Yesterday I spent an hour or so mending clothes. I fixed a couple holes in denim with an iron-on patch for the first time. And sewed up a loose seams in a few sweatshirts and another pair of jeans. It feels good to take care of things. And it inspired a round of "do I need this anymore?", which led to a new bag of clothes to donate. Spring cleaning is in full effect.

My mom revived her genealogy hobby recently, and turn up some new bits of family history on the New Orleans side. I learned that back in the 1920's my great-grandfather drove into a tree when the steering wheel locked up (don't trust antique cars!), and also that he was arrested for running a bar without a state license. Both were enough to make the local paper.

Books
The Honjin Murders. DNF. Rural mid-century Japanese detective fiction – it sells itself! Wrong time for this one, though.

Cryptonomicon. Interesting so far, but I'm feeling initial worries about the number of lectures disguised as conversations I'll come across…

Not a book, but interesting: Boox Palma is phone-dimensional e-ink device that just looks cool. A more peaceful version of a phone but in a hand-friendlier size than a Kindle. I don't need more devices, but...

Art
The Nimrud ivory of a lion eating a man is pretty intense. (via the mostly-not-related Statecraft article on Iraqi state capacity)

School
One more exam and the term is done. I need a break!

Running
This week I decided to re-introduce a bit more speedwork and weights. Fun 5k tempo run on Monday just to check in, see where things are. Feels like all the long runs through the winter paid off, the well is deeper, there's more draw on, but alas, I am still slow. For now... 😈

Music
Nejma Nefertit's Animal Barz is a hiphop creature concept album – "Pigeons"!

My fiancée made me a "Baptist Bangers" playlist and that led me to "Shackles (Praise You)" from Mary Mary, and back to Kirk Franklin's "Revolution" – fond memories of the brilliant ecstasy of Vine: the "mind if I praise God?" meme is a pinnacle of internet culture.

I like the talking drums in the latest Tierra Whack, "MS BEHAVE".

Floraleda Sacchi plays Ryuichi Sakamoto (RIP) on the harp. I like "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence".

From William Tyler and Luke Schneider, "No Trouble" has big-sky reverb-y slide guitars that remind me of Eno's work on Apollo – like "Silver Morning" and "Deep Blue Day".

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
"A hobby is probably one of the best forms of life insurance that one can have."

The Citizens Budget Commission survey data for 2023 has intriguing maps and comparisons to the 2017 and 2008 survey data.

A series of articles on how Manhattan got its grid.

Steven Soderbergh talking about his year in reading with NYT Book Review. "I read in order to calm down."

Also enjoyed this Vulture interview with Hanif Abdurraqib, whose new book There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension is due in my mailbox soon.

“Please don’t get too worried about whether your desired baby name is 'too popular,' especially if it’s not in the top five names in your state. Because, statistically, it’s probably not.”

In Rapa Nui news: settlers there likely had contact with South America 1000 years ago. And (via Marginal Revolution), they may have independently developed a form of writing. Pacific cultures are really cool.

Camille Herron ran 560 miles in 6 days and drops some of the wildest quotes you'll ever read. "I felt like after a couple of days, the miles just kind of melted away and the days blended together. I felt like I was taking it 100 miles at a time after a period." !

Movies
Iron Man. This holds up, and it was funnier than I remembered. Marvel is so lucky they got a talent like RDJ to kick things off.

Anatomy of a Fall. Loved this movie. I need to find more French courtroom drama. There's some flavor in their trial system that feels more cinematic. I like the physical layout of the courtrooms. More confrontational and interactive, a little less speechy? It feels dynamic. (Saint Omer is another excellent French one where we don't see the crime and must draw our own conclusions during the trial – one of my favorites from 2023.)

TV
X-Files, s2e3, "Blood". This week's happy casting surprise: William Sanderson, who I knew best as J.F. Sebastian from Blade Runner and E.B. Farnum from Deadwood.

Jack Reacher, s2e4. Funniest episode of this season so far, needed the jolt. Also appreciate the "Jack Margrave" call-back.

Shogun, s1e4. Tempers and romance coming to a boil. Canons! I'm into it!

Last weekend, I felt a depressive tinge seeping into my days. Like a too-heavy vignette in a photograph, making the edges a little dimmer? It's not an unusual thing for me, this time of year. I recognize it. It often goes along with some itch in the springtime – promise in the air, but a resigned bittersweet something just sort of lingering and weighing things down. It could also be pollen.

It's also a time of year when I think about blowing everything up – maybe I should quit that job, cut all ties, walk across Mongolia? – but again, not new, and in a way I'm glad I've got some reps under my belt. I'm happy about the transition I've made to be able to manage through it without getting thrown off course too much. It's not a tidal wave that flattens me. I can recognize it – "Oh, this again? Fine, whatever." – and have some capacity to try to go about my days like I usually do, stubbornly refuse to be blown off course.

Books
Rooftoppers. This was a delightful change of pace. Writer Katherine Rundell first came on my radar through her book on John Donne and then her brilliant, lively Conversation with Tyler Cowen, which made me go looking for more of her work. This story – about an orphan in search of her mother – has so many lovely turns of phrase…

• "When the music went right, it drained all the itch and fret from the world and left it glowing."
• "Books crowbar the world open for you."
• "You have been the great green adventure of my life. Without you my days would be unlit."
• "Muscles, she thought, are a thing worth having. They make the world easier to reach."
• "She felt as confident as a crow. Say what you will against crows, Sophie thought, they do look like they know what they’re doing."
• "Perhaps, she thought, that’s what love does. It’s not there to make you feel special. It’s to make you brave."

Based on the evidence here, I should read more of her children's books, or at least read her book about why I should!

Running
I had the most delightful long run on Saturday morning, from my place in Brooklyn up into Queens, taking me over the Kosciuszko Bridge for the first time. Crossed over for incredible skyline views…

…and then dumped out into desolate warehouse-industrial district, so fun its own way. Like peeking behind the scenes – for example, I passed by a FedEx distribution center, which explains so many shipping notifications show my packages arriving in Maspeth before reaching my door – making the everyday miracles more tangible.

School
My first term ends in a couple weeks. Pending approval, just a couple softball classes to wrap up before starting the second one. Over 3/4 done with my degree at this point, and reality will come crashing down soon after. 🥳

Music
Big week for Ariana Grande! I really enjoy her new album, eternal sunshine. For me, maybe best since Dangerous Woman? The 90-second intro perfectly sets the scene and leaves you hungry for the rest. The short decelerando at ~2:20 of “the boy is mine” is so satisfying (and bit surprising that more songs don't play with tempo?). I also love “yes, and?”, a solid house dance club banger, and the disco shuffle in “bye”. And: thirty-five minutes long!

Kevin Ayers' 1972 album Whatevershebringswesing is really playful, carefree, exploratory rock. I dig the 2-channel stereo effects in "Song From the Bottom of a Well". And the instrusive interruption in “Champagne Cowboy Blues” at ~2:45, like a marching band passing by, or driving by a live band on a patio? What's going on there? I feel like I recognize the “Lullaby” melody from somewhere, but might be hallucinating that.

