2024.July.Watched

Tour de France, Stage 9 (MacBook)
Tour de France, Stage 10 (MacBook)
Tour de France, Stage 11 (MacBook)
Mr & Mrs Smith (S01E06-08) (TV)
Scrubs (S01E01) (TV)
Tour de France, Stage 15 (MacBook)
Tour de France, Stage 17 (MacBook)
Tour de France, Stage 18 (MacBook)
Scrubs (S01E02-03) (TV)
Olympic Judo, Day 1 (TV)
Olympic Judo, Day 2 (TV)
Olympic Women’s MTB XCO (MacBook)
Olympic Basketball USA-Serbia (TV)
Olympic Men’s MTB XCO (MacBook)
Olympic Basketball France-Brazil (MacBook)
Olympic Basketball France-Japan (MacBook)

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19 titles, again.

2024.June.Watched

Curb Your Enthusiasm (S12E07-12) (MacBook)
Mr & Mrs Smith (S01E01) (MacBook)
Celtics-Mavericks (NBA Finals, Game 1) (MacBook)
Mr & Mrs Smith (S01E02-03) (MacBook) Trying (S01E04-05) (TV)
2024 WWDC Keynote (MacBook)
Mavericks-Celtics (NBA Finals, Game 4) (MacBook)
Mr & Mrs Smith (S01E01) (TV)
Celtics-Mavericks (NBA Finals, Game 5) (MacBook)
Fever-Dream (WNBA game) (MacBook)
The Pop Out: Ken & Friends June 19 The Forum (MacBook)
Mr & Mrs Smith (S01E02-05) (TV)

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19 titles.

2024.June.Albums

Not a lotta albums this year. Gotta fix that in 2025.

Down to the River – The War And Treaty (iPhone)
Healing Tide – The War And Treaty (iPhone)
Overly Dedicated – Kendrick Lamar (iPhone)
Section.80 – Kendrick Lamar (iPhone)
Good kid, m.A.A.d city (Deluxe) – Kendrick Lamar (iPhone)
To Pimp a Butterfly – Kendrick Lamar (iPhone)
DAMN. – Kendrick Lamar (iPhone)
Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers – Kendrick Lamar (iPhone)

2024.May.Watched

Kinda screwed up the order of these dumb updates, putting one 2024.May.~ update ahead of the just-published April updates. So it goes.

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Here's the list of titles watched in May:

2024 May Watched

Curb Your Enthusiasm (S10E04-05) (MacBook)
Mavericks-Clippers (Round 1, game 5) (MacBook)
Timberwolves-Nuggets (Round 2, game 1) (MacBook)
Timberwolves-Nuggets (Round 2, game 2) (MacBook)
The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady (MacBook)
Knicks-Pacers (Round 2, game 2) (MacBook)
Knicks-Pacers (Round 2, game 1) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S10E06-09) (MacBook)
Thunder-Mavericks (Round 2, Game 4) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S10E10) (MacBook)
Nuggets-Timberwolves (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S11E01-02) (MacBook)
Timberwolves-Nuggets (Round 2, Game 7) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S11E03) (MacBook)
The Wolf of Wall Street (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S11E04-05) (MacBook)
Pacers-Knicks (Round 2, Game 7) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S11E06-10) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S12E01-05) (MacBook)
Trying (S02E01-03) (TV)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S12E06) (MacBook)
Mavericks-Timberwolves (WCF, Game 3) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S12E07-08) (MacBook)

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A flat 40. A 40, flat.

Pour one out for the homies, and let's get on with our lives.

2024.April.Watched

Here they are, the things of note that I watched:

The Gentlemen (S01E02-03) (MacBook)
Warriors-Spurs (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S05E04-05) (MacBook)
Warriors-Mavericks (MacBook)
Risky Business (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S05E06-07) (MacBook)
Shot Caller (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S05E08-10) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S06E01) (MacBook)
Warriors-Rockets (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S06E02-04) (MacBook)
The Gentlemen (S01E04) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S06E05) (MacBook)
Warriors-Jazz (MacBook)
Clippers-Cavs (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S06E06) (MacBook)
Warriors-Lakers (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S06E07-10) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S07E01-02) (MacBook)
The Gentlemen (S01E05) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S07E03-05) (MacBook)
Warriors-Trailblazers (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S07E06-10) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S08E01-05) (MacBook)
Warriors-Jazz (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S08E06-07) (MacBook)
Lakers-Pelicans (Play-in game) (MacBook)
Kings-Warriors (Play-in game) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S08E08-10) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S09E01-07) (MacBook)
Timberwolves-Suns (Game 1, 1st round)(MacBook)
Clippers-Mavericks (Game 1, 1st round)(MacBook)
Knicks-Sixers (Game 2, 1st round)(MacBook)
Nuggets-Lakers (Game 2, 1st round)(MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S09E08-10) (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S10E01) (MacBook)
Arrival (MacBook)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (S10E03) (MacBook)
The Crowded Room (S01E01-03) (TV)
What's My Line? - Judy Holliday (Jul 5, 1953) (iPhone)
Nuggets-Lakers (MacBook)

