You guys know you’re supposed to skim this and find what is interesting to you, in your own… particular…. oeuvre? preference?

Uhhh….

 

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT…

• I’m recommending you watch this Marc Ribellet talk with Wayne Brady about improv, music, and the craziest cypher ever about teenage mutant ninja turtles. Seriously, this is the most funky and groovy soul healing joy I’ve felt in a long while… and hey, you got this before even going to space. ENJOY:

 

SPACE

• LET’S ENJOY THE MOST DETAILED MAP OF THE UNIVERSE IN 4 MINUTES WITH HELPFUL EXPOSITION AT THE START:

And here’s 4 minutes explaining why it’s so badass:

 

• NASA solar probe becomes fastest object ever built as it ‘touches the sun’ The Parker Solar Probe was clocked at over 330,000 miles per hour as it zipped through the sun’s outer atmosphere. https://www.cnet.com/news/nasa-solar-probe-becomes-fastest-object-ever-built-as-it-touches-the-sun/

 

• VERY COOL SIDE NOTE: Voyager I and home are communicating at the speed of a 300 baud modem. But: In the emptiness of space, Voyager I detects plasma ‘hum’ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210510113603.htm

 

• The European Space Agency covered Bohemian Rhapsody, and I was immediately, “this is cringey” and then i was immediately “these guys are hilarious, this took some balls”.

 

• How We’ll Actually Navigate Interstellar Space https://www.universetoday.com/151090/aint-like-dusting-crops-how-well-actually-navigate-interstellar-space/

 

• NASA’s plan for an Interstellar Probe… 1,000 AU From the Sun, into Interstellar Space:

Traveling far beyond the Sun’s sphere of influence, an Interstellar Probe would be the boldest move in space exploration since humans landed on the moon. A launch technologically possible in the 2030s would propel an Interstellar Probe farther and faster than any spacecraft before it, leading to new and inspiring exploration across heliophysics, astrophysics and planetary science – helping us understand our home in the galaxy and representing humanity’s first deliberate step into the sea of space between our Sun and other potentially habitable systems. https://interstellarprobe.jhuapl.edu

 

• A new one time event of a “meteor” shower that won’t produce many shooting stars, because the speed is too slow. But it’s basically that we’re passing through a weird dust cloud, and it’s hard to predict. What’s more, most of the new probes (interstellar, above) are into measuring dust… dust clouds, dust from comets, dust dust dust!

Surprise meteor shower! ‘Finlay-id’ ‘shooting stars’ will appear for the first time in 2021. https://www.space.com/comet-finlay-new-meteor-shower-2021

PHILOSOPHY

• “The entertainment of aesthetics, and content as coping”: Mobile Games and Netflix Binges: Why We Should Encourage Easy Entertainment in Hard Times https://aestheticsforbirds.com/2021/05/10/mobile-games-and-netflix-binges-why-we-should-encourage-easy-entertainment-in-hard-times/

My thoughts:

Fascinating in that I had personally connected this process for myself, and not extrapolated how many people were obviously doing the same thing for coping. Or intellectually or philosophically reconciled the nature of “leisure” until my brain exploded a number of times during the pandemic. Long story short, what is life but not the pursuit of leisure (which would include philosophy, or aesthetic)?

Aesthetic saved me many times during the pandemic, 4K travel videos healed me, and oddly enough… horror survival video games channeled my tension and stress effectively, and “Alien: Isolation” in VR immersed me into a world that helped me understand “it could be a lot worse”. I was never a gamer, and now I am a huge fan in understanding the storytelling and narrative immersion they can create. But goodness the diversion from hard times. Of course people will want to escape into a Baudrillard simulacra that you can fully control and dial in to your specifications! It’s like affording your own Magrathea planet builder from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy!

I do, however, now have a better understanding of why we’re seemingly just doing drive-by-shoutings of content *at* friends… “THE WIRE” “BATTLESTAR” “THE EXPANSE” “RESIDENT ALIEN”. We’ve little to talk about, but some of these things have taken our mind off things like the present or virus or struggle or that president remember that guy?

 

SCIENCE AND JESUS MAN THAT’S DARK

 

• Not so dark but funny guy who writes for Wired about AI, etc:

Notice how none of these people are wearing AR glasses or even AirPods? A bad omen for the future of wearable computing pic.twitter.com/PatgQ4409y

— Tom Simonite (@tsimonite) March 16, 2021

 

• Professor Warns of “Nightmare” Bots That Prey on Vulnerable People “My current nightmare application is blending GPT-3, facial GANs, and voice synthesis to make synthetic ELIZAs that drive vulnerable people (literally) crazy.” https://futurism.com/professor-nightmare-bots

 

• BEHAVIOR & SOCIETY & PANDEMIC SCIENCE: ‘Cave Syndrome’ Keeps the Vaccinated in Social Isolation After a year away from friends and co-workers, people sometimes struggle to resume their public routines: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cave-syndrome-keeps-the-vaccinated-in-social-isolation1/