Kali Malone has excellent glacial-pace organ pieces on All Life Long.

Listened to more Suzanne Ciani, continuing from my first listens in 2024 week 8 and week 9). I think I'll put Dream Suite up there with Velocity of Love. I was delighted when “Adagio”, at ~2:13, quoted melody from “When I am laid in earth…”. (Previously talked about that opera in 2024 week 4.) “Sogno Agitato” sounds like something you’d hear on a movie soundtrack. Maybe something where a stressed-out person, well-heeled, is walking hurriedly, maybe down a European cobblestone streets, possibly pursued, or perhaps it’s for the spy who’s tailing them. Plottings are falling into place, there’s no going back.

The TENET soundtrack rips. Most especially at the half-way point of POSTERITY, the ominous buzzing and drumline-style battery transitioning into strings and that shuffling sound, then heartbeats and electro-wobbling. So good. I don't remember the scene in the movie it goes with, but I remember the feeling I had when I first heard it. (I'm in a funny place with this movie – it felt a little bit tedious to watch, and same on my re-watch, but I think I want another dose! If only it were shorter…)

After seeing Donald Glover dressed like one of The Whispers, I decided to go back and listen to a few albums. I love the soft, diffuse sound of the snare on “Keep Your Love Around", and a great chorus. "You Are The One" is a solid ballad with surprisingly punchy bass. Hearing their original "Rock Steady" reminded me of Freddie Gibbs' sampling it for "Slangin' Rocks" – a 2010 song with a fun throwback 1980-something delivery when he arrives 2 minutes in. Silly and hard at the same time.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Talked about John Tesh a little bit on twitter, and learned his dad wanted his son to follow him into the underwear business. And that when he had the inspiration for “Roundball Rock”, he called his answering machine to leave himeself a voicemail with the melody.

The Atlanta metro is now bigger than DC and Philadelphia, moves to #6. 😤 And even if there had been no international immigration, “Only five of the largest fifteen metros had population gains that didn’t depend on immigration, all in the Sunbelt: Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Riverside CA.“

The renderings for The Torch skyscraper in NYC look so rad.

"Lockdown gave parents a front-row seat to our virtual classes and made it easy for them to monitor their kids. Even though we’ve been back in person for several years, they haven’t left." Good read on helicopter parents now piloting their helicopters into the schools and stirring up dust. (Thanks, Jara!)

You can now search for flights that don’t use Boeing. (via Matt Thomas)

We're a lot better at forecasting weather than we used to be.

Are Dune and Dune 2 camping movies? (Hollis Robbins is a great follow – elliptical, considered, allusive commentary.)

Montaigne had blogger energy.

Movies
Ferrari. At its best in the racing scenes, as you would hope. The car wrecks are wild, as is the depiction of people just standing behind simple hay bales for protection? (Or not!). The race toward the end is exhilarating, enjoyed the tease/decoy with the "children and stray dogs" foreshadowing unfulfilled. Penelope Cruz is tremendous. She had a couple brief close-up scenes that had me frozen in place. The opera scene is compact, vivid storytelling, and I love how it's told from multiple points of view. It perfectly brings to life the way your mind can drift when you're listening to music.

TV
X-Files, s2e2, "The Host". I remembered this one, mostly from being scarred and scared after the shower scene. I remember after seeing this as a kid, I spent a few weeks after taking special care to check the drains.

Batman: The Animated Series, s1e10, "Nothing to Fear". I love the title cards in this show.

Jack Reacher, s2e3. This season hasn't been as fun as the first, but feels like the ensemble is coming to life a bit.

Shogun, s1e2-3. The conversation is the plot! Love that. Also appreciate Blackthorne's moment on the ship – "No yesterday, no tomorrow, just today." – obviously made me think of Tokyo Drift. ("No past and no future. No problems. Just the moment.")

Words of Wisdom
Never stop following your dreams.

I arrived at today's blank page (minus the first music bit below), just not feeling it, with a sense of "ehh… can't I just do this tomorrow?" The answer is yes, but as with so many things: push on a bit, try to enjoy the ride, see what happens.

Art
Went to a gallery opening on Friday. Susan Chen’s paintings have some really lovely chunky globs, building up texture and detail the closer you look.

Books
Finished…
The Heart Goes Last. (DNF) The characters have a sort of manic interiority, and much of the book moves forward through their neurotic daydreams, fears, speculations. It’s light and funny (Saunders-y?), but too much of it for me right now.

Cheerfulness: A Literary and Cultural History. Some of the later close-reading of Austen and Dickens wasn't as fun for me – in contrast with the parts I read last week – since I didn't know all the stories. And on the final segments, on e.g. Boy Scouts, the self-help industry, and marketing, maybe we just don't yet have enough perspective. It's not the future yet. Cool to trace an idea in this way across such a long timespan, in a very tangible form. I'd read more like this!

In progress…
Babel-17. There's a really fascinating premise in here, where our protagonist understands words, speech, communication, body language so well it's effectively telepathy. And she's recruited by the military, who are facing a novel language used as a weapon. I feel a DNF coming on, though. We'll see.

Music
Kacey Musgraves, "Deeper Well". First heard this right when I was publishing last week’s post, played it 4-5 times, and it was the first thing I put into this draft.

Listened to a lot of John Tesh this week, and if there’s one thing going for it, it’s heavy use of major-key optimism. If you listen to live version of "A Thousand Summers", and just earnestly let it soak in, you may not feel like you can take on the world, but it won’t feel unreasonable.

ScHoolboy Q’s Blue Lips. Love the variety in the production. Just throwing everything out there. The orchestra on "Blueslides" is the winner for me.

When I saw Ramanan’s post about a recent Feist show I realized I hadn’t heard any of her albums since Reminder back in 2008. Spent some time catching up on everything since then. I like "In Lightning" on her latest, but it’s not really in keeping with the rest. The collab work on "Hiding Out in the Open" is nice – singing in harmony is one of those simple pleasures we don’t get enough in modern pop.

Kamasi Washington’s latest single, Prologue, has me intrigued for the bigger release in May.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
The 2024 Vulture Stunt Awards celebrates the best movie stunts in a variety of forms – fights, cars, guns, goofs. Includes lots of clips, fun to relive those.

NYT film critic Alissa Wilkinson hosted an AMA.

I knew I wasn't crazy!: Jalapeños aren't as hot as they used to be.

Anil Dash shared an important PSA on making better documents. "You almost never want to be building dramatic tension in a professional context"

Dwarkesh Patel interviews Patrick Collison. “Maybe one version of what people in their twenties should do is get some ideas to domains you're interested in or care about, but then figure out: where can you learn the highest standards? Where are the highest standards embodied and where can you go and experience that firsthand?”

Reading about the history of public transit in Atlanta always makes me ache for (a better version of) the old streetcar system.

