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.
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.
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.
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.
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."
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…
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.
This week I started my new job. I had such a nice routine from the last year or so, especially my mornings. Now each of those perfectly-crafted hours are oddly-shaped chunks that don't fit where they used to. The novelty of a commute will wear off eventually but I like the chance to read more on the train, and to take mid-day breaks walking around new Manhattan blocks.
Family comes into town for our wedding soon, so the schedule is going to feel topsy-turvy for a little longer yet. (✿◠‿◠)
Running
I didn't run all my usual days, so I was extra-fresh for the 15 miles out to Shirley Chisholm State Park. A pleasant drizzly rain with a bunch of cute little soggy snails.
Books
The Peripheral, cont. Progress took a dip, but feels like things are picking up again.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
"My attempts over the years to put on a show or a film as background noise always left me feeling demonically possessed by an enraged, guilty Catholic: only passively paying attention to what was happening on screen felt like a mortal sin. Somehow, Criterion24/7 unlocked something in me that finally, mercilessly, let me switch my brain off and get fed whatever was being served."
"On the wall, there were monochrome photos of Petersen’s employees and their friends: well-dressed, tattooed, and helmetless, they rolled through groves of oak and eucalyptus, and pedalled along sun-dappled ridges. The photographs looked like an ad for California."
Movies Inside Out 2. I enjoyed it about as much as when I watched the first one, but didn't feel as adventurous. It's a fun story with now-familiar mechanics. It did have more moments of cackling-with-recognition, and enjoyed a couple scenes with mixed animation styles. Nice trend lately – will we/do we already see this in live-action movies?
Music
Brooks & Dunn, Brand New Man. A trip down memory lane. Man, I was exhausted with the song when I was 9 years old, but… "Boot Scootin' Boogie" kinda rips? "My Next Broken Heart" and "Neon Moon" has a great lean-back feel like "Islands in the Stream" mixed with Jimmy Buffett.
Nala Sinephro, Endlessness and Space 1.8 have cool blend of ambient, funk, chamber jazz, etc.. Thoughtful and spacious, best as a full-album ride.
Minoru Muraoka, Bamboo. Gave it a listen because Japanese flute + jazz combo feels like sure-fire success. A bit disappointed it was mostly covers. Might be some more good stuff out there.
TV
X-Files, s3e10 "731". The Smoking Man is up to his old tricks! >:(
The Terror, s1e2–4. Really happy with this show. Claustrophobia in the great outdoors.
Kaos, s1e3. A rebound episode for me. The whole Minos scene is really nicely done.
Last week I got a new job. And with that, I felt a creeping anxiety about how to fill my time before it started. I'd spent the last year and change either doing schoolwork or job searching and then suddenly: not necessary anymore. The old routine no longer applies. A happy shock, but it's unsettling when one phase of my life grinds to a halt and another one starts.
I ran a race this weekend, and kinda sorta mostly didn't really want to when I woke up. It felt like a chore to get through so I could get back home and do other things. I arrived at the race later than I wanted, and didn't get to warm up, so the first few miles were a bit of a drag. Blah. A few miles in, I somehow found one of the good ways to pull myself out of a rut: asking, "Am I really giving this my best?" The answer is usually "no", and I can adjust accordingly. I suppose this is just a variation on "make the best of it". I eventually convinced myself to turn on the jets, tapped into something deeper. That, and the cheer section with Diana Ross playing around mile 5, helped turn things around.
Books New York 2140. A little aimless toward the end, but love how it unfolds and explores all the communities involved. It will go down as one of my favorites this year.
The Peripheral. I like how William Gibson just tosses you in a pool of detail and makes you sort it out. I will go for paragraphs with no idea what's going on, you realize what a key word means, and it all clicks into place very nicely.
I also did some morning trailrunning, and on one evening run I saw a nice full moon over the Wendy's.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
I spent the better part of a day last week clearing out a backlog of open tabs and unread RSS. It wasn't totally worth it, but I had fun!
"Writing on my own site has very different affordances: I’m not typing into a little box, but writing in a text file. I’m not surrounded by other people’s thinking, but located within my own body of work. As I played with setting this up, I could immediately feel how that would change the kinds of things I would say, and it felt good. Really good. Like putting on a favorite t-shirt, or coming home to my solid, quiet house after a long time away." I'd never heard of the POSSE model of online writing before – "publish on your own site, syndicate elsewhere".
Why Was the Miami Vice Pilot So Good?. "[Jan] Hammer says that when he watched the first cut of the pilot, he was unprepared 'for how beautiful it was. I thought, Wow — this is actually like something that I would watch.'" I love this line from Michael Mann: "We haven’t invented the Hula-Hoop or anything. We’re only contemporary. And if we’re different from the rest of TV, it’s because the rest of TV isn’t even contemporary."
"It is my hypothesis that, back in the 2000s, everybody’s activation energy was a bit lower. More of us were bloggers, back then. Linking felt more natural, somehow. Now, in the 2020s, the algorithms do most of that work. You must lower your activation energy again."
Movies Attack the Block. Over a decade old already – John Boyega is but a wee child here. It's aged very well.
Tomb Raider. Second viewing (the first), and it's still a blast. I like the young Croft's swagger, a reckless confidence that gets… corrected… but never squashed. Action movies are better when the characters act like they're in danger!
Blow Out. My third watch (the first). The ending makes me feel icky every time, gutting. I love the old accents – no one sounds like that anymore!
White Rabbits, Milk Famous. Interesting as a historical artifact – "here's something popular I missed in the 2010s" – but I dunno, rock just isn't very interesting to me these days.
TV
X-Files, s3e9 "Nisei". Alien autopsy! I'd never heard of Unit 731, awful stuff.
IWTV, s1e5-7. This season was very Hannibal. Fun to see the change in costume, etc. over the years. I'd tune in for another season, but wouldn't put it on my calendar.
Kaos, s1e2. I thought I was done with the show after this one, but I feel like it's burrowed in, just curiosity to see where they take it.
CSI: Miami, s3e3. I like when procedurals have two murders going on in one episode.
The Terror, s1e1. Really liked the first taste. Can you imagine being life on a ship stuck in the ice in arctic winter? Lordy. (Thanks to @jamesfflynn for the rec!)
Words of Wisdom
"Wisdom is always wont to arrive late, and to be a little approximate on first possession." – attr. Francis Spufford
This weekend I went to Albany, adding another state capital to my meager collection (let's see, top of my head: AL, AZ, AR, CO, GA, HI, IN, LA, MD, MT, TN). I think we've locked in a good travel pattern: leave home early, arrive late morning, grab a snack, hit the museums, crash for a nap, then have an evening activity out before going to bed. Next morning: wake up, eat well, and get some nature before heading home.
