s1e2–3. The main villain seems a little too perfect, too slick. His chaotic sidekick is more uncomfortable to watch. Props to grandma for cutting the wires. I like the scenes where we see Cross flexing is psychology expertise, drawing connections, following hunches from longtime experience – more of that, please.

Words of Wisdom
“Never listen to people who want you to enjoy fewer things.”

Over forty years on Earth and I’m still learning how to manage ebb and flow of a week. One day I went to bed grumpy and sad and tired. The next day I woke up feeling fine, normal, as if nothing had happened. Another day I woke up energized and silly and ready to take on the world, like I’d somehow caffeinated myself in my sleep. Where do these moods come from? The mystery of body chemistry.

Regardless of what follows, a sunny Sunday morning walk + yoga + waffles + nature documentary is a great way to start your week.

Art
A ceramic Tlapacoya kneeling figurine. A pocket chess set from Marcel Duchamp. A Mumuye monkey mask made of wood, raffia, and fiber.

Running
My winter running project: running every street in PLG/East Flatbush, and then every street in Park Slope. I’m running a 15k in Central Park in a couple weeks.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
“Americans just really like thinking of themselves as “working class”, no matter how much money they earn or what degrees they have hanging on their wall.” This attitude seems like a blend of “aw shucks” humble popularism and a sort of stolen valor. Seems like bad karma.

How to have a superstar career outside a superstar city. Love this: “Great work is never the default path so don’t waste your time worrying about what you’re missing out on.”

“Being driven mad online is avoidable.” And some reminders about how to stay sane.

“We must build routines that are not just filled, but fulfilled.”

Blockchain for beginners.

“An ode and exhortation to the 70% of New Yorkers in the broad middle of city politics. This moment is yours if you will claim it.” See also: You Don’t Have to Feel Bad About Politics.

Books
Native Nations, continued, and Termination Shock – soon to DNF? This one is taking forever to get anywhere…

Movies
A Laundry Day. A short film from Johanna Makabi. Like a poem that lands the punch in the final words.

The Batman (2022). Didn’t enjoy it as much as the first time, but it holds up pretty well. I still like the moodiness, and the steady drip drip of the detective story, but it felt a bit more flabby on this watch, and a little preachy? Cool to see how precise and sharp Zoë Kravitz’ acting can be.

Gosford Park. Absolutely loved it. Gossipy upstairs/downstairs intrigue and murder mystery, constantly mocking Americans, Hollywood, buffoon cops, catty elites. Kristin Scott Thomas is a natural at snobbery. Love how it takes huge cast and makes it feel natural. You assemble the collage as you go along.

Music
More Max Richter…

• In a Landscape. Lots of flowy, melancholy cello. It’s nice.
• The Leftovers: Season 1 OST. I need to get back to watching the show.

Devonté Hynes, Master Gardener OST. Love the closing song, “Space and Time“, which led me to…

Mereba:

• Room for Loving.
• the “Counterfeit” single
• The Jungle Is The Only Way Out. “Stay Tru” made me think of Chloe x Halle’s “Do It“.

Also in rotation:

• Mary J. Blige, Gratitude. “Need You More”, Jadakiss’ voice is so good. “I Got Plans” has a nice throw-back feel.
• Pure Desmond, Audrey. Clean west coast jazz.
• Adam Ben Ezra, “Can’t Stop Running“. Really nice upright bass + percussion number.
• Cubiclor, Hardly a Day, Hardly a Night. Trancy dancy EDM stuff – “Melodies” is great.
• An excellent playlist: Dance in the Ruins: Nov 2024 mix. I’ll be giving a few of these albums a proper listen later on.

TV
The X-Files, s3e19 “Hell Money“. Most depressing episode yet? Rare episode where there’s little in the way of supernatural events. It stays focused on beliefs, and the more generic human evil of preying on the vulnerable. I’d never heard of hell money before.

Cross, s1e1. I’ve only seen Morgan Freeman play Alex Cross. I like Aldis Hodge’s version so far. Curious how they’ll use D.C. to tell the story.

Night on Earth, s1e1. TIL there are mice that hunt scorpions.

Words of Wisdom
“Some metaphor: projects require soil to grow in, sunlight to grow toward. Your soil is not your sunlight. You need both, but they are not the same.”

