I feel blessed to have come across a clean recording of Chvrches' version of Prince's messianic "I Would Die 4 You." I was blown away the first time I heard this cover years ago on Soundcloud. It's such a perfect rendition of a groundbreaking song. There is no video of the actual in-studio performance of this track, so the YouTuber who posted this substituted a montage of concert footage. It is heavily centered on front woman Lauren Mayberry (I barely saw the dudes in the band), but it's a nice collection of clips and syncs up pretty well with the audio.
I never stop wanting to love the New York Times and they never stop stopping me by publishing dopes like Ross Douthat, David Brooks and Maureen Dowd.
Rogers Cadenhead https://rcade.micro.blog/2022/09/05/i-never-stop.html We typically don't want to hear from those with whom we disagree. I use the word "we" very deliberately because I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I'm likely to rage-quit a publication or even a whole network after encountering too many views that don't jive with mine.
Men I Trust return with a new single to accompany their tour of the states. This one surprised me by beginning with a Factory Records sound and progressing into a chugging, propulsive post-punk ripper. A new wave guitar line comes up about a minute and a half into the track. Keyboard flourishes show up later on to add a bit more to the era-specific sounds. The video features lead singer Emma Proulx swinging in front of an intentionally crummy video backdrop with some haunting vibes.
I have been on a sort of crusade to get more people to blog recently. If I come across a person who is interesting and has something worthwhile to share, I urge them to start a blog. I have a friend at work who, in the early days of the Ukraine war, was sending updates about the conflict to a large group of people via an email distribution list. I suggested he commit his ideas to a blog instead.
I will start by showing my cards here and admitting that I can’t wait to see Andor, the latest of the Star Wars shows to premiere on Disney+. The only reason I haven’t already dipped back into the Star Wars universe is that my imagination is currently in Middle Earth, where the harfoots are undertaking a perilous journey and Sauron and his juicy, sunscreen-hoarding orcs are on the move. If I weren’t so deep into the story that Rings of Power is weaving, I would have settled down in front of the big screen with the lights off and watched for that familiar Star Wars logo that has brought joy to me since I was a kid.
Frank Yang commemorates the 20th anniversary of Ladytron's Light & Magic LP in a post on Space Echo. Completely unaware of the significance of the date, I was listening to the album the other day. My favorite song remains the track in the pole position, "True Mathematics." I'm excited to see a newly produced video for the song. I'm even happier that the video version of the song is different from the album version and has a bit more punch.
A fellow microblogger has been posting videos of himself freestyle skateboarding and it has reminded me of how artistic the form can be. One of my favorite freestylers is the Rodney Mullen-influenced Japanese skater Isamu Yamamoto. Yamamoto is sponsored by Powell Peralta (yep, that Powell Peralta). Looking for his videos on the Powell site led me to another amazing freestyler, Kilian Martin.
I've long maintained that skateboarding is an art more than it's a sport and that is perhaps even more true of freestyle.
In Your Favorite Pop Culture Has Just Gone “Woke.” Now What? by Jason Morehead, the author examines some perceived changes brought to Middle Earth mythology by the new Amazon Prime series Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power. If you've come across any of the common objections to the show, this is a really helpful piece to read. I mention this in large part because Morehead has a good grasp of the material being examined and brings an informed view to the debate.
I'm not sure what to think of this piece from Mere Orthodoxy on panic over the direction of Western civilization and its implications for Christians. For one thing, it sides mostly with Rod Dreher, someone with whom I am not usually in agreement. Dreher tends toward the Chicken Little end of the Christian spectrum, and his hand wringing often seems counterproductive. Things can surely get more difficult for Christians as societal mores shift, but the sky will not fall as long as God's creation stands, and we are part of that creation.
In a piece for the New Yorker, David Owen writes about the world of mechanical keyboard enthusiasts in the context of his own history and love of keyboards.
Typing is rhythmic, complicated, and soothing, and, when I’m doing it well, my conscious brain doesn’t seem to be involved. It’s as close as I’ll ever come to playing a musical instrument—a nontrivial attraction. My love of typing probably contributed to my decision to become a writer.
