How the Pulp Fiction poster became a dorm room staple.
The first Zoom meeting happened in 1916.
Humanity’s first interstellar transmission turns 50.
Find the net elevation—i.e. the height difference between their birth and death place—of dead people.
Memento Movi is a cinematic progress bar for your life.
A quote about the earth from Orbital by Samantha Harvey:
It’s not peripheral and it’s not the centre; it’s not everything and it’s not nothing, but it seems much more than something. It’s made of rock but appears from here as gleam and ether, a nimble planet that moves three ways—in rotation on its axis, at a tilt on its axis, and around the sun. This planet that’s been relegated out of the centre and into the sidelines—the thing that goes around rather than is gone around, except for by its knobble of moon. This thing that harbours we humans who polish the ever-larger lenses of our telescopes that tell us how ever-smaller we are. And we stand there gaping. And in time we come to see that not only are we on the sidelines of the universe but that it’s of a universe of sidelines, that there is no centre, just a giddy mass of waltzing things, and that perhaps the entirety of our understanding consists of an elaborate and ever-evolving knowledge of our own extraneousness, a bashing away of mankind’s ego by the instruments of scientific enquiry until it is, that ego, a shattered edifice that lets light through.
Excerpts (though you should read the whole thing) from Paul Graham’s dissection of writes and write-nots:
The reason so many people have trouble writing is that it’s fundamentally difficult. To write well you have to think clearly, and thinking clearly is hard.
And yet writing pervades many jobs, and the more prestigious the job, the more writing it tends to require.
These two powerful opposing forces, the pervasive expectation of writing and the irreducible difficulty of doing it, create enormous pressure.
Not anymore. AI has blown this world open. Almost all pressure to write has dissipated. You can have AI do it for you, both in school and at work.
Is that so bad? Isn’t it common for skills to disappear when technology makes them obsolete? There aren’t many blacksmiths left, and it doesn’t seem to be a problem.
Yes, it’s bad. The reason is something I mentioned earlier: writing is thinking. In fact there’s a kind of thinking that can only be done by writing.
So a world divided into writes and write-nots is more dangerous than it sounds. It will be a world of thinks and think-nots. I know which half I want to be in, and I bet you do too.
Our 5 year old likes to say that a lot when he gets on a roll telling us about something he’s excited about. It could be science facts or recounting a fun outing or his latest playground escapades. He’ll sprinkle it in throughout the story, which shows he’s both excited to share and keen on building some suspense into the telling.
Oh and guess what? It’s so endearing.
Election Day is upon us. My wife and I already voted, and I’m very grateful to live in a state that supports pro-democracy initiatives like early voting, vote by mail, and automatic voter registration. Illinois has its issues, to be sure, but it’s a leader in this regard—along with book ban bans, Midwest abortion access, and other important things for freedom-loving Americans.
We had three non-binding yet nevertheless noteworthy “advisory questions” on the ballot regarding:
Triple yes right there. The last one is especially close to our hearts, having done reproductive treatments for both of our sons that were incredibly costly and not covered by insurance. During that process, I even wrote a letter to our insurance company asking them to cover it and laying out the reasons why it matters to so many people. I held no illusions about anyone with power actually reading it, but I wrote it nevertheless. I hope this advisory question ends up in a Yes landslide that will compel our state legislature to take action for the benefit of all would-be parents in the future.
As for the biggest question on the ballot… I mean, I’ve been extremely clear about my thoughts on Donald Trump and his party over the last decade, and nothing has changed in the last four years. I’m thrilled to vote against him for the third time and fill in the oval for Harris/Walz. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow and in the coming days, but I’m hoping we’ll all be feeling Blue very soon.
Reimagined ‘80s logos of popular brands.
Restoring a 1,200-year-old psalter discovered in an Irish bog.
How did you find accurate information before the internet? Librarians, of course.
Where did our 2004 photos go?
An interview with Saturday Night Live’s early ‘90s graphic designer of sketch titles, parodies, and props.
More photography here.
Partly cloudy in the Windy City:
Feeling reflective at our park:
Fishing class with the five year old:
First time downtown with the lads:
Enjoying the hotel room balcony at Timber Ridge Lodge:
Burgundy boy blending in with the fallen leaves:
Midnight Mass. Loved this Netflix limited series for the same reason I love Darren Aronofsky’s Noah: it takes literally all the Bible’s very goth elements (“drink my blood”, the terror of angels, etc.) and transposes it into a deeply human modern story.
Didi. This coming-of-age story set in 2008 featuring a teenager only a few years younger than I was at the time, so you know the use of AIM and Motion City Soundtrack songs were a bullseye for me.
Nosferatu. Been knocking off a lot of classic horror blindspots and this 1922 F.W. Murnau silent version definitely qualifies. One favorite intertitle: “The Death Ship has a new captain.” 🤘
Challengers. Just your typical sports movie featuring a throuple of sweaty, smirking scumbags swirling into a sadomasochistic, psychosexual spiral.
Fear Not!: A Christian Appreciation of Horror Movies by Josh Larsen. Strongly respect Josh’s perspective as a critic and Filmspotting host, so amidst my recent foray into horror movies I thought this short book was a helpful primer on the redemptive aspects of the genre.
The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper by Roland Allen. Appreciated some historical bits in this but also skimmed over a bunch. Will it inspire me to get back into paper journaling? TBD.
Night of the Living Dead. Some wild swings between “this looks like a terrible student film” and “holy schnikes”. I knew nothing of it besides being considered the godfather of zombie movies, so all the social commentary and 1968 of it all really hit.
