I’ve deleted my feed apps from my phone. That includes all social media feeds (Instagram, Mastodon, Micro.blog, Threads…) and news feeds (News, Artifact, RSS apps…). Through apps like Ulysses and Humboldt I can still post to Micro.blog, and I’ve set email notifs for replies. I just need a break from the scroll and hoping this might help.

Puzzmo key acquired 🔑🧩

It would be wrong of me to let a Sufjan release go by without urging people to listen to it. What a perfect way to enter autumn.

This is arguably his most accessible album in a decade, not only musically but lyrically. It’s not at all as pretentious and historical as Illinois, and not quite as depressive as Carrie & Lowell (although, I have to briefly defend that album’s depressiveness by saying that “Fourth of July,” with it’s lovely choral refrain of “we’re all gonna die,” is one of my most listened songs, and pulled me through some very hard times). Pitchfork put it nicely:

If the lyrics on Javelin lack the proper-noun touchstones of Stevens’ story-songs, these ones gain authority from an intrinsic sense of self and place. They are approachable like pop songs, but delivered with the same precision as his folk confessionals. They break our hearts from within.

I should also mention the dedication to his late partner Evans Richardson. There’s not a lot I can add to this. I can just say I really appreciate Sufjan’s transparency through such a difficult time of life. Javelin makes it clear that it wasn’t always an easy relationship, and he says as much in his post:

I know relationships can be very difficult sometimes, but it’s always worth it to put in the hard work and care for the ones you love, especially the beautiful ones, who are few and far between. If you happen to find that kind of love, hold it close, hold it tight, savor it, tend to it, and give it everything you’ve got, especially in times of trouble. Be kind, be strong, be patient, be forgiving, be vigorous, be wise, and be yourself. Live every day as if it is your last, with fullness and grace, with reverence and love, with gratitude and joy. This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

❤️

The concept of reflexivity is well worn territory in film. On one hand, you have very explicit reflexivity like F for Fake and nostalgia like Cinema Paradiso or The Fabelmans. On the other hand is a more subtle reflexivity, like the monolith and interstellar trip of 2001 and the hidden, behind-the-scenes reflexivity of the probably hundreds of obsessive, possibly self-destructive actors/directors/screenwriters who have slaved away creating films about obsessive, definitely self-destructive characters — Fitzcarraldo, The Phantom Thread, probably every Wes Anderson film, and definitely anything Charlie Kaufman makes.

Any work of art reflects the human beings involved in its creation. This transcends film - writing, painting, interactive media and music all carry this same fingerprint. But (at the moment) film is the only way to capture that behind the scenes hidden truth.

Or… is it? By turning the camera away from the actors and towards the director, do they just become another actor? What about the sound recordist or the camera operator? This is Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, an incredibly silly film at its core about the act of observing anything, or being watched by anything, and how that changes everything or maybe nothing at all.

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Just finished The Second Sleep by Robert Harris. Really intriguing premise and immersive setting, but a weird and rocky ending.

This is the second book I’ve read this year (the first being How Do You Live by Genzaburō Yoshino, in prep for The Boy and the Heron). It’s also the second book I’ve read since high school. 😬 I like reading, but other forms of entertainment usually take priority for me.

It’s a goal of mine to read more this year and next, so please let me know if you have suggestions!

The comedic timing in this is so good, the romance is very believable, and ole Jimmy is at his peak. What more could a movie need? Also love how retail workers have hated being retail workers as long as retail has existed.

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THIS IS A TEST of the National Make Everyone Jump a Little System. The purpose of this test is to see what would happen if everyone jumped at the exact same time. No further action is required by the public.