Kind of making it, kinda
I window-shop cars a lot. Too much, honestly. Lately, that window shopping has escalated to outright attempting to buy a used car a few times. Let me tell you, friend. Looking at specs and photos of cars, thinking of what could be, is infinitely more fun than the dozen-odd steps necessary to coordinate, negotiate, and “paperwork” the purchase of a car. On the other hand, by getting off the lease treadmill and buying this car, I won’t have to deal with car salespeople for quite some time. Trade-offs!
I’m Adam Keys and this is a bunch of things I’m enthusiastic about. If you’re wondering how you got here or realizing you’re just not into the things I’m enthusiastic about anymore, there’s an unsubscribe link at the bottom if you feel like it’s time.
But first, here’s a real dinger of a sunset from September 6th:
We watched the documentary Class Action Park about a wild amusement/water park and its place in New Jersey folklore. If you’ve ever been to Schlitterbahn in Texas, you probably get the idea. But, you’d be missing out on the whole “Lord of the Flies” element of the place being run by children and (and one ill-mannered man). It’s not as much of a schadenfreude watch as the Fyre Festival documentaries, but it does hit a lot of the same “how was this a reality?” sort of notes. This one hits the balance point between delight and substance.
Lovecraft Country is the latest HBO adaptation set in a world like our own (because of racial injustice) but unlike ours because the monsters are both eldritch horrors and people. It’s set in segregationist America, but with a helping of evil wizardry and spooky monsters. I’m not going to do justice to it here. If you like Jordan Peele (executive producer), horror, or enjoyed Watchmen last year, this may be your jam. Tons of substance, not much delight, but a great balance of mystery boxes and payout.
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, Ted Lasso is the phenomenon we need right now. Jason Sudeikis plays the pants off an American football (oblong) coach somehow roped into coaching an English football (spheroid) team. You’d think it’s a straight-forward fish-out-of-water genre thing, but there’s more to it than that. The title character has a wholesome, relentless optimism to him that is a nice counterpoint to the world we live in right now. Highly recommended. All delight, just enough substance.
Moving on to solid reads, the hypothesis of Squad wealth is that your favorite group chat could become an organizing economic principle sooner than you think. The new corporation is several people who share some activity, idea, or memes with you. This may as well be science fiction, from my middle-aged, lived perspective. I can believe this sort of thing could come to fruition. There’s also so much coded language it feels equally likely to be a ruse. Despite all that, it’s an intriguing idea and I hope notable instances arise in the near future.
The idea in Black Death, COVID, and Why We Keep Telling the Myth of a Renaissance Golden Age and Bad Middle Ages is you may not have wanted to live in the renaissance (life was still fairly short/brutish), but we may also experience a new kind of age after the pandemic passes. Worth the read if, like me, your last rigorous education on this era was high school world history (thanks Mrs. Haines!) and you need a refresher/update on the material.
Well, we kind of made it through summer. As I wrap this up, it is rainy and 59F in Austin. Let’s hope for the best this fall. I hope it treats you kindly!