I think I broke Spotify
It's no secret that Spotify is bad for music and bad for artists. Nobody should use it, except me, because the way I use Spotify is both utterly deranged and impossible under any other form of music distribution.
Basically, to compile a writing playlist, I find a bunch of albums (usually movie or video game soundtracks) that seem like they have the right mood and add them in their entirety to a playlist without listening to them. Then I put the whole playlist on shuffle while I write and remove the tracks I don't like once I finally hear them. I repeat this process over and over again for the same playlist as the tracks on it start to go stale.
As a result, I have managed to create a playlist so long it cannot be played. The Spotify app slows down with each successive track off the list until, after about a half-dozen plays, it stops responding entirely.
I'm actually kind of proud.
Podcast Appearance: I Will Fight You
The latest episode of I Will Fight You is about Remedy Entertainment's Alan Wake, Alan Wake 2, and Control, with a guest appearance by New Hampshire's favorite son Jake Mason. I have never played these games. This episode was A Journey.
You can listen to the episode here, or wherever podcasts are found.
New on Ko-fi: "Jay Moriarty Ruins Everybody's Childhood," Chapter 3
Chapter 3 of "Jay Moriarty Ruins Everybody's Childhood" is now up for all supporters on Ko-fi. If serialization isn't your thing, you can also get the entire novelette as an ebook.
Recommendation: Reservation Dogs
Four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma steal, rob and save in order to get to the exotic, mysterious and faraway land of California.
What I appreciate most about Reservation Dogs is its honesty. Every big emotional moment is earned. Every character is a portrait of a real person the show's creators not only know, but love. It's tragic but never melodramatic; sentimental but never mawkish; funny but never facetious.
If you liked Marvel's Echo, you should watch Reservation Dogs. If you thought Echo fell short, you should watch Reservation Dogs. If you haven't seen Echo, you should watch Reservation Dogs. Everyone should watch Reservation Dogs.
This Week's Links
The 2023 Hugo Awards: A Report on Censorship and Exclusion
A lengthy journalistic piece about the clusterfuck that was the 2023 Hugo Awards nomination process. Most notable here is a leaked email thread from the award's administrators: a group of Americans and Canadians only vaguely aware of the nominees, their work, or even how to spell their names, and who proceeded to censor certain finalists based almost entirely on vibes.
A lot of commentators are going to refrain from calling these people stupid, or assholes, because that kind of off-the-cuff unprofessional language might jeopardize their own chances of one day being nominated for or even winning a Hugo Award.
Fortunately, I have no illusions about ever winning a Hugo. What a bunch of stupid assholes.
In the 1950s there was a brief effort to make rabbit meat a more mainstream part of the American diet. In 1957, this led to the crowning of "Miss Frozen Rabbit Meat," whose job it was to convince housewives to buy more frozen rabbit meat.
Tragically, does not include a picture of the winning contestant wearing a "Miss Frozen Rabbit Meat" sash.
Pistachio Nuts Can Spontaneously Combust?
If you store enough fresh pistachios in a container, things get very hot as they start to decompose. If conditions are right, they can go up in flames. However, the same is true of sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnuts, cashews, and ... Brazil nuts.
And that's it for this week. If you never hear from me again, Spotify had me assassinated for crimes against their platform. Or maybe the exploding tree nuts got me.
-K