I was pleasantly surprised with the NY State Museum, the size and scope of it. There's so much expertise and attention that goes into these places! Even the "unimpressive" ones can have a lot to offer if you're open to it. Similar feeling about Washington Park, a green treasure at the top of the hill, and the Lark Street Neighborhood was a cute entry point to it.
The best exhibition at Albany Institute of History & Art, by far, was Enchanting Threads: The Art of Salley Mavor – intricately detailed fiber arts scenes, colorful and playful. The trip accidentally coincided with the Riverfront Jazz Festival, so the evening entertainment was Nate Smith (pretty sure I first heard his sick drumming on Pocket Change). Listened by the water with a limeade, followed by a plate of Jamaican sides, and then fireworks. Couldn't have planned it better. Twilight Market was nearby – not for me, but glad to see a smaller town has room for all types.
Robert Caro buys a writing shed: "This particular shed was a floor sample, bought because he wanted it delivered right away. The business’s owner demurred. “So I said the following thing, which is always the magic words with people who work: ‘I can’t lose the days.’”" The word count calendar is cool, too.
Movies Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. All about efforts to get power or keep it. Caesar and Koba's relationship is so heartbreaking, both deeply motivated by their experience, both unwilling in their own way to see past it. Koba's play-acting scenes, the whole making a fool/circus monkey act, is so brilliant.
The Firm. On rewatch, keeps getting better! (previously) An underrated Tom Cruise micro-skill: intense phone conversations.
Sona Jobarteh, Badinyaa Kumoo. Upbeat kora + Gambian griot from a cousin of the great Toumani Diabaté. Hard to pick just one! Maybe "Fondinkeeya", with all its intertwining threads.
Salif Keita, "Folon"…..The Past. I like the lean-back funk feel on "Mandjou". "Nyanyama" the opening aching vocals of reminds me of Thione Secks's "Mass Ndiaye" (complimentary!!).
Last week I finished a project: MoviePeers.com, a novelty website inspired by a tweet from last year. I'd been meaning to circle back to it for a while! Felt good to wrap it up and ship it.
The long weekend felt like it split the week into two parts – one in goblin mode, watching movies, reading; the other cranking through interviews, administrative stuff. Also got a wedding license and picked up my ring. Big week!
Running
It's that time of year where an evening run comes with a lovely sunset.
I ran about ~16.5 miles yesterday, my longest in a good while. Felt great during the run. Feeling some "overdid it" kinks in the system today, but really happy with my progress, the fact that it didn't feel like a big deal. Running with company probably helped with that. The next couple weeks will be a short taper to my next race.
Books
New York 2140, cont. This book has been so fun. Halfway through.
Progressives need to learn to take the W. "There’s another, more subtle cost of perpetual outrage as a theory of change. I think it leads to premature exhaustion and unnecessary disillusionment, by preventing progressives from realizing when they’ve had major successes."
Movies Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. It's crazy how good this movie looks. An under-appreciated franchise this century. I love how they show the ape societies developing – architecture, costume, tools. Interesting that they do the same no-kiss greeting as in Fury Road/Furiosa: foreheads touching, hand on the back of the other's. LOL at apes talking about now-immiserated scavenger humans like stray animals. I like the very gradual character reveals!
Incroyable mais vrai (Incredible But True). A couple buys a house that happens to have a portal where you can time travel 12 hours ahead while also getting 3 days younger. Great soundtrack! Old-school classical and videogame-like electronic versions. I like the use of montage to fast forward.
Beast. Jessie Buckley is awesome and after seeing this and Men and Women Talking, I'll keep tuning in.
Beetlejuice. Speaking over very gradual character reveals. They very literally do not make them like this anymore. What a manic, crazy blend – I love the actors, across the cast, putting all their chips in. The suicide jokes (?!) didn't age well!
Music
Started off the week in an R&B mood…
Prince, For You. Never gone that deep in the Prince archives before. "Soft and Wet" is the only one I knew of, still bouncy and perfect. The demented backbeat in "In Love" feels like a decade ahead of time.
Maze, Frankie Beverly, Silky Soul. Late '80s disco/funk/soul/R&B – even if you don't know the songs, the music sounds so familiar and comforting (and owes a tremendous debt to Marvin Gaye). "Love's On the Run" has the bump.
The Best of Sade. When the "Best Of" album comes out before two other killer albums. "Hang On to Your Love" deserves some more attention. "Kiss of Life" has lovely production, something I'd listen to when I take my imaginary sailboat out at sunset. The grinding, vaguely menacing electric guitar takes "No Ordinary Love" to a level few can reach.
I like listening to other people's playlists. But more often, I just pillage and plunder for ideas. I usually end up skimming the titles and snagging a couple albums that catch my eye. This week, albums stolen from a playlist for driving around Oahu:
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4, perf. Mitsuko Uchida, Kurt Sanderling, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. This sound is so smooth and round and full, and feels like a wider overall dynamic range in the recording/performance. Probably my favorite of this bunch.
TV
X-Files, s3e7 "The Walk". Another military revenge plot, this one in a veterans hospital. Fun to see the "No sir, it's unusual." guy from No Country for Old Men in a starring role here.
The Leftovers, s2e1 "Axis Mundi". This show. Dang. This is why we say some works have a "rich text". I took a bunch of notes, but feel like I just need to let them simmer. I had no idea Regina King was in this show!
Interview With the Vampire, s3-4. So, this Claudia character… I appreciate what she's doing for the story, but a very tiresome presence on screen.
Last weekend I tried on my wedding ring, and what a lovely feeling. It came out a bit too large, but the re-size should be perfect when I pick it up again. How many things do I own that I expect will be with me until I die?
Running
Ran to a new area yesterday, Forest Park. I need to get back there to see some more of the trails. But maybe take a shortcut on the subway instead of getting there six miles in.
Books
New York 2140, cont.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots YouTube TV, flipping through channels like we used to. Mixed feelings! It feels nostalgically satisfying, there's always some curiosity and surprise in what's next but… I'm glad we've moved on.
Movies Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The Furiosas hold their own. Chris Hemsworth is a delight. I like that his Dementus is not particularly smart. I also like that Furiosa is mostly silent, like Max. The inventive vehicles and weapons and tactics are an ongoing treat. I really like the episodic format. It feels more refreshing in this fiction context than when I see it in a biopic or something.
The African Desperate. Fun work in the editing/cuts/sound, and in the presentation of phone/text convo. And the art school talk is so perfectly eye-rolling. Interesting how the dialogue is so filled with throwaway memes, references, abbrevs, catchphrases. Ultimately I struggled with the characters, who seem aimless, insufferable, self-destructive. Like being sober when everyone else is drunk or drugged – a bit of a drag!
