Kottke.org Posts and Links for Sep 10, 2024
Hi, Jason here. This newsletter is a digest of posts and links from kottke.org, published every Tuesday and Friday. It's not absolutely everything from the site, but it's durn close. Unsubscribing is easy if you'd like to get off this ride. As always, you can read kottke.org on the web, via RSS, on Bluesky, on Mastodon, and in several other ways. Ok, onto the links!
James Earl Jones reads Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven in that ultra-rumbly voice of his. And you can listen to him recite Walt Whitman, MLK's Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Othello, part of the Gettysburg Address, and some Frederick Douglass too. [kottke.org]
Tycho has posted his annual Burning Man sunrise DJ set for 2024. Definitely something to add to the rotation of chill work music (or hanging out and getting high music, I guess). [kottke.org]
What If Trump Wins? More of: "Fucking kill them all." "An eye for an eye." "You just got to kill these people." "Other countries do it all the time." Less of: democracy, freedom. [rollingstone.com]
The fantastic and "criminally underrated" HBO series My Brilliant Friend is back for its fourth and final season. Based on Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan novels, this might be the best TV series you're not watching. [kottke.org]
A long essay from 2007 that compares the cultural and political perceptions & impacts of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. "During the watershed summer of 1968, the Beatles/Stones debate suddenly became a contest of political ideologies..." [thebeliever.net]
The set of all four Neapolitan novels from Elena Ferrante are somehow on sale for only $4.99 for the Kindle. If you've never read these amazing books, now's your chance. [amazon.com]
The Mainstream Press Has Failed to Meet This Political Moment. "They pursue the appearance of fairness and balance by treating the true and the false, the normal and the outrageous, as equally valid." [kottke.org]
More Than Friends. "How do you define a relationship? What is required for it to be 'serious?' Sex? Love? The threat of heartbreak? Is a relationship something you do or something you have? It is something that changes you? Teaches you who you are?" [aubreyhirsch.substack.com]
A hand-drawn map by Vladimir Nabokov of the travels of Leopold Bloom & Stephen Dedalus around Dublin in James Joyce's Ulysses. He drew the map for his college course on Masters of European Fiction. [themorgan.org]
This piece on Colonial Williamsburg and meeting guests where they're at is fascinating: Where MAGA Granddads and Resistance Moms Go to Learn America's Most Painful History Lessons. [kottke.org]
On the joys of being a regular at your favorite neighborhood restaurant. [kottke.org]
James Earl Jones has died at the age of 93. I loved him in Dr. Strangelove, The Hunt for Red October, and of course all the Star Warses. [deadline.com]
A Math Exam, but Obviously Some Stuff Has Happened over the Summer in the Teacher's Personal Life. "Do you think if Evelyn saw on Instagram that the math teacher was now taller than Mark and hand-in-hand with a beautiful woman like Jane..." [mcsweeneys.net]
For some reason, this is a full-length version of Radiohead's OK Computer by @shonkywonkydonkey that uses his voice for everything (vocals, drums, guitar, etc.) [kottke.org]
Apple just announced a number of hearing health features for AirPods Pro 2, including the ability to use them as over-the-counter hearing aids. (Oh and sleep apnea detection for the new Apple Watch.) [apple.com]
The neolithic dad guide to what time to leave for the airport. "The airport. We need to get there by 8 so we should probably leave about 6. / What's an airport? What's 8? What's 6?" [theguardian.com]
Is my date's flat-earth beliefs a dealbreaker? "Our beliefs aren't just a barometer of what we think is true. They're also bound up with what we value; our attitude to how thinking itself should work. When will you count something as true?" [theguardian.com]
404 Media on The Rise of DIY, Pirated Medicine (to get around prohibitively high drug costs). For instance, Sovaldi cures hepatitis C and costs $84,000...but you can make it at home for about $70. [404media.co]
Oh hey, Richard Powers (author of the wonderful Pulitzer-winning The Overstory) is coming out with a new book this month called Playground. It's a novel about oceans, the environment, humanity, and technology. [kottke.org]
This extensive list of pangrams (e.g. "the quick brown fox...") also contains a list of phonetic pangrams, which use all the phonemes of English, like: "Are those shy Eurasian footwear, cowboy chaps, or jolly earthmoving headgear?" [clagnut.com]
TIL that bananas emit antimatter (because they are slightly radioactive). [youtube.com]
This is a great piece: Ezra Edelman (OJ: Made in America) spent five years making a documentary about Prince but now Prince's estate is blocking its release because it depicts him not only as a majestical genius but also "dark, vindictive and sad". [kottke.org]
John McFall is the first physically disabled astronaut. "Paralympian and surgeon John McFall is redefining the astronaut image and proving that space travel is achievable for people with physical disabilities." [scientificamerican.com]
👀 👋 🎉
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