Yesterday I went to the Brooklyn Musem. They’ve had a bit of a glow-up recently, and their exhibition of Brookyn artists is a lovely way to celebrate it and they have the full collection online. The in memoriam, 2022 quilt by Clayton Okaly was a favorite for me.

While we were there, we took few minutes to sit down and sketch. I picked one at semi-random, a seated guy leaning with his elbows on a table or bar. Then little observations started adding up, things my eye wouldn’t have seen if I wasn’t using my hands. What else am I missing because I’m not taking enough time to see?

Art
A Yup’ik nepcetaq mask. The notes were very helpful: “In the central carving an angalkuq (shaman) stares intently through two bentwood rings, which represent layers of the universe. As mediators between worlds shamans have the ability to travel beyond the everyday realm. Feathers and wooden carvings of hands, feet, fish, and a bird radiate beyond the second, outermost ring. With hands and legs matching the tone of his face the angalkuq seems to reach across the boundaries of the world. He touches that which we cannot see, the inner life of all things.”

Books
Termination Shock, continued.

Running
Picking up where I left off with the project in September, I’ve now run every street in Bed-Stuy. I didn’t expect the wave of satisfaction that hit as I was knocking out the last few blocks. Big smiles.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
IMG_0416, a treasure trove of iPhone → YouTube uploads.

Listen to random forest audio with Tree.fm.

“A corollary to ‘you can just do things’: you can just ignore things.”

Don’t ask to ask, just ask. “You’re asking people to take responsibility. You’re questioning people’s confidence in their abilities. You’re also unnecessarily walling other people out.” (Thanks, Jara!)

“When you take an occupation that people think they know and point it in another direction, then you create a gap, or chasm. Then the viewer has to help fill that chasm. Well, that’s what art does. You have two poles; you get them to a certain point and the spark’s gonna fly.”

Hollis Robbins on the “last mile” problem: “We’re creating a world where AI algorithms serve the majority while human insight becomes the ultimate premium service.”

“Like many pictures in my camera roll, it’s unremarkable. And yet, unlike other pictures taken that night, it conjures up for me a potent memory that’s not exactly depicted within the photo, but with a few taps I can always evoke it.”

“Tourism has become value arbitrage: Invest in an undiscovered place early so you don’t have to go there when it’s overrun.”

Notes on Guyana. I don’t read the whole text of Lakeman’s posts, but the on-the-ground photos are always interesting.

“In 31 years of age I think I’ve finally discovered the cure to depression and it’s just leaving the house at every single possible opportunity no matter how badly you don’t want to.” Today is my 1349th consecutive day going outside no matter what, and can vouch that it makes a huge difference.

Movies
Civil War. An unlikely family road trip movie, but a team of (bloodthirsty?) journalists. “We don’t ask. We record so other people ask.” They’re not heroes, they’re emotionally deadened thrill-seekers, and the generational trend isn’t good. Distracting to see what’s obviously (to me) Atlanta filmed as NYC. (Seeing the blighted Herndon Stadium was both cool and depressing.) Just seemed a bit sloppy? Between Men, Annihilation, and Ex Machina, Alex Garland has a pretty high batting average.

Master Gardener. Really loved it, didn’t expect the warmth and sentimentality, and I wasn’t ready for such a hopeful ending. “I never knew what direction it was going to go.” I wrote that about Paul Schrader’s First Reformed – the first of his man-in-a-room trilogy – and the same applies here. Makes me want to rewatch American Gigolo.

The Grand Budapest Hotel. Second viewing (the first). I might still call it my favorite, but would be interested in a The Darjeeling Limitedrewatch. Not a movie I love, though, and ditto for Anderson as director. I’m glad he’s able to do his thing, though, and hope every director gets to be as weird and specific as they can muster.

Music
Nicolas Deep, Gata. Good pulsing work music. I like the group chanting in “Savan“.

Max Richter, On the Nature of Daylight. “A Catalogue of Afternoons” is a good one to keep on loop while you putter through quiet tasks.

Mongo Santamaria, Afro Roots. So much good stuff in the percussion. I’d love to hear a version without vocals.

Sun Ra Arkestra, Baby Won’t You Please Be Mine. I like the shaggy bluesy NOLA feel in the title track.

Naoki Sato 六人の嘘つきな大学生 OST. “Chaos” is a favorite – I love that whirring rise and fall in the opening minutes, like a robot breathing. Also a fan of “Betrayer“, love a steady pulse that builds and builds. From the composer who brought you the soundtrack for Godzilla Minus One.