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76 titles, which is one title for every sneeze that month, which is fun.

Fucking.Fuck.Fuck

I don't have more sophisticated words for what just happened than that – and this:

All things will be made worse. Just like in 2016, except this time with more anger, more intention, less discretion, more open corruption, less oversight, fewer consequences – and more deaths and destruction. Damned near the full authority and power of the government, of American institutions, will be deployed to accomplish their ends – maybe only a thin Democratic majority in the House to gum up the works just a little bit.

The worst people will be in charge or protected. And anyone who pushes back will be removed and replaced with someone who won't – a four-year(-or-longer) Saturday Night Massacre.

Every time I think of some new aspect, my brain gives me a way in which it can/will be made horrific. Advances made will be rolled back, hope will be broken, as will people. 1930's-Germany-style governmental control will become the norm, as will the easing of punishments for those who act violently independent of government.

A lot of already-marginalized people are gonna be in real danger and our capacity to protect them, and to do good more broadly, has just about vanished.

This is not the saddest I’ve ever been, but it is the most defeated I’ve felt. It's much worse than 2004 – and for good (read: bad) reasons.

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And this:

[O]ne of the essences of hell [is] the unceasing potential for things to become worse than you fear. –> Charles Taylor

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And this (and yes, I see the irony):

*"Prediction"
*—Mikhail Lermontov, 1830

A year will come for Russia, a dark year
When Royalty no more his crown will wear,
The Rabble who loved him once will love forget,
For Blood and Death will richest feast be set;
The fallen law no more will shield the weak,
And maid and guiltless child in vain will seek
For justice. Plague will ride
Where stinking corpses fill the countryside,
And flapping rags from cottages demand
Help none can give, while Famine rules the land.
Dawn on thy streams will shed a crimson light;
That day will be revealed the Man of Might
Whom thou wilt know. And thou wilt understand
Wherefore a naked blade is in his hand.
Bitter will be thy lot; tears flood thine eyes,
And he will laugh at all thy tears and sighs.

A.Summer.Gone

I was moving smoothly, updating this blog, reading my old (truly horrible – I was young) blog, and kinda having fun doing all of it. And then Summer started hitting, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is when I stopped doing almost anything productive or fun. A trip here, a Summer cold there, a typhoon or two, general malaise and dismay, etc.

It’s abating now, Summer, so maybe it’s time to get back to doing things like this. We’ll see if that continues.

As for now, I’m so far behind on my dumb monthly updates that it’s almost absurd.

Five.Years.Gone

Monday, a national holiday here, marked five years since my father died. Early on a pre-Covid Monday morning five years ago, he died in Portland Oregon, 8,000km away.

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I knew this day – the fifth anniversary – would come, of course, but it's been shockingly fast.

In the first four anniversaries, I did something I thought he’d enjoy doing – having hot and sour soup, for example, in a Chinese restaurant; or a latte, say. But this year – the bigger, half-decade anniversary – I couldn’t think of anything to do. It was weirdly stressful, until I realized he’d say something like, “The fuck do I care, I’m dead? – have fun.”

And so, in a way, that’s what I did. I tried to go to a museum, which is something I’ve done a couple times in the last five years. But, looking at my mapping applications, realized the museum I wanted to go to is closed on Mondays. 1.

Instead, I quickly decided to go to a shop I’d been meaning to visit, and then to try to find a coffee shop near there, and have a latte. So I visited the shop, walked from there (in Daikanyama) to another section of town (Sangenjaya), to see if the items I’m looking for were in a shop there, and spent the day roaming around, before grabbing dinner on the way home,

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I didn’t have fun, exactly; memories don’t stray too far from the surface. But I did enjoy the wandering around.

Later, I watched a couple more episodes of “Shogun” (2024) and then spent some time remembering. The remembering is important, but it’s also painful. Those nerves are fragile and touchy and getting too close is punishing.

