At the start of this week, I spent some time talking through 2024 goals.  I'm excited for what's to come. One over-arching desire is to build more intention and reflection. A weekly review may become part of that. It's a beginning. See where it goes? School Last October I went back to school, scratching an itch, giving myself a chance to explore and learn where I hadn't given myself the chance in the past. This week's focus is a project around the traveling salesman problem, working in Python. It's felt great to see my progress, and see the project transition from googling every step, to more and more code coming from my fingers. Plenty of googling in the future, but that transition from "how to build from zero" to "how to fix what I just broke" is very satisfying. One of the biggest improvements is just making myself form very precise, discrete to-do lists, and knocking them out one at a time. Running Fully transitioned to winter-running mode over the last few weeks. Runs in the 30-40ºF range are the new norm for the foreseeable future. Every season, every temperature drop comes with some new anxiety. I never quite remember what I wore last time it was XX temperature. There's always that little bit of paranoia when setting out, a hard time trusting the wardrobe as I walk out the door – even when I've looked up previous runs and used the same setup. But everything settles in within a few minutes. There's a lesson here. (This is also inspiration for a coding project.) Pushed myself a smidge on a long run this weekend, just to check in on my fitness... and in the middle of that run I did the fastest 10k I've recorded in several years? Felt like I had plenty left in the tank. Really curious to see how much I can improve over these next few months. Books Lord of Chaos. In progress. I started a re-read of the The Wheel of Time series roughly a year ago? First read during high school/college. Book six now, and thousands of pages to go. It's a perfect bedtime read when school and life has me too fried for more. Blogs & Pods "One of the most interesting things you can do as a reader is to sit down and think about why you abandon a book." Music The start of the year is always so good for me. https://twitter.com/mlarson/status/1743674368046084176 This year I stole the idea of so many, to create an ongoing playlist of stand-out tracks as I go through the year. Sampling from a couple great albums so far: Nation of Language, "Sole Obsession" Portico Quartet, "On the Light" Bulgarian State Television Female Choir, "Polegnala e Todora (Love Song)" I also have a new running playlist. Most often I'd create them for an immediate need, and delete later on. For the current on, I've just kept adding more. I keep it playing from newest-to-oldest, so that the freshest stuff is always near the top as I sprint around town. Recent additions: Mýa, "Free" Ghost, "Spillways" Movies Bad Boys (1995) Will Smith before he was charismatic? It's very much the Martin Lawrence show. I was surprised to see Smith so muted. You have to be wary with comedies of a certain period. Plenty of juvenile crudeness, innuendo, prejudice lurking, and... I'm over it! I'll still watch the sequel – I hear it's got more Michael Bay-ness going on. R.M.N. Villagers in a small town in Romania grapple with accepting outsiders (room for improvement...) and with their own economic need to leave home to thrive (and how they are received in turn). Empathy as a function of location. A major scene takes place at the most toxic community meeting you've ever seen (and it's sad that you probably know exactly what that's like!). Influenced by true events, and clear Biblical-refugee echoes here, with its Christmastime setting. TV The X-Files I haven't watched much since the '90s. Late last year, decided to revisit. I'd forgotten how much wisecracking Mulder does. This week featured "Fallen Angel" and "Eve". Strong entries, but "Ghost in the Machine" and "Ice" still have my top spots for the first season. Three Pines Another rewatch in progress. I really like my first go-round with this unfortunately one-season show. Mystery series in rural Canada with a bit of coziness, oddball characters, and a season-spanning arc with an indigenous community. It's nice to watch a crime show where, like Columbo, you sense the lead detective is fundamentally good and decent. Dark heroes are a bit overrated. Life On Our Planet Seven episodes in, the mammals are taking over! LFG!

This weekend I took the train from New York City to Washington, DC. An experiment: 3hrs down, 8 hours on the ground, 3hrs back home. A rousing success. I was blown away how much nicer the train trip was. Took a subway to the train station, grabbed a coffee and snack, and then pretty much walked directly to my car and seat. My big fat cushiony seat with plenty of legroom, next to the big window. No security hoops to jump through, no rules for seatbelts and tray tables. What a dream. Definitely want to do more trips like this. The specific reason for the trip was that the Rubell Museum DC just opened late last year. I can't think of any other time in my life I was around "at the beginning" for a new institution like that. What a cool opportunity! The featured exhibition was What's Going On? – a nod to Marvin Gaye, who went to junior high in the building that now houses the museum. Really liked the Kehinde Wiley in the main hall – Sleep (2008):

(Seeing Wiley's work in person for the first time was one of my favorite art moments.) Also enjoyed a bedazzled and dazzling work from Mickalene Thomas, whose collaged paintings just burst out of the frame. After the Rubell, the next stop was the National Gallery of Art, East Building. Man, I love quilts. I loved this one, "Columns of Blocks" (2003) from Gee's Bend quilter Sue Willie Seltzer, "evoking ripples and reflections on the wide, wandering Alabama River", as the placard has it.

Perfect. And I'll close with Max Ernst's "A Moment of Calm" (1939). Love its dense details, making harsh, spiky angles somehow lush and warm. And those big birds are just silly.

In summary: 10/10, will train for art again.

