November 2024: new names and new musicals
Hello! I’m sorry this newsletter is a bit late – my hyperfocus has been stuck on a big web archiving project this month, and I’ve spent very little time on reading or writing.
In particular, I’m reviewing my collection of 3000 saved web pages, and making sure they’re actually saved properly. It’s taking a while, but I’ll be very glad when I have a fully checked archive, and I’m learning a lot about web development along the way. I’ve made plenty of notes on what I’ve been doing, and I’m excited to write about it when I’m done.
The US election results happened. I’m disappointed and scared for my friends who live there, but I don’t have much that’s novel or insightful to say beyond that. One thing I noticed is that I was much less anxious in the moment – I used to spend election nights scrolling Twitter, but since I’ve retreated from social media I was able to take the news at a more measured pace.
I spent the day after the results visiting a dear friend I haven’t seen in too long, and we walked through Crystal Palace and admired the dinosaurs. It was misty and autumnal and calm, which is exactly what I needed. I’m trying to spend more time with my friends and family, and be more proactive about suggesting things to do together – not just passively accepting invitations to other people’s plans.
## What have I been writing?
The only article I wrote this month is How I name my computers – I got one of Apple’s new M4 Mac minis, and I decided it was time to replace my aging Intel iMac. I had fun reminiscing about the names I’ve chosen for my previous computers, and picking a good name for the new one.
I’m quite pleased with this commit message I wrote for a bugfix in my dominant_colours tool – the change is fairly small, but I tried to capture all the context and debugging steps that led me to the fix.
I wrote a few “today I learned” posts, mostly about setting up my new computer or finishing my web server migration to Caddy:
What’s making me smile?
🗳️ Although I ignored social media for most of the US election, I did smile at these kid ballot papers made by Jessamyn.
📚 Seized Books! – In 1984, London bookshop Gay’s the Word was raided by customs officers looking for “obscene” and “indecent” books, and the queer community mobilised against government censorship. This has inspired a new musical, and I got to see an early version of it. I enjoyed what I saw, and I can be developed further.
🍁 Come From Away is a musical about how residents in the remote Canadian town of Gander took in stranded plane travellers after the 9/11 attacks. I’ve heard good things about it for years, and I finally saw it on the UK tour. It lives up to the hype – it was heartwarming and funny in equal measure, and I cried through a large part of it. Take tissues.
🎶 My YouTube recommendations have introduced me to a genre of music called “bardcore”, where people remake songs in a medieval style. I’m particularly enjoying Hildegard von Blingin’s channel, like this variant of Holding Out for a Hero. It still sounds like the original song, but with fresh lyrics and a distinct sound.
🎭 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a musical adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald story, where a man ages in reverse. It’s an impressive piece of stagecraft – every actor is also a musician; it makes great use of costumes to distinguish different roles; it does a convincing job of making the same actor look like he’s aging backwards. It’s a heavy story, but the cast are having so much fun on stage. If you’re in London, I do recommend going. Take more tissues.
I wish you all a delightful December, and I’ll email you again in the new year.
With love,
~ Alex