It's been...
πΆ One week since I started at Longy. One month since I started this newsletter.
Okay, that wasn't very funny. Moving on.
I had a really good week. It feels nice to say that. It feels really nice to say that.
I don't have much to say today. Anything I want to say, I say below, or I plan to flesh it out and write it later.
I don't have much to say today, but sometimes, things are good and peaceful and don't need anything said about them.
βοΈ What I'm writing
How I use the Logseq Readwise plugin in my Zettelkasten
I have been beta testing a few things recently. One of them is the official Readwise plugin for Logseq. It's not out yet, and the Readwise folks asked if any of us had made/could make anything about it they could include in promotion. Not like, paid promotion, but the sort of "this is how I use this" videos and articles that are very common in these kinds of "tools for thought" spaces. I wrote this up, and people seem to like it!
I also have some ideas. I don't know if they're gonna be essays, articles, books, hypertext, or something else.
π¨ What I'm creating
058 - Seize the means of cataloging feat. Becky Yoose
Becky! Is! Great! This will be one of those you might not get much out of if you're not a librarian, but the greater intersection of labor and intellectual property is one I think a lot of people will find interesting.
Advanced Reference Management with Zotero - feat. Jay Colbert
I didn't "create" this so much as got invited to talk with Dario. We recorded this a little over a week ago. It's cool that I'm starting to carve this niche out for myself.
Episode 257 β Off to AnthroCon, Jay Colbert
Another thing I didn't "create" so much as appear on. I met Kevin during BASB. We recorded this the day after I accepted my offer from Longy. What I like is that we did this during a transition period, as I mention, so I think it will be cool to go on again in a few months or something to see how things have changed. I'm one of those "Fuck Productivity" people, but also with ADHD, it's nice to learn how to control and manage my time for myself, yes including what I do for work. But to do that for myself and not in service of capital to the extent I can avoid it.
π What I'm reading
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
I have beat you, curse that only lets me read around 100 pages of Infinite Jest before I get busy and let the habit slip. I was a bit busy and actually did slip for a lot of this week, but I spent Sunday getting caught up. My mind has been feeling a lot lighter, so spending a weekend reading was like, actually relaxing and fun.
I still very much feel like I'm in some expository section where I'm not sure how characters or plot threads relate. I also have no idea how this book ends or what it's really about beyond the back-of-book blurb.
I am sensing that a lot of it takes place in Boston, though. I'm going to have to find some sort of guide of all the places mentioned so I can visit them or where they would be.
π₯ What I'm watching
300, Fascism, and The Angry Men of Twitter
I actually love 300. I love how stylized it is, I love how goofy it is, I love how mythic and epic it is. It's a fun movie. I also love Big Joel's videos, and I enjoyed his analysis of its pretty blatant fascist themes. Big Joel also likes this movie, and he doesn't think people who like it or the people who made it are fascists. A lot of people on Twitter got mad at him for daring to point out Nazi ideology.
I think my favorite part of this analysis of the people who defend the film from any negative criticism is Big Joel reading the defenses as flattening and sanitizing. The defenses don't engage with the film or its themes. The defenses read it at face value with almost clinical sanitation.
Sometimes the things we like have bad politics. I think that's okay. Lord knows I love Top Gun.
πΆ What I'm listening to
Arkhon by Zola Jesus
Not my favorite work of hers, but great nonetheless. I saw her live when I lived in Salt Lake City, and I think she's much better live. She does a lot of cool video projection while performing that adds so much to the music. Without that, her music can kind of blend together and start all sounding the same.
BONUS π What I'm cooking
Pasta aglio e olio and I have a bit of a history by now.
I made it for some friends Saturday night. It felt so goddamn good to cook for other people again. I haven't in a while. I made some sauteed tempeh and broccoletti to go with it. I haven't actually made this since January. A bit rusty, but I think successful. I could have hit the tempeh and broccoletti with a bit more acidity, but otherwise delicious.