Late Night With the Devil. Horror movie on the set of a live television show. We get breaks from the action when they go to commercial. Refreshing change in setting.
Music
Leo Takami, Tree of Life. More straightforwardly meditative and drifting than last week's.
Floating Points, Ocotillo. "Del Oro" stayed on loop for a while.
TV Interview with the Vampire, s1e1–2. Trashy horror-romance. Can't believe it took this long, but watching this made me realize that Hannibal is a vampire.
How to With John Wilson, s1e3. The shine is wearing off a bit, but still a valuable reminder how interesting other people are, and how being open opens up a lot.
I've been working on a coding project (more to come) and collaborating with AI is so fun. I like the near-limitless patience – explain X for the tenth time, remind me why we're doing Y, let's start over from scratch... again. Stuff that would exhaust a human teammate is taken without flinching. I hope we can learn from this.
Books New York 2140. Loving this book so far – intrigue in a New York City partially submerged by global sea level rise. Exactly what I needed. Really appreciate this line:
"Stick your finger on your little tourist map and wherever it lands, amazing things will have happened. The ghosts will rise up through the manhole covers like steam on a cold morning, telling you their stories with the same boring maniacal ancient-mariner intensity that any New Yorker manifests if they start talking about history. Don’t get them started! Because a New Yorker interested in the history of New York is by definition a lunatic, going against the tide, swimming or rowing upstream against the press of his fellow citizens, all of whom don’t give a shit about this past stuff."
The Path of Daggers, cont.
Running
I'm now over 1,000 miles for the year so far. Getting close to filling out my map of Bed-Stuy, too. Just a few more runs and I'll have every street done.
"It’s worth listening to your intuition because this is what’ll set your perspective apart from everyone else who’s also looking around for problems to solve."
Movies Totally Killer. Dialogue reminded me of Hitman a bit, not in a good way, sometimes sort of listless, slow, obvious. And it ran the "boy, times have changed" and raunchy humor into the ground. But! It's a pretty fun satire and I like the time travel angle.
Sherlock Holmes (2009). I love the fashion from this time period. Leaning into Sherlock's restlessness and Watson's gambling is a plus.
Music
Continuing the Asian kick from last week, I really enjoyed the stuff I've found in the Nonesuch Explorer Series.
After seeing a random twitter thread about it, I switched over to Japanese jazz…
Leo Takami, Next Door. Maybe my favorite of the bunch. Reminds me of Pat Metheny – nylon electric guitar + piano + percussion is a proven blend, like in "As If Listening". "Family Tree" opens and closes with this melancholy line where I feel like he's quoting something – Eno's Airports, or Satie's Gymnopedies, or a snippet of Copland – but maybe that's just what happens when something is so spare, clear, beautiful, dialed in. Or maybe it's a quote!
s3e4 "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose". Quote of the season so far: "I believe in your abilities, but not your attitude."
s3e5 "The List". This show loves to consider revenge after death. Has a great moody look to it – deep shadows, Florida sweat. Stories set in the prison system, with so many abuses of power, are really tough to watch.
s3e6 "2Shy". I like how they literalize the psychopath's hunger to kill. Also: old school internet dating! Vulnerability, loneliness, hopefulness, the willingness to ignore red flags. Also interesting to see the villain's reluctance to engage when it's not on his terms.
The Leftovers, s1e10 "The Prodigal Son Returns". Season finale stuck the landing. I am hooked.
How To With John Wilson, s1e1. So unexpectedly funny! I love the juxtaposition of image and word. This really made me appreciate NYC anew. Can't wait to make my way through the rest.
Words of Wisdom
"All hobbies require zero talent if you’re comfortable with being bad at them." Get a hobby!
Ups and downs last week. Found myself in a bout of mid-week doldrums. That's been a Wednesday/Thursday pattern a few times, and… I think it may be caffeine-related. Time to cut back.
Running
The race I was in left me defaulting to higher speeds, so it took a bit of time and conscious effot dial it back to the norm. After the race week taper, ramped up the volume quite a bit. It's funny how noticeable it is when I'm underfed. A big healthy meal and a good night of sleep can make a big difference.
Days of Heaven. I was really disappointed with the sound at BAM Harvey Theater – too hot, too echo-y – but it's still a splendid movie. I'm happy I got to see it on a big screen again. I really like Malick's willingness to remove boring, functional dialogue. He'll give you a couple clips of dialogue, or what they see, just enough to get the basic idea of what people want, and then he lets you look at how they're processing it all.
Music
Listened to a bunch of great music from Asia this week…
James, Seven. If you like early U2, you might like this.
TV
The X-Files, s3e3 "D.P.O.". I like this lightning kid, and most of the creepiness comes from the very real-life stalking rather than the superpowers or generic villainy. Jack Black guest appearance!
The Leftovers, s1e9. Based on this and Hannibal: if you see an odd deer, it's a bad sign. Deer, metronome, smoking. Everybody disappeared. :(
This week I watched a bunch of the Olympics. Peacock made all the difference – finally a focus on events without all the backstory filler! I'll tune again for Los Angeles 2028 if (I'm not there in person…)
The clear highlight for me was watching a distant relative win a silver medal. I won't mention their name out of respect for privacy/not wanting to be a celebrity stalker. I just recently learned we're related! But man, what a thrill. I've never watched the Olympics with rooting interest like that, and ended up jumping up and down in my living room.
The last race I'd run was back in 2019, before I left Atlanta. I did that one in 24:03, at 7:45/mile. Yesterday on a tougher course in warmer weather: 25:20 at 8:10. I had 25:00 as my reasonable goal going in, so I'm really happy with how things turned out. Haven't lost much speed in the last 5 years, but I can handle much longer distances much more easily than I could then. It was a really fun course, too. A squished loop, with plenty of sharp turns and some wicked hills to crush your spirts before you sail back down.
Books Here in the Dark. First-person narration is tricky, especially when the narrator has sharp edges. (__ that one noir with narration I really liked?)
The Vaster Wilds. Archaic, prayerful language. Reminds me of The Road, but not as morose and dreary. It's got more urgency at the point we enter the story.
Ezéchiel Pailhès, Ventas Rumba. Latin keyboard work, would make a good companion with Frankie Reyes from last week. I like the title track.
GoGo Penguin, Man Made Object. I looped their 2018 tune "Raven" a bunch in the past, and "Branches Break" on this album has similar flavor, a prominent acoustic bass, a chattering drumset, and a pressing forward momentum.
TV
The X-Files, s3e2. "Paper Clip". I love seeing the Smoking Man nervous and trying to cover his tracks. Skinner taking action!