These 3D diagrams of NYC subway stations are so… validating? My experience walking through these clicked into place when I saw these! There are so many angles and inclines and turns that I can sense but never could have described accurately, much less illustrate.

"Running has never lied to me."

The power of television: "HBCU enrollment increased 26% between 1976 and 1994, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. But the agency noted, 'virtually all of the increase occurred between 1986 and 1994.' “A Different World” aired from 1987 until 1993."

Movies
Drylongso. A young art student, uncomfortably caught between neglect at home, a demanding night job, and precarious safety in the community, works on a photography project to document Black men in her neighborhood. Lovely local characters, down-to-earth telling, and fun genre detours.

1976 / Chile '76. This was a fun watch, will probably get mention in my annual favorites. A comfortably retired woman, casually busy redesigning the family beach home, is drawn into political intrigue during the reign of dictator Pinochet. Really great score, colors, style, paranoia.

Michael Clayton. Still love it. Fourth time I’ve seen it, at least, and just now caught the horse on the hill in his son’s book!

TV
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child, s1e10, "Cinderella". It's fun to see the dazzling two-hour spectacles of modern animation, but nice to be reminded how little you need beyond a good story.

X-Files, s2e1 "Little Green Men”. We’re already at the point where my memory of the show is fading out. Really dark opener! Everyone is sad and scarred from the ending of the first season. :( Hoping we see more of Director Skinner. He's a compelling, enigmatic presence.

I started off the week on a high note, with a walk-and-talk phone call with my friend James. I walked to a local park and wandered around, doodling aimless loops around the paths while we chatted. Got some pastries from the coffee shop on the way back home. 😎 A+ Monday morning, 10/10 experience, highly recommended.

I bookended the week on a similar high note, in the same park, talking about wedding plans. A+ Sunday morning, 10/10 experience, highly recommended.

Also popped into a couple community gardens and saw some chickens.

Public Service Announcement
THE SOLAR ECLIPSE IS JUST A MONTH AWAY. Be sure to stock up on eclipse glasses, available in a convenient 5000-pack.

Art
The @high.school.high account on Instagram collects vintage high school yearbooks, and there's a lot of cool work there. Veronica Kraus (@vrklempt) had a cool interview about her project, which nicely summarized the appeal: "What makes these yearbooks stand out from, say, a trade paperback or album cover from the same time period is the youthful, DIY sensibility embedded in its pages. Look closely and you’ll notice hand-drawn letterforms with off-kilter proportions; layout page designs with inconsistent and/or awkward spacing; a mish-mash of graphic styles; and a general disregard for 'design rules' in favor of unbridled and exuberant play."

School
Finished a project, focused on application front-end work. And then started another, more focused on back-end. So just two Java-focused classes to wrap up. I’m eager to move to other topoics, but really happy with the leveling up in these last two. Feel much more comfortable building from zero, and generally picking my way through the brambles of icky legacy code.

Running
I decided to listen to my nagging aches and pains, and dial back the mileage. This week I only ran 12 miles, compared the usual 25-30ish I’ve been doing this year. Noticeable improvement. Funny to feel in worse shape aerobically but better mechanically. Also funny to notice this feeling of having "energy with no place to go". In place of the usual runs, returned to the weight training I should never have let fall off, along with sweet, sweet rest.

On my run yesterday, there was an old lady sweeping the stoop and sidewalk as I passed. I startled her a moment, but after shared apologies, she bade farewell with “God bless” as I continued on my way. ♥️

Books
Finished…
Things Become Other Things. Craig Mod stuck the landing on this one. I read it as a tale of infrastructure (familial, societal), how far you're allowed to fall, what follows when opportunities are washed away.

In progress…
The Heart Goes Last. Margaret Atwood's post-collapse tale is turning the pages on its own.

Cheerfulness: A Literary and Cultural History. Timothy Hampton as written a sort of biography of the idea and word itself, its shifting meaning, purpose, connotations. So far we've explored cheerfulness through the writings of St. Paul, Chaucer, Augustine, Erasmus, Calvin, Rabelais, Montaigne, Shakespeare. An academic flavor, but not the stuffy kind. Good stuff.

Music
Prince Fatty & The Aggrovators, Prince Fatty Meets the Gorgon in Dub. (Funny to see this album after reading some of the Medusa-focused Stone Cold last week). Favorite of the bunch is “No Love in Their Heart”.

Glasser’s Crux – as in “Vine”, for example – brings back memories of Björk’s Homogenic. Swooping, swooning electronic waves with eccentric vocals and pulsating backbeats.

My tour through Suzanne Cain’s electronic work continues with her gentle 36-minute Velocity of Love from 1986. Really growing to love her work. Imagine a Tangerine Dream/Vangelis soundtrack, but focused on the most romantic, sensual, dreamy parts. Cf. the title track and "Lay Down Beside Me".

Cleo Sol’s "23" was on constant repeat back in 2021? 2022? when I first heard it. I liked her latest, Gold, with more throwback R&B, though I don't think it reaches the same heights. “In Your Own Home” gets close.

Mariam Gebrou’s Souvenirs is a pleasant little keepsake.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Large parts of Spain are ~as population-sparse as Iceland, Scotland, deep Scandinavia. Plenty of room inland as people gather in the major cities and coast. Makes complete sense, but I had no idea!

The minor league Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp baseball team will soon hold a public-domained theme night, with King Kong and Steamboat Willie jerseys, etc..

“I can’t be destroyed through a computer I’m too outside”

"The problem is, the new Disney princess is neither subversive nor revelatory; if anything, she offers a decidedly one-dimensional vision of what a strong female character (and, by extension, women in general) can aspire to."

Atlanta’s Black History, in photos. Gotta bring back those Hawks unis.

New York City’s trash removal challenges are… complicated.

The City mapped all their NYC stories to see what neighborhoods are getting the most attention. Appreciate this self-scrutiny. I'd be really interested to see this for other metros/papers I know well – ATL (AJC) and LA (LA Times).

Movies
Dune (2021). A rewatch. It succeeds at being BIG. But there’s not much emotional weight to it for me. Lots of “telling” dialogue, and gadget-splaining, but I’m not sure how you much you can avoid that. Favorite part was seeing moody teenage Paul Atreides, on the brink of leaving his homewarld, wearing a long dark coat, sulking on the cliffs with ominous drums & riffs swelling in the score. The movie is at its best when he's less confident.

TV
X-Files, s1e23 "Roland". Another dead revenge plot! As with a lot of older shows, entered with some discomfort with the '90s representation of mentally disabled.

s1e24 "Erlenmeyer Flask”. Closed out the first season with a couple of the most important phrases on television – “Trust no one.” and “The truth is out there.” Excited to keep this going.

Shōgun, s1e1. Good enough to sample the second one. So fascinating to see religious rivalries on screen. Not sure I've seen that anywhere else.

