justing.net/now

What I'm up to this week

2024-10-02T19:45:00-07:00

Note, I’m thinking about how to shuffle some of this into week notes instead of here. Expect some disruption in the next month or two.

What I’m reading

Nexus by Harari
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie. Thoroughly enjoyed this; ripped through it in just a few days. Warning: Spoilers. I really enjoyed the defaulting of gender pronouns to the feminine, it was an excellent way to converse with the reader outside the text. While I think the AI relationship was both central and also minor to the story, it also served as a great examination of those implications without feeling heavy handed or even directly the topic. It was great. It seemed like all the technical pieces where there for resurrections, but apparently in this world death is final. For a while I suspected that One Esk’s body’s original person might come out or be revealed to be a silent passenger or co-occupant of the body. But I think that was all just demonstrating the unreliability of the narrator. I would like to know which literary story this one speaks to or parallels. And, are the Radch approximately Rome? And the monotheistic V-something people (sorry the book is not in front of me at the moment) are approximately Christians or other Abrahamic religion? I didn’t really follow why they were brought up specifically, or if those additional details were just for interest and not for additional subtext.
The Judgement, a short story by Franz Kafka The eff did I just read?

What I’m doing

Keeping up the running.
Backpacking and road tripping this weekend.

What I’m listening to

Panic World S1E2 and S1E3. I’ll comment on each in the weeknotes.

What I’m eating

Pizza over the weekend.

What I’m watching

Maigomika. The ramen noodle machine episode. Neat.

What I’m playing

Took the week off to read.

To Reply: Email me your Ancillary Justice takes.

What I'm up to this week

2024-09-25T07:30:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Nexus by Harari.
I’ve found the key ideas quite interesting so far.
Ancillary Justice by Leckie

What I’m doing

Running, baking, cooking, resting. I’ve been eating more veggie meals lately, which I am happy about.

What I’m listening to

Some classical.

What I’m eating

Focaccia de Cristal (YT) / recipe. And made rosemary tomato sandwiches, there are still a few tomatoes coming in.
Redemption ice cream.
Swedish lentil balls. I’ll add a bit of onion to the gravy next time, but overall very good.
Melissa Clark’s cauliflower shawarma is excellent. I chose the Aleppo pepper variant of the tahini sauce. Lavash wraps are too weak to hold it up. Overall the recipe is easy-peasy and delicious. Barely more work than just roasting cauliflower solo.

What I’m watching

Apollo 13: Survival, a documentary made with archive footage. I thought it was good.
Martijn Doolaard.
Prague ‘24 women’s bouldering final (YT).
Really enjoyed these penguins, and these.

What I’m playing

NMS. Everyday I be finishing fishing.

Background

No need to include this section, so I’m dropping it after this edition.

Things I am doing off and on.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

To Reply: Email me your favorite cozy yt recs.

What I'm doing Now

2024-09-18T12:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Read the Duty and Education chapters of The Syntopicon. Education is interesting because it’s the first topic that isn’t a directly addressed in the books. It’s discussed, but like at a boundary layer, or an application of Stokes’ theorem, to the problem of understanding what is good education.
Started reading Nexus by Harari. Reading it with a friend. Looking forward to the conversations.

What I’m doing

Running.
Hiking. But I’ll talk about that later.
Blogging.

What I’m listening to

Ezra Klein podcast about the debate.
Ezra Klein podcast with Zadie Smith / transcript. So the weird thing is that her new book is about the Tichborne case, which is also the topic of one of the short stories I recently read by Borges.
Search engine podcast about a documentary about The Sopranos. That sort of undersells it.
Discarded Shadows by Tudor Acid. I really liked this.
Awakening by Àbáse. Jazzy jazz.

What I’m cooking

The already discussed risotto rosso.
Bread.
Big ol’ pot of spaghetti. Always excellent.
Vanilla ice cream.
Mushroom barley soup. Dang this was good.

What I’m watching

Pokémon Mewtwo Strikes Back - Evolution
My first Pokémon anything. In my defense, we were child sitting.
Finished Reservation Dogs. A+, all 3 seasons.
Maigomika, the typhoon episode.
Some Cesar Millan cozy tv.

Bringing these back online slowly.

Ripper Street, series on Hulu. In progress.
Severance, Apple+. In progress.
The Bear, on Hulu. Finished season one.

What I’m playing

NMS. Gone fishing.

Background

Things I am doing off and on.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

To Reply: Email me your best good listens this week.

