Ezra Klien stating "I find books to be an unsurpassed technology for thinking". That got me - picturing myself in deep, soaking in words and ideas. Like some zen intellectual.
I've kicked off with the essay "In Praise of Shadows" on Japanese aesthetics on my Kindle, and "Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life" by William Finnegan is keeping me company as an audiobook.
I've not finished either, and neither are actually in the format of a "book".
Am I doing this right? Not sure yet.
This week's recon from the past, present and future...
Grrrl Gang
https://grrrlgang.bandcamp.com/music
Pop hooks with punk drive and the occasional bit of shoe gaze melancholy. It's throwback but fresh sounding and a hell of a fun listen.
...
VX1000
Just a camera with a handle? The instrument that defined an era? A nostalgia machine people need to get over? The history of this alliance of form and function is an interesting pocket to slide into.
...
- The original Jenkem article the video was based on
https://www.jenkemmag.com/home/2018/07/13/tracing-history-skateboardings-most-famous-camera/ - The evolution from VX1000 to instagram
https://www.engadget.com/sony-vx1000-defined-the-skate-video-130032368.html?guccounter=1 - Nike SB VX1000 inspired dunk low
https://hypebeast.com/2021/2/nike-sb-dunk-low-vx1000-camcorder-first-look
Dissect
https://open.spotify.com/show/2b025hq3gJ17tQdxS3aV43?si=0e57bd62051b44ed
Forensic science brought to modern music for a track-by-track deep dive highlighting the context and details you didn't know you cared about. This season we get a genre break from hip hop with the slow down on Radiohead's - In Rainbows (the surprise + pay-what-you-want release). Guaranteed captivating even if it's nowhere near your album or your band.
...
Stacey peralta
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrJa0FON2Zb/
"Having learned many new sports over the past 20 years I’ve spent a good deal of time in the beginners phase; as a rank amateur, as a kook and sometimes a complete dork, constantly falling and slamming and wondering if I’ll ever figure it out. The beginners phase of learning anything can be a really tough place to be and it’s a place that at one time I tried to avoid. But I’ve come to realize that it’s the beginners phase where the magic is, it’s the place to be and not to avoid. Learning something new is a mystery and the process unfolds in a mysterious way; there’s a certain magic in the anticipation of trying to figure out something new, in how the process breaks and bends us apart, how the process really throws us and at the same time how it leads us with subtle hints and tips. It’s not an easy place to be because it can be filled with so much frustration, unknowing and uncertainty but if you can bare it you’ll reach that magic place where it all suddenly comes together. Residing in that beginners phase is where I want to keep putting myself because it keeps my life young and full of surprises and possibilities and it’s great humility training."
Isamu Yamamoto
You might be tempted to think why freestyle in 2024, but Isamu's connection to flow will only leave you with the intrigue of how. And the belief there is other thing he should be doing in 2023.