76er

Today is my father's 76th birthday – or it would be had he not died 3 years ago.

I'm not sure what to do in his honor, or in his absence, but I'll take a bike ride and try to figure something out.

I miss that dude. I wish he were still here to call and chat with, joke with, laugh with.

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Later:

I did take a cold bike ride this morning. After the soaking rain of the last two days everything was wet, and so was the too-humid air. Later, the sun came out and the day was beautiful. But during my ride the going was slow and hard and not-at-all fun. And, nearing home, a cabbie tried to kill me. (Well, he cut me off for no discernible reason. My back is locked up, my neck hurts, and I have a headache.)

But I spent the day otherwise, afterward, having fun. And my dad would've been pleased with that.

I'd call him if I could. It's morning now in America, the sun rising on his 76th birthday. I hope he's somewhere comfortable and cosy with books and all eternity to enjoy them.

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I'ma.Live.Wire

For reasons unexplained by science, I recently started watching a ton of YouTube videos. Often, it's post-bike-ride viewing that is fairly mindless (yet interesting and well-made; shade unintended) as I lie there exhausted, but not always.

In August or September, I found a new account that I've been speeding my way through – Techmoan, which is a delightful romp thru old technologies, many of which I've never heard of. As a lover of history and technology, dude's videos often seem tailor-made for me.

One of the videos was about the wire recorder – a '40s-era Dictaphone-like machine that recorded on – dig this – fine stainless-steel wire † .

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In the video, Techmoan-さん mentions that there is at least one modern link to the wire recorder: a CD was released containing the only fully-recorded concert by Woody Guthrie ‡ : "The Live Wire – Woody Guthrie In Performance 1949". In my September-listens post, you can see that I listened to it (promptly) after learning it exists.

It's incredible, and if you're looking for something to listen to, do check it out. Guthrie remains a national treasure, and the technicians who worked on the CD were able to pull decent sound from it – which I imagine is remarkable, based on the snippets of (otherwise-unrelated) audio included in Techmoan's video.

Hear hear to old tech, new videos, and rediscovered treasures.

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† I didn't even know stainless-steel wire was a thing, but of course it is.

‡ I think this is true, but it could be overstated.

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When September Ends

You can see among these lists, my go-to, want-to-listen-to-music-now-but-don't-want-to-search-for-something-new artists and albums. Often, when I'm cycling, I just say an album name into my ᴡᴀᴛᴄʜ, and, being not-at-all creative (especially during exercise), I default to selecting from a limited number of choices. Case in point: September, where I start and stop with the same album – which I also listened to once in the middle.

What can I say, it's fucking great.

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Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
Plans – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone & HomePod)
Kintsugi – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
Sweet and Lowdown OST – Various Artists (HomePod)
Singles OST – Various (iPhone)
Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
Dirt – Alice In Chains (iPhone)
Badmotorfinger – Soundgarden (iPhone)
Ten – Pearl Jam (iPhone)
Superunknown – Soundgarden (iPhone)
The Live Wire – Woody Guthrie in Performance 1949 – Woody Guthrie (iPhone)
Picaresque – The Decemberists (iPhone)
I’ll Be Your Girl – The Decemberists (iPhone)
Thriller – Michael Jackson (HomePod & iPhone)
Bad – Michael Jackson (iPhone)
Narrow Stairs – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)

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2022.September.Watchlist

As I never posted this when I should have, I'm updating it way late. This was my 2022 month with the fewest titles: 9.

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Good Will Hunting (TV) Top Gun (TV) Singles (MacBook) Kingpin (MacBook) Top Gun Maverick (TV) SpaceCamp (TV) Margin Call (MacBook) It Came from Outer Space (MacBook) Targets (MacBook)

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Again, that's 9 titles. In 30 days. Post-Tour(s) and pre-basketball, I took it easy (and cycled).

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2022.August.Albums

Originally titled this "The Disregality of August's Albums" before I deciding that breaking my current and then-new naming structure wasn't worth the pun.

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In August, I kinda forgot I was doing full-album listens. I started cycling more, rather than going to the gym as often, which interrupted my pattern. I was also watching the Tour de France everyday – which meant I was listening to TdF podcasts rather than albums when I was out and about. I only listened to a mere four albums the whole month, one of them twice.

(September rebounds.)