Big Gigantic, Brighter Future 2. Strip mall dance pop. I could barely finish.

Yusuf Lateef, Suite 16. Didn’t care for this one, either!

TV
The X-Files, s3e18 “Teso Dos Bichos“. Another edition of revenge after death x indigenous cultures… but this time through a mob of cats lol.

The Penguin, s1e1. First sample was pretty good. I like when main characters are getting squeezed from all directions. Sofia Falcone is a compelling foil. I’ve seen NY/NJ mob boss tough-guy characters ten million times, so I’m curious what novelty they’ll bring to it.

We elected a new President on my birthday. I’ve gotten better gifts before, but… #WeMove!

Running
I went out for some trailrunning in Harriman State Park on Saturday morning. I wasn’t really familiar with the area. What lovely surprise, though, when we ended up just a half-mile away from the Lemon Squeezer – a part of the Appalachian Trail that squeezes through some looming boulders. I passed through my first time a lifetime ago in 2007. We took a quick side trip to visit again.

I passed walked into the channel and – feeling the cold rock, hearing the scrape of backpack – the most vivid, visceral memories washed over me. Unexpectedly moving to retrace those steps. Mark v.2007 would not have predicted the details of Mark v.2024, but I think he’d be stoked.

Books
Outlander. DNF. I remember this circulating a ton when I was working at the library. Not for me!

Termination Shock. Just started, appreciate the early momentum.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Projects are things with steps.

“Accomplishing worthwhile things isn’t just a little harder than people think; it’s 10 or 20 times harder.”

The Housing Twenties: New York’s Biggest Building Boom and Its Lessons for Today. “The period from the Great Depression to America’s entry into World War II (1930 to 1941) […] surpassed housing construction in the best 12 years of the 21st century (2012 to 2023).”

I fell asleep in a driverless car.

“I didn’t take animation seriously because it came easily to me. It took me a long time to realize, maybe it comes easily to me and it’s fun because I’m good at it. Maybe that’s what a talent is called, but you feel like you have to beat yourself up and do things the hard way or it doesn’t count.”

A reflection on the 10th anniversary of Nightcrawler. “As our relationship with cameras and information delivery systems has evolved, the public often finds themselves a spiritual descendant of Lou or Nina, even with good intentions.”

“God walks out of the room when you’re thinking about money.”

An excerpt from “Any Morning” by William Stafford…

Little corners like this, pieces of Heaven
left lying around, can be picked up and saved.
People won't even see that you have them,
they are so light and easy to hide.

Movies
The Lion King (1994). Watched as a sing-along. I tell you what: this hits way different as an adult with aging parents!

Crooklyn. Watched on the big screen at BAM. Love the hilarious chaos of a 5-kid household, and the variety of “characters” on the block, and the lively soundtrack, and the shock of travel to foreign lands (Virginia). One of my favorites of the year so far.

Music
Time for Three, Letters for the Future. New music for string trio and orchestra. The strumming and pizzicatto bits in “The Shallows” were nice – warm Americana.

Another round of comparing recordings, ft. Camille Saint-Saëns…

• Organ Symphony; Bacchanale; Danse Macabre; Carnaval des Animaux. Just now realizing that the “Aquarium” is featured heavily in in Days of Heaven!
• Symphony No. 3 / Piano Concerto No. 2. Don’t think I’d heard the “Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso in A minor, Op. 28” before, nice surprise.

Samuel Siskind, Fourth Wall Ensemble, Christopher Allen, Johnathan McCullough, Awake. Lovely chamber/choral opener.

Svaneborg Kardyb, Superkilen. I like this combination of keyboards and percussion, with some electronica mixed in to expand it. I had the title track on repeat for a while.

Wolfgang Lackerschmid, Chet Baker, Ballads for Two. Trumpet + vibraphone, “Softly As a Morning Sunrise” is the highlight here.

Cobrah, Succubus. BDSM pop. Not sure I’d give it “10/10“, but it was a welcome injection of novelty. Buckle up!

Molly Lewis, On the Lips. Lots of whistling and mood-setting – I like “Lounge Lizard“.

TV
The X-Files, s3e17 “Pusher“. Trance brainwasher! Skinner as plot point (ht Jara). Holding hands several times, Scully’s concerned expressions. Russian roulette!

