During the last month, I’ve freed up a lot of time to intensify my writing projects. Now, lo and behold, Meta is helping me with this! Isn’t that nice! Last year, I wasn’t on Instagram for two or three months while Meta tried to blackmail me into either officially acquiescing to their (in the EU) unlawful use of my data or paying an outrageous subscription fee. They did that in an attempt to bypass EU regulations, and when the EU dropped a hint that this was frowned upon, Instagram (and Facebook, for that matter) became accessible again. Now, as of yesterday, they’re at it again, and my answer now is exactly the same as it was last time: fuck no. So, no more Instagram posts at my accounts betweendrafts and voidpunkverse for the time being (and no links to my newsletters on Facebook either). And then there’s Threads—while I have access to it because they’re keeping it EU-compliant without mob tactics so far, and while it’s not as bad as that Nazi Bar formerly known as Twitter, the things that are going on there and across the entire Meta sphere don’t entice me to re-install the Threads app ever again. So, good riddance too. You can meet me for conversations over at Mastodon (or on Bluesky, if that’s more your cup of tea), and for images at Pixelfed and Flickr.
Last week, I watched Miyazaki Hayao’s 1986 天空の城ラピュタ [Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta] aka Castle in the Sky for the first time at a theater, which was fantastic (micro-review). This week, if you live in or around Düsseldorf, you can meet me if you want to on Tuesday night for Christopher Nolan’s 1998 debut movie Following and/or the late night show of Miyazaki’s 1979 ルパン三世 カリオストロの城 [Rupan Sansei Kariosutoro no Shiro] aka Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. Then, you can also meet me on Wednesday at the Speaking Soil opening event at Sammlung Philara from 6pm on; on Friday at the Forthcoming. Speculations in Urban Space opening event at K21 from 7pm on (curiously, there’s no link to the event on their website); and on Saturday at 3pm for a panel discussion on The Residual Substance of the Physical World at the Arthena Foundation. Lots of art stuff this week, yes! And they’re all particularly good occasions to meet and have a chat over a drink!
For the Sunday Funnies, here’s another Bob Dylan recording, performing “Long Distance Operator” with The Hawks in San Jose in 1965, tape-recorded by Allen Ginsberg (!) and cleared up/enhanced by way of AI (h/t Steve Silberman). Also, here’s how to redecorate your book shelves with some help from a friendly cat.
Enjoy!
J.
Last week, I watched Miyazaki Hayao’s 1986 天空の城ラピュタ [Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta] aka Castle in the Sky for the first time at a theater, which was fantastic (micro-review). This week, if you live in or around Düsseldorf, you can meet me if you want to on Tuesday night for Christopher Nolan’s 1998 debut movie Following and/or the late night show of Miyazaki’s 1979 ルパン三世 カリオストロの城 [Rupan Sansei Kariosutoro no Shiro] aka Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro. Then, you can also meet me on Wednesday at the Speaking Soil opening event at Sammlung Philara from 6pm on; on Friday at the Forthcoming. Speculations in Urban Space opening event at K21 from 7pm on (curiously, there’s no link to the event on their website); and on Saturday at 3pm for a panel discussion on The Residual Substance of the Physical World at the Arthena Foundation. Lots of art stuff this week, yes! And they’re all particularly good occasions to meet and have a chat over a drink!
For the Sunday Funnies, here’s another Bob Dylan recording, performing “Long Distance Operator” with The Hawks in San Jose in 1965, tape-recorded by Allen Ginsberg (!) and cleared up/enhanced by way of AI (h/t Steve Silberman). Also, here’s how to redecorate your book shelves with some help from a friendly cat.
Enjoy!
J.