The ChangeLog – June 2025
After a couple of blue months, things turned brighter. I still lack energy and I am still covered by thick curtains that make it impossible to plan or be excited about anything further in the future than a couple of weeks, but at least I have recovered my interest in science and writing. For one, I read more than I have since the beginning of the year. And I also started to work again on some personal projects and my work performance was not a total disaster.
They are small things, but they are the things I miss the most whenever I get stuck in my head. The joy of reading a book that is hard to put down. That burning feeling of excitement while reading a scientific paper. The electricity in my hands when I have a nice idea to implement in a new programming language or framework. The feeling of aliveness I feel when I walk in a park.
Soon, the hedonic treadmill will dampen those feelings under the primordial screaming of "I want more!" But until then, I will enjoy the little things.
Housekeeping
Even though I wrote more, I still haven't completed the two blog drafts I was working on. I have many more ideas than focus these days. Hopefully, I will fix this next month.
Reading
Una vita ben spesa (A life well spent) by Massimo Polidoro – It is a classic Polidoro book. Therefore, if you have read many of them, you will find several repetitions. However, I liked it. It mixes the biographies of Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci and Charles Darwin to build a curriculum for living life with curiosity, creativity, reflection and purpose. Yes, it is not life-changing, but I found it motivational.
Star Trek: Destiny: Mere Mortals by David Mack – It is the second book of the Destiny book series, set in the Vanguard universe. David Mack knows how to write a page-turner. I actually completed the third one as well, but just after the cut-off day. So for a complete opinion, you will have to wait until next month. :D
Watchlist
The Boys in the Band (2020)
The Boys in the Band is a play by Mart Crowley, first premiered in 1968, that centers on a group of gay friends who gather in a New York City apartment to celebrate a birthday. The play quickly becomes a deep introspection on the stigma and self-hatred imposed by a society that pathologized homosexuality; a dynamic that, as you can imagine, was especially widespread in the 1960s.
Now it is 2025, and even if far from utopia, things have gotten way better. So, I guess, the 2020 movie remake of that play doesn't have the same impact. Still, it is a well-crafted, sometimes painful movie, with an all-gay cast, that is worth watching: to reflect on the progress we have made, and the progress we still have to achieve.
Hidden Figures (2016)
And speaking of "the progress so far," here is another movie I enjoyed this month. Hidden Figures tells the story of three female African-American mathematicians (Katherine Goble Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson) who contributed significantly to the Mercury-Atlas 6 project (the one that launched in 1962 the fifth human spaceflight and put John Glenn in orbit). Nevertheless, as the title implies, their contribution was hindered because, at the time, racial segregation was still a rampant scourge.
I have a sweet spot for movies about the space race, so take this with a grain of salt, but it was a heartwarming and fascinating movie. And for that, it won this month's recommendation slot. :)
All the rest
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning (2023). I had to complete my M:I marathon (waiting for the last one to be available). Honestly, not great. But let's see how it will end.
Captain America: Brave New World (2025). There are a lot of good intentions but... I didn't get it. It also features one of the worst CGI scenery in the MCU.
Gifted (2017). A nice movie about a single man raising his child prodigy niece and a psychotic "grandma". It is worth a shot.
The Hustler (1961). A Paul Newman classic that I didn't like. (I actually liked the beginning and the end a lot, but the middle was painful.)
A Real Pain (2024). The Jesse Eisenberg movie that won Kieran Culkin an Academy Award (well deserved). It was nice. Really nice. But it didn't particularly vibe with me.
The Accountant (2016) and The Accountant² (2025). Weird movies. The first one had some interesting points; the second one is just confusing.
Pawn Sacrifice (2014). A biopic about the descent into madness of Bobby Fischer (Tobey Maguire) and, in particular, about the Chess World Championship of 1972. It got a powerful, complete, "more than okay" score from me. But no more.
The Worst Person in the World (2021). This is an incredibly acclaimed Norwegian movie, but I really hated every minute of it. I found it totally bland, uninspired and cringe. It happens, I guess.
Music
Despite the improved month, I am not back to my usual music rhythm. I listened to some new albums, in particular the new Phantom Island by King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. As usual for the group, they bent style, this time approaching some "Big Band" sounds. But I have only listened to it once—not enough for a good review.
What did I listen to then? Mostly radio and web radios. There are two big web radios that I recommend: Soma.fm and Radio Paradise. If you don't know what to listen to, and you want some particular mood, go to one of those two websites, and a never-ending stream of delightful music will welcome you.
But if you feel more adventurous, you can check out Radio Garden. This is not a web radio, but it is a map that you can spin around and check local radios around the world. It is a fascinating window into other countries via the magic of public radio. You can listen to popular music around the world, you can practice new languages, you can just pick at random and have a unique experience.
This is how I discovered one of my favorite radios ever: Shonan Beach FM 78.9. It is a radio from Shonan Beach, a beach near Tokyo. It airs jazz, soul, and easy listening. Given the time zone, I listen to the night programs: 90% music with some Japanese commercials from time to time.
Don't ask me why, but it instantly puts me in a focused and chill mood.
What will be your new favorite radio around the world?
Gaming
Not a lot of things to signal here, other than we got a Switch 2, of course. I played a bit with Super Mario Kart World but not as much as I would like (I have been quite busy this month).
Other Interesting Things
Nothing to see here this time. I have read many interesting things... the problem is that I forgot to take note of them. 🤦♂️
Conclusions
The scorching weather arrived quite early this year and, therefore, I am already in summer goblin mode. I have no plans for July. As I said before, it is impossible for me to plan anything further in the future than next week. So I'll go on day by day, trying to make the best of them. And we'll see where I go.
Not the best strategy, I know, but the best I can manage to do.
See you next month.