D&F 2-8-21
It’s a new month, and I’m getting back into Survivor a bit. I blame this fully on my friend Christine, who recently dove deep into Cagayan. As awful as so much of Survivor looks, the idea of hanging out with friends in a tent without masks seems kind of amazing.
When I’m not watching TV, I’ve been riding my bike indoors on a new trainer. It’s so much easier to ride longer distances without worrying about stop signs, cars, or getting home again, and I’m trying to pace myself and build endurance instead of just letting my excitement leave me with shredded legs. More on this to come on my blog.
Don’t expect me to fall down a mountain gracefully on a bike ever though:
Further afield, I’m traveling through space with an AI version of Richard Feynman in the Jenny Casey series by Elizabeth Bear. The covers are silly, but the book is a timely reminder that even AI won’t save us from climate change without a worldwide commitment to protecting the environment. Don’t worry though, it’s not all gloom—there are space ships and a powerful Canadian space program.
I love this quote from Hayao Miyazaki when ambushed to ask him about a popular anime:
I’m a retired old man picking up trash.
Let’s all aim for that level of community involvement and anti-ego. If picking up trash isn’t your thing, maybe try doing nothing instead. There’s a strong case for the failure of capitalism and hustle culture to add any real value to our lives, and I personally feel that we could all do with a bit more idle time and a little less productivity. Cranking out value and disruption is a great way to transform into a human version of the stonks meme. As AHP pointed-out in her latest newsletter, there’s diminishing returns in productivity culture.
Maybe we should just dance more:
In a similar theme I love how chill Bandcamp is, especially in comparison to the Rogan monster of Spotify. I’ve amassed a small collection of mostly punk and metal records and enjoy seeing some of my DJ friends like Dan and Wonja constantly seek out rad new electronic music.
I can’t believe it’s been twenty years since this came out: https://mirah.bandcamp.com/album/you-think-its-like-this-but-really-its-like-this-20th-anniversary-reissue
I remember seeing Mirah play behind a coffee and art building in East Austin back then, and feeling so lucky to enjoy her music outside in the sun. Bless queer musicians. Mirah was part of the K Records scene in Olympia that made that city almost mythical for me as a youth. Later, I would hang out in the building K Records started in, and get naked on the roof. I recommend getting naked on the roof sometimes, especially if there’s a hot tub.
Until we can all nakedly hot tub again, let’s fill our hearts with jokes.
Links
I love this cat:
Closing
This week also marked the passing of a founder of the PC Music movement, and fascinating woman. RIP Sophie.
It’s tough to lose people, but for me at least it’s a reminder to keep living life and enjoying every moon rise and sunset. Sunrises don’t exist for this lady, because I will never wake up that early willingly. It’s gorgeous outside this weekend in the Bay Area, and I hope even if there’s a great deal of snow outside your door, you can open it for a bit and breathe. Thanks for reading this newsletter! Knowing folks read this and find it fun helps me mark the weeks. Since I’ve been off Twitter for around a month, it’s nice to get to share my goofy thoughts with y’all instead.
See you next week! Keep exploring, keep dreaming, and keep fighting, space cowgirls~