Status:
I’d call this a managed crash day after yesterday’s writing binge. I should have spread that application over a few days but I only heard about it on Friday and the deadline was today, and once a deadline junkie always a deadline junkie. I woke up exhausted with the sense that I’d fucked it and had embarrassed myself, utterly catastrophising the thing. In the past that would have sent me off the rails but I now know that’s just a manifestation of mental fatigue and (all together now) it will pass. Still had to get through the day with a stupid brain that wouldn’t settle no matter how many dumb jigsaws I did, although a later-afternoon nap helped.
Reading:
- Cupcakes, bunting and a bus stuck in the mud: the funeral of Martin Parr — Exactly as you’d expect it to be.
- The attack on competence — “Competence is naturally a threat to this form of legitimacy-building, as it means that any lowly engineer at a company can, in theory, tell the CTO that they’re full of shit and have it be taken seriously. It’s as though the emperor is sharing his royal court with a whole lot of people who constantly tell him that he’s naked, and he can’t have them executed because they run all the affairs of state."
- Garbage Day on the YouTuber Hollywood gold rush — Ryan’s trying to figure out whether and how the culture of YT maps on Hollywood, but I think it’s analogous to 80s British directors who cut their teeth on TV advertising. Tony Scott et al brought a very specific populist aesthetic to cinema that eclipsed the old new guard of the 70s, and that’s possibly what’s happening here. Or not!
Listening:
- The Miles Davis Story — I’ve been enjoying the 100th birthday shows the BBC has been putting out and this documentary series has Clarke Peters with his fantastic voice telling the full story.
Music:
- Father and Son from Inferno by Boards of Canada. — As a middle aged man of a certain disposition I’ve of course been listening to the new BoC and to be honest it hasn’t blown me away, except for this one track which I love. I’m sure people have perfectly synced speech samples to a beat before but this is wonderful. “No I’m not calling him a liar”. Just wish it went on for longer. 12” version please!
Downloading:
- Links to PDFs of 96 left-wing books — You never know when they might come in handy…