Update to the Now page

2024-09-11T07:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

I read the short book Kissa by Kissa by Craig Mod. After finishing it, I want to make pizza toast and go to Japan.

I read Borges’ A Short History of Iniquity, the first part of the Complete Fictions collection. It is also short, only 64 pages. The first half has to be a setup, much of it is so tame and straightforward. The second half gets going and it feels like your mind is melting a little as the reader (me) is lead to all the bizarre and fantastical ends. I want to go back and see if there are secrets in the first stories that my antenna just wasn’t tuned in to yet.

I also perused the Early Writings in Borges’ Selected Non-fictions. And by perused I mean I read them. They are similarly excellent and also short, 41 pages.

When I finish that, I’m not sure what I’ll read next. Maybe I’ll know by Wednesday.

I’ll read some more of Syntopicon.

What I’m doing

Ugh, running.

Also new notebook week.

What I’m listening to

Music, podcasts, other.

Martin Stürtzer (YT) Ambient Concert 65 (BC). Martin announced that he is posting these concerts on Bandcamp. This is one I really enjoyed, so I’ll probably pick it up on the next Bandcamp Friday.
The Rosen Corporation, another ambient set that I really liked.
Study with Gandalf?

What I’m cooking

Those chickpea salad sandwiches I mentioned last week. Note substitutions: yogurt -> Kewpie mayo, and added some celery. Vegetarian ramen. Tomato risotto, but I’ll mention more about that later. Bittman mushrooms, or bistro mushrooms, or whatever you want to call them.

What I’m watching

NASA livestream for Starliner landing. Glad it made it back safely!
Part of the Polaris Dawn launch. Sadly the launch itself was too late in the night.
Sam and Victor go to Onomichi. It’s another one of my no or almost no talking videos. Is there a proper name for that genre?
More Archive64 plays TotK.
Martijn Doolaard.
Maigomika
Imamu, new content alert.

Bringing these back online slowly.

Ripper Street, series on Hulu. In progress.
Severance, Apple+. In progress.
The Bear, on Hulu. Finished season one.
One more episode to go on Reservation Dogs.

What I’m playing

NMS. On the hunt for a good freighter. And some good fish.

Background

Things I am doing off and on.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

To Reply: Email me your best YT live stream electronic music videos.

Latest Now Page Updates

2024-09-04T08:00:00-07:00

This week I am capturing some running notes throughout. It means there will be more words here.

What I’m reading

On Looking by Horowitz. Finished it. Good, lots of usable notes to be extracted. Many thoughts inspired by it. Expect to see a reading note sometime soon (ish).

What to read next? I have quite the large backlog, a lot of overhang to choose from. Maybe Borges. Maybe Alexie. I read the beginning of Kissa by Kissa, and by beginning I mean the first half. Or something really different for me: The Historian by Kostova.

I’ll finish the Craig Mod book and then read some Borges, I think.

What I’m doing

Continuing to get my regular running back on.

What I’m listening to

Ezra Klein and Jia Tolentino (also transcript^a). I have a few reactions, but probably the strongest was to the idea that we use our personal pocket internet engines (phones) as an escape from some aspect of reality, but the device is a prison/panopticon. And we must escape from its clutches back out into the real world for respite.

Ezra Klein and Harris’s DNC speech. It was politics and stuff.

What I’m cooking

Lots of good vegetarian grub. Swedish meatballs. Chickpea salad sandwich. Pesto beans again, and a Manresa Bread baguette. Rarely, some meat inclusive dishes too.

What I’m watching

Olympics
- Last of the surfing.
- Dinghy racing, aka laser. I did not know this was included. Also seems like the whole sport is almost capsizing. Or coming within centimeters of other boats.
YouTube
- TVR exploring.
- Any Austin, GTA4 Power Grid. Genius.
- Paintings by Dusan.
- Martin Stürtzer.
- Alvin Cooks Cookies. These look amazing.
- Archive64’s TotK play through
- Martijn Doolaard.
- Maigomika
- Imamu, new content alert.
- Latest updates on Iceland volcano eruptions from Shawn Wilsey.

Bringing these back online slowly.

Ripper Street, series on Hulu. In progress.
Severance, Apple+. In progress.
The Bear, on Hulu. Finished season one.
One more episode to go on Reservation Dogs.

What I’m playing

NMS. On the hunt for a good freighter.

Starting to think it’s my turn to play TotK.