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My dad’s been dead for five years. It has gone by heartbreakingly fast.

How the fuck has it been five years?

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1 Or so I thought! Because Monday was a national holiday, the museum was in fact open. Instead, it was closed on Tuesday, the following day. Guess how I (and some lady who walked up behind me as I was reading the sign) found out?

2024.May.Albums

Nope, I ain’t listen to albums at all in May. I took a trip, got sick for a couple weeks, and listened to the Kendrick-Drake beef (well, the Kendrick side) a couple thousand times.

I have so many thoughts, but it's so late, I'm unsure they're even worth writing down. But god damn, how many times does one dude have to warn another dude?...

But zero albums. That trip was fun, the cold was bad and long, and the rap beef was fun af.

Kendrick good, yo.

2024.April.Albums

Empire Burlesque – Bob Dylan (iPhone)
Knocked Out Loaded – Bob Dylan (iPhone)
Down in the Groove – Bob Dylan (iPhone)
Oh Mercy – Bob Dylan (iPhone)
Under the Red Sky – Bob Dylan (iPhone)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel (iPhone)
Plans – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
Thank You for Today – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel (iPhone)
In the Aeroplane over the Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel (iPhone)
Thank You for Today – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
Thank You for Today – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
Thank You for Today – Death Cab for Cutie (iPhone)
Tommy (As Performed by The London Symphony Orchestra and Chambre...Tommy Original Cast Recording – Various Artists (iPhone)
Give Up – The Postal Service (iPhone)

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15 albums. You'll note that I took a semi-intentional/partly-unintentional break from the Dylan ouvre. I'll finish it in May.

Like.To.Remember

Firefox still exists, but I assume this extention disappeared ages hence. But poetry, dear reader, lasts forever.

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One of the great things about Firefox is you can add little extentions to it, so that, say, you can search any number of sites from the wee search box that's provided. You just find a new one and add it.

My favorite extention is a series of weather forecast icons at the bottom right of the browser window. The forecasts update frequently, and can be costumized to show any number of days (within reason), but that's not why I like having them there.

I like the extension because its forcasts are occasionally - not always, but sometimes - poetic. A couple days ago, it said, I swear, "Clouds Containing the Sun", instead of 'mostly-cloudy'. Right now it says (about tomorrow) 'Times of Clouds and Sun'.

I've just finished English as She is Spoke and these wee forcasts sound awfully like something from that book; they sound as if they've been run thru not-very-good machine translators a few times, before finally being forced back into delightful English.

Saving.Ryan's.Privates

Aside: That's the second-funniest (or at least silliest) porno title: "Saving Ryan's Privates". (The funniest, and one of the best bits of parody in human history altoghether, is “A Clear and Pleasant Stranger”, which remains just absolutely inspired.)

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I recently rewatched “Saving Private Ryan” and some of the things that annoyed me when I was younger and more/less easily annoyed annoyed me still. I'll leave those for another day. But something I hadn’t been able to put my finger on after rewatching it a couple weeks ago, or so, is well-stated by Adam Gopnik below.

Looking again at my defunct, 20-year-old blog, I found this, which addresses a nagging, undefined bother the rewatch gave me:

From An Old Interview With Adam Gopnik

Robert Birnbaum: When you use the word 'shallow' about America's sense of history, I think that may be generous. It would seem to be regularly trivialized...

AG: I was stunned by that when Saving Private Ryan opened in France. The Americans did all the fighting. Not only were there no French people involved in the war, but no Canadians, no Brits. One of the things about Omaha Beach is that it was a horrible fuck up. It was the one fuck up on D-Day. The Canadians took their beaches. In a relatively untroubled way the British took theirs. The Americans just fucked up. Yet, we represent that fuck up as the only event and as in itself heroic.

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The interview (which I have not yet reread in full, but quoted at the time) also contained these two unrelated but noteworthy observations from Gopnik:

Essayists generally — and certainly me particularly — tend to be more like performers than novelists. Novelists are like architects or builders. They are willing to sit in a room for five or six years and build something and they at some level don't give a damn what the public thinks. They want to make a cathedral for themselves to live in and then they open the doors. If you come in to worship that's fine. And if you don't that's fine, too. Essayists aren't like that. At least this one isn't. You have to have a bit of the ham in you. You like to do the thing and feel that the people are reacting.

And:

At some point as a writer you learn it's not what you want to do, it's what you are capable of doing, what you do well.

One of my favorite things is listening to writers talking about writing.