d&f 10/9/22
Spooky season continues with horror movies aplenty, and a recovery week from way too much bike riding. I kicked off the month with a rewatch of the classic claustrophobic nightmare of the Descent, and then Cronos, the new Hellraiser, and Significant Other. Horror movies aren’t for everyone, but since (imo) the most horrific thing is how poorly we take care of each other and this planet, the goofiness of these movies is more fun than not. The real scary films are documentaries.
Do you even listen to music anymore, man? Maybe there’s just too much choice. I spend a lot more time listening to podcasts than music these days, but when I do choose music it’s usually on an app like Bandcamp or Albums. I enjoy the way albums flow from start to end, and the choices the artists made about that organization. The times I’ve listened to one song or single feel less special—like I’m trying to capture a mood or take an audio smoke break. When I was younger and could only afford a cd rarely, I got to know albums by heart, but now even when I try to browse my library sometimes the choices mean I just give up and go back to podcasts. I’m more obsessive about listening to new music than most people I know, but lately I’ve tried to rediscover artists like Tortoise or Gang Gang Dance that I had on repeat driving down the highways of Texas. Similar to a movie theater’s ability to force you to pay attention, a jazz bar, or long car trip is an easy way to sink into songs, and without a commute, it’s all too easy to watch a movie or a tv show instead.
Here’s a long essay on the world of palm oil, popularized in every food and also the movie Woman King. The macroeconomics of filling everything we eat with the most profitable flavorless substances is sickly fascinating to me. I don’t think it’s affordable or particularly feasible for everyone to eat the food around them and avoid processed things, but essays like this make me wish even more for the fall of capitalism and a more localized solution to hunger and “each according to their need” economy. I rewatched Avatar last week and as silly as some of it if (looking at you Unobtanium) it really captures the profit at all cost framework that the US and other rich nations thrive on. In the extended edition, the viewer gets a sense of what life on Earth is like while the protagonists are gallivanting on a pristine new world, and it is grim. There’s a bit of gallows humor at the idea that all this murder, burning, and exploitation doesn’t even enrich the folks it’s ostensibly for. At the risk of going on for paragraphs about the failure of the United States to ensure that the basic level of health and housing for our incredibly wealthy country is better than impoverished nations, I will just say it’s horrific and I often wish there were a hell so everyone who got us here could enjoy the fruits of their labor.
If you want to dig in a bit more into the end of capitalism and a greener way of doing things, you might want to pick up this book—I’m not 100% sure when it launches in English but as soon as I can, I’m preordering it.
Sorry for getting so serious there for a minute! Here’s some fun:
Links
- Sometimes I read something I’ve never thought of, and immediately agree:
- I can’t get enough of these delightful little frogs and terrariums:
- Taking care of these damn reptiles is hard work:
Closing
I just keep thinking about those tiny frogs; hopping around without a care in the world. I wonder if I could build a terrarium for tiny animals without Snorri finding a way to devour every single one. Maybe this is a winter project I can explore while we go through another wave of COVID. I hate to bang on about a global pandemic that people are happy to pretend is over, but seriously, fuck. I’m hoping to head abroad a little in the fall or winter, but I’m watching the waves build and wondering how much I would rather just stay home. Are you traveling this year? Visiting family or friends? I miss the world feeling small instead of impossibly huge, but my suspicion, sadly, is that this is just the beginning of a climate change and resource-limited shrinking of possibility.
Ah well.
On the upside, a large Italian man (no, not Mario) has beaten the all-time record for distance traveled on a bicycle in one hour and cool race cars are driving in laps around Suzuka in Japan—so it’s not all bad! I hope you can do better than me at my goal of using bummer news as a catalyst for change and solutions, space cowgirls~