It bothers me that writers can’t create audiences on their own websites, with their own archives, and their own formats. And they certainly can’t get paid in the process. (Although yes, there are exceptions).

~ Robin Rendle, on newsletters and websites.

I love this argument for many reasons (not to mention the visual layout). A similar thought process is what lead me here, to micro.blog.

I’m letting Beastie Boys' “Johnny Ryall” set the mood for today. 🎵

It is time to take it offline.
It is time to live for yourself.
To create without the eyes of others
And to create without the voices of those
who do not create.
Make things messy
And make messy things.

I’m letting Courtney Barnett’s “Rae Street” set the mood for the day. 🎵

Hidden in the folds of the big man
Hidden in the folds of fat
Are the things he longs to be.
Welcome, accepted, included,
and treated like another person.
Hidden in the folds of the big man
Hidden in the folds of his fat
Are the secrets he longs to shed.
Depression, self-hatred, and
self-confidence waning with time.

We grow mostly genetically modified corn on nearly a quarter of our farmland to feed cruelly confined animals not meant to live on it, so that there is a seemingly endless supply of meat in the supermarket, inefficiency be damned. That isn’t abundance; it’s a lie.

~ Alicia Kennedy, “On Abundance”

Finished reading: Heart And Seoul by Jen Frederick 📚

The main character’s story, of returning to Korea for the first time, surfaced so many of my own memories of Korea. But as the story progressed it became increasingly unrealistic, filled with drama for the sake of drama.

Watched The Green Knight (2021) 🎥

One of the most visually beautiful movies I’ve seen, which helped by giving me something to appreciate when the story slowed. It’s a slow-burn which isn’t necessarily bad. I went in expecting an action-adventure, which isn’t what I saw.

Watched The Chair (2021), season 1. 📺

A good overall mix of drama and comedy. Love Sandra Oh’s performance, and many others' (Holland Taylor was execllent) as well. I didn’t really like the ending of the season*; I hate seeing selfish entitlement carry on.

*I should have added a “spoiler alert” here but “selfish entitlement carrying on” isn’t necessarily a spoiler in our world, yeah?

Watched The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021) 🎥

More styled violence, great stunts, sarcastic humor… just really fun. Salma Hayek has some great roles and this one is probably my favorite.

I love everything MayTree does. 🎵

Watched: The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) 🎥

I didn’t realize that The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021) was a sequel until last night, when my wife asked me if I had seen The Hitman’s Bodyguard (2017) as I was queing up the former to watch. I don’t pay a lot of attention to movies and movie releases so it’s no suprise that I was unaware. I’ve come to appreciate the Ryan Reynolds mix of sarcastic humor with stylized action, and really liked the movie. Ready for the sequel now.

The tank is empty because
I used cheap and convenient fuel
Rather than be intentional.
Rather than choosing meaningfully
The tank is empty because I filled it
with filler.
Not with purpose.
Filled for the sake of being filled.

Someone once said that music is what happens between
the notes.
Is a story what happens between the words,
in the empty spaces
The gaps that we try to fill
with our own assumptions and knowledge
So that we can understand
So that we can no longer fear.
Gaps we fill to fool ourselves.
Rather than simply letting those gaps
exist.

So exited that my copy of AG23: Issue 2 arrived. Like issue 1, it’s well laid out, and the contributions look wonderful.

Finished reading: Days of Distraction: A Novel by Alexandra Chang 📚

I liked that the aurthor used many different layers to say many different things, talking about everything from relationships (with partners, family, friends, coworkers) to race, and much more. An interesting read.

Is pressing, double tapping, to “like” something,
Is that meaningful to you?
What are you saying, what are you communicating?
How is that making your experience better?
Is replying to a comment by “liking” that comment
meaningful to you?
Meaningful to them?
What are you saying, what are you communicating?
Is any of it worth it to you?

What one carries from one point to another, geographically or temporally, is one’s self. Even the most inconsistent person is consistently himself.

-Yiyun Li, Dear Friend, from My Life I write to You in Your Life

The destroyer offers you a raft.
It’s a military cargo plane.
640 people sit shoulder to shoulder
in its hold.
No possessions, no plan, no country,
no home.
No safety net.
and treated as Other.

Written after seeing this tweet and photo

August 17, 2021

What you hold in your hand What you hold in your head Requires different legvels of effort different energy. What you make in your head What you create in your hands Requires different levels of effort different energy. Where is that energy that level of effort Better spent

August 16, 2021

The morning looks hazy, the only sun breaking through shows shades of orange. Fires. Smoke. Wind. carryting the trauma to here, to the valley where is sits. It’s not unlike reading, doom scrolling, social media. Ingesting the strife, unhappiness, and trama seen through the eyes of many, of strangers. That mess sits with you, carried to you by a platform, and settling in your valley Making it hard to breathe. Hard to see. Hard to think. Hard to see.

Uh, I’m going to need my typewriter table back, please? 📷

Finished reading: World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain 📚

I read this as a ebook, via my local library, and though it was intriguing and fascinating, I kept thinking that this is a book meant to be read as a hardcover, in your hands, so you can jump around to the different places as you wanted, when you wanted.

An absolute standing ovation from me for the movie CODA (2021) It’s proof that you don’t have to recycle stories but, tell the stories of people who aren’t normally featured in stories. Diversity and inclusion in art is absolutely meaningful. 🎥

I watched the first couple episodes of Mr. Corman and I’m finding it very intriguing. One thing that it gets really right is conveying the tension and anxiety with its sound design. I’m not sure where the rest of the season is headed but appreciate that it’s representing people who face anxiety issues, and how they have to cope with them. 📺