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Black Pumas – Black Pumas (iPhone)
Black Pumas – Black Pumas (HomePod)
Her Majesty – The Decemberists (iPhone)
Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon and Garfunkel (HomePod)
Weird! – Yungblud (iPhone)

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Detective Works

Saw this tweet and immediately wondered if I could use the newspaper Paul Newman is reading to identify the date the photograph was taken†. Turns out, yeah, I could.

I looked at the headline on the upper left of Newman's paper, and I was able to make out most of the words: "JOHNSON... RESERVE CALL-UP TO ASSIST SAIGON"‡. And there it was, the top result: July 14, 1965.

To put a bow on the find: inside that link was a photo/reproduction of the exact front page Newman is holding in the original image, with that article highlighted.

 
 
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A further bit of fun:

The guy getting Newman's hair correct is Jay Sebring.

I figured I could use that information (Newman and Sebring working together) to confirm that the photograph was indeed taken during the filming of Harper (1966; penned by none other than William Goldman). Turns out, no, I couldn't. And the reason I couldn't is Sebring wasn't credited as working on that movie. Or, for that matter, on any Paul Newman joint, on Bastille Day, 1965, or any other.

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The moral of the story: Sometimes searching pays off. Sometimes it results in an interesting whiff.

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† The likely date, that is – there remains the bizarre off-chance that dude was reading an earlier day's paper.

‡ The ellipsis elides "weighing" which was too tricky to make out and was, fortunately, unneeded.

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2022.August.Watchlist

Minor list, posted way, way late. Wacky.

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Tootsie (MacBook)
Unforgiven (MacBook)
Burn After Reading (TV)
10 Things I Hate About You (TV)
Mean Girls (TV)
Delirium (MacBook)
The Old Man (S01E01-07) (MacBook)
The Rehearsal (S01E01) (MacBook)
He Got Game (MacBook)
Three Days of the Condor (TV)
In The Mood for Love (MacBook)
The Old Man & The Gun (MacBook)

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That's 18 titles in 31 days – .58/d

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2022.July.Album

Keeping this rolling for seven months. Lotta albums in; many million more to go. (Altho there is a notable fall-off in July and, so far, in August. Just a lot of podcasts to catch up on.)

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Kintsugi – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone*)
Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends – Coldplay (iPhone)
Babel – Mumford & Sons (iPhone)
The Paper Hearts – The Paper Hearts (iPhone)
The Bends – The Bends (iPhone)
Only By the Night – Kings of Leon (iPhone)
Use Your Illusion I – Guns ‘n’ Roses (iPhone)
Use Your Illusion II – Guns ‘n’ Roses (iPhone)
1984 – Van Halen (iPhone)
Yellow Submarine – The Beatles (HomePod)
Different Class (Deluxe Edition) – Pulp (iPhone)

*This one also didn't include its method. Again, I'm 90% sure it was iPhone-only, so that's what I added.

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2022.June.Albums

Where I've doubled these up, by the way, I did indeed listen twice. I just never feel like noting that aside from the repeated listing itself.

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A Hard Day’s Night – The Beatles (HomePod)
Beatles For Sale – The Beatles (HomePod & iPhone)
You Can’t Kill Me – 070 Shake (iPhone)
Help! – The Beatles (iPhone)
OK Computer – Radiohead (iPhone)
The King is Dead – The Decemberists (iPhone)
Kid A – Radiohead (iPhone)
Picaresque – The Decemberists (iPhone)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel (iPhone)
The Moon And Antarctica – Modest Mouse (iPhone)
Ten – Pear Jam (iPhone)
Girl Talk – All Day (iPhone)
Picaresque – The Decemberists (iPhone & HomePod)
Emily in Paris – Various (iPhone)
The Fact of Life – Black Box Recorder (iPhone)
Brothers in Arms – Dire Straights (iPhone)
Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) – Various (iPhone)
Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording) – Various (iPhone)

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2022.May.Albums

Cinematically – The Epilogues (iPhone)
Sweden – The Mountain Goats (iPhone)
Full Force Galesburg – The Mountain Goats (iPhone)
All Hail West Texas – The Mountain Goats (iPhone)
We Shall All Be Healed – The Mountain Goats (iPhone)
Tallahassee – The Mountain Goats (iPhone)
Bitter Melon Farm – The Mountain Goats (iPhone*)
The Race for Space – Public Broadcasting System (iPhone & HomePod) Ghana – The Mountain Goats (iPhone)
The Race for Space – Public Broadcasting System (iPhone & HomePod) (again)
Relax – Das Racist (iPhone)
OK Computer – Radiohead (iPhone)
Abbey Road – The Beatles (iPhone)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel (iPhone)
Wednesday Morning, 3a.m. – Simon & Garfunkel (iPhone)
Plans – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
Animals – Pink Floyd (iPhone)
Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd (iPhone)
Meddle – Pink Floyd (iPhone)
The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking – Roger Waters (iPhone)

*I didn't note the method, for this one. I'm pretty sure I listened to it at the gym, which means on my iPhone, but I may have used my HomePod – who knows.