The Thing. My first John Carpenter movie and it was, uh, rather horrifying.
I almost couldn’t believe this when I saw it: Disney put out an album of pop punk covers of Disney songs called A Whole New Sound, which includes:
I would just like to shoutout whichever 40-year-old at Disney got the greenlight for this. As Boomers retire and we Millennials take over positions of power, I hope we keep doing stuff like this. Suggestions for the follow-up album:
Please and thank you. 🤘
Ye Olde Blog turns 18 years old today. Forgive me, but as a writer of a certain age I cannot help but think of the “18 years, 18 years” line from Kanye’s “Gold Digger”—a song that debuted just a year before this blog.
Unlike in the song, though, there’s no question of provenance here. From the Blogspot I started in my freshman dorm room all the way to the WordPress-powered custom domain of today, my online writing life has abided through CMS migrations and many life changes to officially reach voting age. (Who would it vote for this year? Definitely not one of the candidates.)
During my blog cleanup late last year, it was fun to see how my early posts in fall 2006 tackled philosophy and movies and poetry and other random thoughts, just as I’ve done in the nearly two decades since. Because I don’t make any money from this endeavor, the core ethos has always been to write about whatever I’m interested in, whenever I want, and that’s held true. No matter where you’ve joined me on that journey, I appreciate your time and attention.
In praise of reference books.
Your name in LANDSAT.
America must free itself from the tyranny of the penny.
I’m not sure how it started, but I got sucked into a YouTube wormhole of the videos I watched in that early-COVID quarantine phase, like:
The first two especially were appointment viewing each week, because you never knew what celebrities would pop in. Then there were the virtual choirs:
As with mask-wearing, I felt a strangely beautiful camaraderie watching these at the time knowing so many others were enjoying them too in similar circumstances. And watching them now brings me right back to that time, which, luckily for me, was positive—being able to work from home and see my wife and then 1 year old son a lot more.
What a time.
Kai Brach, in his Dense Discovery newsletter, responding to an essay about the political “center”:
True centrism shouldn’t simply find two opposing positions and place itself in the middle of them. Instead, it should anchor itself in core principles of human decency, compassion, moral integrity, etc.
This version of centrism isn’t about always falling neatly between arbitrary sides or never taking a stand. It’s about approaching each issue with critical reasoning, personal principles and lived experiences – not party dogma or oversimplified narratives.
No individual aligns perfectly with any political party. In that sense, we’re all ‘centrists’, capable of independent thought. True centrism acknowledges that ideologies and parties can never fully capture the complexity of reality. It’s about not confusing the map for the territory, and refusing to constrain our thinking within the bounds of political tribalism.
Only by grounding centrism in unwavering core principles, rather than simply splitting the difference between two points, can we chart a more ethical and intellectually honest political course.
My wife sent me something about the opposition of Saturn last Saturday night, which meant it’d be more visible than usual. While at the library that day I saw they had a monocular telescope for checkout to use with smartphones, so I decided to check it out in case I had the opportunity to try for a shot.
And we did. Before bedtime for our five year old, we managed to catch a glimpse of it between some trees outside our back door. Behold my hasty, heavily magnified iPhone astrophotography:
I kept jumping between regular and night mode and playing with the focus for the best possible shot, and that’s what I managed to get. I told him how special it was that we were able to see it, both due to the astronomical factors and just being alive during a time when Saturn still has its rings (it’ll have to say goodbye in about 100 million years).
Science!
I had the pleasure of seeing Back to the Future The Musical at the Cadillac Palace Theater in Chicago with my friend Kevin as an early birthday present from my wife. Back to the Future is the movie that long ago turned me into a cinephile, so it was a thrill to see this fun rendition on the stage and get goosebumps listening to a live orchestra play the score I own in three different formats and had played at my wedding.
As with the Newsies musical, I enjoyed seeing how they tweaked the plot, chronology, and other elements to fit the unique structure of a modern musical. Gone are the Libyan terrorists subplot and car trunk Marty gets locked in and finale at the McFly house—all choices made for specific (and good) reasons that were explored in Creating Back to the Future The Musical, the behind-the-scenes companion book by Michael Klastorin I immediately checked out via my library from Hoopla.
I was also really impressed with the show’s mix of practical and visual effects, especially when the real DeLorean blended with stage effects and a digital backdrop to appear in motion. (Fun fact: the stage DeLorean is, ironically, 88% of full size.) There are several “how did they do that?” moments I wish they’d explained in the book, but they unfortunately refused to reveal some stagecraft secrets.
As for the songs, I’d listened to some of them before, but it’s not the same experience as seeing them performed live. It’s always funny to see which quotes or moments from a movie get turned into their own song in the movie’s Broadway version—in this case “It Works” and “Hello, Is Anybody Home?” and “Put Your Mind to It”.
Same thing with the different solos, which let us dive a little deeper into the characters’ motivations and development. Lorraine’s doo-wop ditty “Pretty Baby” and George’s ballad “My Myopia” and Doc’s touching “For the Dreamers” really fill out the larger story and let us fall in love with these characters anew.
I’ve loved this movie for the majority of my life. Kudos to the show’s core team of Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis, Alan Silvestri, and Glen Ballard for doing right by the original and making something that’s not a sequel or reboot, and that sits comfortably alongside the movie.
Sun vs. Moon — fight!
Kind of Bloop is an 8-bit reinterpretation tribute to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue.
A collection of old Swedish packaging.
Ranking every summer Olympic sport based on how terrible it would be for the average person.