May 15, 2024

SHELFDIVER: DIVE 2 - May 15, 2024

DIVE 2 - May 15, 2024

Back for another dive into the stuff I’ve loved and am loving, and that you might love in the future!

I’m asking two favors from you:

1. Send me an email at seth@shelfdiver.com letting me know what you think (Not theme-focussed enough? Too many links? Too much of my rambling?)—or try out the commenting system that I believe is now up and running below the online version of each dive in the archive. Maybe both!

2. Point a friend or two toward Shelfdiver.com so they can subscribe!

I’m getting the feeling that this current format might be too wordy—and it’s certainly deeply time-consuming to put together. Let’s see what you think.

Here are a few articles that caught my eye this week:

• Esquire: “Is “Doomslang” Making Us All Numb?”

• ArtNews: “Legendary Typeface Rescued from the River Thames”

• Inverse: “Building the World of Fallout”

• Forbes: “Scientists Taught Bees to Play with Legos”

• Discovery Park: “The Great Gauge Change of 1886”

VIDEOS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Over my years watching videos online, I’ve come to find that I love watching people build things. I’ve got plenty of videos and even whole channels along those lines that I’d love to share with you:

• Alone in the Wilderness: 25 years ago, the Seattle PBS station regularly aired Dick Proenneke’s self-made film chronicling his journey to build a new home in the deep wilderness of Alaska with an offer to send a DVD if you joined as a member. Back in those days when you couldn’t watch something again on demand without physical media, it worked on me. Now you can watch it online, as many times as you want. I’ve had Proenneke’s book on my shelf for a long time, and was excited to get a copy of Lost Art Press’ The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke as a Christmas present last year.

  

• Martijn Doolaard [YouTube Channel]: I first found Martijn through his Two Years on a Bike series, but he’s been spending the last couple years rebuilding a crumbling stone cabin in the Alps and he’s not only a great craftsman but great at filming his work. He’s also a lot less of an isolationist than Proenneke, which is probably a better thing for him (and for me as a viewer.) His year one compilation is a great place to start, but his weekly videos are the first thing I watch every Sunday morning.

• Primitive Skills [YouTube Channel]: From the name, I wonder if this channel launched to be something akin to the wonderful Primitive Technology (and I’ll come back to his amazing videos another time), but over time it’s become something much more akin to primitive homesteading, as he slowly carves a home and working farm (including his huge aquaculture rice paddy/fish farm), and his videos have become enjoyable background watching for me. (If you can’t keep up with what he’s doing, turn on the close captioning where he provides commentary.)

• Acorn to Arabella [YouTube Channel]: These days the wooden sailboat Arabella is plying the waters of the Atlantic coastline, but I spent the better part of seven years watching them build it from raw lumber up. The thought, craftsmanship, and perseverance that went into the build was endlessly inspiring, and it’s great to see the boat finally underway. Their essential viewing playlist is a great way to hit the highlights of the project.

  

• Tavarish [YouTube Channel]: Once upon a time I was a regular Top Gear viewer, until the peevish dickery of the hosts overwhelmed the enjoyment I got from the beautiful car photography and their journeys around the world. YouTube was nice enough to suggest a replacement to me in the form of CarTrek (you might enjoy watching that, too)—which is where I was introduced to Freddy Hernandez, aka Tavarish. First I watched his more gimmicky projects, like redoing an abandoned ‘Pimp My Ride’ minivan for a friend, and rebuilding a Range Rover that’s been buried for a year. But his natural charisma and mechanical skill (and skill at filming his work) drew me into his more ambitious projects, like his rebuild of a 2016 McLaren 675GT. Currently he’s in the middle of an even more ridiculous undertaking, trying to restore an ultra-rare 2015 McLaren P1 supercar that was flooded with sea water and pushed down the street during a hurricane; I’m as amazed as you that I’m invested in whether or not they’ll be able to build a new wiring harness for the car (and where they might find hidden deposits of sand next)…but eventually you might be as well.