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2022.April.Albums

In my flurry of catch-up posts, I failed to also add my album-listens. So I'll do that now, in another flurry of ketchup posts:

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First, April:

Hunky Dory – David Bowie (iPhone)
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – Public Enemy (iPhone)
Ramones – Ramones (iPhone)
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie (iPhone )
Illmatic – Nas (iPhone)
The Band – The Band (iPhone)
Darkness on the Edge of Town – Bruce Springsteen (iPhone)
Once OST (iPhone)
Eli and the Thirteenth Confession – Laura Nyro (iPhone)
American Idiot – Green Day (iPhone)
Gonna Take a Miracle – Laura Nyro (iPhone)
Funeral - Arcade Fire (iPhone)
The Suburbs – Arcade Fire (iPhone)
Neon Bible – Arcade Fire (iPhone)
Is This It – The Strokes (iPhone)
Melodrama – Lorde (iPhone)
Modern Vampires of the City – Vampire Weekend (iPhone)
The Lonesome Crowded West – Modest Mouse (iPhone)
The Golden Casket – Modest Mouse (iPhone)
The Moon And Antarctica – Modest Mouse (iPhone)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel (iPhone)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel (HomePod + iPhone)
Wet Leg – Wet Leg (iPhone)
Wet Leg – Wet Leg (iPhone)
OK Computer – Radiohead (iPhone + HomePod)
I Put a Spell On You – Nina Simone (iPhone)
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven – Godspeed You! black Emperor (iPhone)
Pretty Hate Machine – NIN (HomePod)

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2022.July.Watched

in

Project X (MacBook)
Murder Mystery (TV) It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (S02E07-09) (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 8 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 9 (MacBook)
George Carlin’s American Dream (S01E01) (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 10 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 11 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 12 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 13 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 14 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 15 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 16 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 17 (MacBook)
George Carlin’s American Dream (S01E02) (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 18 (MacBook)
Tour de France – Stage 19 (MacBook)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (TV)
Tour de France – Stage 20 (MacBook) Tour de France Femme – Stage 1 (MacBook)
Tour de France Femme – Stage 2 (MacBook)
Tour de France Femme – Stage 3 (MacBook)
Tour de France Femme – Stage 4 (MacBook)
The Stranger (MacBook)
Sneakers (MacBook)
Tour de France Femme – Stage 5 (MacBook)
Tour de France Femme – Stage 6 (MacBook)
Tour de France Femme – Stage 7 (MacBook)
Tour de France Femme – Stage 8 (MacBook)

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2022.June.Watched

in

We Own This City (S01E04-06) (MacBook)
Ozark (S04E8-09) (MacBook)
Celtics-Warriors Game 1 (Finals) (MacBook)
Cop Land (MacBook)
Power of the Dog (MacBook)
Emily in Paris (S01E08-09) (TV)
Warriors-Celtics Game 2 (Finals) (MacBook)
Apple WWDC Keynote (MacBook)
Everything Everywhere All at Once (MacBook)
Celtics-Warriors Game 3 (Finals) (MacBook)
Knocked Up (iMac)
Warriors-Celtics Game 4 (Finals) (MacBook)
Emily in Paris (S01E10) (TV)
Emily in Paris (S02E01-04) (TV)
Hustle (iMac, TV)
Warriors-Celtics Game 5 (Finals) (MacBook)
For All Mankind (S03E01) (MacBook)
Tehran (S02E01-02) (MacBook)
Licorice Pizza (MacBook)
Tehran (S02E03) (MacBook)
Warriors-Celtics Game 6 (Finals) (MacBook)
Emily in Paris (S02E10) (TV)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (S01E01-07) (MacBook)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (S02E01-06) (MacBook)
A Few Good Men (MacBook)

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54 titles.

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