The Week In
Consumption
Music
I seem to have listened to Gladys Knight a bunch but I kept putting the Geese album back on whenever I had to drive somewhere. I was also coming back from the airport today and my subconscious said to listen to Sufjan, and as I pulled in home, during Casimir Pulaski Day, the lyrics went “on the first of March, on the holiday”. Spooky. I think I gave Ys a go through on YouTube since Joanna Newsom isn’t on Spotify and it’s so blindingly good I have to recover every time I listen to it.
Books
I have gone through Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and Others, as in, other short stories. One of them, the title one, is the basis for the movie Arrival, but ol’ Ted’s very reliable. Short stories always go down quick, regardless of the overall combined length, so I’m now on Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. It’s about how the move away from literacy in America has led to a reduction in not only the quality of the public discourse, but the how video-based content is shaped by the form itself and is not only (arguably) inferior to the written word, but fundamentally different. Also it was written 40 years ago. Lucky Mr. Postman did not live to see TikTok.
Movies
Nothin’
TV
Also not much, finished off Baby Reindeer. It got extremely dark towards the end.
Production
Running
Not even much of this. I went out twice and also did some strength training during the week. A lot of the above is mainly due to my brother kind of unexpectedly turning up on Friday and hanging around until I got back from the airport on Sunday afternoon.
Writing
Lucky for me I’m set for tomorrow, but once again I am totally empty from Monday onwards. So far so good though.
Drinking
I did have my first beer(s) of 2026 on Saturday, sliced my finger open a little trying to prise apart two frozen lemon slices. I do not anticipate this being a common recurring category.