Knee deep in my own nonsense
I admire people who love something so much they spend ungodly amounts of time thinking about ways to make it better. Outside of maybe my relationship with my partner I don't have that with anything. And, even then, I mostly just think about how we can communicate more effectively and what kinds of baked goods I can make to impress her.
(Lately: cheesecake. Historically: bagels. Both successful.)
A lot of people I follow in the blog- and podcast-worlds are all about Apple and Apple-adjacent things. And so many of the people in those worlds have thoughtful things to say about Apple's products and how to improve them, with an eye to enriching the lives of the people who use them (or at least the lives of the kinds of people who really care about keyboards).
(I care about keyboards somewhat. Or at least I care about how I used to be the kind of person who wished he cared about keyboards.)
Me, I'm not that kind of person. I am, however, the kind of person to have very particular opinions about very particular things that no one should care about.
To wit: I have 5 nit-picky changes I want to see in iOS 14. Some of them are even almost reasonable! Some, however, would make iOS worse for everyone.
But I stand by them.
This is my hill. And that's me dying on it.
Good stuff
Now, some good stuff.
Good advice
How To Teach Board Games Like a Pro
Chances are you've been stuck at home for a while now. If you're stuck at home with family, friends, or housemates, chances are you're looking for ways to kill time with them. Board games are a great solution.
My partner and I have been playing chess. It's tense, fun, and I lose more than I'd like. Sometimes, though, board games have complicated rules and maybe that's been putting you off. Shut Up and Sit Down – a fantastic board game website – posted the perfect How To video on learning and teaching how to play board games. It boils down to a few simple suggestions: know the rules inside-out (and know how you're going to teach them), have the game set up before you start talking, and sell the game's theme and goals.
Check it out and spice up your quarantine life.
Good reads
The mirror and the light by Hilary Mantel
Still plucking through this amazing book. Everything I said about it last week holds true this week. I'll be finished with it this week and, even though I know how it ends, I can wait to see how Mantel gets us there.
Immortal Hulk
Once a year or so, I get a month-long subscription to Marvel Unlimited and binge on comics. This time round, I dived into Immortal Hulk and it delivered.
Hulk has long been my favourite superhero comic. Immortal leans into the terrifying elements of the character. This is a comic with a lot of body horror. Get ready for some grotesque panels.
Thankfully, it pairs that with some great character work, adding some layers to already-interesting dynamic between Bruce Banner and Hulk.
The story threatens to go off the rails at times and you have to work through some vague beats and overarching themes that really would've benefited from being made more clear. And there are a lot of flash-forwards used to break up the action that I don't think work.
But, if you roll with it, you get a fantastic story with some stellar art. Now I just have to wait another year to read more.
Good tunes
I dipped back into an old favourite for this week's kites can't jive selection: The Impossible Kid by Aesop Rock. Rock's one of the best rappers around and, for my money, this is his best work. Fantastic stories told with lyrical artists. Funny, too.
I'm about a week away from a serious post-punk kick and it's largely due to Wire's latest album, Mind Hive. I've only just started listening to it but I can already feel some of its riffs grinding their way into my brain. Which is a good thing?
I never really got into Wire back when I first heard the much lauded Pink Flag but maybe it's time I gave it another shot.
Good post
The Onion has been spying on my apartment. I prefer an Italian accent, though.