NMS. Scratch that, new fishing expedition just dropped. What?!

Background

Things I am doing off and on.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

To Reply: Email me your slow long form yt channels with minimal talking.

Latest New Now

2024-08-28T09:30:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Reading On Looking by Horowitz. I’m kind of ambivalent about this book at the moment. It should be one that I am interested in. Noticing more is my jam. Seeing the unnoticed ordinary things that aren’t that boring, to me at least, is one of the things I do a lot of. Paying attention. Looking. So, I keep reading.

What I’m doing

Running.
Writing.
Blogging. Well, I call it that. Updating this site. Preparing for a month of updates.

What I’m listening to

Ezra Klein, ‘24 election stuff. Interesting but fine. Relevant and important, I guess.
Mark Maron, a couple of comics relive the past. dnf.

What I’m cooking

pizza
sushi party
salt potatoes.

What I’m watching

Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series. I think I am seeking more content like this. Long takes. Minimal talking. Unflashy. Other parts of the world. Asia, or Africa, or the Middle East would be cool. Something that just shows how a thing is done. Maybe his content is unique. Use the link below to email me if you have a suggestion.
Maigomika, dog birthday episode. Some of those houses are sooo run down. That one has a courtyard, which is cool af. But it only has it as long as the surrounding building stands up.
Imamu, new content alert. Ordinary cooking, and I love it!
Olympics (yes, I know they’re over) Track and Field, and more Surfing. Look, it’s pretty chill, okay?

Bringing these back online slowly.

Ripper Street, series on Hulu. In progress.
Severance, Apple+. In progress.
The Bear, on Hulu. Finished season one.
One more episode to go on Reservation Dogs.

What I’m playing

NMS. On the hunt for a good freighter.

Starting to think it’s my turn to play TotK.

Background

Things I am doing off and on.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

To Reply: Email me your slow long form yt channels with minimal talking.

Update to Now

2024-08-22T13:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Reading On Looking by Horowitz.

Finished The Log from the Sea of Cortez by Steinbeck. Often insightful.

What I’m doing

Running.
Photography.
Writing.

What I’m listening to

Ezra Klein on Fracking Attention, very intersting and good. Prefer Human Flourishing to attention hijacking. Also, “market logic takes over everything.”
Mark Maron: Moon Zappa (it was ok), RIP Bob Newhard (it was good).
State Azure’s Artemis Station, a lot of pads.
Supergiant Wind Chimes, I doubt these are really real. But there nice. Like the storm people, I think those aren’t really real either. They’re some remix of real recordings.

What I’m cooking

Baguettes. First time getting into making this bread.
Raspberry Syrup. Passionfruit syrup (since a friend has a bush).
Mocktails, -ish. More flirting with it. This week it was Italian soda.

What I’m watching

Archive64’s TotK playthrough, YT playlist
Empty Waymo Parking lot LoFi, SLYT. I list it here instead of under listening because I was hoping for more than just an empty parking lot.

Bringing these back online slowly.

Ripper Street, series on Hulu. In progress.
Severance, Apple+. In progress.
The Bear, on Hulu. Finished season one.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
One more episode to go on Reservation Dogs.

What I’m playing

NMS. Finished up the current expedition. Looking forward to Worlds Part II soon.

Background

Things I am doing off and on.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

To Reply: Email me if you wanna.

New Now Update

2024-08-07T21:00:00-07:00

Getting back into running after a kind of spotty habit since late spring.

What I’m reading

Continuing to enjoy reading The Log from the Sea of Cortez by Steinbeck. Got that tip that his Travels with Charlie might be similar and worth a look.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

As I mentioned before, running is being restarted. I continue to be disinterested in listening to music, so I’ve been running without earbuds. It might be better. More space to think, more meditative at my own pace. I mean, listening music is already a meditative activity, right? Adjacent, anyway.

What I’m listening to

Mark Maron’s WTF #1558: Finished this episode. It was good throughout.
Mark Maron’s WTF #1559 continues to be good.
YT Wind Chimes Sound Bath

What I’m cooking

Loaf of bread for tomato sandos.
Potato frittata
Focaccia, related¹

What I’m watching

Olympics: Surfing. Climbing has started. Diving. Table Tennis, Volleyball. Oh yeah, the less popular field sports: discus, long jump, hammer throw. There should be a “best yell” category of peanut gallery judging.