If you look back at the music I've shared on this blog, you wouldn't doubt my devotion to nostalgic 80s retro-inspired sounds. Bring on the sports cars, sunglasses, synthesizers, and neon signs. Lately, though, I've been wishing for a 90s resurgence. Let's have some flannel and baby doll dresses. In that spirit, I wanted to share this dead-on, straight cover of "Cannonball" by the Breeders performed by Courtney Barnett. Barnett has been on my radar for a while, but now I have a reason to check out her stuff.
I was reading my friend Adam's newsletter, Tendrils, and I came upon some quick thoughts about the movie mid90s in a collection of mini-reviews of A24 movies. While Adam enjoyed the movie because it brought back some skateboarding nostalgia, I hated it for much the same reason. It seems like every recent movie or documentary dealing with skateboarding, from mid90s to Minding the Gap, makes it seem like skateboarders are a bunch of lawless teenage punks who have trouble with school or work.
Moving Past DisruptionPaul Ford writes for Wired Magazine as the co-founder of a software company that is tired of the ubiquitous pursuit of disruption within the tech industry. He argues that disruption serves the bored and that boredom is a luxury we no longer have, even in the U.S. — particularly after January 6, 2021.
That type of progress definitely generates a ton of activity. But it also sits weird when you consider how many lives in the world, historically and currently, including American lives, are extremely disrupted—by toxic spills or the whims of royalty or the goats all swelling up and dying.
I was texting with an old friend the other day, and he was documenting his progress in getting three monitors set up. Since he has an M1 Mac Mini, like I do, he could only easily support two monitors. He turned to Universal Control with a MacBook Air to get three displays going. He was trying monitor stacking and side by side setups. I told him I just preferred a simple iMac and no external monitors, which is why I only have one monitor that my work MacBook Pro and Mac Mini share.
One of the co-creators of the latest official D&D adventure, Journeys Through the Radiant Citadel, Ajit George, compares the setting of the book to solarpunk. I wrote about solarpunk in issue no. 8 of the newsletter. Wikipedia defines it this way:
Solarpunk is a genre and art movement that envisions how the future might look if humanity succeeded in solving major contemporary challenges with an emphasis on sustainability, climate change and pollution.
Last week, I published a micro post about my thoughts after reading Matt Birchler admonish his readers against switching blogging platforms. Birchler's main point was that switching platforms made it harder on readers and, therefore, more difficult to retain consistent readership. It's a solid point and one that really resonated with me. I have a tendency to tinker with different tools, some of which are blogging engines. That means I sometimes use different services to publish my posts.
The biggest irony of the last couple of weeks has to be Rep. Peter Meijer’s loss in the Western Michigan Republican primary. As recently as the end of last year, The Atlantic did an in-depth profile on Meijer and how he was at odds with his own party of the impeachment of Donald Trump and other issues related to the former president.
The piece, by Tim Alberta, is entitled What the GOP Does to Its Own Dissenters.
Relative Sci-fiI've heard some grumblings about the new Star Wars TV series online. The Book of Boba Fett, which I quite enjoyed, was particularly stung by criticism. Even though Obi-Wan Kenobi seemed to be a success story, it had its share of detractors as well.
While it may not make writing about these shows as interesting, I have had a lot of fun watching all the Star Wars entries into episodic television.
I consider myself fortunate to have procured a subscription to the feed reader platform Feedbin, when it first launched, after the untimely demise of Google Reader. Getting in early allowed me to lock into the service at $2 a month. Feedbin has been improving over the years, adding features that make it more of a one-stop-shop for keeping up with the things you follow on the internet. Many times, I even view most of my Twitter feed using the app because I would rather not venture into the stream.
When I first heard about Arc, from the Browser Company, I thought, who would want to get in the browser game? It seems like there are enough Chrome-based browsers on the market to suit any internet lifestyle. I was fortunate enough to get an invitation to their private beta, though, after mentioning my interest in checking it out. Now that I'm using it, I think I understand where the Browser Company is trying to go with their new offering.