The Leftovers, s1e8. Kevin is having memory lapses. His daughter is chaotic and trying to join the cult. Nora has a gun. Cult lady got kidnapped, and then…
House of the Dragon, s2e7-8. Welp. Farewell to all that.
New York Undercover, s1e1. Off to a good start. With musical guest Teddy Pendergrass!
One way to have a fun life is to literally run your errands. (A bike is also a lovely way to do these things, but for shorter distances, bikes add a bit of overheard I don't have patience for.) I did that a few times in the last week: walking a mile to the library and doing a lazy loop back for an extra two; and making a mid-day two-mile loop to deliver something to a friend. In previous lives in Atlanta and LA, I'd take longer-than-necessary runs to the grocery store, then take MARTA or walk back after loading up.
Always pays to mix in more of what you love into your day-to-day.
School
I finished! New bachelor's degree in computer science on the way. I recorded, let's see, 1286 hours in total getting the thing done. I don't know think it will feel really real until I get the diploma in the mail. But I learned a lot, I'm glad I did it, and it feels good to be done. I'm ready to get back to work.
Running
My highest volume of miles in the last year, at least – a bit over 38. Not feeling too bad, all things considered. But looking forward to a bit of a taper the next few days, and really excited for the Percy Sutton Harlem 5k at the end of the week. I hears it's a hilly, "rude" course.
Books
I realized today that it's been a year since I had a homework-free weekend. I wonder how my reading habits will change now that I have more brainpower for non-school reading…
A Crown of Swords. The Wheel of Time, book 7. Finally finished. Robert Jordan's books have these crushingly tedious sequences but so often in the last 20% the momentum builds and it all adds up to something really fun. That's how he tricks you into the next one.
The Path of Daggers. The Wheel of Time, book 8. See above. Shortest book in the series, though!
Bring Back the Animation. "There’s an airiness, a spontaneity to hand-drawn animation, which lends a playfulness to even the creepiest, most surreal imagery. Consider the “Friends on the Other Side” sequence in The Princess and the Frog, and its rapid-fire dance of floating heads, exploding skulls, and sinister swirls of fire and fog. If these elements had any weight or volume, they’d either be too terrifying or, more likely, too kitschy. Delivered as a two-dimensional, hand-drawn experience, it’s all fast and fun — like a thought briefly brought to life, then snatched back into the ether."
"Running, and other forms of aerobic activity, offer an inherent rewards structure that never seems to lie. You do the work, you reap the benefits. If you don’t, you won’t. In that way, endurance training is one of the most honest expressions of self that we have."
Movies Das Lehrerzimmer (The Teachers' Lounge). So good! A school community frays when a thief runs loose, frustrations rise, and accusations start flying. This will make my best-of list at the end of the year. But you don't have to take my word for it: "It's probably the best thriller of this type since "Uncut Gems," another movie where just watching realistic characters making bad decisions was so nerve-wracking that it made you want to crawl under your seat. "
Music
Hermanos Gutiérrez, Sonido Cósmico. These guys are so good. One way music can be good is to reward all levels of attention, and these guys make stuff that satisfies the full range of attention. The wah-wah and organ in "Barrio Hustle" is a special treat.
Sally Oldfield, Mirrors: The Bronze Anthology. Really enjoyed this album. Reminds me of those other '70s folk/pop greats – Carole King, Carly Simon, Francoise Hardy, etc.. Marimba is criminally underused – nice to hear it in "Sun In My Eyes". And the sparkling glockenspiel on "Blue Water" – excellent. "Strange Day in Berlin" opens with undulating woodwinds that made me think of Smetana's "Vltava/The Moldau".
Frankie Reyes, Originalitos. I remember being obsessed with Boleros Valses y Mas a few years back. This is another delightful go-round with Latin synthesizer keyboard pieces. Like something you'd hear on a merry-go-round, or in a silent film soundtrack?
Amiina, Kurr. "Sogg" has a pleasant, drifting melancholy.
Ice Spice, Y2K!. We need more albums with short track lengths! It's okay to stop when you've said all you need to say. I like contrast of the suggestive, labored delivery in Bitch I'm Packin' and the aggressive, confrontational "Gimmie a Light".
I passed this junk barge and towboat when I was out with my run club this weekend. Another runner joked it was a metaphor for his life. But, it's kind of a good one? Not glamorous but quietly powerful, useful, persistent, full of material to transform into something better. I'll take it.
Running
The highlight of my running week was visiting the first Summer Streets of the season, up in Queens. The event area was a bit desolate, but fun to take my first trip running over the Pulaski Bridge, visiting the The Hydration Guy, and coming back through Domino Park.
"Late last year, we invited students to participate in an experiment: We gave them $100 and a disposable camera each and asked, What is it like to live where you live?"
Movies Upgrade. AI plots seem so much more real these days! Just a few years into this era, and I'm sitting up in my seat a bit more with these stories. I really appreciated Logan Marshall-Green's acting in the early fight scenes: surprise and fear at his new abilities, still merciful for his enemies.
Dead Reckoning (1947). "What to do in a hot wind smelling of night-blooming jasmine except wait and sweat, and prime the body to sweat some more?" We need more writing like this! And more wise guys narrating their way down a trail of clues.
Talk Talk, Spirit of Eden. "Wealth" makes me think of Pink Floyd – is there a "Money" tie here?
Tonstartssbandht, Petunia. Lots of reverby guitar. I love "What Has Happened" – the stereo effects wobbling, brushes on the drumset, soft vocals, pulsing, hypnotic. A bit of electronic x folk vibe.
BACH. Still undefeated. One thing I really appreciate about classical is the ability to compare interpretations side-by-side.
Tianqi Du, Bach: Keyboard Concertos. Lighter, smoother, more reserved. Has a polite, sophisticated feel for me.
Gile Bae, J.S. Bach: Keyboard Concertos. This recording seemed more dark, driving, intense piano against a brighter sound in the orchestra. More Romantic-style variation in volume, more spacious echo-y. Not sure I liked it more, but appreciate the contrast.
Books
A Crown of Swords, cont.
The Cyberiad: Stories, cont.
School
I submitted my capstone project, and it got rejected for a couple little deficiencies. Ironed those out on Sunday morning, maybe get across the finish line before the end of the month.
TV
X-Files, s3e1 "The Blessing Way". Didn't love this season premiere, but appreciate how consistently this series works in spiritual/afterlife/astral plane sort of stuff. And I still love Skinner.
Lost, s4e1. We're never going back!
The Leftovers, s1e6. I love all the speculative stuff here. Like how groups hold conferences about the Departure(?), there are markets in mannequin corpses so people can have tangible funerals for the missing, the spike in charismatic opportunists, etc..
House of the Dragon(s), s2e5. Lots of dragon talk.