CSI: Miami, s7e12 “Head Case”. I like all the lab work they did in this one. Eric and Calleigh need to sort it out this mess lol.

The Terror, s1e9-10. Welp, everyone died! Glad the ending of the show wasn’t as Hickey-centric as I feared. Respectful appreciation of an ensemble cast. Really enjoyed the scene of finding the Northwest Passage.

Words of Wisdom
“In a cemetery once, an old one in New England, I found a strangely soothing epitaph. The name of the deceased and her dates had been scoured away by wind and rain, but there was a carving of a tree with roots and branches (a classic nineteenth-century motif) and among them the words, “She attended well and faithfully to a few worthy things.” At first this seemed to me a little meager, a little stingy on the part of her survivors, but I wrote it down and have thought about it since, and now I can’t imagine a more proud or satisfying legacy.”

This morning I used my extra fall-back hour to do some trailrunning, and it’s just a perfect way to start the week. (Some people will try to tell you that the week starts on Monday, but it does not.)

Art
Exquisite Corpse paintings by Kerry James Marshall. (via)

Coptic Tapestry with a Shepherd Milking a Goat.

A gorgeous snuffbox from ~1740s Paris, crafted from gold and mother of pearl.

Running
On Tuesday night the run club when down to a spooky Halloween house.

I used to take Sundays all or mostly off. One change I’m enjoying lately is following my Saturday long run with a short-to-medium run. Squeezing a little bit more out of tired legs, keeping it chill and exploratory.

Books
The Saltwater Frontier. The book has moved on from the more conceptual, sweeping summary material to more nitty-gritty dates-and-facts-and-stats. I’ve enjoyed it, but looking forward to wrapping up soon.

Florida by Lauren Groff. Just started, reserving judgement.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Prep for next year’s Halloween viewing: 24 Hours of Horror with Robert Eggers, director of The Witch and the upcoming Nosferatu remake. Also on Letterboxd.

A collection of movie visual techniques, like dolly zooms, match cuts, and wipe transitions.

How to Make Pixel Art From an Existing Image.

“Friends, I encourage you to publish more, indirectly meaning you should write more and then share it.” I like the notion that “not every gift needs a bow”.

“The exact reason I recommend people learn foreign languages: smart people need the experience of being wrong.”

“The bottom line is this: men do not differ significantly from women in the importance they attach to various policy issues; and their positions do not appear to have shifted much over the last two years.” I find this somewhat reassuring. Vibes are powerful.

How I write code using Cursor: A review.

Movies
I Know What You Did Last Summer. Been a while since I’ve seen it, gets the job done. My 100th movie of the year.

Longlegs. Gross and unsettling at times, but maybe would have found it scarier in the theater? I enjoyed seeing Maika Monroe settling in as a distinctive oddball character, and Nicolas Cage is an all-timer.

The Naked City. Interesting for its snapshot of 1940s NYC neighborhoods, and a decent little procedural mystery.

Presumed Innocent. I need to watch more 80s/90s legal thrillers. Great courtroom scenes, always love when they approach the bench and hash things out. Harrison Ford has a lot of range in stillness.

Music
After hearing one of his songs at the vinyl bar, I dove into Doug Carn’s soulful jazz explorations from the 1970s…

• Infant Eyes
• Spirit of the New Land
• Revelation
• Doug Carn JID005

…and from there into more jazz…

Sun Ra, Kingdom of Discipline. The organ in “Sophisticated Lady” is so good. I also liked his recent “Lights on a Satellite” single.

Ryo Fukui, Scenery. Check out “I Want to Talk About You“.

Two from Alfa Mist, Antiphon and Variables

Walter Smith III, three of us are from Houston and Reuben is not.

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Yesterday You Said Tomorrow. Covers “The Eraser“, so that’s cool!

…and eventually, the genre started to feel a little stale. Or like I’d kept taking spoonfuls without chewing. To change things up I re-visited Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3. It hit like a truck, great stuff.

TV
The X-Files, s3e16 “Apocrypha“. The black oil backstory. I like when Mulder and Scully go off on separate adventures and then team up again after swapping clues. One of the better-shot episodes, good mood.

Batman: The Animated Series, s1e31 “Dreams in Darkness“. Scarecrow episode, a rare one with Batman narrating previous events, like a film noir detective.