• A few more fun building-related videos:

  • A man in China using drills to carve a home from a mountain

  • English madman Colin Furze digging a tunnel system under his yard, driveway, and house to go along with the massive bunker he built under his back garden a few years ago.

  • A man building a new house—which includes a 24 foot-deep SCUBA pool with an ‘elevator floor’

  • Damming a small stream to build a scale hydroelectric dam by hand

  • An architect builds a model of a concrete home

  • The Little Giants Construction Company, where a man uses his fleet of radio control construction vehicles to undertake complicated scale earthmoving projects around (and sometimes beneath) his house.

PLAYLIST

• MUSIC/GAME: KOLE 540 Station Library [Spotify] / VOID 1680 [itch.io]: As someone who loves making playlists and playing RPGs, when VOID 1680 brought the two together I was right in the bullseye of the target audience. But instead of just playing it as a solo RPG, I made a quick website to give friends a character to play and encouraged them to call in to my fictional station, KOLE 540. I played the game in real time, mixing those calls with my DJing, music, and some old broadcast ephemera I’d prepped. The resulting game/broadcast [MP3 link] was terrific fun, and as I’ve continued to add to this playlist of music that might be played on the station it’s become one of my favorites to have on when friends come to visit and as I drive around town.

  

• VIDEO: Auralnauts: The Star Wars Saga / Princess Leia’s Stolen Death Star Plans [YouTube playlists]: When you subscribed to Shelfdiver I shared a link to Darths & Droids, which is one of my favorite Star Wars fan creations. But these two run neck-and-neck with it. Auralnauts does brilliant remixes of the Star Wars movies, turning plot holes into opportunities and laying new audio over the familiar visuals new audio to tell often crude jokes that stack up into a whole new saga, perhaps overindulging in dance videos, but you’ll never look at “Creeepio” the same again. Princess Leia’s is a brilliant parody smash-up of Episode IV and the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, crafted with a deep reverence to both pieces of source material.

  

• MOVIES: Palm Springs [trailer; watch on Hulu] and The Map of Tiny Perfect Things [trailer; watch on Amazon]: Time travel romances aren’t new in movies—see Time After Time or Kate & Leopold; these two aren’t just time travel romances but time loop romances, with the protagonists caught living the same day over and over again, Groundhog Day-style. Both are delightful movies, great light watching.

• VIDEO: “The Asteroid Field” - Score Analysis [YouTube]: Poking around to find the Star Wars videos above led YouTube to suggest this breakdown of my absolute favorite piece of John Williams’ Star Wars scores—and then showed it knew me even better by following up with this full hour-plus breakdown. (Related: “The Asteroid Field” as a piano duet, and the Complete Catalog of Star Wars Themes and Leitmotifs that breaks down the pieces Williams weaves throughout his work across decades.) (Also related: I am resisting the urge to link to even more great movie score-related stuff online; maybe I’ll make that the focus of a future Dive.)

• COMEDY: Mr. Show: “Pre-Taped Call-In Show”: Mr. Show with Bob and David remains one of the funniest, smartest sketch television shows that ever aired. This is one of my favorite parts, but every bit of every episode is worth tracking down and watching a dozen times or so.

  

• TELEVISION: American Vandal [trailer; watch on Netflix]: If you love true crime television and clever comedy, you’ll love this show as it puts your peanut butter in your chocolate. Even the credits maintain the show’s premise that a high school AV club is investigating who is behind the mysterious vandalism of teachers’s cars in the parking lot, telling a tale that isn’t just funny but a decent mystery. The second season (traier; mildly NSFW) isn’t quite as good, but I enjoyed that it was set right here in my suburban Seattle neighborhood, and it’s still worth watching.