I traveled this past weekend, down to Maryland for a family reunion on my fiancée's side. I'd never been to one before. I was mostly surrounded by strangers, but found a warm welcome and I can see the appeal in events like this. Renewing present bonds, honoring the previous generation, encouraging and modeling for the next. Family can be a beautiful thing.
We took the trip down there on Amtrak. Couldn't ask for a smoother trip. If only the rest of the States had trains as easy as we do up in this corner of the country. Just night and day compared with the usual airport/airplane experience.
We only spent a couple hours in Baltimore, but the Baltimore Art Museum was a worthwhile side trip.
The event was hosted at a local Quaker/Friends meeting space. I liked the Biblical cartoons in the hallway.
School
Capstone project is maybe 1/4 done. (Actually more like 1/2, but I'm hedging for a confidence boost.) (It's actually more like 2/3-done, just being careful!) Maybe have that wrapped and submitted this week? We'll see.
Running
The week was just too darn hot, so I leaned on morning runs and kept'em short. Still managed to run a few miles of new-to-me streets. Also trying to make another local park turn red on my personal Strava heatmap.
Our trip out of town gave me a rare treat: trailrunning in a new city. I went out to Broad Creek Park and jogged in swampy suffocating forest and had an absolute blast.
Books Everything You Ever Wanted. Reading about listless depressed people is not very compelling. (Although it does remind me a bit of The Leftovers, with a group that has lost meaning and chosen to exit…)
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
I don't have time to dive into the new Michael Mann Archives right now. But it's super cool that he's taking ownership of this and sharing the work behind the work.
The Eyes of Lacy. "Owlishness, then, is the opposite of pretty, petty, and shallow; it is a term we reserve for those who are more lens than body, who make us acutely, uncomfortably aware of our own moral and physical imperfections."
Nicolas Cage Will Always Go Big. "It’s not crazy to think he’s trained (or retrained) some part of the movie-watching public to be more open-minded in general when evaluating quality acting, encouraging them to prize factors other than delicacy."
Movies Top Gun: Maverick. Second viewing, still love it. Those opening scenes with the test flight are just achingly beautiful. I just want to soak them in. Reminds me of the plane/boat travel scenes in Miami Vice.
Music
Lots of electronic this week, and while all were enjoyable, few tracks in particular got etched in my mind.
s2e23 "Soft Light". Tony Shalhoub (!) is scared of his shadow. I reallly like the concept in this one. It's rare that the weekly "monster" is ashamed, fearful, caring.
s2e24 "Our Town". Another warning about food supply chain vulnerability, but with a factory chicken town cannibal cult.
s2e25 "Anasazi". Poisoning an apartment building's water supply is wild. I wonder how much that has happened before. Out to the desert for aliens, and the sloppiest cover-up job you've ever seen.
The Leftovers, s1e5. One of the cult people gets a free day and returns with renewed faith. This show is agonizing in a great way.
Today I decided on my wedding band. At a couple points in the brief sizing tests, my finger felt trapped and panicky. It will be fun to get used to it. I can't wait to fidget-spin it when I'm lost in thought.
School
Last week was a big turning point: passed my two final classes, and moved on to the capstone project for my degree. And with that, a big shift in attitude and confidence. The finish line is in sight.
Books A Crown of Swords. Returned to where I left off in the Wheel of Time series, as an antidote to a general book lull and a couple sleepless nights. And what do you know, I pushed through some boring stuff and found my groove again. (I'll also give some credit to House of the Dragon for making me want to get wrapped up in a fantasy universe again, if not that particular one.)
Articles & Episodes & Twoots How Olympic athletes get fed. "There are also grab-and-go spaces with things like burgers and shawarma sandwiches. We don’t talk about nutritional values there, because this is what the athletes want after competing."
“Bullshit Jobs” is a Terrible, Curiosity-Killing Concept. "Consider reading it an act of meta-anthropology, exploring why a professional anthropologist could be so relentlessly, aggressively incurious about the lives and experiences of others."
Movies Jagged Edge. Sexy legal thriller! I don't think I've seen Jeff Bridges and Glenn Close so young before. Really appreciate how this one toys with your convictions.
Inside Out (2015). Better than expected! Not sure I dig the Bing Bong character. I also wonder what this story would be like with Sadness' journey at its center.
TV
The X-Files, s2e22 "F. Emasculata". This episode inspired gruesome artwork in my household.
The Expanse, s2e13. Season finale! Everyone has the Protomolecule now! The episode suffered in a way that many long-running series do: I didn't trust that anyone was really in danger.
The Leftovers, s1e4. Such an odd show. It's great. Appreciate how often they tell a full story arc within each episode, not just a path from A to B.
Bob's Burgers, s5e12. Silliness, like usual!
House of the Dragon, s2e4. Dragons, etc..
Game of Thrones, s3e9. The "red wedding", etc.. I only made it a few episodes into GOT, but glad to get some closure on what this was all about.
So much TV this week! I need to get back into the movie groove…
Music
Holly Herndon, Platform. Oddball cyborg vocals and synthesizer stuff. In wake of PROTO a couple weeks ago, maybe my favorite album of the week.
Kamasi Washington, Fearless Movement. A lot more hiphop/rapping than previous albums, and more vocals in general. Not my preference, but the ensemble is as locked as ever. "Road to Self (KO)" is the slow-build multi-genre noodling I signed up for.
The Blackbyrds, Action. I love "Soft and Easy". Is there word for that kind of ostinato on the electric guitar that shows up in this Barry White genre?
Akusmi, Fleeting Future and Lines. Chamber minimalism in the spirit of Reich, Glass, et al..
On recommendation from my brother, listened to Sylvain Rifflet, Cake Walk From a Space Ship and Dooble. Jazz a bit on the experimental side.
What am I making harder than it needs to be? In a response to a tweet about counterproductive difficulty in beginner running programs, I found something to ponder:
"People like it to be harder than it has to be. You know why? Because if it was easier than they thought, it would make them realize they could have been further along years ago. It’s like a confirmation bias to protect the ego that it has to be hard. I’m not saying it’s easy but sometimes it isnt as hard as you think."
I've gotten more injury-averse as I've gotten older. I want to avoid injury, because I really really want to avoid not being able to run. The change in mindset has pushed me to take a longer view. I can always come back tomorrow... but only if I don't wreck my progress today. (And also, sometimes: I can always come back tomorrow... but it'll be better if I do something today.) The reward for this consistent, steady, non-punishing approach has been a couple of the best running years of my life.
Seeing that tweet also made me think back to playing music in college. I was working through a marimba piece during a lesson with my percussion teacher. I played through a section, then he stopped me and asked a simple question: what does "Allegro" mean? I gave the simple answer: "fast". And he countered with a bit reframe: what about "fleet", "brisk", "energetic", "zippy", "storming"? Play again, same tempo, but it feels different, it sounds different. I recognized "fast" mode felt like a sprinter, tense, coiled, explosive, muscular. But I could also play fast like a… robin? Or a stream?