Last weekend was Open House New York Weekend, where you can snoop around a bunch of places that you usually can’t. I went to Brooklyn Army Terminal to see some oddball art and open studios.

I think I had a breakthrough on that morning adventure. Namely, getting better at managing hangry-ness. Half the battle is predicting it: when I’m on a long morning adventure, I’m going to get tired, hungry, cranky, frustrated. So I left the house prepared, and arrived home happy rather than desperate.

With my new wisdom, I implore you: carry snacks. The great enemy of your progress is unresolved tension within!

Running
I got an idea for a spiral running route one night as I was going to bed, so used that for my Saturday long run. The result GPS track, map redacted:

Wasn’t sure how it would feel to run it, but it was a really neat way to revisit familiar territory.

Books
The Subtle Knife. DNF. Just couldn’t stay attached.

The Saltwater Frontier: Indians and the Contest for the American Coast. Really enjoying this one, with focus on the native, English, and Dutch on the coast up here from Hudson Valley to Cape Cod. We think of colonization as a land-based thing, and underestimate the maritime powers already in place.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
William Gibson on a radio interview with R.P. Bird in 1987. Listening to oddball radio shows late at night – one of those things I remember that my kids probably won’t. (via Joanne McNeil)

“Here is a (very) nonexhaustive list of nonprofits that have helped achieve prosocial outcomes, that do not currently have enough funding to achieve their greater ambitions.” Lots of good stuff out there.

Boosting Housing Affordability: Practical Suggestions for Congress and the White House. Interesting to see what opportunities are available, some direct, some bankshots.

“A lot of people don’t know how government works generally, even if they’re inside it. They certainly know their piece of it, and they know how to navigate the relationships. They’ll always tell you politics is relationship driven, and it certainly is. And they’re also deeply creative. It requires ingenuity to figure out how to get an agenda through the system.”

We can Terraform the American West.

Movies
The Witches (1990). Fun! Anjelica Huston is such a good diva. Love the handicraft make-up and costuming. Unhinged at times, and maybe feels unsure of its target age. Enjoyed it, though, and enough so that I’d be willing to check out the remake.

Scream VI. I agree with my complaints from my first watch in May, but also my conclusion: I love this franchise. I like the darkness in our heroine, and focus on the sister relationship as they find their own way through trauma.

Music
The Smile, Cutouts. Must feel good to reset under a new name, remove the expectations of the old one. “The Slip” is so good, dark and slippery. “Eyes & Mouth” is about as funky as I’ve heard them, and I love how the toms are tuned so loose. The whole album just races by.

Ngô Hồng Quang, Nhìn Lại. I like the mix of old and new. The final ballad Chông Chênh Sông Hồng is lovely, as is the a cappella “Có Những Ngày“.

Gonchareva, Ocean, Symphony for Electric Violin and Other Instruments in 10+ Parts. The variety of intrumentation is the best part. Not your grandfather’s symphony.

Bill Evans Trio, Sunday at the Village Vanguard. I love how close this recording is, right on your ears. “My Man’s Gone Now” might be my favorite here.

Bill Charlap Trio, Street of Dreams. More piano-led jazz combo. “Out of Nowhere” has such good bones, hard to go wrong.

Jupiter & Okwess, Na Kozonga. Congolese afropop/funk. Big fan of “Izabela” and Bakanda Ulu“, at least before the heavy belting starts.

TV
The X-Files, s3e15 “Piper Maru“. Feels good to be back on mainline conspiracy stuff. Frickin’ Krychek.

CSI, s10e14. Starring Rascal Flatts? Didn’t see it coming.

The Terror, s1e8. Ugh. It’s the Hickey show now.

I removed Twitter from my phone last Sunday, and it’s been interesting to compare before and after. I’m lucky that, compared to some, I don’t seem to be as triggered by the sewage you can see there sometimes (often). But still, just as addicted as many. It keeps me hooked.

But I cut it off for a bit, and all that would-be scrolling time became much more peaceful. Go figure! Kindle on the train, RSS in those weird restless pockets that open up throughout the day, Kindle before bed. A bit of time on the laptop in the evening, but I usually don’t have much appetite for that after a day of work. Compulsion replace with intention. Nights are quieter, and feel longer, and days a bit more deliberate and focused. It feels good I’m pretty sure I’ll be back eventually, but enjoying this right now.

