just the one with some freedoms
Ready to look askance at simple daily records and your interactions with them?
In this heat and humidity, I invite you to check out the inaugural episode of Pop Records!
A Most Favored Records/Archives Professor, David Wallace, entertained my questions and paranoias (some of which, it turns out, ARE NOT SO PARANOID kthanksbye) to help us understand:
The impact of record-keeping on public health crises.
How pop culture references archives
Why archives matter in the digital age.
Plug in, tune in, stream-down episode 1,
“Who Gets Away With Murder? The Archive Tells All.”
pop records - Who Gets Away With Murder? The Archive Tells All | RSS.com
Ever wonder how history gets documented? Think it's just dusty old documents?Think again! Pop Records explores the fascinating intersection of pop culture and archives, the hidden world that shapes our understanding of the past.Join host Kimberly Springer, a curator and pop culture enthusiast, as she unpacks the world of archives with a twist. From Nick Cage's epic National Treasure heists to the dystopian archives of Margaret Atwood, Pop Records reveals how pop culture reflects the power (and p...
ADVERTISING…paid for by me to me. The perfect promo ecosystem outside of if you like Pop Records, share it with a friend or a frenemy. Do you, boo!
I shan’t rant.
This is the third Just the One draft.
Even coming off a silent retreat (the merit, benefits, and wtfs are still marinating in my subconscious soup, and the retreat was a good reset) and being grateful to be healthy, having seen IRL funny/nutty/beautiful family (bio & chosen), my fingers just wanted to tippity-tap about:
reprehensible behavior devoid of ethics at work (instead of “Where’s Waldo?” it’s “detect the shade” in that 👆🏾link),
SURVEY (click your response to vote)
a blog I like, Garbage Day asks and answers the question, “How Seriously Should We Be Taking Project 2025?,”
a rouge Mayor’s attempts to decimate NYC libraries, establish a Cop City to consolidate state power and extend policy and surveillance throughout all city agencies, and generally continue the task of dismantling social services and remaking the city for actual billionaires on a secret WhatsApp chat (it’s not a conspiracy theory if folks out here CONSPIRATIN’),
and don’t get me started on New York’s governor’s attempt to criminalize protest, masks as care for others, and ensuring the subway system stays a disaster all in one fell swoop (fun fact for non-New Yorkers: State government controls the subway, the budget, its decrepitude)!
See?
Ranty!
Which iOS auto-corrects to “TANGY.
This July 4th weekend is the best time to be in the New York City: everyone else leaves to their Firey Island or vineyards owned by someone named Martha, legit outdoor restaurant seating is abundant (not those weird gutter tables basically in the street), and those of us without secondary real estate are a bit more chill, dare I say…friendlier to others Left Behind??
Free yourself this holiday weekend from…
…all those gadget cords that do the exact. same. thing! First, I labeled the cords with little velcro tabs and wrote down which cord went to which Thing. (Let’s not get into, “Why so many t’ings?” Baby steps, please.) Then, when I bought a kawaii multi-charger cable in Japan (yes, I’m still yakkin’ about Japan, ありがとございます/arigatogozaimasu), I figured out that there really are only three possible ports on all of my gadgets. Maybe you’ve got some freaky fourth and fifth types of ports going on; that’s between you and your wallet.
Get a multi-charger thingie and free yourself from gadget cord tyranny by dumping the whole mess at an e-waste disposal facility near near you (search a directory or your city/town’s website, but also, lol, Best Buy still exists and does electronics and appliance disposal AS THEY SHOULD).
…bias about “nepo baby” talent because Willow Smith’s latest album, empathogen, is so good! Her Tiny Desk concert is a convincing sample of her artistry. And, I mean, if I were a nepo-baby, I’d neppo the shit outta that status. Probably best that I’m not. Only child status is enough entitlement for one lifetime.👸🏾🤡
…also biases about fat people, being fat, and whether fat discrimination exists, all which tend to be rooted in bad science and unexamined personal attitudes/traumas about our own bodies.
…invasive thoughts with one of my favorite mindfulness teachers, Diana Winston of the UCLA Mindful Center. Winston and colleagues are super evidence-based in their approach to meditation. Here’s an interview with her. She once led a meditation using a Youtube video of an aquarium that was very cool and an effective way to come to awareness about…awareness. I’m not going to try and find the exact aquarium video she used because YouTube’s really turned into this weird, dirty, garbage alley that I don’t like to spend too much time around.
Sidenote
Once during an MRI, tech asked, “What kind of music would you like while you’re in there?” “Chill beachy house” is my go-to. So Tech Person puts the music on and I pretended like I was at my chill DJ bar, ‘Buked & Scorned until…suddenly this woman’s voice breaks in and starts slandering socialism. Yes, about 20 minutes into what was supposed to be chill beach house and here she comes with bizarre, incoherent,hyperbolic, self-serving neoCon LIES.
We already know not to sit kids in front of screen unattended, but dang, I can’t safely lie inert in a magnetized tube having radio waves shot through my body and dissociate with chill toonz anymore??
…You can probably trust National Rail videos of the Scottish Highlands to offer propaganda-free, flow-state videos for your relaxing or background noise pleasure.
…it’s about time to free yourself from Mainstream Email or at least get with tags and filters. These Big Tech Content Gobblins™ are hitting a wall with their freemium services: they’ve scrapped and grabbed all they can from us for free and gorged their lil’ AI platforms with our content, so I suspect they’re about to start charging and/or imposing storage quotas on your free email account. Prediction: email search is about to become “no-priority” and hit the 🚽.
Just the One…
…lasting impression from the final season Curb Your Enthusiasm:
Leon in this scene and the idea of D.T.M.—”doing too much”— my persistent internal NYC monologue because people here live to DTM. Which is why I also follow up with, “I’m not doing all that with you.”
And clap for me: I got a promotion, which in underpaid library world means, lol, bupkiss, hence my Davidian reaction:
…excellent wifi router name: OverianPalace (90th & Broadway). What? You don’t, in idle moments of waiting, hop onto wifi and see what weirdness people have taken the time to change their wifi router’s name to?
…recent old person thought about distressed denim:
why would you pay more for less jeans?
Case in point: stacked denim. Or maybe this style is actually more jeans so who am I to say?
Don’t argue with your elders. Like wearing pajamas and fuzzy slippers and sleeping bonnets out of the house, some fashion trends are instantly regrettable. …place to donate flyer miles if you won’t ever fly a particular airline again, but have mileage points with them: Miles4Migrants. Help someone reach their new home in Amurica…such that it is before November 5th. Welcome to America—citizenship is NON-REFUNDABLE. You cannot call a manager. There is no backroom stocked with democracy.🗳️🪦
…decent set of life tips on “How To Feel a Little Better in 2024” written on 1 January 2024. Little did they know what a pure hellscape we’d be in only halfway through the year.😭🤡 Still, there’s some good ones to try.
…insistence that radio is so not dead! I love this web and phone app, Radio Garden. It’s very cool to spot-click-listen to stations from around the globe.
…creative person in the form of Julio Torres, his film Problemista, and his weird (HBO)Max shows Los Espookys and the new Fantasmas.
Torres’ creations are closest to the kind of surreality and enlivening of magical realism that I’ll get close to and say, “Actually, I will do that with you. All of it.” Be kind, be cool, sending good vibes, and wishes for freedom, sweet summer children.
🪩 💙 🪩 🤍 🪩 💚 🪩 💙 🪩 🤍 🪩 💚 🪩 💙 🪩 🤍 🪩