For quite some time now, October/November has become the time of the year I’m pissed off the most. Part of it, I admit, is simply the weather—as early as in my pre-teens, I was physically and mentally at the top of my game when the temperature hit 85 (30 °C) and beyond, and the opposite when it fell below 60 (15 °C). That hasn’t changed a bit. It’s a cyclical thing and part of nature! What isn’t part of nature is another thing that’s been coming around lately at this time of the year every year. Without going into the details, it’s about rules, protocols, and chains of command. Now, everybody is constantly complaining about bureaucracy, and as someone living in Germany, yeah, I can see there’s a reason for that. But then, bureaucracy, if you check its modern definition, does a lot for us as a species: hierarchy (clearly defined spheres of competence and divisions of labor); continuity; impersonality (rules instead of arbitrary actions); and expertise (merit, training, knowledge). Max Weber, its best-known proponent, was perfectly aware that runaway bureaucracies are a threat to individual freedom, but it’s bureaucracy that keeps organizations and institutions from being “ruled on a whim.” The German language has a great term for that, namely »regieren nach Gutsherrenart«, and whenever that happens, it’s driving me mad. And this year, it’s not just the personal thing I keep being vague about—just look at these techbro billionaire clowns tagged for “government efficiency” posts in the upcoming U.S. administration. What they say is “reducing bureaucracy” but what they mean is “rule on a whim” without restraints, be they’re organizational, institutional, or even legal. With guys like these, we don’t need asteroids.

Didn’t write a lot lately because I was exceptionally busy in ways I don’t appreciate, so there are only three new reviews (The Substance, Tystnaden, Gladiator II) and a few new micro-reviews at my primary blog between drafts. But I started uploading images from Japan to Flickr, threw a few images into my Neighborhoods and Düsseldorf buckets, and kept posting vintage-style travel squaries at Pixelfed.

As for the Sunday Funnies, Every Frame a Painting has a terrific new video out about The Sustained Two-Shot. Also, please enjoy Elle Cordova’s latest clip “Legendary Artifacts Hanging Out.”

As an addendum, there’s a clip that speaks to my heart and expresses very well what I wrote about in my last newsletter, “The End of Something,” about the fallout of the presidential election.

J.