Deacon King Kong by James McBride. This was my first time reading anything by McBride and maybe I have a new favorite author? I love everything about this story and the way he tells it. (A+)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
One Battle After Another. Great. Especially Sean Penn. And it reminded me of a Wes Anderson movie for some reason? Like one that he would have made had he followed the Bottle Rocket path instead of the Rushmore Path. (A+)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Great spy thriller. Gary Oldman is fantastic in this. Cold War? Spies? Britain? I will pretty much watch as many of this type of movie as you can make. (A)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Princess Mononoke. I saw this in the theater on my last full day in Tokyo; they recently released a 4K remaster. Absolutely breathtaking. (A+)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
A House of Dynamite. A very tough watch, but I thought this was fantastic as a tour of some of the different kinds of people who hold the fate of every single person on the planet in their hands every damn day. They’re tired, stressed, distracted, at cross-purposes with themselves, set in their ways, more celebs than leaders, and mediocre. And none of them have ever seen Dr. Strangelove? (A)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Iyoshi Cola. Craft colas are often disappointing, but this one was absolutely delicious. Wish I could get it in the States for less than $14 a can. (A)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
So, I switched from a wheeled chair to a plain old chair and voila, no more back issues. I ended up getting an Emeco 111 Navy Chair in green from Design Within Reach.
His written "Uses This" interview, describing the desk he writes kottke.org from.
Shopkeeping by Peter Miller. This was recommended from a couple of different vectors — pretty sure one was Robin Sloan. Lots of resonance to my work here and how I think about it (and want to think about it). (A-)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki. Read this book about Japanese aesthetics while visiting Japan — it provided an interesting context. (B+)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Leaving America. This is a 12-part podcast on the logistics, benefits, and challenges of leaving the United States. Oh, no reason. (B+)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (season three). Maybe didn’t enjoy this quite as much as the previous two season, but I love spending time with these people and look forward to doing more of that when season four drops. (B+)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Tron: Ares soundtrack. Better than the movie. (A-)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Connected to the MacBook Pro is usually a pair of Shure SE115m+ earbuds, my third pair of Shure earbuds. They cancel office noise and play music into my ears. They hurt a bit for the first week I wore them, but they're better now.
His written "Uses This" interview, describing the desk he writes kottke.org from.
I am typing this on an Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad connected to a 23" Apple Cinema Display connected to 15-inch 3.06 GHz MacBook Pro connected to a 1 Tb Western Digital My Passport portable hard drive on which I back up my files with Time Machine.
His written "Uses This" interview, describing the desk he writes kottke.org from.
I also use Terminal, Mail.app (though I mostly check email on my phone these days), TextMate, iTunes (cannot get into Spotify or Rdio for whatever reason), Photoshop (grudgingly), Sequel Pro, and very little else.
His written "Uses This" interview, describing the desk he writes kottke.org from.
I also use Terminal, Mail.app (though I mostly check email on my phone these days), TextMate, iTunes (cannot get into Spotify or Rdio for whatever reason), Photoshop (grudgingly), Sequel Pro, and very little else.
His written "Uses This" interview, describing the desk he writes kottke.org from.
My white desk doesn't work so well with the optical mouse, so for some dumb reason I'm using a 242-page book called Proust Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer as a mousepad.
His written "Uses This" interview, describing the desk he writes kottke.org from.
Awakening Your Ikigai by Ken Mogi. Perhaps a little over-simplifying when it comes to Japanese culture, but I appreciated the message of having a purpose. (B)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Fantastic Four. It was ok? Aside from a few things, I’m having trouble getting excited about post-Infinity Saga Marvel. There was just a special alchemy about that whole arc that is proving impossible to reproduce. (B)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Total Recall. First time! Maybe a little too Verhoeven/B-movie for me. (C+)
His recurring "Media Diet" post, listing everything he read, watched, listened to and visited over several months, each with a one-line verdict and a letter grade. The site discloses that purchases through its links may earn an affiliate commission.
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
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The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:
Hardware, services4 years
Software5 years
Podcasts, courses, other8 years
Books25 years
Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.