• PODCAST: Decoder Ring [website]: Decoder Ring returned recently after a long hiatus, and its great to have it back in my earholes. Willa Paskin doggedly pursues the answers to questions like like “Are jalopeno peppers not as spicy as they used to be?” and “Did Columbo pass secret messages behind the Iron Curtain?” The episode about how art pranksters infiltrated the show Melrose Place is particularly good, as is her episode about how the critical music for the not-a-musical stage play Stereophonic was written.

  

• TELEVISION: Taskmaster [YouTube channel]: Unreality television, as it were, with five comedians challenged to complete a series of oddball tasks vying for the highest score from the Taskmaster. Not only is it a reliably funny show, after a failed attempt at a subscription app, they’ve returned to putting all their episodes online for free. For those who aren’t already watching and rewatching the show, Season 11 is a great place to start.

• MUSIC: Famous Last Words [Spotify]: An album of solid funk and soul from a local (to me) Seattle band. If “Seattle funk” surprises you, listen to Wheedle’s Groove [YouTube playlist] for the amazing Seattle sound from the 60s and 70s and remember that Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, and Jimi Hendrix all spent formative days up here on the rainy streets. (“Welcome to the Jungle” and “Baby Got Back” were also written here, for the record.)

GAMEPLAY

• GAME: Tchia [website]: The developers of this game clearly love two things: their South Pacific island home of New Caledonia, and Zelda. They combine the two in this terrific and absolutely delightful kid-friendly game that offers a ton of fun mechanics, from gliding through the air and playing ukelele to shape the world around you to using spirt powers to possess creatures and objects you encounter. As you play you’ll also learn a lot about New Caledonia, but never in a way that’s overly teachy. My kid and I aren’t quite to the endgame yet, but we’re loving it enough that I wanted to be sure to share it here.

  

• GAME: Inscryption [website] and Trailer: What at first seems like a card game soon reveals itself to have some puzzle-room like mechanics surrounding the shadowed table where you play. Tug at those, and you find the threads of a story that is deeper and cooler than I could have ever expected when I started, vaulting it into the ranks of my favorite games. “Horror” is often a turn-away word for me, but the encroaching dread of the game really works. If I had a 3D printer, I’d definitely make one of these squirrel totems to put on my shelf. Just in case.

• RPG: Tiny Taverns [website]: There are tons of simple fantasy RPG systems out there. Tiny Dungeon is one of my favorites, with Tiny Taverns my favorite subflavor, centering campaigns on a small business of some sort. I’ve played games where that was a tavern, another where it was a student hangout at a magical college, and one where it was a summer camp. It’s a great way to give a campaign a central hub that players are literally invested in.

• BOARD GAME: Rallyman DIRT [BGG]: It wasn’t long ago that I thought nothing would ever dethrone Formula De as my favorite racing board game. But Rallyman is coming up fast, and especially with this new off-road expansion it may be taking the lead. Rallyman has a slight touch steeper learning curve, but it’s worth it for the additional complexity and strategy it brings to the table without the game losing speed. The Kickstarter for DIRT ended in disaster, but there are some copies floating around out there and the whole line has a new publisher that should be getting everything back out on shelves soon. (Related: Monza, the racing game my daughter has loved since she was a toddler, and which I still love to play with her.)

• GAME: Shadowhand [website]: I’m a sucker for Solitaire variants, especially ones that layer in story and fun, and Shadowhand does both. 18th century swashbuckling heroics while I play solitaire? Yes, please. These kind of games are one of developer Grey Alien Games’ specialties, so you’ll probably hear me suggest more of their games in the future.