I watched 166 movies this year. I'm proud of that, sort of? Appreciate that I put the time into something I love. But also... probably a good idea to cut back a bit. Or a lot. Stil, I don't quite regret it, not with some of the high peaks in this year's viewing. I tweeted some of the favorites I watched for the first time, and thought I'd expand on the stand-outs here. School Daze Really enjoyed catching up on a few Spike Lee films this year. His Pass Over made my second tier, and Malcolm X just missed the cut. The energy in School Daze is off-the-charts. I love Lee's willingness to blend genres, do whatever will drive the story in an entertaining way. It may not be a dedicated musical, but if we need to have a dance-off in a salon or enjoy a joyous, raucous step show, we are GOING THERE. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives Completely mesmerized me. The languid forest conversations, visits from the dead, blurring boundaries between this life and the next. This was only movie last year that I re-watched right away, the following day. Clouds of Sils Maria I like the everyday-ness of this, a view into a rarified world – being a celebrity seems pretty boring a lot of times! And the meta-commentary on its themes – losing your youth and your place in the world. It just glides along. Whale Rider This movie got me more emotional than just about anything else I watched. I love that our heroine is so direct, undisguised in what she wants. We get a glimpse into a community, and see the young teach the old. Ebert sums it up nicely: "There is a vast difference between movies for 12-year-old girls, and movies about 12-year-old girls, and "Whale Rider" proves it." The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) Just a slick propulsive action movie. They don't make'em like this anymore. Kimi An agoraphobe is forced outdoors. Love the blend of modern concerns – pandemic, surveillance, corporate malfeasance, cover-ups – and Soderbergh's usual zesty presentation. This would make a fun pairing with The Outside Story. Vesper I watched this one on 12/31 – a perfect example of why I don't finish my list until the new year starts. Vesper is a biotech scifi fairy tale in the sodden forests of the north. This is sort of perfect species of science fiction for me: give me a few characters to care about. And sketch their life with such precise details that you understand their broader world without being lectured about its rules. Haunting, hopeful. Very grateful to have seen these. Thinking about movies in 2023, I need more constraints. Too often, I skipped over things I wanted to see in favor of the zeitgeist, or feeling a need to "catch up". And too often, I chose movies as the lazy way out, something only to pass the time. Not inherently a problem, but the blend is off. I'd like this year's movies tilted more toward the ones I'm especially intrigued by, watched when I can bring them the energy they deserve.

I tossed off a tweet when I was making breakfast the other day:

Advice on leaving (your place of birth, social media platforms, etc.): Make sure you're running toward something, and not just away from something! ✨

What prompted it was I was cooking breakfast, and reflecting on my move from Atlanta to Los Angeles a few years ago, and then from Los Angeles to New York City. When I told my family about the first move, my dad was curious why, and shared something along those lines. He was nudging for details and trying to understand my mindset – was I hurting? Worn down? Desperate? Or alive, seeking, hopeful? It stuck with me. And luckily the second move was much higher on the "running toward" than the "running away" side of things. I was also thinking of a certain website that's been in the news lately for leaning into some of its worst qualities. I'm one of the lucky people with a small, friendly following that generally has a great experience. I see many people who seem increasingly frazzled and broken by theirs, though. I don't feel it directly, but I can understand it. It's valid, as all emotions are. I think the part of the advice above that I love the most is the attitude it implies – positive, constructive, optimistic. Reminds me in a slant way of the current tag line for Alan Jacobs' blog:

More lighting of candles, less cursing the darkness

I'd always want to leave with a promise of something better, not a curse on the past. I'm open to the idea that Mastodon or Post or Hive or whatever is a better Twitter than Twitter. And I hope if (when?) I leave I've got a good vision of what "better" looks like. Eventually every escape will come to rest, and when you look around, it helps to have some standards to measure by. Similar to Amy Poehler's perspective I shared a few years ago:

I see life as like being attacked by a bear. You can run, you can pretend to be dead, or you can make yourself bigger.

I don't want to wear out my shoes fooling myself. What will make me bigger? It may not be another app. I've got time to think it over. I hope you do, too.

Romantic comedy is the only genre committed to letting relatively ordinary people — no capes, no spaceships, no infinite sequels — figure out how to deal meaningfully with another human being. These are the lowest-stakes movies we have that are also about our highest standards for ourselves, movies predicated on the improvement of communication, the deciphering of strangers and the performance of more degrees of honesty than I ever knew existed — gentle, cruel, blunt, clarifying, T.M.I., strategic, tardy, medical, sexual, sartorial. They take our primal hunger to connect with one another and give it a story. And at their best, they do much more: They make you believe in the power of communion.

Rom-Coms Were Corny and Retrograde. Why Do I Miss Them so Much?

I think I miss blogging? I feel annoyed when I look back at the date of the last post here, and know all the interesting stuff that happened since. I moved across the country, for example. Twice. And there was a wee pandemic. But outside of my journal (kept daily, religiously), no record of my thinking, my influences. I also miss the attentiveness it cultivated in me, when that flow was at its best. I gave a little extra consideration to what I was taking in. The intake hasn't really slowed. But the processing and reflection, that background hum ("hmmm I might share this") tapered off. I miss it. So... yeah, I'm thinkin' I'm back. We'll see how it goes.