 

• If you reacted more to the first shot of the vaccine, it’s because you already had Covid and probably never knew it:

If you’ve had COVID, your first vaccine dose may cause worse side effects. Here’s why https://www.miamiherald.com/news/coronavirus/article250667914.html

 

• Quantum Entanglement Has Now Been Directly Observed at a Larger Macroscopic Scale https://www.sciencealert.com/quantum-entanglement-has-now-been-directly-observed-at-a-larger-macroscopic-scale

 

• NOT SAD BUT COOL: Distilling Red Wine. Interesting quick experiment:

DAMN NATURE YOU CRAZY

• This is some Superman level sci-fi Dr. Manhattan type stuff.

 

 

DAMN PEOPLE YOU STUPID

• A normal day in Russia?

 

• I’m not saying Trump has dirt on the entire GOP, but both the full break from reality, and the fomenting of that break, are bizarre like we’re in a simulation, and that simulation is being wound down. Seth always lays it out well, helping you realize you aren’t insane. But what in the WITAF is going on? Really? Tin foil hat taken off.

 

FUNNY

• Boyle was into Johnny’s Bat Meat way before we suffered the debilitating effects of a virus that destroyed us.

 

MUSIC

• David Mancuso, a DJ that’s probably done more than anyone else to further audio quality in DJ culture, didn’t use any kind of mixer. As the late DJ said in an RBMA interview, “The less components you use, the better the transparency of the sounds. With each audio component, it may be very high grade, but eventually it will colorize what you’re hearing.You use the minimum.” If you want the best sound, you might need to ditch the mixer altogether. “The Cult of Rotary Mixers” https://ra.co/features/3275

 

• A homeless L.A. musician helped create a Daft Punk classic. So why hasn’t he seen a dime? https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2021-05-06/daft-punk-one-more-time-eddie-johns-homeless

Unlike most lazy samples, this stuff is bonkers:

 

• How do you keep a despondent person alive? This back and forth with Chapelle, Black Star, with chats about Robin Williams, The Roots, and more. What a wonderful thing this is!

 

• This track slaps:

 

MOVIES, TV, STORYTELLING IS EVERYWHERE (EVEN BELOW THIS WITH VIDEO GAMES WHO ARGUABLY DO IT BETTER)

 

• This is the bowling alley guy:

 

This shot by shot fan edit of Fists of Fury fight scene:

 

• Yes, I am going to tell you Aniara is a film you need to watch about a Space Liner / Cruiser that goes off course whilst on a 3 week trip to Mars. When I say “goes off course”, think “drifting through the existential numbness of existence forever”, and that’s not even a spoiler. It’s a profoundly relevant film for these times, such that’s it’s easy to watch and clickbait is not wrong, for once: https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/hulu-science-fiction-movies-may-2021-aniara

 

• I love this trend of pros doing fan one-sheets in off time, and amateurs thinking deeply with design in doing fan made art. This Alien poster is something else. Not sure the Facehugger has that long a tale, and the Prometheus cave vibes fit better than Alien, but what a wonderful poster!!

 

VIDEO GAMES

• I’m having dreadful (atmospheric not “horror”) fun with a recently released game, that is innovative, interesting, and the gameplay narrative is unreal: https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/05/21/observation-review

It would be obvious to refer to Observation as “2001: A Space Odyssey: The Game”. In fact, that’s how developer No Code has described it itself. But in truth, this sci-fi thriller melds so much more than that together: Alien’s constant sense of dread and labyrinth of claustrophobic corridors; Solaris’ emotional core and haunting ethereality; and Interstellar’s sheer desperation and explosive moments. All of these combine to create a gripping story that’s threaded around a series of cleverly designed puzzles to create a truly unique gaming experience.

 

• Alien: Isolation Re-Review for 2021 (nice kotaku review of a guy who was too scared to play when it came out). It does seem like it could have been made this year, and remember you can play in VR too! https://kotaku.com/alien-isolation-the-i-cant-believe-i-waited-seven-year-1846817646

 

• Sometimes I boot into VR and just sit on the Sevastopol. Here’s the mood. It’s like Cobb made the video game, and it could have been made in 2021.

Taking place between Alien & Aliens, Alien: Isolation is the greatest game & entertainment experience I think I’ve ever had (especially in VR!), & it’s hauntingly beautiful: Big screenshot, cutscreens, etc album. Just the most stunning atmosphere ever!