On hold while watching the Olympics

Ripper Street, series on Hulu. In progress.
Severance, Apple+. In progress.
The Bear, on Hulu. Finished season one.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
One more episode to go on Reservation Dogs.

What I’m playing

NMS. I kinda think this game is hiding so much under the surface. It’s like a real life simulator simulator? Obviously more fun and mixed up than that. If I wanted that, there is like Long Haul Trucker or whatever.

I really question some people’s decision making skills these days. Using the internet has gotten considerably less pleasant: popovers that pop just when I get into reading a sentence, animated preview (I’m looking at you YT), color changing or zooming images (this link right here). Can you all just be normal and static and un-distracting so I can focus, please? ↑

To Reply: Email me KSC tips.

Updated Now

2024-08-01T14:00:00-07:00

Mostly-mostly over Covid. Yay!

What I’m reading

Fully switched over to The Log from the Sea of Cortez. Really enjoying it, mostly.

I would be very interested to find a more recent book that is similar to its form, but doesn’t have to be an exact replica. The base skeleton is the expedition-adventure in the title, but there are so many diversions about observations of humanity, philosophy, psychology, about anything, really. Maybe it is the quality of Steinbeck’s observations that are drawing me in; I want that but updated for today’s world and sensibilities.

As is usual with really good writing, I am inspired to try and write some of my own. It does seem kind of impossible though.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Getting back into the swing of things post Covid. Going running tonight.

What I’m listening to

What’s interesting is that I am not presently attracted to listening to ‘unnatural’ sounds right now. And that includes music. It’s kind of a weird spell. I might have something to do with covid? That might just be magical thinking.

Mark Maron’s WFT #1558: Feh. Dang, it hits.
Silent Fields YT channel has some great long storm ambiences. I hope they’re legit/based, but it is unknowable. Well maybe individually knowable, but all the other things that make you ask if it’s really the truth, the flux of such things is just beyond the capacity of any one person today. Has been that way for a while, maybe always has been.

What I’m cooking

Still reconstituting the process.

Dal and rice (but a little too much oil in the rice, oops).
Lots of fresh tomatoes from the garden.

Went out to a local Korean place, and it was very good. The menu was small, but what we had from it was good enough for us.

What I’m watching

Olympics. Have been enjoying surfing. Can’t wait for climbing.
Ripper Street, series on Hulu. In progress.
Severance, Apple+. In progress.
The Bear, on Hulu. Finished season one.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
One more episode to go on Reservation Dogs.

Finished or all caught up

TdF finished.
Glow, on Netflix. Finished it, it was good. Realized that one of the actors in the show is the podcaster above and in Reservation Dogs.
What we do in the Shadows, on Hulu. Been caught up for a while, but forgot to update here.

What I’m playing

To Reply: Email me about good books.

Updated Now

2024-07-21T07:00:00-07:00

Covid sucks. This is published on an off-nominal day to get something up, to get things restarted again.

What I’m reading

Well, this is a bust. Almost no reading since last update. Considering abandoning Beagle and resetting. Did manage to read a little Syntopicon.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Surviving Covid.

What I’m listening to

N/A.

What I’m cooking

Almost nothing these last couple of weeks, bc Covid.

A loaf of bread
Oven Roasted Corn with herb butter nyt
Hamburger soup nyt
Oven roasted broccoli

What I’m watching

A lot of binge watching this week while fighting with covid for the first time.

Tour de France live, and highlights.
The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. Unexpectedly entertaining.
Van Helsing. Over the top bad/good.
Axel F. On point and very funny. Occasionally falters but has a good heart.
Ripper Street, series on Hulu. In progress.
Firefly, series on Hulu. Finished.
Crazy Rich Asians. Fun, ridiculous.
Living With Yourself, series on Netflix. Finished. Weird, funny, unexpectedly serious thoughts at odd times despite the preposterous situation.
Severance, Apple+. In progress.
Master of None, on Netflix. Abandoned.
Glow, on Netflix. Finished it, it was good.

All these were on hold while my wife is away:

What we do in the shadows, on Hulu.
The Bear, on Hulu. This show is very stress/anxiety inducing.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.

What I’m playing

I’ve been having a once a night game night with a friend for the last few months. We’ve been playing Fortnite Save The World, which is fine. Mostly it’s an opportunity for us to catch up and chat. Our options are pretty limited because his system is a PS and mine is an Xbox. We had just started to switch to No Man’s Sky, when a new update dropped, and the update for Xbox is taking longer to come out, so we just co-played at the same time and chatted over Discord this week.

