revolutionary notes, life shortcuts, photos of simulacra, AI-generated punk rock song
5+ things worth sharing this week
Here are some worth sharing this week and I’m not ready for earthquakes or eclipses…
1. Tupac Shakur’s Revolutionary Notes at
Nice look at his notes & drawings from childhood and beyond. I don’t really know his music, but he’s always fascinated by me by how much enduring cultural relevance he has.
2. 7 of life’s shortcuts that actually work by Alex Mathers
Alex is one of my favorite “self-help” motivational creators
3. Review of Adelle Waldman’s Help Wanted by
I read Waldman’s first book which came out more than 10 years ago, and this is a long awaited follow-up. She took an interesting tact—essentially went to work at big box store just for the story, and Freddie doesn’t dismiss her for that—he just notes that she changed how she treated her characters due to the inherent lack of familiarity with their contexts and world.
This book is getting than I expected and Freddie does a good job of breaking down the book from multiple angles
I’ll probably read it at some point
4. A punk rock AI-generated song about the time that my friend left a pizza in our dorm room oven
My boss showed me this AI song generator and it’s really fun to play around with. It does a better job than you’d expect
5. This NYTimes profile on an "outsider" musician is really about...? by me writing about a NYTimes story
Speaking of AI-generated music, this musician in Massachusetts essentially tried to hack Spotify to make a living. He also has other creative pursuits, interesting story.
Book & TV Notes
I’ve been myself most of the week taking a break to mentally recharge.
I didn’t watch as much TV as I expected I would (good thing!) but I did get through an episode or 2 of the 3 Body Problem.
I almost gave up on it because of the medieval video game story, but then it started coming together in episode 4. I’ll see it through to the end.
Kicking myself for not getting into Lauren Groff’s book earlier, but Fates & Furies is great. A lot about artistic and marital tensions, and the differing sides of stories. Also a lot about the secrets we keep (or don’t). Definitely recommend.
Random photos of simulacra
I’ve been in Myrtle Beach and it’s one of the few places (besides Pigeon Forge, TN or Panama City Beach) where you’re minding your own business at like Target (like I was) and come across scenes like this:
The skyscraper isn’t that tall, but there’s King Kong as a permanent fixture of your skyline.
Or you’re just shopping, and then this is an attraction:
Yes, fake destruction, how novel because never have too many hard things happen in our lives (?) and of course no buildings would actually be destroyed (except maybe by King Kong?) and this is a ride or an attraction, and it’s probably fun and my kids would like to go into it one day, yeah all of this is an amusement park and all amusement parks have fake/real things like this.
Here’s a more “artistic” shot lol across the fake, man-made lake just for your shopping enjoyment:
Ok, well here’s a Ferris wheel and I had a good time eating at a Friendly’s right across the parking lot from this:
One more and I perfectly framed the trash can.
Last Thing
“People lose the ability to distinguish between reality and fantasy. They also begin to engage with the fantasy without realizing what it really is. They seek happiness and fulfilment through the simulacra of reality, e.g. media and avoid the contact/interaction with the real world.” — fake quote lol attributed to Jean Baudrillard who really did write a ton about the simulacra and simulacrum
Keep going—
Josh Spilker
Thanks for putting us on to the review of Adelle Waldman's Help Wanted. I also took a lousy job and wrote about it. The difference is I needed the money : )