We went through a similar exercise when playing snare one day. I'd sometimes wind up like a caveman with especially difficult pieces, not playing relaxed. So: tap 20 times with the same force, but start with a heavy grip and gradually loosen it. The drum makes a sound, but the drumstick itself does, too. A tense fist is tiring, and the wood can't resonate as much, and the overall sound can have a dramatically different color to it. You have to set things in motion, trust the work to release its own vibrations out into the world.
School
Revisions, revisions, revisions. Few things as annoying as finishing something, moving on… and then later recognizing the work isn't finished yet. My program is ~94% complete at this point. Funny feeling on the precipice. But lots of hard work to go.
Running
Took a break this week, dialed it back about 20%. It's startling how much easier a 4-run week feels compared to a 5-run week. One small goal accomplished: I've now run every street in the Clinton Hill neighborhood.
Books Moonbound. Robin Sloan is just a fountain of ideas and optimism, and both of those traits carry through in this scifi-fantasy mishmash. It has fun and enjoys playing with your expectations.
The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn. It's only a couple decades old, but funny how much that was common knowledge then (neighborhood boundaries, makeup) doesn't apply anymore. Appreciate the historical nuggets in here. Glad to live in a place that changes.
How to Catch a Lab Leak. Fascinating interview about researching Soviet Union anthrax deaths. "All of these things are full of stories of human beings and all the nutcakes and crazy things that happened. You've got to make allowance for that in nearly everything."
The quiet return of eugenics. "The new eugenics will shortly be with us, although it will not describe itself as such. It will be described with euphemisms such as ‘genetic enhancement’ or ‘genetic health’."
High-pressure youth sports is bad for America. "Shifting from informal and school-based sports to expensive pay-to-play leagues has landed us in a pretty dysfunctional place, where parenting is unnecessarily complicated, society is unnecessarily inegalitarian, and communities are unnecessarily weak."
Event Horizon. Horror in space, etc.. It's done much better elsewhere.
The Lady Vanishes (1938). It takes a moment to adjust to old movies. I like the wisecracks and innuendo here. Good to see an elderly actress in a dynamic main role; shame to see our firecracker primary heroine largely be set aside when she partners up.
TV
The Expanse, s2e12. I keep thinking about about starting over from the beginning of the series. I think there are some nuances I keep bluffing my way through.
The Leftovers, s1e3. Uh-oh. The cult bought the church down the street.
House of the Dragon, s2e3. Ended this episode not necessarily interested in more GOT lore specifically, but more interested in being immersed in one of those elaborate worlds. Inspired me to pick up the Wheel of Time series again before going to bed.
Wild Portugal. As with many nature docs, too much slow-motion footage. Bustards look really cool. I had no idea the whole genet family existed. Wolves are still the best.
This week we got our wedding invitations back from the printer (featuring custom designs by Jara Montez!), and… it's the coolest feeling. Just a few months away.
Pierrot with Clarinet by Jacques Lipchitz. I recognize the word from the orchestral piece "Pierrot Lunaire", the movie "Pierrot Le Fou", etc., but never knew what it was – a sad clown!
Books Zero Days. A husband/wife team of security consultants are caught in a web of intrigue. Been a while since I've read a book in first-person perspective. A bit wordy, but it flies right by.
School
Buckled down, finished a class. One to go. Great way to kick off the second half of the year.
Running
I've steadily been filling out the map, and got another quick win – finished running every street in Clinton Hill. With that and Crown Heights already done, next project is running all the streets in Fort Greene and Bed-Stuy.
Enjoyed my extra hill workouts this month, but recognize the cost in simple time away from home. I talked with a run club buddy this weekend about his prep for a 50-mile race, and he talked about how it "became his whole personality" for a few months. Not sure I want to go there.
Black Coffee, Home Brewed. Took a minute to get used to longer track lengths – all but one over 6 minutes! Didn't know what I was getting into. "Mama" represents well the trance feel throughout the album.
I worked in a bunch more classical this week, especially woodwinds. I wonder what music of this era will still be heard in 200–300 years…
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
USA Olympian heptathlete Anna Hall shared her competition journal, and it's just fascinating to see the blend of goals, tips, motivational talk, progress tracking, etc.. "Choose Violence!!!!!!"
"Dribbling out details of a character’s past like breadcrumbs is a hackish and tiresome device: Filling in backstory shouldn’t be confused with character development." I've never watched the show in question, but really appreciate this criticism. I often feel ambivalent about flashback scenes, and now that it's been spelled out, I think this is probably one reason why.
Movies Trigger Warning. It's not great, but it gets the job done. I appreciate Alba's heroine using knives and machetes instead of a gun. Tiptoes close to "Kill Bill" form at a few moments – I think leaning more in the western/martial arts direction could have been interesting. Also appreciate all the Mexican pride – leather jacket with the eagle and snake, embroidered blouse, etc. – and the varieties of southwestern lifestyle on display. I could do without the slurs to underscore the villainy.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978). Never saw the original, but got inspired to watch this after learning of Donald Sutherland's passing. It's so good. Creepy plant horror is under-explored.
TV
The X-Files, s2e20 "Humbug". Murderous intrigue in a circus sideshow community. Right from the jump, it toys with your prejudices and expectations. Fun episode.
The X-Files, s2e21 "The Calusari". Really appreciate how this episode was shot. One of the better climaxes in the series. Even if we've seen similar before in e.g. "The Exorcist", some sights just don't lose their impact.
The Leftovers, s1e1–2. I kept seeing this show pop up every now and then, even before the recent 10th anniversary appreciations. Finally piqued my curiosity to check it out. I'm in!
The Expanse, s2e11. I'm really growing to appreciate how much the political intrigue is becoming more compelling. They've shaped that arc and transition very nicely.
House of the Dragon, s2e2. The collective decision-making is just… come on, people! What a silly show.
Good week. Last week's R&R helped a lot. Came into this week with more focus and more time-in-chair than I'd been able to do previously.
After launching runwear.app, I decided to let all the ideas in the backlog simmer for a little while, and switched over to a new coding project. Feels good to have a clean sheet of paper and a steep learning curve again.
I think it also helped that I returned to my old burger place again. And again. I'm realizing the extra time and energy is worth it, even on a 90º afternoon...
School
Finished up two projects for my current class. One to go.
