Stale Living

5 minutes

You may remember I posted about having an essay in the first issue of Solarpunk Magazine from Android Press.

Well, the text has now been published online. You can read it below.

The essay is (more or less) a compression of the 1h talk I gave on Solarpunk at The Stoa last year.

I step to all my usual beats: Cultural Fracking, Memetic Engines, Narratve Containers, Speculative Presents, Re-futuring, Dislocative Fiction, Conceptual Bricolage, Sites of Narrative Intervention etc

I’m really pleased with how this essay turned out. Mainly as it started life as 6k words worth of material (an hour long talk). Much satisfaction was found during the edit getting it down to 2k words for the magazine. Grateful for Ariel Kroon‘s editorial feedback.

I think this essay probably bookends the ‘Pandemic cycle’ of Solarpunk thoughts. The shape of the essay was first given remotely early in 2021 to Innovation Garden in Japan.

The rusted chrome talk at Unsound Festival in Poland book ended the earlier cycle. Its is so crazy to me how big Solarpunk has become and just how quickly it continues to grow – *insert just as planned meme*

I have more to say, do, think and share about Solarpunk but this piece is probably the clearest and concise version of all the talks I’ve given on the subject.

It’s my answer to the question ‘What is Solarpunk?’


Spring feels like its starting to sproing here in in South London. That said, our last frost date down here by the river isn’t till late April – multiple disasters occurred last year due to my cavalier YOLO attitude towards this date – so being more careful this year.

But it does feel like the ‘Spring Clean’ on its way. You can always feel it coming. The brighter days showing up cobwebs and dust on top of cupboards etc. You just feel an urge to throw the windows open and blow away the stale living of winter.

I also need to Marie Kondo the fuck out of my wardrobe asap. I don’t have that many clothes as it is, but large parts of it are reaching the end of their lives.


Photo 365

067/365

Permanently Moved

New App in the Alms Race

The Alms Race is the financial expansion of Web2 social platforms. Allowing users to earn directly from other users. Web 2.5 if you will.

The Ministry Of My Own Labour

  • Even more spreadsheeting. I had a dream about the structure of stripe data lol
  • Couple of good phone calls with folks I admire, asking them for free advice tbh
  • Looking at all the unfinished writing I have in Google docs AGAIN
  • Fiction writing course continues, notes, thoughts and ideas slowly gathering together

Eve is going away next week. I have the house to myself. I have 2 things I want to work on from start to finish.

Dipping the Stacks

The Long and Twisted History of Designing Gotham City – The Ringer

Batman and his city are inextricably linked, and in developing their Dark Knight movies, filmmakers from Tim Burton to Matt Reeves have always paid special attention to how that city looks

No, Not Everyone Should Meditate | The Blog of Josh Simmons

My hope is that anyone pursuing meditation with only a limited understanding of what it is and how powerful it can be does not progress past the early stages so that they don’t harm themselves.

Gardening and games converge in Genius Loci, a new book about digital landscapes • Eurogamer.net

A chat with the writer behind Genius Loci, a new book about gaming landscapes.

Brandon Sanderson’s Advice for Doing Hard Things – Study Hacks – Cal Newport

Sanderson starts by pushing back on our common instinct to tell kids “you can do anything you want to” or “follow your dreams.”

Hustle and hype: the truth about the influencer economy | Fashion industry | The Guardian

More and more young people are enticed by the glittering promises of a career as an influencer – but it’s usually someone else getting rich

Reading

Finished re-reading The Soul of a New Machine. I think I first read it a decade ago, perhaps about 2012 or 2013. From 2022 this 1982 Pulitzer Prize winner is all the more important. Inside its pages are some of the best lay descriptions of how computers works, from the transistors up to chip and board layout. Embedded in the early team/working environment we all now recognise as ‘tech’, it offers a lot of insight into how we got to where we are.

About 100 pages in, it dawned on me that the book was written closer in time to the discovery of the transistor than we are from the book. crazy.

The ‘soul’ that Tracy Kidder is referring to is the team that designed the Data General Eclipse MV/8000 computer. Full of interesting characters. Love it.

I wonder now if there are any books about the creation of the IBM System/360. I’m also looking for an overview of early transistor pioneers world views. We all know that Oppenheimer quoted the Bhagavad-Gita when the bomb went off. but what did the team of three say to themselves in Bell labs when the first semiconductor fired up?

As a break from non-fiction, I’m reading a Warhammer horror book, and the ‘Growing up Aboriginal in Australia‘ anthology.

Music

thejaymo.net Spotify Playlist

yes/and – yes/and

yes/and is a pandemic era album created in studio by guitarist Meg Duffy and producer Joel Ford. The resulting collaboration results in delecate and melodic guitar finger picking over lush textures and sonic manipulation.

It’s a wonderful album, you can just put it on and float away. Each track seems to be its own world, that suggests colour, texture, shape and form.

Duffy has previously worked with guitarist William Tyler one of my favourite instrumentalists.

I’m not sure if its the production but musical ideas songs seems to stretch, warp and develop throughout each track. From the hypnotic rhythms of ‘Tumble’ to the noise on ‘Emotion Scroll’ it’s all good. Put this album on and go for a walk, its spring, go outside, listen to some music.

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