Intro
Last weekend was a travel weekend. Got out of town and visited friends and family in PA & upstate NY. The weather was beautiful, the flight was mediocre, the driving was pleasant, and it was mostly rejuvenating. Next weekend The week after next we’re heading to the east coast of FL, and when I return work shifts from the slow-paced summer days to prepping for the new semester.
Art & Illustration
- Monster Brains has some new posts up.
- I am recently obsessed with the work of Remedios Varo.
- Scroll down a little to read Claes Oldenburg’s “I Am For…” (RIP January 28, 1929 – July 18, 2022)
“I am for an art that embroils itself with the everyday crap and still comes out on top.
“I am for an art that imitates the human, that is comic, if necessary, or violent, or whatever is necessary.”
Books & Reading
- Speculative Fiction Showcase Speculative Fiction Links of the Week for July 22, 2022
- I read Becky Chambers’ A Psalm for the Wild-Built on the flight to Scranton. It was perfect. I immediately ordered the follow-up A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (Molly Templeton’s review at Tor.)
- Becky Chambers interview.
Q: What was your inspiration for A Psalm for the Wild-Built?
A: So many different bits and pieces went into Psalm. A lifelong love of robots. A strong itch to write something solarpunk. Growing up in Los Angeles and living in the woodsy middle of nowhere now. Lapsed Catholicism. Road trips with my wife. Studio Ghibli movies. A bone to pick with the idea that technology and nature are fundamentally at odds. A soft spot for tea, farms, cob houses, bugs, green roofs, and overgrown buildings. A desire to write something that serves as pure comfort for an adult audience.
Cartoons & Comics
- Bizarro by Wayno (and sometimes Dan Piraro)
- Incidental Comics by Grant Snider
- K Chronicles by Keith Knight
- The Nib by various
- Peyote Cowboy by Dan Piraro – Ch 9, Ep 3, Power of the Pollo
- Questionable Content by Jeph Jacques
- Sarah’s Scribbles by Sarah Andersen
- Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle
- This Modern World by Tom Tomorrow – Do Not Adjust Your Television Set
- You’re All Just Jealous of My Jetpack by Tom Gauld
Cartoon/Comics Blogging
WWAC write about The Greatest Thing by Sarah Winifred Searle
Columns & Essays
- “Surveillance is pervasive: Yes, you are being watched, even if no one is looking for you” by Peter Krapp
- “Food expiration dates don’t have much science behind them – a food safety researcher explains another way to know what’s too old to eat” by Jill Roberts.
Currently Reading
- On the flight to PA I read Becky Chambers A Psalm for the Wild-Built and really loved it. I finished it on the first leg of the flight and bought a copy of Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh in the airport. Tonally very different than Chambers, but equally amazing in its own way. I finished that and bought Grady Hendrix’s Final Girl Support Group in the airport on the way back. Clever idea and a fun ride.
Games
- Semantle – “Each guess must be a word. Semantle will tell you how semantically similar it thinks your word is to the secret word. Unlike that other word game, it’s not about the spelling; it’s about the meaning.”
Horoscope
- Free Will Astrology – week of 2022 July 21st
Movies
- Last night I watched Strawberry Mansion. If you like Dickian reality-twisting dream SF, this is for you. I loved it.
Music
News
I assume you already have your preferred news source(s). Here are sites I use to supplement my news diet.
- Wonkette – I love the cursing and share their love of Molly Ivins.
- Popular Information – independent investigative journalism.
- WikiNews – Wikipedia has a news page. It can be kind of hit or miss, but I always use it when I’m following a breaking news story.
Obituary
- Diana Kennedy, notable expert on Mexican cuisine (Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy)
Politics
State legislators passed abortion bans. These corporations sent checks.
Here are some of the corporations supporting forced-birth legislators:
- AT&T
- CVS
- Wells Fargo
- Ford
- Cigna
- UnitedHealth
- Deloitte
- T-Mobile
TV
Currently watching:
- Maggie – light-hearted supernatural comedy rom/com series.
- Umbrella Academy
- Only Murders in the Building
- Behind Her Eyes
- What We Do In the Shadows
- Harley Quinn (cartoon)
I use justwatch.com to see where a movie/tv show is streaming.
Coda
Don’t forget the 20/20/20 rule – every twenty minutes look away from your screen for twenty seconds and then go live in the woods for twenty years.