I remember I had a tough start on Monday. A bit of Sunday scaries, and bad sleep from wordy thinking + struggle to find the right temperature. Still wrestling with changes in my routine, but things are settling into place. I try to remind myself I don’t need to form an opinion or change it all immediately. I let the new days settle into place, and see what I want to change when it’s taken form.

Art
“Wind, Miami Beach“, photo by Anastasia Samoylova.

“Woman Leaning on Her Hands“, bronze by Henri Matisse.

“Pierrot with Clarinet“, sculpture in plaster by Jacque Lipchitz.

Running
I think I’m finding my groove again. Back to my usual weekly mileage after a couple down weeks. Sunday afternoon jogs are proving useful to replace the weekday mornings I pulled back on. Saturday long run include a stint of the Brooklyn Waterfront Greenway I’d not done before, connecting Sunset Park and Bay Ridge/Fort Hamilton. I think I’ve run almost all of Brooklyn’s perimeter/borders, except for a few odd miles here and there.

Books
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson. Ultimately really depressing! Glad I read it. The world of ambassadors and diplomats is interesting, though. I wonder what the best general history books on the Foreign Service are?

Spies: The Epic Intelligence War Between East and West by Calder Walton. The 10% of so that I read seems good, but I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach here. DNF.

The Subtle Knife, by Philip Pullman. I was going to read the The Golden Compass only to realize I read it two years ago. Need to Wikipedia that one and get this started again.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
I’m visiting all 350 of NYC’s neighborhoods. Here’s some of what I’ve learned so far.

“The obituaries section is exclusive real estate. They don’t let boring people in.”

“Politicians from the left and the right sometimes like to say that 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. It’s the type of statistic that can fit a variety of economic narratives. […] It’s also, more importantly, not true.”

Using static websites for tiny archives.

Movies
Coraline. Pretty good! The stop-motion animation is really impressive, easy for my attention to be focus more on that than the plot. The story is unhurried and pleasingly creepy.

The Witch. I just love this movie. Third or fourth time I’ve seen it, and keep finding new riches. Robert Eggers is one to follow.

Music
Pharoah Sanders, Great Moments with Pharoah Sanders was my favorite album this week. Perfect music for walking through the city in the morning. Check out his “Naima” and “Soul Eyes“.

Jaco Pastorius, Jaco Pastorius. Insane electric bass playing here.

Yin Yan, Mount Matsu. Some interesting electronic/south Asian surf rock?

Giuliano Sorgini, Lavoro e tempo libero. Disco! “Turbine in moto” is a good closer.

Brian Green, Impressions for Headphones. No single track was especially affecting, but useful and enveloping when taken as a whole.

Keith Jarrett, Facing You. Jazz piano as soloist. I like “Starbright“.

Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” rec. New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein. I went through a big Mahler phase a while back, maybe a decade ago now? Still love the scale and drama of it all.

TV
The X-Files, s3e14 “Grotesque“. Here we have a more tormented Mulder than we usually see. A detective in too deep for his own good, like you see in Seven or Hannibal or something. But we also understand new motivations, chips on his shoulder from a career being bullied and ostracized. I like the range we get to see from Scully here – loyalty, patient, frustrated, angry, worried, commanding. Interesting that the enemy here has honor enough to help himself get caught.

The Terror, s1e7. The crew has abandoned ship for overland journey, and Mr. Hickey is outta control. Hope he doesn’t take over the plot, but… I don’t think I’ll get my wish.

Took a few hours last Sunday evening for a couple hours of reading – phone off, devices stashed away… and a break for cookies. An ideal evening. And a different version of that this morning: a bus ride across town, a trio of lattes, and a sunny stroll back home. New rituals to make the time go slower.

Books
Shards of Honor. Setting this one aside for the moment. Lots of things happening but not building up enough.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson (no relation). So far, so good. I remember reading The Devil in the White City when it came out, and being annoyed with his constant teasers and hints to close out each chapter. Still has that tic here, but it’s not bothering me as much.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
“When the whole [TikTok] feed is taken together, it’s almost digital vaudeville: a song, a short sketch, a physical feat, slapstick, animal acts and satire, one after another, in a personalized variety show on your phone.”

“The Delaware Aqueduct, 85 miles end to end, is the longest tunnel in the world“.

