From Molly White.

The TikTok ban, the Musk Twitter takeover, the Facebook moderation policy changes, the Republicans’ rapidly intensifying crackdowns on speech… let these be the proof you needed to move anything you care about online to a space you control.

Started reading: I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong 📚

A foggy day in lower Manhattan.

Went to the NYC People’s March yesterday. A lot smaller than last time around, but nice to be part of that positive energy. Representative of the crowd, I overheard one older woman say, “Oh, there’s a young person” 🙃

Watched on Saturday January 18, 2025. Read more

Finished reading: Babel by R. F. Kuang 📚

What an incredible book.

Been listening to Never Breathe What You Can’t See by Jello Biafra and the Melvins for the first time in years. Shit rips. 🎵

I now know less about Bob Dylan. Read more

Listening to “Babel” by R.K. Kuang on the subway while someone the same car is reading it. Years ago a guy sat next to me and we both read “IT”. A toast to underground literature coincidences.

Started reading: Babel by R. F. Kuang 📚

Started reading: John Waters by James Egan 📚

From Manton Reese.

We are ready for something that we control. We are ready for something quieter. We are ready for something true. We are ready to bring back a little bit of the old web as a shield against a web that feels increasingly like an ad engagement machine instead of a publishing platform and community for people.

I see this yearning as well. Addictions are hard to break, and I think it’s obvious social media and the corporate web have addictive properties, by design. There’s no panaceas, but there are real, owned, humanistic alternatives. Blogging is one.

🍿 Letterboxd let me know that my 2024 stats in review is fully done. I thought it was already, but I stand corrected. Big horror year. And then there was the movies! 🥁

Finished reading: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers 📚

As I’ve been told in no uncertain terms, this movie exists only in the present. Read more

Great read. How a Mole Infiltrated the Highest Ranks of American Militias — ProPublica.

Cat hat. 🎩 🐈‍⬛

Cat’s have finely tuned senses. They know exactly when you’re almost out of a meeting, and have to pee real bad. This is when they dance on your bladder. 🐱

Finished reading: Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult by Maria Bamford 📚Listen to the audio book, read by the author. Absolutely fantastic.

Currently listening to a DJ set on of Soviet funk from the 60s and 70s. Sometimes YouTube comes through. 🎵

I’m editing the final episode of Pursuit of Perfectness, and amidst all the bitter sweet emotions, all I keep hearing in my head is Scott Aukerman saying, “The world’s first dingless podcast.” Not relevant, and not something I heard recently. A real mental barnacle.

Went to the Museum of the Moving Image with my friend Lindsay yesterday, and got to meet a lovely new person, Janice, through the Open Streets. We got Susuru Ramen. A+, no notes.

Kitty cuddle season continues. 🐱

A well written, interesting article from Emily Gorcenski arguing that conceiving of the truth as a process instead of a fixed point is anti-fascist. You’ll need to read to the end to see the whole arc.

…the American right cannot be engaged as an intellectual exercise. They are not opponents in a game of chess playing by accepted rules. They are seeking to define the colors of the squares and the rules by which the pieces move. While you’re playing the board, they’re playing the rulebook.

There’s terror spilling over the brim of this galaxy. Alien meets Jacob’s ladder. Pre Freddy Kruger Robert Englund fights himself. The mom from twin peaks is a crazed captain. A man says in all … Read more