Imposters

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5 minutes
thejaymo.net Blog header post 147

In geography, a confluence is the meeting of two or more bodies of water.

Hello to all the new subscribers who found their way to this little blogging Isle via Huw Lemmey’s Weeknotes newsletter in ‘Utopian Drivel‘. His most recent What Have You Got To Say To That? In Defence of Hecklers was absolutely fantastic and deserved to be read and shared far a wide.

Most of what I’ve been up I covered in my podcast this week. It’s mainly been writing in fits and starts across several documents. For the document I’ve been writing on attentionI’ve actually been following my own thoughts and advice and I have already identified where things need to change and move around. Eventually this will be a 7 day long series of activities that are all based around music and sonics and deep listening. Should I post it on line? Post it as a PDF? Both? I’m not sure.

As has becoming the norm. I’ve spent most of the week working outside. I’ve taken to moving myself round the table as the sun travels across the sky like a sunflower.

I’ve managed to keep my twitter consumption under 12mins a day for another week. This week was harder than the last with everything thats going on. But I have been finding that it’s much better to just read the overview the next day in the FT or listen to the Novara crew talk about UK news on Tyskysour the next day via the audio podcast version.

Imposters

On Bank Holiday Monday I burned though the book Imposters by Scott Westerfeld

Firstly, I can’t Believe that I missed that Westerfeld is back writing in his ‘Uglies Universe’. When I worked in Borders back in 2006 ‘serious nerds’ would come in and ask what I thought they should be reading. I’d take them on a skeptical walk upstairs to the YA section and hand them a book with dolls on the cover.

I think the 4 books in this series are some of the best sci-fi full stop. I re-read them a few years ago and they have lost none of their appeal (in my opinion). Perhaps some of the world building may seem familiar to fans of Hunger Games or Divergent . But the uglies Universe came out first. Patchwork political cities.

I really admire Westerfeld’s series for its strong female characters, exploration of beauty, tradition, convention and environmentalism. The theme’s of the first series continue into this second series but in updated forms. The events of the Uglies series haunt the world of Imposters and in influence it in interesting places. I can’t wait to read the next one which is already out!

Update From The Island

A few folks demanded more Animal Crossing content. So here we go.

Prince left the island this week for pastures new. I spent quite some time lining this photo up just perfectly and then Rodney photo bombed it.

Rodney also left this week. Not just because he photo bombed my photo. So we have two new islanders to get to know. Maple a cute Cub villager and a sisterly Rhino called Renee. We’ll see how everyone gets along.

The other night Eve gave all the residents the same dress, I think she might be starting a cult or something.

Lockdown Week 11

Garden Beers

Permanently Moved

Front Of Mind

S03E21

Attention, Lil Miquela, Tree Relationships, Old Scripts and Wheelbarrows

Links:
Interdependence Podcast: https://interdependence.fm/

Wheelbarrows: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelbarrow#Medieval_Europe

Permanently moved is a personal podcast 301 seconds in length, written and recorded in one hour by @thejaymo

Website: https://www.thejaymo.net/
Podcast: http://permanentlymoved.online
Zine: http://startselectreset.com

The Ministry Of My Own Labour

I started writing up a transcript/long form version of a talk I gave last year. The audio should be released soon. Hopefully I’ll have it all sorted by the time it drops on the festivals soundcloud.

Dipping the Stacks

The COVID-19 Recession May Change The Way Americans Spend Forever

History of Philosophy – Summarized & Visualized

New” Philip Glass Music, Rediscovered After 50 Years

Busy as Notting Hill carnival’: Botany Bay residents bemoan packed Kent cove | UK news | The Guardian

Reading

Apart from reading Imposters, I finished Jenny Odells “How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy”. It really deserves a full review but its FANTASTIC. Highly recommend reading this book.

I started reading another book on fasting by Dr Jason Fung, this time its “Life in the Fasting Lane: How to Make Intermittent Fasting a Lifestyle—and Reap the Benefits of Weight Loss and Better Health”

It’s not as er ‘Sciencey’ or Technical as other books on fasting by Dr Fung. But if you are familiar with the material (or even if you aren’t) It gives you just enough information to understand that what humanity has known for thousands of years (that fasting benefits health). I promised my self I’d do a number of long water fasts this year when the space weather I right so I’m starting to turn my mind towards that.

I also managed to slog though 30more pages of Playing at the World and a couple more chapters of Bren Smiths ‘Eat like a fish’.

I pre-ordered KD Humes new poetry collection Witch/Pilgrim/Heretic. It came out on the 23rd. It’s unfair to pick a favourite poem but ‘Let pride flood your limbs’ is a wonderful tumble of words. Definitely pick it up, It feels like it represents a milestone of some kind in her spiritual journey.

Music

East London folk heroes and ‘Medieval Kraftwerk’ Stick In the Wheel have a new single out.

The track has Romani, Yiddish and of course English folk influences. The lyrics are based around on a Victorian novel/play by Harrison Ainsworth. The track does in fact sound like it could be played by a troupe on any cobbled street corner on commercial road in the 1890’s.

Remember Kids


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  1. […] been a minute since I mentioned Stick In The Wheel. Their new album ‘Tonebeds for Poetry came out in […]

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