Words of Wisdom
"A task done with cheerfulness is doubly gracious, since whatever is done appears to come both from within and from outside you."

This week I got a call from a family member who wanted to talk about our shared medical history. Specifically, three men in our family affected by prostate cancer – all detected early and defeated. He didn’t want me to ruin the winning streak, so I got a “yo, get this taken care of” call. Such a great feeling to have fellow men looking out for me. I hope to carry on the tradition – minus the disease part. I got my eyes checked – no change! – and enjoyed how peacefully, pleasantly boring these spaces are. Another highlight of the week was date night – walked the High Line at dusk, ate at a diner, and enjoyed an evening of string quartet performances. Historically, string quartets haven't done much for me. But I feel like the door opened a little bit. More for the never-ending to-listen list. Art There are fire bowls, and then there are fire bowls. Check out the Brazier with Design of Willow, Cherry, and Bridge. (via) This online International Collection of Child Art – found this after Austin Kleon’s 2/23 newsletter sent me down a wormhole – is filled with delights...

• Bicycle Racing is Fun
• Goblins and Ghosts Ride Again
• Sponge Painting of Me
• Spring in the Busy City

Books I blocked out 4 hours today just for reading, and it was such a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

• The Sleepless. Finished, and enjoyed it. Appreciate the core conceit – people stop sleeping, first due to epidemic, and later when opting in. What would you do if sleep wasn't required?
• Cyclettes. Biking-adjacent memories and snapshots. Easy breezy, makes me want to ride. Mission accomplished.
• Stone Blind. DNF, not the right time!
• Things Become Other Things. Purchased at the very first minute it was available, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. Halfway through, great stuff as expected.

TBOT was delayed in large part because I've become such a Kindle convert, despite all its drawbacks. These days I do most of my reading in late evening or just before falling asleep. And Kindle is just about the best way to read in the dark! Coupled with their own catalog, my local library via Libby, and various public domain resources... instant access makes a big difference. Running Felt fast and fresh last Monday. So fun. I was reaping the benefit of lots of little maintenance work – squats while I'm making coffee, leg extensions while the microwave is running, touch the ceiling while I'm watching TV. But still, I've ramped up a lot lately, and I've noticed my body breaking down a little bit. More creaky and squeaky than I want to be. Dialed it back on Saturday's long run, a bit shorter distance, but still checked out a weird little pocket park behind an IKEA. Looking forward to an easier week with lower mileage and a bit more variety – neglected my weightlifting! Music My favorite track of the week: “Dormi, o fulmine di guerra”. This aria from Alessandro Scarlatti's oratorio La Guiditta is so peaceful – a military general is seduced into a drunken sleep, unaware that he's soon to be betrayed! Suzanne Ciani's Golden Apples of the Sun was a primary work soundtrack this week. And a work soundtrack revisited: Chilly Gonzales' Solo Piano. When "Gogol" shuffled on, I remembered keeping this album on repeat a few years back. I love the way this is recorded, the way you can hear the physical action of the piano – wooden levers shoving felted hammers into wires. Hatis Noit, Aura. Compelling, wobbly, visceral vocal work. Made me think of eastern European folk song. I like the seagulls on “Inori”. Lil Jon’s Total Meditation does what it says on the tin. The opening monologue of "Boost Focus" brought a smile: "Before I do a DJ set for thousands of people, I know I must bring my A-game. If I make one mistake, I could jeopardize the flow of an entire event. I could throw the vibe just completely off..." (Cf. "If you're careless, and you make a mistake... Everyone, you're gonna bring down everyone.") Articles & Episodes & Twoots We can get good stuff with much less work than we used to. Not to mention non-physical goods – medical diagnoses, business advice, book recommendations... Craig Mod reviewed year 5 of his Special Projects membership program. This stuck with me: “I’ve historically operated from a place of great scarcity. That is, underestimating my own resources / capabilities. Sometimes we choose a gear when we are eight, or twelve, or fifteen, or twenty-five — based on our resources and situation at that time — and then stay in that gear indefinitely. Time passes and the ground truth no longer aligns with that past choice. Meaning: It’s good to revisit and recalibrate your own self-imposed limitations every now and then.” I loved the Odd Lots episode on the U.S. battery industry, really appreciate how in-depth they're willing to go on any and every business, industry, niche. RIP Flaco. Juvenile reminds us that we're old now. Solange got into glassblowing. "And I didn’t take much from the program, but I found a glassblowing studio there. The lessons I learned with this material – it’s constantly evolving. The moment you become still, it’s over. You have to surrender yourself to the song and dance of this material. So much of my life has been about control and needing to control my own story. Through glassblowing, I had to surrender to this other material’s story." “You are the most qualified person to create environments and experiences that you will personally enjoy, and in doing so you will attract people who like things that you also like.” “Regardless of the conditions, the run called for 14 miles with an aerobic progression from steady state down to race pace. The progression, by the way, wasn't the goal. The goal was not making excuses.” Movies Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. This was fun! One delight here is seeing a team that just loves each others' company. I listened to the soundtrack a few months back, and it's a key part of the momentum. TV Reacher, s1e5-8. Halfway through, I was on the verge of quitting, but episodes 5 and 6 pulled me back in. And the last two episodes helped put some humanity back into our rough-edges protagonist. Closed out the first season this weekend. I'll be back for another. X-Files, s1e22, "Born Again". Creepy kid being creepy. Third episode this season, I think, where the deceased take over the living to enact their revenge or otherwise put a bow on things.

We renewed our lease this week, so we’ve got at least another 15 months in Brooklyn. Let's hope year number three is the best one yet.

I also went to a house party for the first time in ages. It felt so normal and pleasant, just good ol'-fashioned low-stakes positive community. What a nice boost to launch into a new week.

Running
I also got a nice boost from my weekend long run. The Brooklyn Public Library system has a new Browse the Branches program. At every branch, you can collect a unique sticker and put it in a little booklet, like the National Parks. I plotted out a 15-mile loop to 11 branches in my area, and ran to collect them in 4 inches of snow and slush. Perfect Saturday morning action, followed by a perfect equal and opposite reaction: the Saturday afternoon nap.

School
Learning the Java Spring Boot framework and it’s been a pleasant surprise! I had one of those moments of looking back and seeing step-change progress. I didn’t clearly notice it while it was happening, but I have been learning a good bit, and looking back, I can see a clear growth in knowledge from then to now. No substitute for hands-on.

Books
The Sleepless – Enjoying it, but lately I’ve been too sleepy to make much progress at bedtime. Will definitely keep chipping away.

Music
The recent snowfall led me to Ferron’s "Snowin’ in Brooklyn", which led me to "As Soon As I Find My Shoes I’m Gone", which led me to the rest of the album. I dig it!

Beyoncé has a couple new country songs. I love "TEXAS HOLD’EM" – but that 2010s-indie-folk whistling in the chorus had me doing a double-take. I like the backing sounds in "16 CARRIAGES", with a whip cracking, clop-clop horsetread sound at the close, etc.. The density of musical ideas in her recent work is so incredible. You hear similar in "MY HOUSE" recently, another multi-mode single that shifts form two minutes in. I need to take another tour through her discography.

