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  • Bonobo – “Black Sands”

  • A Recent Letterboxd Review

    Perfect Days (2023)
    Read on Letterboxd

    The essence of this movie fully took hold of me in the scene where Koji Yakusho breaks down after hearing about his father. Suddenly every part of the methodical routines we see in the movie and the escapism into hobbies that had their heyday in his teenage years snapped into focus. Hariyama has protected himself from past trauma by creating this analog world and he is very rattled when something disrupts him. In particular I think about how upset he gets from Takashi suddenly quitting and being pushed to cover his shifts, thus upsetting his whole day’s plan. I get it, man. You’re leading a life that I envy in many ways, but you’ve sacrificed so much to build it and yet it remains very fragile. Incredible stuff.

  • Here’s a Post That’ s Got Me Thinking

    Came across this post via a friend on Mastodon. You can read the whole thing here: https://retro.pizza/@pdsmix/113527799021051600

    But here’s some points it made:

    • Bluesky isn’t the proper alternative to Twitter/X
    • Bluesky’s funding comes from established venture capitalists
    • Two of those VCs are Bart and Brad Stephens of Blockchain Capital, a firm that has ties to Steve Bannon
    • The original author’s theory is that Blueksy needs to remain beholden to the interests of the powerful – if they can’t milk it for profit, then they will use it to “influence [and] control larger narratives for their personal, political, or financial gain.”

    When I first joined Bluesky, it was “under protest” because it had previously had ties to Jack Dorsey. Jack Dorsey has since fled from it, which endears me to the platform, but I do admit at getting the heebies when they reveal where they get their funding from.

    Still, I was Team Mastodon for a very long time. I’m still Team Mastodon, I have several accounts. But I’ve seen its limitations. Bluesky – probably because it had enough money to throw at the problem – built an app that welcomes an average user, as opposed to a platform that alienates that same user.

    Bluesky will not be the ultimate answer to “how should the web work differently?” A big lesson from this Twitter fallout is that we are not all meant to be in one place, reacting to the same things. It’s a fear that people have had for centuries. What is the Two Minutes’ Hate except for a fear that television was turning us all into mindless vessels of propaganda? It won’t stop with Twitter and it won’t stop with Bluesky.

    So I’ll be sad if and when the day comes that it becomes truly not worth the ethical sacrifice to use the platform. Because it means I’ll lose even more of these ephemeral connections.

    But the game is to discover enough new possibilities within each framework and carry what you’ve learned to your ultimate destination.

    I think in terms of the discourse, it’s a step away from centralized corporate power. You just have to keep traveling and not stop here.

  • Tom Tom Club – “Genius of Love”

  • Campwatch, Day One

    Today, the state of Texas let the incoming Trump admin know that they have 1,400 acres of land that the administration can use for deportation camps.

    Well, I really hate that.

    There’s a pretty good reason you don’t build the infrastructure for human rights violations, even if you feel it is legal and within your structure of ethics to round up and cage an immigrant who doesn’t have legal status.

    You don’t build a 1,400 acre camp because eventually it will not only be used against migrants. I think even if you’ve been wrestling with this policy, deep down you know what else this can be used for; what precedent this sets.

    This seems like the problem I should invest in and I’m trying to think of how. Is it time to look into bail funds for people who go out there and take direct action? Shouldn’t someone, somewhere be suing the Texas Land Commissioner for offering this?

    I know there will be a response. The question is how coordinated. How soon. How can we get everyone to shock the administration at how intolerant we’re going to be about this?

    Literally fundraising for people to take trains out to Texas, set up safe houses, set up moral support, help each other not feel alone.

    We’ve moved into the next phase of the crisis and I have to be on the lookout for how to respond.

  • Latest Library Holds

    An exploration into the world of dinosaurs, presented by paleontologist Armin Schmitt. Through firsthand experiences and groundbreaking research, Schmitt delves into the lives of these ancient creatures, showcasing global excavations and remarkable discoveries. While familiar favorites like Tyrannosaurus rex make appearances, Schmitt also addresses intriguing questions, such as the excavation process, the survival of birds during extinction events, the evolution of paleontology since the Bone Wars era, and parallels between past climate changes and contemporary environmental challenges.

    • Durham Library (contains excerpts from Publishers Weekly and Booklist reviews)
    • It’s also on Hoopla

  • My Latest Backloggd Entry

    This morning, I finally beat Luigi’s Mansion 3, a game I’ve played on and off since the first year of the pandemic. I’ve always enjoyed myself playing the game, but it has a very repetitive gameloop that is almost like a modern point-and-click adventure. Here’s what I wrote on Backloggd:

    “Four years of playing this game and I’m happy to see it through. I believe it’s one of the best-looking games on the Switch and possibly the best-looking game in the Mario canon. For the final boss, I did find myself wishing I had some more tricks in my repertoire beyond run, burst jump, and suck/blow. But, hey, it was Luigi’s time to shine and that he did.”

  • Hello world!

    Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Hahaha, no it’s not. You have literally written thousands of posts. Hundreds of thousands of posts. You have been posting for more years than you haven’t been posting. At some point, you’ve got to stop posting.