Running
Three of four Wednesday evening hill workouts complete. Really happy I worked this in. Next month, switching to trail runs. Trails at twilight? Can't beat it. Falling in love with running again. I've been on such a high, and knock on wood, healthy as can be. So many ideas and goals bubbling up. (Maybe that's one thing hobbies are good for: a low-stakes area of continuous work, experimentation, reward… so you can better recognize by contrast the areas where you don't have it!)
Books The Good Thieves. Katherine Rundell strikes again. Her writing style doesn't strike me as much as it did the first time, but that's to be expected by the time you a writer's fourth book. It's still as lively as ever, and I still appreciate the relentless optimism and mild deviance she promotes. 😈
Music
This felt like a "clean-up" week, not as focused as previous ones. Just tidying up some stray albums I'd saved for later.
Overseas, from Tommy Flanagan. I really like how his toms are tuned, high and resonant. As on "Dalarna", the piano + brushes combo is still undefeated.
Thom Yorke, Anima. I like "Twist" for its full saturation. "Not The News" has this wonderful brush/sandpaper sound, along with sirens and bleeps and bloops. Just perfect.
No Doubt, Tragic Kingdom. I gained a glancing awareness of the "I'm Just a Girl" discourse, which led me to better things: re-listening to this album. "Spiderwebs" is due for a revival?
Electrelane, The Power Out. I don't listen to rock very much anymore! Just really lost the taste for it, unless it drifts more into the prog/metal realm. I really like hippie/folk/cult/choral flavor in "The Valleys".
Moodswings, Moodfood. Easy listening wallpaper. Always appreciate when nature sounds work their way in, as on "Thailand". Really nice orchestration – saxes, bass, shaker – in "Yebo/Sema".
Movies F/X. A movie special effects genius is recruited by the Justice Department to help stage a fake assassination, so they can move a key witness out of sight and move a big case move forward. Lots of fun. They don't make'em like this anymore!
I keep a tally of how I spend my working hours. I put it all in a spreadsheet to make sure I've got enough "butt in chair" time when it comes to school, coding, career stuff. It also helps me admit when I'm burned out, because the numbers don't lie. Recently: 📉. So I took a few days off this week, just focusing on rest and recuperation. And movies. Felt great. Coming out of this weekend with a just-enough-vacation sort of freshness.
A couple other highlights this week:
Having hot dogs and potato chips for dinner, along with a summer blockbuster on TV.
I finished v1 of www.runwear.app, aka Project Runwear, a little experiment to help me figure out my running outfit given the local weather, dialed in based on my own experience. It's not essential right now – these days the main question is: tshirt or tanktop? – but it will be useful in the fall and winter, soon enough.
Books Titanium Noir. A blend of hard-boiled detective in a scifi web of intrigue. I thought I was going to drop it, but glad I decided to push through. There's some sort of "wise guy" crack on just about every page, often our can't-help-himself hero just digging the hole a little deeper.
The case again travel. "You have to let go of wanting to do anything existentially and focus on shortest term pleasure. Optimization of time and energy is the complete antithesis of loafing." and "Moving is the most passive thing that feels active." (via)
Running
Hill workouts are going well. And I've started taking small tangents from our run clubs usual routes – breaking off for little spells of novelty before rejoining. Gotta do the things that keep me interested.
Holly Herndon, PROTO. Herndon was a recent guest on Ezra Klein Show, and is thoughtful on her use of AI systems in her music. I like the overlapping voices and orchestra hits in "Eternal"
Movies The Rock. Nicolas Cage is such a gem. I should really spend more time with his filmography.
Perfect Days. Such mixed feelings! It's lovely but I felt a little remote from it. Some of this may be situational. The theater played a pre-roll promo with the director and lead – "This beautiful movie is about X. It's also about Y. So-and-so is a true talent." – and I found it really, really off-putting.
She's Gotta Have It. Spike Lee was just shot out of a cannon, huh? Really cool seeing Fort Greene Park, just down the road. And man, he loves a musical interlude. Didn't know he was doing those from the jump. Why not?
Men. What you might call a "rich text". E.g. we're picking apples in gardens within the first few minutes, and plenty more comparably subtle imagery to come. Really appreciate the eeriness simmering underneath from the very beginning. The sinister, fantastical turns toward the end are a bit too drawn out, but effective in their own way.
Orion and the Dark. Glad to see animated movies mixing in different visual styles in the middle of the movie. Interesting that they didn't have that contrast for the framing device. Don't always love a narrator, but it fits the structure.
Passing. Really heartbreaking, uncomfortable. I like how how the upper-class milieu just heightens everything, draws in your focus. Ditto for dense, allusive conversations, and our limited view through Clare's perspective. We get only a limited sense of the tradeoffs, though some acutely felt. The book was one of my favorites read in 2022.
Immortals. This got on my radar from cool-looking stills. I think I was expecting something a more clean, campy, cartoony, adventurous. It was much more in the 300 vein, with plenty "look at this badass being a badass" slow-mo-ments, plenty of bloody splatter to go around. Still elevated by the thoughtful sets and costuming. (The Fall is the only other Tarsem film I've seen, with a narrator dials up the kooky visuals even more.)
TV
The X-Files, s2e17, "End Game". Alien Bounty Hunter escapes again. I still love Skinner so much. The most unpredictable character in the show.
The X-Files, s2e18, "Fearful Symmetry". Zoos are bad! Love the recurring PNW environmentalist hippie types we've seen in this show.
The Expanse, s2e5–8. I liked the first season, and the corresponding first book in the series. I abandoned the show a while back, though. I started to tune out when the Mars characters and bureucrats were getting more focus. I think I'm still trying to figure out exactly where TV fits in my life.
Bodkin, s1e6. Curious how they're gonna wrap this up…
This week I was called to jury duty. I was so excited, and hoped to get on a case. But alas, I was not needed. As on previous jury calls, it's nice to see a big random-ish slice of your community, and to get a view of how things work. I was surprised how much paper-shuffling goes on. All those perforated mailers getting torn and re-sorted and passed around over and over and over.
School
Oh boy. Should be able to knock out one of three course projects tomorrow. Hopefully the next two not far behind. Two classes to go.
Running
I'm doing mid-week hill workouts this month. Mostly "just because". It's been fun to red-line and learn where the limit is, if only for 20-30 seconds at a time.
Books Native American Folklore and Traditions. Last weekend I went to the library and picked up some coffee table books to keep lying around. This one has cool old photographs, illustrations, and as-told-by vignettes of the lives from a few different cultures.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Maybe it's because I kept trying to read this in bed with my mental battery at ~3%, but I simply could not follow a word he was saying. Another time! Great movie, though.
We Had to Remove This Post. A novella about a content moderator at a fictional social media company. Best when it touches on the socioeconomics that could lead someone into these roles. It is unrelentingly dark.
Music
Depeche Mode Week, cont.. Hit a rough patch and recovered!
