Catching the Air in Funny Ways — mnchrm vol. xlvi
Incoming Transmission—
Hello travelers! See the new header image above? After reading Craig Mod’s latest newsletter on newsletters, I decided to switch newsletter provider from TinyLetter to Buttondown. Maybe this is all nerd info that doesn’t matter to you guys! Not sure. For me, it seems to offer a bit more analytics and nicer composition settings, which I’m always looking to streamline.
So, dear and treasured reader, do you care at all? Is this better or worse for you? No noticeable difference? Unless half these newsletters don’t arrive, or I hear a massive outcry, I’ll probably stick with it.
Aside from just being much prettier than TinyLetter (which is tastefully minimal!), Buttondown also has a lot of interesting analytics tools. In general, I’m not so interested in analytics, preferring to focus on the content of a website than how many clicks it’s getting or whatever, but it’s a big goal of mine to build up this newsletter. Monochromatic Aberration is so important to me largely because it’s a way to directly connect with and address you lovely people who are interested in the things I’m doing and writing, away from any platform.
If Twitter, probably my other method of staying connected with others, went up in smoke tomorrow, what would I be left with? I’d have this list right here. In a way, this newsletter has taken over for the blogging I was doing last year. So, thanks again for giving me the time! <3 you guys.
Okay, I said I was going to write about pitchers, and then last week I said I wasn’t going to write about pitchers, and now I want to again.
I’m a huge baseball fan. I love the mostly slow-paced games. I love all the stats. I love the strategy of designing a lineup to combat a specific team, or maybe a specific player even! I also love seeing how fucking athletic these guys are.
Perhaps no position on the field embodies these ideas more than the pitcher. They’re the conductor of the game, setting the pace on defense. There’s a few that are multi-talented, like Japanese wunderkind pitcher / hitter Shohei Ohtani (大谷 翔平), but for the most part, they do one thing freakishly well: Throw a small leather ball very, very fast.
Because a baseball is not a perfectly smooth surface, instead possessing ridges on the seams where the leather is stitched together, it catches the air in funny ways. Over time, pitchers have developed different pitches that travel in fascinating arcs, making it harder for hitters to, well, hit them.
Pitcher implementation has changed dramatically as the ballgame has developed, too. Now, it’s very common for teams to have (ideally) deep bullpens to pull in pitchers for different innings or match-ups. It had been less and less common to see a pitcher brought in to face a single batter before the MLB announced a rule change for next year making it against the rules for a pitcher to face less than three batters (basically, a minimal inning). However, it’s still not that uncommon to have the starting pitcher pitch until about the 6th or 7th inning, have another pitcher or two come in until the 9th inning, where you’re most likely to see a final closing pitcher, or “closer”.
Interestingly enough, I heard a game commentator say this season that if you were a baseball team in the 1950’s, and you went into the 7th inning with a lead, your chances of winning the game are about as good as they are today; pitching strategy and other advancements be damned.
Even more than that, pitchers seem to be getting faster; especially those closers. There’s a category now of these monster closers who come in and throw balls so fast you can barely see them. When I was growing up, it was really something to see a pitcher throw a ball at 100 mph or higher. Now, there’s this upper echelon of speedy closers – the Jordan Hicks’ and Aroldis Chapman’s of the world – who on their best nights are closer to 105 mph.
Take that in for a moment. A human being throwing a ball at a hundred and five miles per hour.
Chicago has two baseball teams, the Cubs on the North side, and the White Sox (or Sox, as they’re known around these parts) on the South side. I’ve always been a Cubs fan, even now. However, growing up, one of my favorite players was Bobby Jenks, a closer for the White Sox. He played from 2005-2010 for them, setting a handful of records along the way. He was called up to the White Sox at 24, weighing 275 lbs. He had arm surgery the year prior, which resulted in a metal screw being permanently inserted into his right elbow, his throwing arm.
He threw a 102 mile per hour ball in 2005, his rookie year. He always felt like someone really pushing the boundaries of his body, and paying the price for it.
Still waiting for an incredible documentary on him!
This past week, Japanese anime studio Kyoto Animation (affectionately referred to as KyoAni) was attacked in what has now become the worst mass-killing in Japan since World War II.
Of course, this is larger than just the anime industry, affecting Japan at large. As far as the anime industry is concerned, however, KyoAni is a company known for kindness and compassion in the work they produce, the culture they foster, and the way they treat their employees. They have a long reputation as a thoughtful and caring place to work, a stark contrast to an industry known for its harsh working conditions.
As storytellers, KyoAni produced (and I hope will continue to produce) some of the most deeply empathetic, powerfully moving, and expressive works in the world. They produced work that transcended anime, and stood out among any medium of narrative. They have been and continue to be a beacon on the horizon for me, a reminder of the work I want to produce and the quality I want to affect in others.
The accounts of the attack are truly horrifying; I won’t reproduce any of them here, or recommend you seek them out unless you hadn’t heard of this event. However, there are lovely statements from the Studio President, as well as Yonezawa Honobu, an author whose work Hyouka was adapted by the studio. Reading these brought me to tears.
Over a million dollars, and nearing on two, has been raised on the company’s behalf. I think this shows how wide-ranging an impact they’ve had on the world, and while it will never repair the lives lost, I hope it can be used to bring some sense of peace.
Sorry for the downer! This past week, I conducted a lovely interview with a writer I’ve long admired on Twitter, which turned into an hour and a half conversation on wide-ranging topics. I am dreading the transcription process, but the conversation was a delight and will lead to what I hope will be a nice piece, assuming I can capture even an ounce of the passion.
Also… We are a go. I am officially starting a literary journal. The goal is to build a home for fiction and writers that’s online-focused rather than bound to a college or city, and to publish the most bleeding edge stuff I can, while facilitating discussions on craft. My current idea is a new issue every quarter, with 10 stories, one essay on craft, all for free online.
I’m already talking to some tremendously talented writers to solicit stories for the first issue. I intend to build the first issue as much as I can, but open it up for submissions as standard for issue two.
Are you a talented writer who wants to share a story on the bleeding edge you’re not sure would be published elsewhere? Shoot me an email (Just hit reply!) and let’s talk.
Okay, fellow sell-swords of the digital age, that’s all I’ve got for this week. Can’t get enough and want to see all the little updates in between? Follow me on Twitter. And want to help me out in reaching my aforementioned goal? I’d love for you to share this newsletter with someone, either forwarding the email or sharing the link to the web version! And if that’s how you got it, please consider subscribing here!
Until next time; be strong, fight on.
Your faithful commander,
– I