To Reply: Email me your crossplay gaming suggestions.

Updated Now

2024-07-03T22:00:00-07:00

Kind of surprised at how short the list is these last couple of weeks. I think between being emotionally focused elsewhere, and some new projects starting at work, I just have less free bandwidth right now. It’s not really a bad thing.

What I’m reading

Well, this is a bust. Almost no reading this week. Still planning to make progress on Beagle though.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Gardening, mostly. It’s kinda fun. I’ve been caretaking my wife’s plot at the community garden while she’s away. Can’t really claim that much credit: she planted it all. I did some weeding and watering and stuff. Tried to keep up with the basil. But also there is a heat wave. So hopefully we don’t have any problems.

What I’m listening to

New Caravan Palace Album.

What I’m cooking

Kind of minimal cooking. Trying to not introduce unnecessary heat into the house.

What I’m watching

Tour de France live, and highlights.
All of GIFGAS’ yt oeuvre.

All these are on hold while my wife is away:

Glow, on Netflix.
Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. Finished it. I really hope they make more of this.
What we do in the shadows, on Hulu.
The Bear, on Hulu. This show is very stress/anxiety inducing.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.

To Reply: Email me NOW.

Most Up To Date Now Page

2024-06-26T21:15:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin.

Still slow going, but a lot going on.

If a book is tedious to you, don’t read it; that book was not written for you. —Jorge Luis Borges

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Just one plotted work.

What I’m listening to

A few new to me albums. I enjoyed Picture in Picture by Nimo.

What I’m cooking

Baked potato, wedge salad, banana bread. Maybe I’ll make corn chowder this weekend.

What I’m watching

Castlevania, on Netflix. Varying levels of interest here. Sometimes it’s really good.
Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. All caught up, can’t wait for the next one.
Reservation Dogs, on Hulu. Zipping through this, it’s excellent.
Twisted Metal, on Peacock.
Glow, on Netflix.
What we do in the shadows, on Hulu. All caught up, I think.
The Bear, on Hulu. This show is very stress/anxiety inducing.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.
Ramen Japan but usually via YT so it’s a few weeks behind.

To Reply: Email me about what you're up to now.

The Now is Now

2024-06-19T21:30:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin.

Making a little more time for this lately. But it’s not one that really rips. It’s interesting. Maybe I find the casual savagery of specimen collecting to be off putting?

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Pushing forward on three different plotting ideas. But more carefully. Not just motion, but progress. And it’s often slow.
Printed a few photos, and even put one in a frame.
Circling a new rabbit hole. Might fall in, might not.

What I’m listening to

Decoder podcast: about private equity
Album: Kindisch Stories
YT: Carbon Based Lifeforms, Best of Compilation, good stuff here.
YT: Anjunabeats Yearbook 2023, mix 1
YT: Progressive Gems, presented by Anjunadeep, this one is good.

What I’m cooking

Not sure what I’ll be cooking this week, since a wrench has been thrown in the works.

What I’m watching

Castlevania, on Netflix. Varying levels of interest here. Sometimes it’s really good.
Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. All caught up, can’t wait for the next one.
Reservation Dogs, on Hulu. Zipping through this, it’s excellent.
Twisted Metal, on Peacock.
Glow, on Netflix.
What we do in the shadows, on Hulu. All caught up, I think.
The Bear, on Hulu. This show is very stress/anxiety inducing.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.
Ramen Japan but usually via YT so it’s a few weeks behind.

To Reply: Email me about what you're up to now.

Now Now

2024-06-13T07:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin.

It’s odd that I was completely enthusiastic about this book when I first started reading it. Since then I’ve struggled to make time to pick it up. And when I do, I continue to enjoy it. What gives?

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Working on some plotting stuff. Taking it slow and methodical. Working on my process, getting some art out of it too.

What I’m listening to

Ezra Klein on the Republican Party’s Decay. Made sense and matched and extended the resolution of my understanding. I don’t know what happens next.
Search Engine on Google’s AI retrofit. It was fun and funny!
Search Engine on How to survive the media apocalypse (part 2). Seems like we’re definitely going through a massive information flow transformation, started about 20 years ago and is really getting going. That makes sense given that we attached this whole other dimension to our universe: the internet. I’d like to see some coverage of that angle. There are a lot of consequences from our continual contact with this new 5th dimension, this folded and collapsed space, this faceted and filtered panopticon that we carry in our pockets. I haven’t seen a good enumeration of those consequences. It’s like the impact of television, or the printing press: just too huge, too long term, too broad in scope and difficult to disentangle from all the other things that are happening.
Ezra Klein on the Economic Theory that explains why Americans are so mad, this was a depressing and informative listen.

