Category: field notes

I do this manually at the end of each week: collating (and sometimes lightly editing) most of the recent little comments I’ve made on social media, which I think of as my public scratch pad. I mostly hang out on Mastodon (at post.lurk.org/@disquiet), and I’m also trying out a few others. And I take weekends off social media. 

▰ “If you would like to hold without music, please press *”

“*”

▰ Kinda stoked I passed 3,600 subscribers to my sound-studies / ambient-music newsletter, This Week in Sound

▰ Me: OK, I’ve bought enough books for the year.

Also me: Oh, there’s a new dozen ebooks selected by Nick Mamatas on Story Bundle for $20. So much for my resolve.

▰ Yeah, I bought another Buddha Machine. Couldn’t resist the 2023 edition of the debut model.

▰ It’s 2023, so one gets messages in one’s ear like: “Someone with a 415 area code has sent a thumbs-up emoji.” Even better is the odd pause between “sent” and “a” — it’s just there because that’s how the message is stitched together, but the result is like patter from the most mundane game show ever.

▰ First: Kinda obsessed with the Criterion Closet videos.

Then: Kinda obsessed with the HVAC room tone of the Criterion Closet videos.

Side note: Why hasn’t Steven Soderbergh done a Criterion Closet video?

▰ “I find music a useful distraction. A focus tool. Keeps the inner voice from wandering.”

Yeah, I’m looking forward to The Killer, the upcoming movie from David Fincher.

▰ Well, that’s one fewer social media platforms to keep an eye on: pebble.is (previously T2, its temporary name) is closing down on November 1, 2023. It was a good spot. I met some folks there, even one in real life, and we had some solid discussions going. I’m sure more such companies will fall, and rise.

▰ I’m really enjoying Duolingo (German, currently), but yow has it cut into my “pleasure reading” time