📡 – 04.25.2020 + 05.08.2020
I forgot to cross-post the 04.25.2020 📡 from Patreon (sorry!), so here’s both, interleaved!
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A small collection of things I ~consumed~ recently.
Not all of this is new. Inclusion does not imply endorsement. All of it gave me something to think about. Feel free to discuss in the comments below.
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Diagnostics – Matthew D. Gantt
Fetch the Bolt Cutters – Fiona Apple
Zero Bounce – Lorn & Dolor
Addenda – Calum Gunn
Percussive Therapy – Speaker Music
Alter- – Automatisma
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Much of my recent reading time has been spent on The Red Harvest, by Dashiell Hammet, which I've just finished. I've moved on to Borne by Jeff Vandermeer. But also:
After Supply Chain Capitalism – Ingrid Burrington, Data and Society
Hear the Soundscapes of Cities Transformed – Matt Mikkelsen, Atlas Obscura
Would We Have Already Had a COVID-19 Vaccine Under Socialism? – Vanessa A. Bee, In These Times
The Homme Fatal: Reimagining a Noir Archetype – Russ Thomas, Crimereads
How to Make a Ventilator – Ingrid Burrington, VICE
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I continue with Borne by Jeff Vandermeer, and have also started reading Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age for the Fun City Discord Bookclub. Diamond Age has lead me to revisit Said's Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism, as well as this piece on hyper-capiltalist East Asian stereotypes found in cyberpunk / vaporwave, over at AQNB.
How Profit and Incompetence Delayed N95 Masks While People Died at the VA – J. David McSwane, ProPublica
The Tragedy and Mystery of the ‘Best Game of the Decade’ – Laura Hudson, WIRED
🔊 What Does It Mean To "Reopen The Economy"? – On The Media
Why the Coronavirus Is So Confusing – Ed Yong, The Atlantic
India's Lockdown Puts Strain On Call Centers – Lauren Frayer, NPR
My Restaurant Was My Life for 20 Years. Does the World Need It Anymore? – Gabrielle Hamilton, NYTimes
What Happened to Val Kilmer? He’s Just Starting to Figure It Out. – Taffy Brodesser-Akner, NYTimes Mag
The world is on lockdown. So where are all the carbon emissions coming from? – Shannon Osaka, Gist
There Really Only One Way to Re-Open The Economy – Aaron E. Carroll, NYT Opinion
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I watched the original In Cold Blood the other evening and was completely blown away by how amazing it looks. I mean, the story also is great - don't get me wrong - but there is something, maybe about a black and white film shot in the late 60s? That just looks incredible. It was shot by Conrad Hall, who also did Cool Hand Luke, and Butch Cassidy, and if I were to guess, it also looked like a new transfer. I've been thinking about it non-stop since. If you have the Criterion Channel, highly recommend giving it a watch before it's gone at the end of the month.
Besides that - I'm finding it really stressful to watch most YouTube and television. There is something about the pacing, the cutting, and especially the sound mixing that exacerbates my already vigilant mood In The Pandemic. It's not that In Cold Blood isn't stressful at points, but that it's overall pace and mix isn't ... hectic.
I went back and re-watched Tarkovsky's Nostalghia recently, too. I think I may revisit Too Old to Die Young. Really just craving long shots, slow pans.
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I got about ~90% of the way through Doom: Eternal before giving up. I put the controller down during a sequence of timed Portal™-like jumps and never picked it back up. By that point much of the game felt tedious, and unexciting. Walk down a hallway and listen to a disembodied voice tell you lore, fight a lot of demons in a big room, walk down a hallway and listen to a disembodied voice tell you lore, fight a lot of demons in a big room, jump over this stuff, walk down a hallway and listen to a disembodied voice tell you lore... etc etc. The platforming specifically felt very unsatisfying, and like an afterthought. I just couldn't be bothered.
I picked up Mother 3 (which I've somehow never played) and have been having a grand time. Also been playing Treachery in Beatdown City, which is GREAT. If you have a Switch, highly recommended.
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I've been a little too overwhelmed with everything to sit down and play games, honestly. I also think Doom: Eternal took a lot out of me. I'm waiting to reset a little to go back to Mother 3, and probably along side it ... something else. Not sure what yet.
We've been playing some games with friends over the internet - Mario Kart, Overcooked, Killer Queen Black. That has been how you would expect: delightful, and kind of exactly what is needed at the moment. The Switch has been a great tool in all of this - it feels like a small conduit of diversion pumped directly into the house, in a way that the Playstation and PC do not.
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New Fun City last week.
New revision of Britches and Brooches, a TTRPG I've been working on, for Patrons. Posted last night.
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New Fun City last week, and another next week!
New music in the works; releasing two things this month. Hoping the first is out next week.
New writing progressing, in fact, for the first time in a month+. I need something to distract myself from the world! Hopefully something to post soon. We'll see.
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Hope everyone is safe, healthy, indoors and has a great weekend <3