What I’m cooking

Partially only sourdough loafs of bread. Next week it’s all sourdough.
Some good chicken.

What I’m watching

Reservation Dogs, on Hulu. Zipping through this, it’s excellent.
Twisted Metal, on Peacock.
Glow, on Netflix.
Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. New episodes every Thursday until they stop.
What we do in the shadows, on Hulu. All caught up, I think.
The Bear, on Hulu. This show is very stress/anxiety inducing.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.
Ramen Japan but usually via YT so it’s a few weeks behind.

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Late updated Now

2024-06-06T07:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin. I’m happily shocked by how readable this is. I came for the description but I’m staying to be entertained and inspired.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Backpacking in the Gila Wilderness.
Following the energy around Silver City taking photos. It was an unexpectedly interesting town.

What I’m listening to

Ezra Klein interviews Holly Herndon. Very interesting. It’s not generative AI, it’s generic AI. It all comes out “mid”, if I’m using that right. Means median, average, boring. Instead, use the AI tools to make it weird, weirder, weirdest.

What I’m cooking

A few loaves of bread. Two for a couple of friends: one of which was taken to China and made a couple of new fans, and the other consumed immediately. And another loaf went backpacking (below).
It’s pizza week.

Backpacking Loaf

What I’m watching

Glow, on Netflix.
Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. Finished it. I really hope they make more of this.
What we do in the shadows, on Hulu.
The Bear, on Hulu. This show is very stress/anxiety inducing.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.

To Reply: Email me your new Now updates.

Update to Now

2024-05-26T22:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson. Finished reading it. I think there is good data here, and some good observations worth pondering. I’m not sure I agree with his conclusions. It was published 14 years ago, so I have the benefit of having seen how some things have played out.
Some Syntopicon introductions. I’m in the D’s. Democracy, Desire, Dialectic. These are always really interesting to me because there is a lot of different angles and insights. I certainly don’t agree with all of it, and there are some significant areas where our level of understanding has shifted considerably. But the thoroughness of these short introductions to the topics is always thought provoking and educational. Contact with them always enlarges me. That does not sound right.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Simplifying, reorganizing, and reassessing.

Some photography, nature and garden variety.
Started working on my generative art and plotting tools again. Taking a much more mindful approach.

What I’m listening to

Dave-1 and A-Trak DJ sets, these are very good, but “The Brothers Macklovitch” does get a bit tiring.
The Rosen Corporation ambient/Berlin school livestreams.
Anjunadeep Explorations
More Chris Luno

What I’m cooking

Cherry Sorbet
Three loaves of bread
gf pancakes
berry crisp

What I’m watching

Glow, on Netflix.
Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. Finished it. I really hope they make more of this.
What we do in the shadows, on Hulu.
The Bear, on Hulu. This show is very stress/anxiety inducing.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.

To Reply: Email me if you've got a Now page of your own.

Another Regular Now Update

2024-05-20T07:30:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson. I’m still not sure about this. I’d like to just be done with it.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Collected Fictions and Selected Non-fictions by Borges.

What I’m doing

Notes.
Several photographs. While walking, hiking, and riding. And at the beach. I’ve been trying to think more about what I’m doing with these, and to notice the patterns in my collected photographs.
Field recordings.
(bullet-ish) journal; this has really been taking off lately (12/23-05/24). This has been my most successful project so far. Now I am layering on more re-reading of older notes too.

23MAY18SAT, Gate

What I’m cooking

Still lower on the cooking rate, work has been busy.

Grapefruit-ade.

What I’m watching

Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. After episode 8 this really goes very much not a kids show.
What we do in the shadows, on Hulu
The Bear, on Hulu. This show is very stress/anxiety inducing.
NCIS, on Netflix.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.

To Reply: Email me about what you've been into lately.

Update to the Now page

2024-05-12T14:30:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson. I might just survey the rest and not read every word.
How to Live, or A Life of Montaigne by Bakewell. Finished it. Lots of good things in here.

Ongoing reading projects

These are books that I plan to take my time with. Maybe years.

Complete Essays by Montaigne.
The Syntopicon - So dense with ideas.
Basic Economics by Sowell.
Complete Fictions by Borges.