Movies
Scream (1996). Third or fourth time I’ve seen it? This time around I especially appreciated how scenes were blocked out, and the emphasis on how we feed on TV sensationalism.

I Saw the TV Glow. Moves in its own time, at its own pace.

Music
Elysian Spring, Glass Flowers. I like the gentle bossa nova opener “Blue Sands” into hard swing of “Richards Whistle“

Ibibio Sound Machine, Doko Mien. “Wanna Come Down” puts the hard funk in your face, and “I Will Run” is a more electro-dreamy morsel with a bit of gospel flavor.

Moses Yoofee Trio, OCEAN. I love a crispy, up-front sound in the drumkit. The title track is great with the bass noodling over a piano pedal tone at the opener, and I love the way “RICHMOND” builds and pivots halfway through.

Brandon Coleman, Resistance. Heavily vocodered pop/roller disco in the vein of Daft Punk, etc.. See “Live for Today“.

TV
The Terror, s1e6. The worst carnival ever, and sunrise has never been so deflating.

I got married on Friday morning and it was perfect.

Art
Concrete Mixer (Revolving Doors) by Man Ray. Brown should be used more often with bold color wheel shades.

I really like this anniversary quilt inspired by fallen leaves.

Running
Had to squeeze in runs where I could – running an errand, on the way to see family, random afternoon shake-outs. Feels weird to have the mileage cut to half of what it was two weeks ago, but it will take some time to find where to fit it all in the new work schedule.

Books
The Peripheral. DNF, plotting too erratic, lost my patience.

Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. Just started, and I don’t love the writing, or the plot, but something is keeping the pages turning so I’ll just go with it for now.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
“When protecting yourself from a certain unpleasant possibility becomes non-negotiable, you’re liable to suffer in other ways, often to a much greater degree.”

“You’ll be miserable if you don’t do what you’re supposed to do.”

“When you can’t decide which path to take, it’s almost always due to ignorance. In fact you’re usually suffering from three kinds of ignorance simultaneously: you don’t know what makes you happy, what the various kinds of work are really like, or how well you could do them.”

“The capacity to get up and walk away from the work is the same capacity that permits you to make meaningful progress in the work, when the time for that arrives.”

Bad service is a sign of a better world. “Temporary parasocial relationships are right up there with big houses and fast cars for me: overrated traps that siphon away household resources from the things that actually matter. The ribeye served with a smile over clean linen is fine, but it’s got nothing on tacos uncermoniously dropped on a plastic table you can afford to share with someone you love.”

Vital City, Issue 9 is all about the NYC subway.

Movies
Salt (2010). A rewatch. One of the more implausible action films I’ve seen lately, and that’s saying something. All in good fun. Angelina Jolie elevates the material.

War for the Planet of the Apes. Another rewatch, and I had a much different reaction than my first viewing. I think I’d pinpoint the same gripes, but they didn’t tip the balance this time. Really enjoyed it. There seems to be benefit in watching the others more recently, having a better sense of Caesar’s arc.

Fright Night (1985). Last rewatch of the week, still fun. One of the best depictions of sexy-magnetic vampires. Great mid-80s fashion, too. I can’t tell if the Evil Ed character was just an unpolished actor or just dialed up to 11? Or both?

Interview With the Vampire. Fun to compare this with the TV show, and wonder which is more true to the book. This one has more glamour, and better sets, but lacks the intrigue and tormented relationship that gives the TV show a bit of oomph and heightens the tragedy. I hope Tom Cruise will do some more goofy costume-and-makeup roles in the future…

Music
Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble. Glitchy jazz with ominous moody lounge stuff. I prefer “Amygdhala“.

Masahiro Takahashi, Humid Sun. More in the dreamy/sleepy/optimistic strain of ambient.

Bach: Flute Sonatas. Check out the slow movement in BWV 1030.

TV
X-Files, s3e11 “Revelations“. Stigmatic child turns the tables on Scully and Mulders usual skeptic vs. believer dynamic.

X-Files, s3e12 “War of the Coprophages“. Roaches! The silliness here was a breath of fresh air. I like the repeated hang-ups and exasperation.

X-Files, s3e13 “Syzygy“. Young Ryan Reynolds cameo. Uneven in tone. I wonder how I’d evaluate it if I hadn’t seen movies with similar best-friends-at-odds horror plots.

The Terror, s1e5.