QUICKDIVE

A quick list of other things I’m diving into this week:

• TV: Fallout, Death & Other Details, Mythic Quest, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin

• BOOKS: A Burglar’s Guide to the City, Reacher Said Nothing, The Battle Between the Frogs and the Mice

• COMICS: Ultimate Spider-Man, The Prince Valiant Library

• GAMES: Heading Out, Dice Cards, Shadow of the Weird Wizard, Rusty’s Retirement

• MUSIC: David Bromberg: The Player, The Subterranean 500

• VIDEOS: Pretty Good: REFORM!, F#@k You Pay Me, Shooting the Everlasting Storm, GTA4 Fast Traffic Playthrough
  

GUESTDIVE: BEACH MUSIC

My friend Jason Mical has pointed me toward a lot of great music over the years, so I asked him to send some recommendations our way for this week’s Guestdive:

The weather is warming up and the days are growing longer. I’m dreaming of sun-soaked days on a patch of warm sand, with waves gently breaking and the coconut smell of suntan lotion everywhere. These mellow albums capture that laid-back, carefree, endless summer feeling. Enjoy a little slice of paradise in your earphones.

• The XX: XX [Spotify] [YouTube]: I first heard this album as part of a surfing playlist and it goes into regular rotation whenever I travel any place with a beach. Its dream pop style perfectly matches the feeling of sun-fuelled warmth and sense of pure relaxation that comes with a beach towel and no responsibilities.

• M83: Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming [Spotify] [YouTube]: M83 dips their toes in a wide variety of genres—their soundtrack to the film Oblivion is an outstanding testament to that—but here they’re at their absolute best with more than an hour of songs that literally advance and recede like the waves. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is an instant teleportation device to tropical sands where you while away the hours watching the sun slowly dip beneath the ocean in an explosion of pinks, oranges, and reds.

  

• BEHIND CLOUDS: Tranquil [Spotify] [YouTube]: Maybe it’s time to head back to the Airbnb for a nap. Or maybe it’s time to cool off with a float in the ocean. Either way, let the super-chill vibe on Tranquil be your guide to further relaxation when you’re already super relaxed. It doesn’t get any better than this.

• VIQ: Crystal Shores [Spotify] [YouTube]: Viq are one of the hottest acts in the chillwave scene and this 2021 album is what put them on the map. There’s a little more energy here—and a tiny hint of melancholy—which makes it the perfect way to wrap up your trip to the beach (mental or real) and enjoy those last few moments with the breeze on your face and the sand in your toes.

BACK TO THE SURFACE

Boy, I didn’t recommend many book this week. Let’s fix that next week. But also: cards and games and a Guestdive on rap!

I look forward to the comments and feedback I requested above. Next week I’m also away from my desk for a few days, so I may experiment with a terser (and easier to produce) format to see what people thing of that.

QUOTEBOOK

"I quote others only the better to express myself."

– Michel de Montaigne

I don’t just collect things on shelves. The text file with my personal collection of quotes runs over a hundred pages, so I’ll close each of these emails by sharing a few of those quotes with you. Like I’ve done over the years, you can sift, save, and jettison as your mind and heart feel fit. See you next week!

“In a deadline-driven business, most syndicated cartoonists haven't the luxury of asking themselves, "Is the work any good?" Instead, like people everywhere, we ask ourselves, "Is it good enough?" Success is measured in percentages.”

– Garry Trudeau

“Why does one chess player play better than another? The answer is not that the one plays better or makes fewer mistakes. The one who plays better makes more mistakes, by which I mean more imaginative mistakes. He sees more ridiculous alternatives. The mark of a great player is exactly that he thinks of something which by all known norms of the game is an error.”

– Jacob Bronowski in The Origin of Knowledge and Imagination

"(Living normally) begins as an attempt to do your work well, and ends with being branded an enemy of society."

– Vaclav Havel

"Spot on. Because the desire to avoid extra effort is such a powerful part of human behavior, we tend to assume–when we're thinking loosely–that humans generally want to avoid work. But the desire to be effective and the desire for one's efforts to be meaningful are powerful as well. Those in power habitually underestimate how radicalizing it is when individuals find themselves frustrated in their sincere attempts to do good work."

– Patrick Nielsen Hayden, commenting on Havel quote.

“I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong.”

– Richard Feynman