The ChangeLog – May 2025
I wrote a quite long introduction but then I deleted it. I don't like to repeat myself and, to be honest, I don't think I have anything of value to say. Therefore, why waste everybody's time? Let's cut to the chase and move to the important tasks.
Housekeeping
Another month with no inner spark and, therefore, nothing to announce in this section.
Reading
During May, I found some rhythm and finished reading two books. This is not yet my best pace, but it is (finally) an improvement. These two books are somewhat related; they are both history books covering the period between 140 and 190 CE and they were both released at the end of 2024.
Pox Romana by Colin Elliott. The Antonine Plague of the 2nd century BC was one of the first "global" pandemics. It ravaged the Roman Empire, and we even have evidence of it spreading in the Han Chinese Empire. Yet, we know very little about it. We don't know what pathogen caused it (probably an early version of the poxvirus), we don't know the mortality rate, nor when it really ended. This book is an incredibly detailed investigation of the period. It is full of graphs tracking population decline, military salaries, wheat production, and the state of the finances of the Roman Empire. We know little, yes, but it is incredible how much we can infer from archaeological data.
Marcus Aurelius: The Stoic Emperor by Donald J. Robertson. Amid that pandemic, Marcus Aurelius was the ruling emperor. This book is a biography written by Donald Robertson, and I would never stop saying this: Robertson is a brilliant writer. He can bring every scene of the ancient world to life with a mixture of academic and "poetic" writing. This book added very little to my knowledge of the character, but I loved every page of it.
Watchlist
A Complete Unknown (2024)
I'll be upfront: I am totally biased because Bob Dylan is one of my favorite songwriters and, by all metrics, my most-listened-to artist ever. I also know a lot of details about his life, having read a couple of biographies, and I know you could take any decade of Dylan's life and make a movie out of it. A Complete Unknown focuses on the origins and the so-called Electric Dylan Controversy: that is, how Dylan abandoned his roots as a folk singer and embraced "modernity" in the form of electric instruments, culminating in a revolt at the Newport Folk Festival and the crowd screaming "Judas!" during the London tour at the Royal Albert Hall (this last event was omitted in the movie).
Therefore, yes, I am biased, and I don't know how non-fans can endure this movie. I think it was really good, and I spent most of the time singing along. I am also really glad that Timothée Chalamet is less "Timothée Chalamet" than usual and disappears into the character after a while.
I had to wait (because I don't enjoy dubbed movies and, moreover, the Italian adaptation has some really blatant translation mistakes), but it was worth it.
Crimson Tide (1995)
Like I did last year, in 2025 I am focusing on the movies I missed from years ending in 5 (1945, 1955, 1965, and so on). For some reason, I never watched Crimson Tide, even though I know it is quite a famous movie.
Anyway, it is a spectacular film. One of those movies with a timeless vibe. You have Denzel Washington in his prime, a fantastic Gene Hackman, and a simple philosophy: crank the tension level to 110% from 10 minutes in and never let it go until the very end. You cannot go wrong with it.
All The Rest
Top Gun (1986). I rewatched it because I plan to watch Maverik soon. To be fair, I find it 95% 80s vibes and 5% Tom Cruise laughing for no reasons. Not my favorite movie.
Roma Città Aperta (1945). Not only is a beautiful movie. It is shocking that it is an anti-fascist movie written in 1945 before the end of the war.
Mission: Impossible (1996), Mission: Impossible 2 (2000), Mission: Impossible 3 (2006), Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011), Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015), Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018). After getting on par with the Fast and Furious franchise (and burning my brain) I thought it was a good time to catch up with the Mission: Impossible one. The first two are the only ones I already watched before. The first is awesome, the second is a big meh. Therefore, I was a bit scared but I have to say that chapter 4, 5 and 6 are really a fun to watch with some unbelievable stunt and action sequence. I am hoping to complete this marathon next month.
Music
Once again, I was too emotionally muffled to have any interesting music exploration. I simply listened to some web-radio and random playlists. Nothing of value for this space.
Gaming
I didn't want to buy new games this month. I feared I could not really enjoy them and I had little cash to spare. Nevertheless, everybody talked about how great this game is. One time. Two times. Three times. Like in the Blue Prince case, I caved and decided to try it.
Claire Obscure: Expedition 33 is a turn-based RPG with some "time-action" elements. It is highly reminding of Final Fantasy both in the genre (of course) that in the whimsical nature of the world-building and the enemies.
Is it great as they say? If I have to focus on the gameplay, the answer is straightforward: no. It is fine. More than fine, even. But the game mechanics are quite repetitive and uninspired. There is very little depth in the builds of the characters (maybe on a harder difficulty setting they may have a role, but for the normal setting, skills and attribute allocations are almost useless). And I don't even like it from a visual point of view.
Still, I think it is a great game worth playing, competing for the best of 2025 spot. For once, it is not too long. But most importantly, it has something. The story is great, and it is narrated at the right pace and with the perfect characters cast. I really should not spoil you anything because the unfolding of the story is simply wonderful. It is one of those things that makes me think, "damn, I wish I wrote something like this."
Other Interesting Things
📝 Pixels in Islamic Art: Square Kufic Calligraphy. I enjoy writing systems more than a sane person should. Among them, Kufic Calligraphy always fascinated me. It is a human writing system, but it can be used very artistically. When you see at square Kufic calligraphy, it is even more amazing. It looks like a human-readable QR-code.
Conclusions
And with this, another short edition comes to an end. It is getting hot and hopefully we will get a bit more "sweet summer evenings" before going into the "suffocating humid summer nights."
See you next month. Hopefully, with more enthusiasm than the last couple of months.