Exciter. "Dream On" has some outlaw country flavor to it, and also that slide guitar in "The Sweetest Condition". "Comatose" has some interesting electronics whoops and gurgles. I appreciate the experimentation, in the abstract, but did not love this album.
Spirit. The processing on the vocals isn't my favorite, but I like the steady grind of "You Move".
Memento Mori. We're back! What a rebound! One of my most-played albums last year. "Ghosts Again" and "Always You" both have a desperate achiness that gets me every time.
Candi Staton, Young Hearts Run Free. Again, that title track is electric – perfect blend of depressing lyrics and intoxicating disco. Stuck in my head for days. "Summer Time With You" delivers the Barry/Marvin/dancefloor/orchestra/whispered romance you need this time of year.
Koffee was recommended by a run club buddy who's into dancehall/reggae. Listened to Rapture and Gifted. I like "Gifted" and really like "Lonely".
Articles & Episodes & Twoots Against optimization. "Optimization presumes a kind of certainty about the circumstances one is optimizing for, but that certainty is, more often than not, illusory."
"Mr. Jarndyce called me into a small room next his bedchamber, which I found to be in part a little library of books and papers, and in part quite a little museum of his boots and shoes, and hat- boxes. 'Sit down, my dear,' said Mr. Jarndyce. 'This, you must know, is the Growlery. When I am out of humour, I come and growl here.'" (via)
"When you’re learning a trade, it’s almost impossible to be patient. You have no idea how it’s supposed to go, so you’re often doubting yourself. You charge through and see what it’s like first. It makes patience impossible."
NSYNC – I Want You Back. Looking at their music video is so revealing. The varying levels of comfort on-camera, showmanship, dance precision. Contrast with "It's Gonna Be Me" just a few years later (production value aside) – it's easy to forget the development from beginners to experts!
Our Incredible Journey catalogs when companies get acquired and throw their customers to the wolves, lol.
Movies Godzilla Minus One. Loved this movie, and it has taken the crown for favorite movie of my watching year. I appreciate this as a period piece, and not just in costume – also works in an orchestral soundtrack, and heightened acting and staging that wouldn't be out of place in the late 1940s. Fascinated by this idea of Godzilla being a creature known to locals, but barely a rumor elsewhere. Unresolved shame will keep you from love!
TV
The X-Files, s2e16, "Colony". A bit disorienting, didn't get the usual time to settle in. Clones being hunted down!
Abbott Elementary, s3e13, "Smith Playground". Are Janine and Gregory getting together or what?
Bodkin, s1e5. Most interesting episode so far in terms of structure. Also appreciate the mostly-Elvis soundtrack.
Build all the scaffolding you like, nature will follow its course.
Wardrobe Upgrade PSA
Prescription sunglasses are great! I've been wearing glasses since 8th grade, and contacts almost as long. My new prescription sunnies are perfect for when I'm going to be out in the sun for a while, but not long enough to "waste" a pair of contacts and wear sunglasses. For daytime runs, errands, morning walk, etc., I love being able to do a quick swap and head out the door.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
"Don't apologize for your interests. Sell your interests." Can't speak for him, but I think Joe was using "sell" in the broader sense of promotion/persuasion, rather than simple transaction. In any case, I choose to read it that way!
Zadie Smith: "Generally speaking, I don’t make notes. I sit down. I write a novel. But already this non-novel that I was refusing to write had generated a drawer full of notes and a shelf of books."
Jumping, a really interesting animated short with a first-person "through the eybeballs" perspective. (via Funkaoshi)
I love Tyler Smith's re-appreciation of Congo. "Marketing, critical consensus, box office; while these are impossible to ignore, they do tend to fall away on their own as the years go by, leaving only the movie itself, free of baggage and ready to be seen from a fresh perspective." It's been a few years, I need another re-watch.
"Moments that get ‘gridded’ are highly economical. They refine an entire story to a few key images less for their formal memorability (meaning, they don’t look particularly special) than for what they symbolize: critical emotional flashpoints that, taken together, constellate the fantasies that shows like [these] reflect and cater to."
Movies Alien. Terror, in deep space! I guess I've seen this 5-10 times now? Never once let me down. I'm reminded again of Ebert's note on the cast's age: "By skewing older, "Alien" achieves a certain texture without even making a point of it: These are not adventurers but workers".
Aniara. Despair, in deep space! A spaceship bound for Mars is knocked off-course, sending immigrants into a years-long voyage to nowhere. The crisp hotel/cruise-ship vibe wears off and we see passengers moving through stages of grief, despair, escapism, cult beliefs, false hopes. What I found most intriguing here is the AI service/entity called Mima from which the passengers get a sort of spa experience, lulled into hypnosis by their own experience and memories. Not too hard to imagine…
Music
Depeche Mode Week. I didn't quite finish, but spent most of the week listening through their discography. I wasn't prepared for how zany/computer-y their early work was.
They must have been saving up for Music for the Masses, where it feels like all the familiar pieces have fallen into place. I love the long lines of "The Things You Said" – a bit of Kraftwerk flavor in the counterpoint organ bits? I also like the murky haunting of "Agent Orange".
101 (Live). Do I like live albums? I think get too attached to perfect studio vocals to appreciate most live recordings. I tend to like the instrumental ones more. And I don't want to listen to those dorks in the audience have a sing-along. I want to be there! There's a new book about this album that sounds promising.
Songs of Faith and Devotion. Here it feels that we're more fully transitioned into stadium/industrial rock, with added electronics. Add a touch of blues? Vocals are more belt-y. It's not quite as fun for me. I'll still shout out "Judas", I think.
Ultra. "It's No Good" feels like a return to form – maybe that's why it's gotten so much play? I want to fix their sound to a certain point in time. Also, some of these songs are really long – 7/12 over 5.5 minutes! I get restless...
Maybe I'll make a playlist of favorites when I catch up to today, and see what themes I can spot?
In other listening, since "Water" was the big hit last week, I continued with Tyla's TYLA. This week, I'll shine a light on "On and On".
Books Infinity Gate. Enjoying this scifi so far. Given an infinitude of Earths in different realities/dimensions and development paths, imagine a paranoid super-civilization develops among them.
School
Another class down, two to go.
TV
X-Files, s2e14, "Die Hand Die Verletzt". A small crew of (half-hearted?) devil worshipers meet their match.
s2e15, "Fresh Bones", Haitian voodoo stuff. I was nervous about this one being more clumsy or offensive, but not too bad in the end. I like the military and refugee aspects – sadly relevant for NYC right now.
Bodkin, s1e3–4. I'm enjoying the "Sunshiny Yankee" trope in this series. Seen also in Catastrophe, for example – an "aw shucks" friendly and gullible American, so easily bullied.