Inspired by that Grammy duet with Tracy Chapman, I took some time to listen to Luke Combs. I have pretty adventurous musical taste, I think. Some genres I don’t prefer, but I’m willing to sample anything. So I was fascinated by the feeling of comfort I had when listening to, say, "One Number Away". It made me remember back to elementary/middle-school age. My school bus driver had wired up 3-4 speakers from the radio through the length of the bus. So country music was my soundtrack, morning and afternoon, every day from 1st through 8th grade. I wonder how to weight the music (it’s a good song!) vs. my upbringing, but there’s probably something deeply embedded in my psyche that responds to country, even though I rarely listen to it. (Another thing that jumps out is how easy it is to understand the lyrics! I barely pay attention, anyway.)

After hearing of his death, I also listened to a lot of Toby Keith and… well, it’s not for me. "Ain’t It Just Like You" is pretty good, though (despite a relatively weak chorus).

As I mentioned last week, I listened to a lot more of Alice Coltrane. Definitely prefer the later era. Lukewarm overall? Realized I’d listened to Eternity a few times before – "Om Supreme" is still great. The spiritual flavor of her work as heard on Radha-Krsna Nama Sankirtana is an interesting turn. I like the dreaminess of "Ganesha", and the intimate devotional of "Prema Muditha" makes me feel like I'm intruding somehow.

EARTH, "Your Song". I love hearing the familiar – 2000's pop/R&B – in languages I don't understand at all.

Yusef Lateef's Eastern Sounds is perfect soundtrack when it's the end of the workday and I'm sort of winding down, BUT I'm also sort of still in the groove. You can just glide forever on this.

Articles & Episodes & Twoots
Jerusalem Demsas has a substack, which is an easy subscribe.

Speaking of expertise on housing, I don’t often think about accounting and tax policy, but there’s a good argument that depreciation policy holds back housing construction, and it would be “easy” (relatively speaking) to make it much better.

This episode of Plain English on anxiety got me thinking. One nice bit: the very important distinction between therapy and "therapy content".

10x - Funding Ideas for Better Public Service. I had no idea a program like this even existed. It is welcome and reassuring to see the government with experimental, improvement-focused programs.

"Most podcasts are boring because the interviewer is asking questions they already know the answer to, faking the role of an ignorant audience member. They're much better off asking questions they don't know the answer to, but genuinely want to know the answers to."

On casual programming: "At a high level, there’s one thing that sticks out to me: there’s little computation involved in most of these. They’re mainly about data wrangling and automating tedious manual tasks."

Words of Wisdom
"You can do two things: you can pout, or you can go out there and respond."

Movies
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Loved it. You see that Margaret is different – or at least that this won't (only) be a typical coming-of-age/tween romance story – early on when we first see her bedroom. We see maps and star charts, and in her voiceover prayers, a search for place and meaning.

TV
A Real Bug's Life, s1e2. Pleasantly upbeat and funny. I'm not the target audience, so I left feeling a little short on detail. For example, it just tossed out a quick aside on how bees can detect polarization of light (wild!) – and then moved on to the main plot. (But maybe enticing interest is the whole game?) Also: we can get the most insane footage these days. Leaps and bounds beyond what we used to have.

Jack Reacher, s1e2-4. Reacher is in pain and it's hard to watch. :( A soft moment arrives and you see the walls go up. His knee-jerk smart-ass approach to life can be a little grating, but there's a tender heart in there.

The X-Files, s1e20, "Darkness Falls". Most exciting thing here is seeing a Titus Welliver guest spot, and a glimpse of the everyday lawlessness that still exists in the wilder corners of the States. And s1e21, "Tooms" was better than I feared! I appreciate the scene near the end, Mulder crawling through the tunnel like Bishop.

Batman: The Animated Series, "Feat of Clay" parts I and II – "Listen up, scum wad!" LOL. Such a treat to dip into this show again.

