This week's written snapshots.
Quisling quails queried Qoholet for a quetzal quintet quoting Queen.
We spent the a day at the New Children’s Museum in San Diego, filled with cool installation pieces. The highlight is Whammock! by Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam.
Last time we went was before the pandemic, when the boy was 18 months old. He’s now her age then. He took to this piece like a fish in water. Life took a long pause but kept moving regardless.
26 Aug 2023
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OPM.54 RFQ Hacks
I started this letter two years ago. After reviewing another round of RFQ’s, it’s time to publish four ideas that might help. But really the last one is the only one that counts (assuming you already have relevant experience for the project).
Take care in your project approach narrative. It’s your only chance to signal that you understand what the selection committee is searching for. A mistake in this section is catastrophic. Don’t make it easy for the reviewers to disqualify you.
Show experience that is directly related to the project. If you apply to multiple projects, try to submit separate portfolios for each project. Make it easy for the reviewers to connect your expertise and their project.
Explore white space. A wall of text is bad enough — multiply it by ten (while still saddled with the usual day-to-day work overwhelm). Punchy >>> flowery. Try reading your PDF on a smartphone on Friday afternoon. Make your book easy to read.
Create relationships. When given a chance, put a full team on a small job. Earn a reputation. The same words sound totally different depending who wrote it. The time to make an impact was four years ago.
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Some Links
David Marquet gave an excellent talk at Google about his time as the Captain of the nuclear sub Santa Fe. I’ve tired of military men turned business consultants, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Perun is publishing some of the best strategic and operational analysis videos of the war in Ukraine. His quadrilogy How Corruption, Lies, Politics, and Procurement Destroys Armies is not to be missed.
Jonathan Parshall examines history with a presentation on a major myth in the Battle of Midway. After the formal talk, they have great chat about the challenges of translation.
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Thanks for reading!
Justus Pang, RA
25 Aug 2023
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Twice in two days, the floor was swept, vacuumed, inspected, swept, vacuumed, and mopped.
he messed around
on and off
run around
knock the bowl of the table
rice and corian
everywhere
mama yelling
boy crying
no snacks for a week!
sister got her popsicle
he announced
我今天要一个popsicle或者看姐姐有一个popsicle!
(Today, I wanted a popsicle, or watch sister have a popsicle!)
grandma
cooking lunch,
watching a drama,
charging the ipad
the long cord swept
a salt shaker
off the counter
no snacks for grandma!
䷮䷁
sluggish suffocation
golden carriage
stingy stop
23 Aug 2023
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Midnight Diner (TV Show)
Seasons 1 & 2
The Japanese aren’t scared of sex. Heck, the first episode includes a stripper who is a regular throughout the series.
But the show isn’t explicit — nothing more than what you find on Instagram. It just accepts sex workers, gangsters, cross dressers, and normies as part of the fabric of life in this district.
The show is ultimately conservative. It touches on the fringes, but happiness is found in a solid relationships and family.
It’s also not afraid of or death. Like many Asian shows, they’ll kill a likable character. Such a dynamic inserts needed tension to keep this upbeat show from going completely saccharine.
I almost wonder if the show is a mirror of where America is headed. A little lewd, a little violent, a little corrupt, but ultimately conservative. I guess things could be worse.
Seasons 3, 4, & 5
Midway through the third season my wife lost interest. I also took a nine month break before finally finishing season five.
A small restaurant with recurring characters is a fun premise, but the characters don’t go anywhere. I wonder if the producers were trapped with a season-by-season contract.
The show is worth watching, but don’t worry when you’ve had enough of their quirky little world. It’s a great case study in television flash fiction (albeit a tad too heartwarming), but fifty episodes is too much.
Then again, if they came out with a sixth season, I’d check it out.
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At twenty minutes a pop, the show is a series of barely connected short stories. It has a few regular characters, but each episode is free standing. Of course some stories are stronger than others, but pick any one at random (even just the first one). If you dig it, you’ll dig the rest, until you don’t. If you don’t, then don’t bother.
Since this is the first non-animated TV show that I’ve watched and finished, I assume there must be be something good about this series. Or maybe it’s a sign that I have no idea what I’m talking about.
21 Aug 2023
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Thanks for reading!
Justus