[a pleasurable headache] step up onto that piss-poor foothold
It's a short one this week I'm afraid as I've had a hell of a week. Nursery starts in a few weeks for Flo, but until then we're having to plug the stopgap with my annual leave. So I may be a little terse from here until then.
Readers, she is into everything at this point, and is incredibly mobile considering she only crawls. I've not been this exhausted since the week she was born.
That said, I did manage to get some reading in and some writing, with the first draft of a story meant for a submission window towards the end of the year.
Anyway, enjoy the links!
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Steven Soderbergh Says It’s Time To Tear The Streaming Model Down To The Studs
https://defector.com/steven-soderbergh-says-its-time-to-tear-the-streaming-model-down-to-the-studs
As ever, Soderbergh gives good interview. He mostly talks about his just launched web-series Command Z, but also finds time to talk about the recently finished (and excellent) Full Circle and the state of the current streaming model/system.
"Well, it's just, there are two potential reasons that we're not getting all of the information. One is that they're all making a lot more money than anybody knows and that they're willing to tell us. The other is they're making a lot less money than anybody knows. And they don't want Wall Street to look under the hood of this thing in any significant way because there'll be a reckoning that will be quite unpleasant. It's one of those two. My attitude is, I'd rather work in a version of the business where I know what's going on. And if I have to take a haircut, to work in that business, and bet on myself more and take less upfront, which I've done a lot, then I'll do that. That could, though, mean, potentially, a drastic reduction in the amount of things that get made. If we tear this thing down to the studs, and find out that the math is funky, it's going to be quite a transformation. And so my feeling—and I'm operating from a place of real privilege—is the sooner we find out the better, because one way or another, it's gotta get rebuilt, you might as well start now."
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Notes on Craft
https://granta.com/notes-on-craft-natasha-calder/
Natasha Calder at Granta on the similarities between writing and bouldering.
"Whether they’re beginners or adepts, most climbers at my centre spend the majority of their time falling. It’s the nature of the game: progress is won by those who push themselves beyond their limits – learning to commit to that dynamic jump, to step up onto that piss-poor foothold. Away from the keyboard, I’ve had no experience that so closely matches that of drafting, re-writing and editing a manuscript, all while never being certain it’s going to come together."
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The 100 Hardest Video-Game Levels of All Time
https://www.vulture.com/article/hardest-video-game-levels.html
I'm always a sucker for a good listicle and this one will have many of you traipsing down memory lane. Also, fuck Battletoads.
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How Luton Town Fans Saved Their Football Club
https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/08/how-luton-town-fans-saved-their-football-club/
The story of the newly minted scrappy underdogs of the Premier League, serving as a prime example of how clubs and serve and enhance the community instead of serving as corporate interests.
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Mark Lombardi’s Narrative Structures and Other Mappings of Power Relations
https://socks-studio.com/2012/08/22/mark-lombardi/
I'll always link to the work of Mark Lombardi. Seek his work out, find the books, marvel at it. This guy was way ahead of his time.
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The Game Design of Tour de France
https://jboger.substack.com/p/the-game-design-of-tour-de-france
A great bit of writing explaining something that was impenetrable to me a few weeks ago.
=== I'm off to bed, see you in two!