More reminder than revelation: weekend naps are worth it, in moderation. Art I like this gingerbread house I stumbled on during my run yesterday, artist unknown: Blue Lagoon, is one of many cool quilts by Michael C Thorpe. (via) I went to the Brooklyn Museum this weekend for Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys. Favorite piece there, by a wide margin, was Derrick Adams' Floater 74. His recent work is super cool. Running Through most of the winter, my running has followed a casual “today’s mood” sort of program. Two weeks ago I started a new formal running plan, in prep for an upcoming race. So far, so good. One thing I've noticed is how adding 1-2 miles to a typical ~6-mile weekday run can feel like such a big adjustment. The extra exertion isn’t a big deal. But the ripple effects on diet, recovery, sleep, social time, etc. are very real. No such thing as a free run. Books A Crown of Swords. I finished the previous in the series with so much energy, but had a really hard time getting back into the groove. Moved on to others, for now. How to Say Goodbye. It's barely a book. Short read, loving/haunting illustrations. The Sleepless. Noir-ish novel set in a near-future where we no longer need to sleep. Some people opt in, others do not. I'm enjoying the pace. Music A great week for listening! Tracy Chapman’s Grammy appearance got me curious. “Fast Car” came out when I was a kid, and I remember it being low-key omnipresent on the radio up through high school. I never listened to her self-titled back then, but it’s good! I especially like "If Not Now...". The piano and conga work reminds me of something from the Carly Simon “Anticipation” / Carole King “Tapestry” era. I spent a lot of time with a couple playlists of opera duets, trios, quartets, etc.. A couple I really liked: * "Dôme épais le jasmin à la rose s'assemble" from Delibes’ Lakmé has been on a bunch of soundtracks (about a minute in). It’s gorgeous, and you can’t unhear it. * The oboes and basset-horn in "Mi lagnerò tacendo, notturno" stuck with me. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Blackbraid II is heavy and screamy. Really like the riffs in the second half of the album, as in "Twilight Hymn of Ancient Blood". I love the horns and general '80s pop richness of Yukihiro Takahashi's "My Bright Tomorrow" and "KILL THAT THERMOSTAT", and the stereo bounciness of "OH LES BEAUX JAPANAIS!". I just love disco. If you give me a jangly rhythm guitar, a roving bass, four on the floor... I, too, will be ready for Murder on the Dancefloor. Les Arts Florissants recorded a 3-volume/6-disc collection of madrigals from Carlo Gesualdo. The choral packaging is familiar, but the harmonies are so far ahead of their time. So many moments you feel a little unexpected ~twist~ in your brain. Also fits in that special category of “music that can function as wallpaper but also reward close listening”. Hard to recommend one, but worth a sample. The adagio from Bohuslav Martinů's harpsichord concerto is excellent. I love the soft droning organ and synthesizer tones in Alice Coltrane’s Kirtan: Turiya Sings, how it fills up the ears. The album was "initially released in 1982 on privately-pressed cassette for her Vedantic Center's students”. See "Rama Katha". I’ll be spending more time with her work! Articles & Episodes & Twoots The Vesuvius Challenge was successful. Incredibly cool that we can read text from charcoal. I’m trying to imagine the feeling of scholars who have been toiling within the field for decades, suddenly getting a rush of attention, abilities, technology that unlocks decades of progress... that they may never see. "One of my New Year's resolutions is to not try to be modest unless I really mean it." Thinking on this, and I think I like it! “I think people confuse the feeling of nostalgia for the past with the feeling of being alive in that moment. They think they are remembering a feeling that they are in fact only having now, as they remember.” Service journalism meeting the people where they are: "We used 311 call data to find the New York zip codes with the most heat-related complaints per person. Then, we sent the guide to getting your heat fixed to nearly 1,400 addresses via postcards." IRS is taking a huge, much-needed step forward: the Direct File pilot is alive! Limited scope and availability, but hope this keeps moving forward. Movies The Place Beyond the Pines. My fourth viewing. My notes on the first, second, and third viewing show a growing appreciation – five will not be enough! I really felt for Eva Mendes’ character on this watch. Dealt a bad hand several times over, just moving forward as best as possible. Emory Cohen is perfect as the very, very wounded teen putting on his best cool, unaffected front. And what's with that smile at the end? What lessons has he learned? I appreciated more parallels and echoes on this watch. Characters wearing t-shirts with lightning bolts on them. Gosling appearing with an t-shirt inside-out (like his life) after a major revelation. Dane DeHaan scooting around with his backpack and bike. Gosling barging upstairs to build a crib, dirty cops barging in to rob it. Bradley Cooper with his own two momentous walks up the stairs, and two trips into the woods. So neatly done. That soundtrack, too! Fallen Leaves. Took a while to get used to the dry humor and deadpan delivery. Appreciated a setting I've not seen much of, working class Finland. Two star-crossed will-they-won't-they lovers scratching out a bit of hope in a comically hostile world – turn on the radio and its either war updates or love songs. TV X-Files, s1e18, "Miracle Man". One unexpected part of this rewatch is the emphasis on Mulder’s sister as a driving force. I didn’t remember her coming up so much. I love how direct Scully is when they’re interrogating people. She just says blunt things in the most calm, polite, “here’s your chance to convince me otherwise” tone. She’s got no time for your BS. And s1e19, "Shapes". Felt very anxious about the Native American depictions going in. Could have been worse! Most of all in this episode, I really appreciated how much this show travels around, all across the US, urban, rural, and everywhere in between. Jack Reacher, s1e1. This was fun! I'm into it. I like Tom Cruise's sarcasm and confidence in the movies – hard to match that – but this better fits the brutish charmer I remember from the books. Miami Vice, s1e10, "Give a Little, Take a Little". Parallels between life undercover and life as an informant. Interesting to see so many freeze frame moments. Fun guest stars: Burt Young, Terry O'Quinn, Michael Madsen.

For several years, I used the Day One app for daily journaling. It’s how I got the habit to stick. After a few years, habit established, I moved to paper journals instead. (It's much more fun to see them stack up over time!) I exported all of those old entries to some .txt and .json files before I deleted the app. A few days ago, I got the idea to upload those old journals to ChatGPT. And then I asked it to work up a psychological profile and tell me about the writer. Some qualities it highlighted: - Socially Active but Sometimes Withdrawn - Reflective and Thoughtful - Adventurous and Curious - Analytical and Introspective - Humorous and Witty Some areas of struggle/challenge/growth: - Consistent Communication - Balancing Social and Personal Time - Tendency Towards Self-Criticism - Overthinking Social Interactions - High Expectations and Perfectionism - Occasional Negative Self-Perception We went further in-depth, poking and prodding. All pretty spot-on, seems like an accurate read with good grasp of nuances, not too much hallucination. I’m curious what it would be like to digitize and upload all those bound journals I’ve written in the 6-7 years since, and ask the bots to compare/contrast the two writers… Art "Chandelier of Lost Earrings" by Lauren Sagar and Sharon Campbell. (via @womensart1) I love the @StampsBot account, where I get small little injections of art in my day, like this flower on a Rwandan stamp or this goofy Japanese bird or this Tajikistani ruby ore. Makes me think of sculptures you see in a public park. It's not often moved me or stirred my soul, but I like the little touch of delight – "that's nice". More nice things. Running I felt like I’d gotten into a rut lately, with many runs happening at the ~same speed. Cranked it up for a couple miles on Tuesday, a literal change of pace, felt great. Not registered yet, but I'm eyeing 20-mile trail race the next month or so. I haven’t done that distance since… maybe a few years ago when I was living out west and running around the Santa Monica Mountains NRA. After a move back east and slow build-up after injury, it feels so, so good to be back where that distance seems pretty reasonable and attainable. I feel like I have so many ideas for routes and challenges and can't wait to take them on. School I got a Linux certification, and now I’m in the depths of Java. I still find the syntax a bit tedious, but I think I’ve turned a bit of a corner. It doesn’t matter that much! Music I saw André 3000 at the Crown Hill Theater last Monday. Felt great to support another ATLien far from home. Not the most incredible concert experience I've ever had, but very glad I went. Yancey Strickler’s write-up of the concert captures it well. "The Long Day Closes" perf. The Sixteen, by Chorley & Sullivan, was a stand-out this week. Books Lord of Chaos: finally finished. Turned a corner in this book about 2/3 in, after nine thousand pages of table-setting, the pace picked up. And a narrative change where more was hinted and hidden, motives clear but intentions ambiguous. It got fun again! On to A Crown of Swords as of last night. It'll be nice to move on to somewhat shorter books. The last three were ~20% longer than series average, and a nice tidy 800 sounds great right about now. Eight more books to go. Honestly couldn't tell you what compelled me to do this re-read, or to continue with it, but it's been fun. Articles & Episodes & Twoots David Cain on The Two Ways of Doing is my favorite thing I read all week.

Embracing the reward while resenting the price just isn’t a viable way to go about something for long. You’re always in inner conflict. You’re driving with the brakes on.

An illuminating history of standard Western music notation, and why alternatives haven’t taken off. ASCII Theater lets you stream free text-based movies in your terminal app. Captions, too! (via) "To use AI at work requires you to think about what your work means to others, and what it means to you. " Gothamist on the NYC wildlife beat: Photos of Flaco, free for a year. And we've got coyotes in the city, too! Beware fairy tale brain. “Something I don't like about Letterboxd is how the social aspect encourages users to have "clever" responses to a movie, when sometimes the only appropriate reaction is leaving the theater and silently reading the Wikipedia entry in the bathroom line.” And in that spirit, here are my minimally clever thoughts... Movies Fast X. I've only seen some of #8, and totally missed #9. I'm kinda tapped out on this franchise in its current era. This is easily the worst scripted and worst acted of all the ones I've seen. But! Silliness has its merits, and Momoa is the argument in favor. I liked his a kooky Bane-meets-Joker angel of vengeance. Statham is a breath of fresh air, too. Feels like the franchise is choking on its nostalgia. The body count/collateral damage is piling up and it's making me sad. TV True Detective, s3e3. Interesting to see the wartime-veteran angle picking up. The X-Files, s1e17 "E.B.E.". Glad we returned to mainline UFO stuff after a few episodes away. I love when people think their place is bugged and they tear it apart!

