Shitphone: A Love Story

~ Mark

One of the lesser-appreciated joys of online shopping is that, in the process of streamlining and compressing the expressions of capitalism we call “retail,” it gives us a god’s eye view of market patterns. In one search on Amazon or Newegg you can see a category’s past, present, and near future: high-margin luxury options on one side, low-margin or out-of-date good-enough options from unlikely or unknown brands on the other. Then, in the big mushy middle, brands fighting over a diminishing opportunity. This is faintly empowering. To watch the compressed cycles of modern consumer electronics pass through your viewfinder gives a calming order to an industry that depends on the perception that it is perpetually exceptional. This perspective also helps to enforce realism about your relationship with consumer electronics. Whether you choose the luxury option, the commodity option, or something in between, you are buying future garbage.

Shitphone: A Love Story

~ Mark

I’ve had my dictaphone since the mid- to late ’90s. In my previous life, I used to record demos on it. Then I ran into some trouble with tendonitis and repetitive stress and it prevented me from writing at my laptop. I got really bummed about it, so I started speaking my scripts out into this dictaphone I had lying around. I realized it was really helpful for my creative process. Having a linear writing machine, where I couldn’t go back and hate myself and edit myself, allowed me to blast through drafts of scripts much more quickly and write from a much more instinctual, as opposed to intellectual, place. It’s a mess when it comes out, but the pacing is really good. So I have Radio Shack to thank for my entire creative process.

Mark Duplass. (via). And also:

For the first time in my life, I’m starting to make more money than I know what to do with. And it’s really weird. What it does is it kind of kills your god. Because your god, as an artist, is to try to find a way to make the art you want to make while being financially sustainable. And to have achieved that murdered my god. So now I look to Warren Buffett — the way he’s still actively excited about achieving career success and making money, and then he throws it all away on people who need it. That is the most inspiring thing that I can imagine.

Fargo

~ Mark

Fargo. First off, how is this movie 19 years old now? Second, it’s great. Some of the gee-golly-dontcha-know Midwestern charm doesn’t age as well, but it does a wonderful job of nudging these great characters along, and switching between their scenes. McDormand and Macy are geniuses. I realized when watching this time that Stomare’s Grimsrud character is something of an early variation of Waingro, and anticipates their own rendition of Chigurh, too. As for the based on a true story part:

If an audience believes that something’s based on a real event, it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept.

~ Mark

Darkwater – Matt Gemmell.

That’s what’s so frightening. Because it feels wonderful. Sensory deprivation, when you need it most. It’s an off-switch from all that’s outside. And wherever you go, it stays with you.

The Silence of the Lambs

~ Mark

The Silence of the Lambs. Absurdly great movie. Its greatest strength is its exploration of institutional sexism and the constant, relentless challenge of demanding respect and getting her shit done without it. Combines some great slow-burn mystery/thriller tactics with occasional over-the-top violence and just enough sly humor. The pacing and the ties between scenes are brilliant. I also appreciate the small bits of foreshadowing and “warm-up” material (the view from the Belvedere, inkpen, creeper nightvision goggles, etc.) throughout.

~ Mark

The invisible network that keeps the world running – BBC – Future.

To find out more about this huge, invisible network, I accompanied a group of architects and designers called the Unknown Fields Division for a rare voyage on a container ship between Korea and China. The aim of the trip was to follow the supply chain back to some of the remotest parts of China and the source of our consumer goods – and what we saw as we travelled through mega-ports and across oceans looked closer to science fiction than reality.

If I ever change to a new career it just might be container shipping.

A Professor Explains Why He’s Teaching College Kids About Kanye

~ Mark

Just down the road from me, Georgia State professor Scott Heath doing work that needs to be done.

“He’s aware of the criticism and the critiques that come his way, and he then critiques those critiques. This is a guy who gives interviews where the entire interview is about another interview that he gave earlier,” says Heath, pointing to conversations with Jimmy Kimmel and Ricky Smiley as examples. “That, to me, is very keenly discursive.”

And also:

“He’s having to process or deal with other people’s interpretation of what he’s saying and who he happens to be,” says Heath, alluding to Du Bois’ assessment that black people in America are tasked with the emotionally arduous task of filtering their own identities through the lens of dominant white culture. “An exciting moment for me was the students reading Du Bois and the lightbulb going off and them making the connection to Kanye.”

Filed under: Kanye West.

A Professor Explains Why He’s Teaching College Kids About Kanye

GQ&A: Kobe Bryant

~ Mark

Do you ever think that the qualities that make you great are actually problems?

Oh, yeah. But the things that make a person average are also problems. The things that make someone not good at anything at all are a problem. If you want to be the greatest of all-time at something, there’s going to be a negative side to that.

GQ&A: Kobe Bryant