What I’m making

Notes.
Several photos.
Field recordings.
(bullet-ish) journal; this has really been taking off lately (12/23-05/24). This has been my most successful project so far. Now I am laying on more re-reading of older notes too.

What I’m listening to

Podcasts:
- Search Engine May 10, 2024 on facial recognition. “Our faces follow us around the internet” and “we’re all internet famous now”. Welcome to the Gataca/Minority Report future.
- Search Engine March 8, 2024 on those weird scammy text message we all are getting. It’s a pig butchering scam, but it’s also human trafficking. And they are now a sad reminder of just how very unprepared humanity is for the world that we have built for ouselves. And it will continue to get stranger and stranger at a pace that is both too slow to notice but too fast to process or realistically prepare for. We’re going to be more or less off balance for a while more yet.
- The Ezra Klein Show on the Gaza protest. I thought it was very helpful for understanding the current state of things in a more nuanced way. It was timely too, I had just started asking about the campus protests. Kind of a scary moment.

What I’m cooking

Still lower on the cooking rate, work has been busy.

Overnight white bread rounds. So good. After more than ten years of cooking from Flour Water Salt Yeast, I’ve finally selected a favorite/default recipe.
Beef tacos, from scratch. Per Bri’s vid.

What I’m watching

Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. After episode 8 this really goes very much not a kids show.
NCIS, on Netflix.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Maigomika’s updates.

To Reply: Email me about what you've been into lately.

Update to the now page

2024-05-06T20:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

How to Live, or A Life of Montaigne by Bakewell. I’m pretty focused on this one at the moment, at the expense of the others.
Complete Essays by Montaigne. I don’t plan to read this cover to cover, but just pick up an essay now and again.
Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson.
The Syntopicon - reading it is an ongoing project.

What I’m making

Several photos.
Field recordings.
(bullet-ish) journal; this has really been taking off lately (12/23-05/24). This has been my most successful project so far. Now I am laying on more re-reading of older notes too.

What I’m listening to

Podcasts:
- Search Engine interviews Ezra Klein, again. Does he have a book coming out?
- The Ezra Klein Show interviews an editor with an art book.
- WTF Podcast with Mark Maron
Music, sampling of the best listens:
- Chris Luno New Mix
- Martin Stürtzer’s Home Concert 62 was excellent
- Anjunadeep Concert, particularly enjoyed this one

What I’m cooking

Less cooking than usual this week, but still managed to get in some things:

Easy cooking brown rice and asian veggie pancake.
Melissa Clark’s Herby Chicken, via NYT Cooking. This is the second time, and it’s still delicious.
Lentil soup, and GF variation of cornbread muffins

What I’m watching

Reservation Dogs, on Hulu.
Midnight Diner, on Netflix.
Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix. After episode 8 this really goes very much not a kids show.
NCIS, on Netflix.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.

To Reply: Email me about what you've been into lately.

Now double update

2024-04-30T07:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson.
Complete Essays by Montaigne. I don’t plan to read this cover to cover, but just pick up an essay now and again.
How to Live, or A Life of Montaigne by Bakewell. This has been quite engaging so far.
The Syntopicon - reading is ongoing.

What I’m making

(bullet-ish) journal; this has really been taking off lately (12/23-04/24).
Sunset Photos, and others.
Field recordings.

What I’m listening to

Podcasts:
- Search Engine interviews Ezra Klein.
- Ezra Klein interviews an editor with an art book.
Music, sampling of the best listens:
- State Azure long play
- Anjunadeep James Grant and Jody Wisternoff live at the London Roundhouse
- Roger8 Best Album
- New Empire of the sun!
- Remixsample Jam
- Martin Sturtzer Ambient Live Set Part 1 and Part 2

What I’m cooking

Philly Vanilla Ice Cream.
Strawberry Sorbet.
Skillet Pizza.
Preheating the roasting pan is the trick for brocolli, cauliflower, and green beans. Probably also Brussels sprouts and cabbage too.

What I’m watching

Reservation Dogs, on Hulu.
Midnight Diner, on Netflix.
Delicious in Dungeon, on Netflix.
NCIS, on Netflix.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.

To Reply: Email me about what you've been into lately.

Now update

2024-04-14T15:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

How to Live, or A Life of Montaigne by Bakewell.
~~The Year 1000 by Lacey & Danziger~~
Finished: Very interesting!
The Syntopicon - reading is ongoing (I read the chapter on Definition this week).