My fiancée was out of town all week, so in her absence, I went into full goblin mode for a few days. 😈 By the time we got to Wednesday morning, the thrill was gone! Art This MoMA overview of Henri Matisse’s cut-outs is really cool. I learned his transition into "drawing with scissors" was partially a desire for speed: easier to edit a painting, or just cover a larger space, by slapping some paper on the wall. Running On Tuesday night I did Bakline’s open-course race from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Short and sweet, good times. (Dave Hashim took some great photos.) Funny to realize I’ve been in NYC for two years, but only just now ran in Manhattan at night. Nighttime running was my default in Atlanta and LA, but somehow fell out of it. I need to get back! Nice long run out to Sunset Park on the weekend. I love the Brooklyn Tower looming in the skyline like the Eye of Sauron (on the right). Squeezed in some trailrunning, too – also need more of that. Articles & Episodes & Twoots Nobutaka Aozaki made a large map of Manhattan, assembled from on-scrap directions from strangers. (via) Wikiflix is a nice UI for movies that have ascended into the public domain. Amazing what a smidge of design polish can do to sell the product. "OLLOS is an experiment that organizes everything in my personal computing environment on one unified timeline." I really like this experiment, one big river of items to flow through. "Montaigne turns your Apple Notes into a website." Like the above, I like this personalization of computing. It's going to be so cool to see how this trend develops, as the bots make it easier to PM something useful for yourself. There is a downside to the "TGIF" mindset – be careful about wishing your life away! "'There’s no sound I don’t like,' Aissam said, with the help of interpreters during an interview last week. 'They’re all good.'" We can heal forms of deafness with gene therapy. The next decade of medicine is going to be incredible. But on the other hand... "I worry that one of America’s superpowers is to spin up yarns to reduce the urgency for action." A story of a hate crime in a local park caught my eye this morning. I had a similar experience when I was out for a run at some point last year. (I got some homophobic slurs / violent threats when I dared to run with... running shorts?). No identity harm for me, and didn't really feel physically at risk. But nonetheless I was really shaken/sad/angry/baffled by the malice. Mercifully, I've had a briefer experience than the victim in the story, and one with none of the fallout that family has had. But I can relate to the jumbled feelings in the wake. Can't imagine what it's like when that's a normal risk in your daily experience. Music Dido & Aeneas is one of my favorite operas. The songs that close Act III – "When I am laid in earth…" / "With drooping wings…" – are rightfully celebrated. Beautiful stuff. But on this recording from Nuova Musica, the dance / "Often she visits…" section really caught my ear. I love the period instruments, and the recording is so spacious. Learned about Jah Division from a running buddy – Joy Division covered in reggae/dub form. "Fu Manchu Dub" is a good one. I've gone through the same pattern with just about every album in the Radiohead family tree: 1. Okay... 2. Hmmm I dunno... 3. Hold on a minute...! 4. Okay I love it. :) From The Smile’s latest album, the early fave is "Teleharmonic". We'll see how things change on replay after replay. I’m going to see André 3000 & flute-friends in concert soon. 😎 Movies Due to the aforementioned goblin mode, took in quite a few this week. Kimi is a perfectly solid 90-minute thriller. What jumped out on rewatch is the perfection of the corporate exec role – sympathetic and instantly suspicious. The Creator has very cool sets and setting, and I'm always open to more philosophical scifi. "Everything In Its Right Place" is a sick needle drop, the way it fills the ears. I remain frustrated that John David Washington has such a compelling presence and charisma, but scene to scene, in every movie, my trust in the acting waxes and wanes. :/ Scream 3. It’s total nonsense, in a good way. Like a soap opera, maybe. Hone in on a few elements, dial them up. Appreciate that all of these movies explore trauma exhaustion, the film industry, the press, bloodthirsty audiences, toxic fandom, etc.. Barbie. Wonderfully inventive and vivid... and repeatedly stalls out for talking points. And a little too much Ken, for my taste? Found it dazzling and frustrating, and I wonder what a shorter, zippier cut would feel like. Cast was great, and I really, really hope we see more movies with stylized sets and practical effects like this. The artifice can be so invigorating. Loved the the staginess and visible seams in Anderson's Asteroid City and Roald Dahl adaptations, for example, and the spare spaces in Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth. The Kid (1921). My first Charlie Chaplin. A clean 54 minutes. Sentimental, filmed with a doting smile on the lens. Fun to see signs in Spanish in old Los Angeles. But wild to see a major city in shambles, all those dirt roads, and even the average/nicer areas looking shabby. People who long for the days of yesteryear should spend more time looking at old film and photos. The past sucked! Flashdance. I remain fascinated with Pittsburgh, where this movie takes place. Probably the never-visited US city I'm most curious about. Anyway, this is perfectly overstuffed plucky-striver fun. The musical x gritty Midwestern industrial crossover here makes me itchy for a Streets of Fire rewatch. "This is one of those movies that goes for a slice of life and ends up with three pies." – Ebert says it like it's a bad thing! Phoenix (2014). Somehow Saturday afternoons have become my time for quiet European drama. Here we have a Holocaust survivor, the only surviving of her family, recovering from a major reconstructive surgery, and reluctant to leave the country to start over in Jewish sanctuary cities. She remains in Berlin in hope of finding her husband, who had likely turned her over to the Nazis. They meet and we see their relationship transform. It’s really good. This is the middle of a thematic trilogy from Christian Petzold – Barbara and Transit are also excellent. I’ll be watching more from him. TV Miami Vice, s1e9, "Glades". Don’t know where to begin here, it’s so strange, with our heroes doing guerrilla warfare in the swamp. But it had me thinking about the value of TV built for commercials: you get a break!

If it snows, I'm making a snow angel. Such a great gift to give yourself. 10/10, strongly recommended. Other highlights and happenings from the previous week... Art I love these weavings from Elsa Pärs-Berglund. Tremendous work. I also love these woodcuts by Gorden Mortensen. The crisp lines and gentle saturation remind me of the work I often see in the Masterpieces of Japan feed. Running Had my first 25º run of the year last week. So fun! So cold! New fleecy running tights make a big difference. Some dicy, icy weather killed my usual routine, but bright side: hesitantly embraced the treadmill and... it wasn't so bad! Worse in memory than reality. This week I'll be doing a cool Bakline race starting in my neighborhood and finishing in Manhattan. What makes it extra-cool is that you can enter in a "prediction" group, and the winner is the person with the most accurate estimate of their finish time. No pace gadgets allowed! Should be a blast. Articles & Episodes & Twoots Convention and disagreement in how maps are shaded. (thanks, James) Hakeem was so so good.

