Better

Merlin Mann:

What makes you feel less bored soon makes you into an addict. What makes you feel less vulnerable can easily turn you into a dick. And the things that are meant to make you feel more connected today often turn out to be insubstantial time sinks — empty, programmatic encouragements to groom and refine your personality while sitting alone at a screen.

Don’t get me wrong. Gumming the edges of popular culture and occasionally rolling the results into a wicked spitball has a noble tradition that includes the best work of of Voltaire, Dorothy Parker, Oscar Wilde, and a handful of people I count as good friends and brilliant editors. There’s nothing wrong with fucking shit up every single day. But you have to bring some art to it. Not just typing.

Every year or so, I stumble back upon this little blog post and it always seems to be talking about exactly what I was just doing ten minutes ago.

Bike lane separators flattened by cars less than two weeks after installation in Toronto

Blogto:

It’s been less than two weeks since the city installed protective barriers shaped like ocean waves along the temporary Bloor Street bike lane, and it seems the separators have already been damaged and flattened in numerous spots thanks to Toronto motorists.

I just rode these. It was really nice. I really hope nobody was hurt.

Can We Admit Some Things Are Better Now?

Miles Klee:

There’s a guilt attached to this, of course: People are struggling, unemployed, behind on bills and in some cases sick or dying. How dare I appreciate the benefits of such a catastrophe? Are we allowed to talk about the upside if not everyone is experiencing it?

Boy do I feel that. I feel like I’m in a pod around the planet. Of course, I’m not. And I should maybe spend a little bit more time on earth.

But things will go back to “normal” eventually. It’d be nice to take some of what we learned.

July 2020 in photos

Good Movies, July 2020

• Between the Lines, 1977 - ★. Not worth it to see a very young Goldblum get into a fight wearing a half-undone dark green Alien jumpsuit in a night club, though I know it sounds like it would be on paper.

• The Foreigner, 2017 - ★★½. I’ll take Pierce Brosnan as bloviating backdoor politician vs Jackie Chan as an unstoppable Chigurh. I’ll take it all day.

• Weathering with You, 2019 - ★★★★. I’m not crying. It’s just raining. On my face.

• Color Out of Space, 2019 - ★½. Garbage, but watchable.

• Fun with Dick and Jane, 1977 - ½. This is the future conservatives want.

• Seconds, 1966 - ★★★½. Elevated twilight zone. Stomp those grapes.

• Body Heat, 1981 - ★★★★. If this was made today it would have no sex scenes and yet somehow be half an hour longer.

• I See You, 2019 - ★½. bad, but neat.

Last Month on KSawyerPaul.Blog, June 30-July 27, 2020

• Last Month on KSawyerPaul.Blog, May 27-June 29, 2020
• Good Movies, June 2020
• Video Game Time, May-June 2020
• Peloton after 1 Year (Just the last three months version)
• Peloton after 1 Year (All Data Version)
• After Trying Online Counseling, Some May Never Go Back to Real-Life Therapy
• Opinion: It should be my right to drive my car with my eyes closed. Who am I hurting, really?
• super mario bros. 3
• Pinboard is Eleven
• Cycling with just an Apple Watch
• Fran’s Not Here 49 - Sad Johnny Cash Remix

Microblog Thoughts, June 24-July 26 2020

• Fran’s Not Here has 213 subscribers. I hope they’re all cats.

• That feeling when you read and listened to people who were abusing others for years. Yes, of course, you stop listening. You block. You take them out of the rotation. You course correct. You fill those spots with a broader range of voices. You try to listen a little better.

• I’m not seeing as many backpack reviews

• I’ll buy the SwitchU in three years and be like yeah finally time alone

• It’s pretty Canadian to say “Look, on Canada Day, think about people maybe you hurt without realizing, and also help out, and don’t think highly of yourself or your country, because you and it stink but hey, we’re all gonna try harder.” And then only kinda mean it.

• So, I tried @NotionHQ . Seems dope. I think I’d use Notion if eight years of my life wasn’t in OneNote. I’m too ingrained.

• Having said that, OneNote, if you could launch in the same place I left you just once ever, that’d be nice.
• Reading the @Monocle24 paper supplement and catching up on #njpw. I’m a weirdo.
• There’s a car alarm going on outside, and my fire alarm is doing tests throughout the day.

• Alexa when will it be cold again

• I joined @Pinboard in December 2010 and it was the best decision. Happy 11th, you wonderful simple backbone-of-my-internet buddy.
• I think I’m done with this hell site, he says, making new lists and refollowing the same 600 strangers.
• I’m out of my depth with stove shopping. What do people look for? Who are the trusted reviewers in this area? What stove does @siracusa have?
• I listen to podcasts why isn’t there a @Casper stove that comes in a small box that puffs out when I open it
• Give me a Twitter app where I get to see like 8 tweets then charge for more.
• Friendly reminder you can just watch Nakamura vs Tanahashi just anytime you want.
• Moved back to Tweetbot from the official app. It’s such a breath of fresh adult air.

• Spent the morning updating LinkedIn and Behance for freelance work. How does spending two hours on those platforms drain four days worth of energy?

Fran’s Not Here 49 - Sad Johnny Cash Remix

The Log Driver’s Waltz just isn’t the hit I thought it was or whatever

Video Game Time, June-July 2020

Games Played

Dragon Quest XI

Animal Crossing New Horizons

Animal Crossing New Leaf

The World Ends with You

Games Finished

Crash Bandicoot 2.

Games Bought

• I think none?

Cycling with just an Apple Watch

I came across a nice bridge surrounded by tall, full trees. It would have been a great photo, but I left my phone at home because my Apple Watch syncs podcasts, so I didn’t capture it. What can you do?