 

• (and here’s some of Cobb’s concept work for Alien, to show how faithful it was: http://www.roncobb.net/05-Alien.html)

• I played this game, and sent it to a list, what this newsletter was born from. I blame them. This sucks. People suck, not the AI:

It Began as an AI-Fueled Dungeon Game. It Got Much Darker: The game touted its use of the GPT-3 text generator. Then the algorithm started to generate disturbing stories, including sex scenes involving children. https://www.wired.com/story/ai-fueled-dungeon-game-got-much-darker/ 

 

VEHICLES

• The story behind a strange-looking boat arriving in San Francisco Bay tonight – AIR, WIND, and SELF MADE HYDROGEN, a science experiment on the water: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/2021-05-Energy-Observer-Hydrogen-catamaran-SF-16157233.php#photo-20956622

 

• Jaguar is targeting high-end Porsche, Aston Martin, Bentley:

Jaguar’s days chasing German rivals over The brand’s ambitions are no longer linked to volume and the ‘British BMW’ dream has been laid to rest. https://www.autonews.com/sales/jaguars-days-chasing-german-rivals-over

 

• Speaking of: Fifty years later, are you ready to excuse the Harold and Maude producers for making a hearse out of an E-Type? https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2021/05/10/fifty-years-later-are-you-ready-to-excuse-the-harold-and-maude-producers-for-making-a-hearse-out-of-an-e-type

They never had to apologize:

 

 

• This Porsche 911 Is the Ultimate High-Performance Camping Rig Forget #vanlife. Meet a lowered Porsche with the outdoors in its crosshairs. https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-culture/a36300806/this-porsche-911-is-the-ultimate-high-performance-camping-rig/

 

• I hate that Mustang, and it’s made me hate all Mustangs. Some of these cars are fantastic and affordable. My wife said no more tiny trunk road trips, so we need to buy a car with more room, that will be her daily driver. I am thinking of selling my Wrangler, because the auction market on stock YJ and earlier Wranglers and 4×4’s is ABSOLUTELY insane right now. But the definite sale will be my wife’s 2011 Mini Cooper, the last year prior to NHTSA changed the law and the Cooper swelled up on steroids to be the size of a Range Rover. So they’re highly desirable.  But in that, a new car for her, I am thinking of expanding my collection to be the most efficient collection ever… so she’ll likely end up with an ICE SUV like a Jaguar F-Pace or Porsche Cayenne, etc. But I’ve been stalking the Bring a Trailer and Doug Demuro’s sites, and it’s been fun to look at what are catching younger eyes… especially as Millennials entering the purchasing or collecting space, we’re seeing people buying the cars that were posters on their walls when they were kids… and hating them. Old cars are a drag. No AC, no power steering, no parts to speak of… and the ride is pure shit. In the last newsletter, I talked about restomods and how I think they’re the future… I even think that when electrical parts are available en-masse, we’ll see a huge movement towards retrofitting, and especially like the below…

989 $20K Sports Coupe Roundup From the Archive: Eight of the best-performing sport-coupe bargains from Ford, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, and Toyota compete for top honors. https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparison-test/a36291810/1989-sports-coupe-comparison-test/

 

• This 1996 instructional Jeep TJ video is the hilarious high school shop class “my teacher is just showing videos” nostalgia I need:

 

• And here’s why people hate the NHTSA and how requirements for safety alter the process of design and performance of a car. There are some collectors that say post 1967 or 1968 when standards started being implemented. I get it, but am not one of these purists. I like a collapsible steering wheel and less death. I also like the luxury of comfy seats, smooth ride, and modern conveniences. It’ll be hard to find a car that Lauren likes as much as I love, but this is what happened to the Mini Cooper 2011 or so.

VINYL CORNER!

ok… I’ll talk about vinyl.

1) Discogs: have you categorized your collection? It’s obscenely easy and I got through 1000 records in about a day. Barcodes and production numbers lead you RIGHT THERE. Add to collection. Send your profile URL.

2) a friend sent this cut chemist single turntable 40 min mix where he loops out of the track to remix into it off a loop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVAulCSj_Lw

3) Also, what is ten club vinyl, I know I could look, elevator pitch please? I’ve heard of people buying “mystery boxes” of vinyl, like mystery cases of beer. Pretty confident I’m not going to like the former as much as random beers, honestly.

4) WHAT I AM LISTENING TO:

I should let Jim fill you in, but Sault. It’s all being repressed late may. They released the top 2 albums of 2020, basically, one of the top of 2019.  There is no funkier hip hop collective with soothing vocals and beats delivering the most hardcore of BLM messages I’ve seen. London group. “Sault are a pseudonymous British music collective that make a mixture of rhythm and blues, house and disco. Despite critical acclaim, they eschew interaction with the media. They frequently foreground black-centric issues.”

Also Liam Bailey‘s album on Crown Records is like old school roots reggae, as well as a modern production aesthetic that would make Jai Paul blush.

I’ve been listening to science fiction scores, lately. I won’t drive into my Annihilation love, but I just had a massive realization the composer is the main Portishead guy, Geoff Barrow. Makes sense.

 

I upped my speaker situation, so I bought the Interstellar score and am going to PISS OFF MY NEIGHBORS. But I also made a listening corner where I can rock headphones.