Hakeem Olajuwon is the NBA’s all-time leader in 5x5 games with six Hakeem is also the all-time leader in: - 5x4 games (24) (D. Robinson 13) - 5x3 games (94) (Robinson 73) - 5x2 games (327) (Robinson 224) - 5x1 games (787) (K. Garnett 723)

Music Lou Reed's Hudson River Wind Meditations was re-issued, and Move Your Heart is a great place to start listening. The album made me think of a couple from the 1970s – Catherine Christer Hennix's 1976 Electric Harpsichord, and the 1972 The Wind Harp – Song from the Hill. "Soave sia il vento" from Mozart's "Così fan tutte" was a revelation. My soul has been renewed. And building on that, I had a blast listening to this on repeat and making ChatGPT tell me about it.

M: So that opera "Cosi fan tutte", what's that song "Soave sia il vento" about? CGPT: "Soave sia il vento" is a renowned trio from Mozart's opera "Così fan tutte". This beautiful piece is often praised for its melodic and harmonic beauty. In the context of the opera, it occurs relatively early in Act I. The song is a moment of serene and tender beauty. The characters Don Alfonso, Fiordiligi, and Dorabella are at the shore, bidding farewell to Ferrando and Guglielmo, who are pretending to leave for war (as part of Don Alfonso's scheme to test the sisters' fidelity). The lyrics express a wish for the winds to be gentle and the waves to be kind during their journey. The words translate to something like: "May the wind be gentle, may the waves be calm, and may every element respond benignly to our desire." The trio is a sublime example of Mozart's ability to convey deep emotion and a sense of peace through music. The harmonious blending of the three voices, along with the orchestral accompaniment, creates a soothing and contemplative atmosphere. This piece reflects the themes of love, loyalty, and the bittersweet farewells that are central to the opera's narrative.

...and on from there digging into music theory, operatic conventions, similar works in music history. Opera tutor on demand, very cool. Otherwise, I loaded up on Gramophone’s best of 2023 list, and have been gorging on old stuff recorded anew. Books Lord of Chaos, continued. Almost 2/3 done, chipping away before bed. School Finished my project for Data Structures & Algorithms II. Exhausting and satisfying. Now transitioning into Linux en route to an LPI certification. TV X-Files, s1e13, "Beyond the Sea", s1e14 "Gender Bender", and s1e15 "Lazarus". This has been a really tough few episodes for Scully! Manipulated by a death row psychic, hypnotized and assaulted by a religious zealot, ex-boyfriend's dead body possessed with a killer's soul. Phew! Fargo, s1e1. Felt too similar to the film, but just colder, darker, nastier. Couldn't find the levity or warmth I appreciated in the original. I hear the full run is great, but I just couldn't continue with it. True Detective, s3e1-2. Off to a good start, I'd say. Movies Rewatched Love & Friendship, an understated chamber comedy with Kate Beckinsale starring as a selfish, plotting antiheroine. Incredible costumes and a lovely soundtrack. (Previously). Pulse is turn-of-the-century internet horror. Love this kind of horror where things are just... off. In one scene a person walks too slowly. In another, someone stands up in a way you know is wrong. Visceral, but rather than grisly. Admirable work on a lower budget, with horrible things revealed just with change of lighting or perspective, but in the frame the whole time. And I those beautiful beige-box computers did make me the slightest bit nostalgic.

January is passing with blazing speed Art I love old Japanese panel art on huge panels and it would be cool to own some one day. I also love a lot of Byzantine art, and saw a the cool Africa & Byzantium at the The Met recently. Related to those, I've been thinking about the slow-burn interests you develop over a lifetime. Lots of stuff 10- and 20-yo Mark cared about are still in effect – running, hiking, orchestral music, sculpture, etc.. Some others, never would have seen coming: Byzantine art, Native American history, tapestries and textiles. What a gift, to keep stumbling on new stuff. School I finished a project, and now feel 20x more competent with Python. Next adventure is all Linux, which is one of those areas where, all due respect to the super-fans, I've never bothered to look at for more than a second. Curious what's in store. Running In the last week, I ran the fastest 10k I've done in a couple years... which was so so much slower than what I did when I was younger. Funny to know, objectively, I'm not as fast today, but still feel so happy with it. It's been a great year of running. I've been a part of a local running club for most of my time in Brooklyn. I dabbled a bit in Atlanta, didn't have one at all in Los Angeles, and now have a hard time imagining not having one again. Again, something I never would have guessed in my '20s, a pretty dedicated solo (or duo) runner. Books Lord of Chaos, continued. Finally getting some bubbles in this pot. Blogs & Pods & Twoots Natural Fibers in Outdoor Performance Apparel. I've been a member of Backpacking Light for a couple decades now (!), and an episode like this is a perfect example why. Deep science nerdery into hows and whys of fibers, weaves, knits, fabrics, and how they differ in effectively keeping you cool/warm/comfortable/safe. Nicholas Cage has respect for the dollar. (Cf. "No amount of money, neither large nor small, ever should be taken for granted because somewhere along the way someone earned it".) Derek Thompson, in conversation with Oliver Burkeman: "Everything we radically oppose in life, we ironically revere. We give power to the things that we set up our life in opposition to." Burkeman is an excellent guest, here and elsewhere. Huge ancient lost city found in the Amazon. "Prof Rostain says he was warned against this research at the start of his career because scientists believed no ancient groups had lived in the Amazon. 'But I'm very stubborn, so I did it anyway.'" LIDAR is so cool. Feels like there are still so many old cities we haven’t found yet. We underestimate how much history the past had! Music

• Old-school-flavored soul/R&B from Jalen Ngonda
• Betty Benedeadly, "Mojave Mystic" – some kinship with Hermanos Gutiérrez in this one.
• This playlist of X-Files soundtracks has been on repeat during working hours.
• Brandee Younger's cover of "If It's Magic"

Movies Twister. The '90s were a great era for movies. It could be simply a formative-age thing, but they just... look right! Wear & tear, sweat, grain, a little softness in the image. This is standard adventure-romance fare, but you've got some terrific non-star star power here: Hunt, Paxton, Hoffman, Gertz, Ruck, Davies. What's not to like? Leave the World Behind. Very nicely introduces the tension and looming sense of... something... not quite right, but never ratchets up very much. TV X-Files, s1e12, "Fire" was a bit of a miss for me. Evil guy being evil. Three Pines, s1e4-8. I am bummed that this show didn't get another season. There are moments of rough dialogue, some characters sketched a little too sparsely, some dialogue that really insists you get the message, and yet... so much else working in its favor. Honorable heroes, and I can't think of any crime show that cares so much about its victims and makes time for grieving families. Here's hoping we'll get more someday. (Small consolation, there is a movie, and I'm curious how it interprets the characters in this world.)

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.