Good Morning. Hello. How are you? #1464
Griveanceocracy. Beth Gibbons. Bruce Springsteen. Playgrounds and tow trucks and Ukrainian places and, well, not much if I am being honest.
Good morning, greetings from the playground next to our apartment. The weather is actually dry and warm, for the first morning of this “spring break,” so Jane is taking a moment to play in the playground. It is our spring break, but it is not the spring break of the schools here in Somerville or anywhere nearby, so the playground is pretty empty, save for some toddlers. Jane is pretty good with toddlers. She has learned to not take their toys away from them and play with them herself. She plays with them. I am very proud of this.
The WiFi from the apartment reaches the park, barely, if I sit in one specific seat. I have brought a blanket. I would use cell tethering, except I am still on Steve Jobs’ iPhone 1 lifetime unlimited data plan, and sometime around the iPhone 4ish, Cingular (as they were known back in the day) disallowed people on this lovely plan from being able to tether, as it was being introduced. Bullshit. Still bitter about it. But not enough to pry this plan from my cold, dead hands. Steve meant my lifetime, not his. Sticking to it.
People very excited about the Fish Wagon yesterday. Makes me very sad I was not there to cover The Fishening live. I suspect there will be other Fishenings.
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Oh hey look at this: report of US cities impacted by climate change specifically in the form of more or less rain:
Fairbanks, Alaska, who knew? More rainy than when I was a kid. That is good, barely ever rained when I was a kid. I mean, that was nice, but dry. Though an increase of 36% more rain on a small base is probably still not very much rain.
I worked all day yesterday. Well. Most of the day. Took a walk with Sean to Porter, went to H Mart, bought some more of the delicious curry ramen I discovered. Playground with Jane and Emma and Ashley and George but George was not feeling it. Val Kilmer movies with Sean and Jussi and Emma and Bouchard. Real Genius had such a profound effect on my teenage years and it does have about three good bits in it (the popcorn gag, the lottery gag, the matching bunny slippers gag) but it is not a good movie. Sad. Then we watched a bunch of The Doors which was boring but my god did he inhabit that role and my god is it shot well. Forgot Oliver Stone used to care about cinemetography. Wait does he still? I have no idea Last thing I saw by him was that Russia’s-not-so-bad-actually documentary that at least extolled the virtues of Henry A Wallace.
Jane and I went to the Ukrainian place for breakfast again. I had a crepe yesterday and it was so good but it was $15, so back to the bagels I go, which are only $12. The nice younger lady who is working there, she is new, is slowly getting nicer to us, which is nice. We will disappear and will she still be there when we get back this summer? Unknown, unknown.
There is a very loud tow truck noisily idling just outside this playground and honestly it can go screw.
My wife just walked to me whilst sitting in this playground and informed me she is going to get something called “coffee” in somewhere called “union square” with a “friend” and now suddenly I feel trapped in a place I was just a second ago content to be.
Well, except for the idling tow truck.
Oh hey 9:43 the markets are open let’s check how things are doing. Okay,yeah, wow. Well, yeah, I mean, China announcing they are going to retaliate on tariffs. Well, goodby Elon’s China Tesla business, that is a real shame.
It’s an interesting feeling to be thrilled with the collapse of modern finance while also very sad about my retirement savings disappearing, about other people, etc. But, then, you know. Most people don’t have retirement savings, so, I don’t terribly mind joining the club. Solidarity and all that. But yeah, lotta mixed emotions. I know it is bad and not rational and people will get hurt but also…. oo… bad people will get hurt. And bad people will FAFO. But no! Stay the course! Care about the right thing even in the face of meme idiocy!
I suppose that’s what Trump is hoping for: that Daniel Khaneman and the behavioralists were wrong, and our loss aversion instincts are weaker than our “stick it to the man” instincts. Yes, Trump is definitely sitting there thinking about Daniel Khaneman. of course, those people are hoping to stick it to, I don’t know, Hunter Biden and George Soros or something. But I guess everyone is hoping to stick it to someone. Revengeocracy. Wait, no, grievanceocracy. Yeah. That’s the ticket.
Griveanceocracy.
(Daniel Khaneman took his own life, by the way! Boy they really buried that lead at the time. There’s a big article out about it now but I have not read it yet. It’s in the queue for my endless impending Alaska flights).
What I suppose will happen is that Powell and the fed will now reduce interest rates, and everyone will go bonkers buying houses and refinancing mortgages and things will all kinda work enough that a bunch of people will forget about the tariffs. I do not think that the outcome of this is fore-ordained or obvious.
I think too much economic theory rests on old situations or edge cases and, like I said yesterday, no one really knows. I feel a pervasive sense on the left that maybe this is it, maybe this is the thing that finally breaks Trump. A
nd I do not say this as one of those tedious “there’s no law anymore dummy” or “but the Supreme Court” nihilistic negatives. I still believe Trump is going to break eventually. But I don’t think tariffs are going to do it.
Well that’s depressing.
Moving on.
I am feeling kinda bad about everything I said about Beth Gibbons, if she wants to play nothing but songs no one knows, in a giant half-full room, well, more power to her. Maybe that is her specific artistic angle at the moment. Maybe she’s on some ego death tour. Maybe it will fill up. Maybe it’s an extended gag and tonight she plays all of Dummy in order instead of the setlist she has been playing. It’s cool. You go, girl. Your life your art.
Did you hear about Bruce Springsteen? SEVEN new albums, recorded in the 90’s, all unreleased, unheard.It is three hundred and fifty dollars on vinyl, or $50 a slab. Come the fuck on. That is rough. Do not like.
Not even colored vinyl. Jesus.
Post-rock playlist for you today, thank god, because I was not in the mood to fill one out. Oh shit there are two Mogwai songs on it. Oh well too bad. Ranges rule, thank you Annie, Circus Trees rule, thank you Annie. Love the new Claire Rousay/Amulets collaboration boy I sure am a big Claire Rousay fan. Just discovered this Only Ever band but i like what I hear so far.
All right well have a good weekened. I don’t know when we’re going back to North Carolina or if we are stopping in DC for the protest or what, but all that should be answered by the time you hear from me Monday.
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Good Morning, Hello, How Are You vol 1.