What I’m making

Collected some new audio files and am reviewing them.
(bullet-ish) journal; this has really been taking off lately (12/23-04/24).

What I’m listening to

Mostly Anjunadeep mixes this week.
A podcasts got played: Ezra Klein partial with the CEO of Anthropic AI. Meh.

What I’m cooking

Boulengerie beans.

What I’m watching

Recently watched The Nightmare Before Christmas and Ponyo. Both were great.
Midnight Diner, Netflix. I thought I had watched this already; it turns out not.
Delicious in Dungeon, Netflix. Cute.
Bad Gear by Audiopilz, YT.
NCIS, from the beginning.
Martijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting, start to finish is on hiatus.

To Reply: Comments by email are welcome.

Now update

2024-04-07T16:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

~~Do Interesting by Russell Davies~~
finished it.
The Year 1000 by Lacey & Danziger. Very interesting!
The Syntopicon - reading is ongoing.

What I’m making

Processing some audio files
(bullet-ish) journal; this has really been taking off lately (12/23-04/24).

What I’m listening to

A lotta YT modular and ambient performances. This is an untapped genre.
Also YT DJ mixes. Like, is this allowed?
A podcasts got played: Ezra Klein with Ethan Mollick.

What I’m cooking

Roasting some brocolli
Daal

What I’m watching

Shawn Willsey’s YT livestreams abou the Iceland Volcano situation.
Midnight Diner, Netflix. I thought I had watched this already; it turns out not.
Delicious in Dungeon, Netflix. Cute.
Bad Gear by Audiopilz, YT.
NCIS, from the beginning.
Marijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting, start to finish is on hiatus.

What I’m enjoying

Looking forward to a big old redwood grove this week.

To Reply: Comments by email are welcome.

Now update

2024-03-31T00:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

~This Night’s Foul Work by Fred Vargas - Love an Adamsberg tale.~ Finished it, it was good.
Neuromancer by William Gibson - rereading it, but closer. Last read was more than a decade ago. It still rips.
Do Interesting by Russell Davies.
The Syntopicon - reading is ongoing.

What I’m making

Working on some audio processing automation scripts. Some parts are going ok, some parts aren’t.
(bullet-ish) journal; this has really been taking off lately (12/23-03/24).

What I’m listening to

A lotta YT modular and ambient performances. This is an untapped genre.
Also YT DJ mixes. Like, is this allowed?
Icelanding volcano sounds. Isak Finnbogason’s Drone Livestream Highlights are excellent for this. I may curate a playlist.
A couple of new podcasts got played: WTF Podcast with Mark Maron which is great and so humane, and If books could kill which promptly demolished a book that I had used as a thought reference for a long long time.

What I’m cooking

Congee.
BLT.
Veg-sausage and Egg Sammies.
Polenta with red sauce, and a side of roasted cabbage with bacon.

What I’m watching

Shawn Willsey’s YT livestreams abou the Iceland Volcano situation.
Midnight Diner, Netflix. I thought I had watched this already; it turns out not.
Delicious in Dungeon, Netflix. Cute.
Bad Gear by Audiopilz, YT.
NCIS, from the beginning.
Marijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting, start to finish is on hiatus.

What I’m enjoying

The silence of yet another power outage.
Some new soft clothes.

To Reply: Comments by email are welcome.

Now update

2024-03-29T00:00:00-07:00

What I’m reading

This Night’s Foul Work by Fred Vargas - Love an Adamsberg tale.
Neuromancer by William Gibson - rereading it, but closer. Last read was more than a decade ago.
The Syntopicon - reading is ongoing.

What I’m watching

Midnight Diner, Netflix. I thought I had watched this already; it turns out not.
Bad Gear by Audiopilz, YT.
Delicious in Dungeon, Netflix. Cute.
NCIS, from the beginning.
Marijn Doolaard’s cabin restoration series (the deal).
Imamu’s Husbento videos.
Bob Ross, The Joy of Painting, start to finish is on hiatus.

What I’m making

(bullet-ish) journal; this has really been taking off lately (12/23-03/24).
writing some stuff here, trying for once a week. I hit twice a week in ‘23 across all my venues. Woohoo!
basics cooking, revisited. Simple stuff, maximized.
Science &/or Engineering, daily.

What I’m enjoying

Doggos.
Some good homemade chow.
Finding new music.

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