Scratch Pad: Spam, 4th, Nabokov

From the past week

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

At the end of each week, I usually collate a lightly edited collection of recent comments I’ve made on social media, which I think of as my public scratch pad. I tag on what books I may have finished reading. Knowing I’ll revisit my social media posts, I’ve found, serves as a positive and mellowing influence on my online activity. Some show up on disquiet.com before this post, in which case I don’t repeat them. I mostly hang out on Mastodon (at post.lurk.org/@disquiet), and I’m also trying out a few others. And I generally take weekends off social media.

▰ Phineas, Emerson, Roman — these are some of the recent names utilized by spam calls offering me loans. What is with these names? Does archaic (nothing personal if one is your name in 2026) imply financial stability? (And no, I don’t pick up the calls. They go to voicemail and get transcribed.)

▰ “Hey, baby, it’s the fourth of July.” Happy birthday.

▰ Been reading a lot, finishing less than usual. Did I mention I read Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire? Prose so purple it stained my Kindle.

Disquiet Junto Project 0757: Screen Time

The Assignment: Interpret this gauzy window treatment as an audio effect

/ By Marc Weidenbaum

Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto music community, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have five days to record and upload a track in response to the project instructions.

Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. (A SoundCloud account is helpful but not required.) There’s no pressure to do every project. The Junto is weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when your time and interest align.

Tracks are added to the SoundCloud playlist for the duration of the project. Additional (non-SoundCloud) tracks also generally appear in the llllllll.co discussion thread.

Disquiet Junto Project 0757: Screen Time
The Assignment: Interpret this gauzy window treatment as an audio effect.

Step 1: Look at the photo included with this project and consider how the thin screen treats the daylight view through the window. Click through for the photo in a much larger size.

Step 2: Imagine how that visual treatment translates to sound. In other words, interpret this gauzy window treatment as an audio effect.

Step 3: Record a track in which you treat sound (music, field recording, whatever you choose) like the visual is treated in that photo.

Tasks Upon Completion:

Label: Include “disquiet0757” (no spaces/quotes) in the name of your track.

Upload: A person participating in the Disquiet Junto should post only one track per weekly project (SoundCloud account preferred but not required). If on occasion you feel inspired to post more than one track (whether to a single account or across multiple accounts), you should clarify which is the “main” rendition for consideration by fellow members and (if on SoundCloud) for inclusion in the SoundCloud playlist.

Share: Post your track and a description/explanation at https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0757-screen-time/

Discuss: Listen to and comment on the other tracks.

Additional Details:

Length: The length is up for you. Is it a langorous day, or a quick pit stop?

Deadline: Monday, July 6, 2026, 11:59pm (that is: just before midnight) wherever you are.

About: https://disquiet.com/junto/

Newsletter: https://juntoletter.disquiet.com/

License: It’s preferred (but not required) to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., an attribution Creative Commons license).

Please Include When Posting Your Track:

More on the 757th weekly Disquiet Junto project, Screen Time — The Assignment: Interpret this gauzy window treatment as an audio effect — at disquiet.com/0757.