May 25, 2020
"Like wishing me a happy birthday on my dead brother’s birthday"
Former Army sergeant Peter Sessum explains why not to thank vets for their service on Memorial Day, and why he's cool with BBQing and online deal-hunting ("a sound military strategy").
Slow -- sustained and tranquil but singing
Given these days and these times, I found myself this weekend listening to Henryk Górecki's Symphony No. 3 "Symphony of sorrowful songs". (27m, 10m, 17m, 54m total) The opening movement was rather famous for a while when this 1992 recording was released and a BBC DJ played the full movement even though it was outside of the station's format. (Or so the urban legend goes.). It's a slowly building ocean of grief, a central wail, and then gradual decline. My heart was happy to have it tonight. [more inside]
We Can’t Comprehend This Much Sorrow
History’s first draft is almost always wrong — but we still have to try and write it. "This year has been a blur, but I remember one day clearly: Sunday, March 8. It was the last day I ate at a restaurant, the last day I went to a concert (Red Baraat at the Sinclair in Cambridge, Mass.) and the last day I hugged a friend. It was also the first time I thought that I should begin writing about what was going on." Teju Cole opens his COVID-19 diary to all.
A Haunted Tome Made Out of Human Skin... But Informative!
Stacie Ponder of Final Girl, a blog from Portland, ME and Anthony Hudson of Queer Horror, a film series in Portland, OR, together are The Gaylords of Darkness. Most weeks, they discuss a horror movie from the ridiculous to the sublime with a mix of queerness, feminism, enthusiasm, frantic humor, and running jokes. Occasionally they discuss non-horror films. Quite frequently, they discuss Susperia (2018).
Library of Congress wants to bring back the golden age of hip hop
Library of Congress app lets you make hip hop with century-old samples (Engadget): "The US Library of Congress has unveiled Citizen DJ, a digital tool that allows you to remix sounds from its massive collection of film, television, video and sound recordings. It was created by "innovator in residence" Brian Foo to recapture the '80s and '90s golden age of hip-hop sampling." You can explore collections using the web interface, use a simple music-creation app to remix beats, and download "sample packs" with thousands of audio clips from a particular collection that can be used in most music production software. Explainer video (Vimeo). See also: Library of Congress Needs a Few Citizen DJs (LOC)
American Ninja Forager
In backyards around the world, a vicious resource war is being fought between the avians and the rodents. Are you tired of standing idly by? Do you prefer the lilt of birdsong to the screech and chatter of tree-rats? Then perhaps you should look at the latest in birdfeeder anti-squirrel technology: an extensive, squirrel-scale backyard obstacle course created by YouTube science guy Mark Rober (previously). The results may surprise you. They definitely won't.
Let's do some math
3Blue1Brown known for beautiful visualizations of complex mathematical topics gives a go at livestreaming high-school level math with a 'Lockdown math' series. Brush up on things you probably forgot from math class. [more inside]
Meet Star Stable, a horse game for girls 8 to 17
According to a 2015 profile in Venture Beat, Star Stable Entertainment broke a lot of rules when it launched (in 2011, according to various sources other than Venture Beat). "It created an online horse game, Star Stable, for girls and young women. It charged a subscription fee and built its own game engine. And it stayed online rather than diving into mobile with a million other competitors." [more inside]
The feelgood story of the day
From homeless refugee to chess prodigy, 9-year-old dreams of becoming youngest grandmaster. Follow up on a Nicholas Kristof story from last year on M-F
“It's nice to sit at the campfire and discuss projects,”
Zoom sucks, we started having editorial meetings in Red Dead Redemption [Rock Paper Shotgun] “Mostly we were just having a really crap time,” said Viv when I spoke to them, about their meeting life before Cowboys. “We were having to deal with all those Zoom and Skype meetings and emails and phone calls… and we were just feeling worse and worse and more annoyed all the time.” Minecraft was considered, apparently, but people tended to just wander off and start digging, or dumping gravel on the meeting table, “so picking the most ludicrous game to meet in seemed good.” But then, as it turned out, it wasn’t quite as ridiculous as expected. “The thing is,” Viv explained, “the Cowboys just look right when they’re sitting around the campfire? They look like they’re in a meeting: scratching noses and frowning, and occasionally gesturing.”
The importance of building a fort
I feel like you’re in a safe place, your own bubble of coziness. All forts, according to fort expert David Sobel, share common traits: They are handmade, somewhat secretive and “you can look out, but others can’t see in.” They are safe — physically and emotionally. “It’s your place where you want to be just you, observing but unseen,” he says.
One fort-builder comments, “Everything is wrong right now, but it’s a safe space where no one worries about you...if you locked yourself in your room, people would worry, but if you hide in your fort all day, no worries.”
On Dead Wrestlers
[Content Warning: death, suicide, self-harm] Last week was a tragic one in the world of professional wrestling, with former WWE wrestler Shad Gaspard giving his own life to save his son from drowning and second-generation joshi star Hana Kimura dying of suicide. Between Gaspard and Kimura's death, Vice on TV aired the last episode of the second season of Dark Side of the Ring, which told the story of the death of Owen Hart live on pay-per-view on May 23rd, 1999. Colette Arrand notes, "there are few forms of art and entertainment that breed tragedy at the same rate as professional wrestling." [more inside]
I'll have one Chicken Dump Truck and Blinfolded Ordinary on the side...
Humorous mistranslationfilter, SLT - Twitter user @vladadraws had an appeal to her followers yesterday: "So my mother's friend's husband is stuck in a hotel in Saudi Arabia and this is the order menu they gave him, Do I have any Arabic speaking followers that can help make sense of this?" The Arabic-to-English translations on said menu are....unconventional. [more inside]
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