He finished his mask for Halloween. I cut the paper. He insisted that she draw and color.
She drew more characters, taped to popsicle sticks. They held up their new friends so they could watch a movie.
Later that night, he asked me to add a cat for their collection. She said it was the strangest drawing ever.
䷱䷴
The movie was fun. Not an absolute classic like the first one, but still very good. It was ambitious of them to push into the wider world with more human characters. The Cleaner scene and the Jessie montage are top-notch.
12 episodes (32 minutes) of fuzzy cutesiness in a surreal stop motion universe of guinea pig cars. (Humans are live actors inside their cars and plastic figures outside their vehicles.)
It starts innocently with a few slice of life incidents before spinning into pure absurdity. As usual, I preferred the life around town more than the movie references.
Then again, I love the absurd (more than the toddlers of its target audience). Screw it, I’ll take them all! Give me more!
Like all great children’s shows, it’s written for both adults and children. By series end, the cars have distinct personalities, without saying a single word.
The show is a testament to the expansive potential of shear creativity.
It could be the cutest show you’ll ever watch!
䷹
The world moves so quickly now. Asian shows took real effort to discover (much less watch) during college (I didn’t bother). Now this children’s show is distributed on the world’s largest streaming service, just a few months after airing in Japan.
If you don’t have Netflix, check out the Misato’s vimeo account.
The film had the dubious honor of winning the Oscar Animation award the year that Pixar went for the cash grab called Cars 2.
It’s an unfortunate slander against this movie, cause it’s awesome.
The story is pretty typical American fare — Wild, Wacky, and Western!
Breaking the fourth wall is a undoubtedly a gimmick, but nicely done.
And the early 2010’s feels as good a marker as any of the time when 3D animation hit its stride. It’s a decade old but didn’t feel visually dated or technologically constrained.
I should check out the other Oscar winners and nominees. That list would keep me quite busy for a while.
䷿
I don’t have any deep thoughts at the moment (or a year later) except to say I felt an urge to rewatch the film. Such an urge is uncommon for live action films, but Disney+ has shown that I enjoy repeat viewings of animated films.
Like most sequels, these books are nice, but underwhelming.
The Washington book on politics was downright depressing. It’s important to examine the sophistry of politicians, but it’s hard to laugh about misdirection in the service of power plays in the face of rising authoritarianism and a war in Europe.
With my recent interest in aging and death, I had higher expectations about Pearly Gates, but it didn’t add much to the conversation. Maybe I’ve been over-exposed to the subject with my recent readings.
Both are worth checking out if you really liked Plato and a Platypus, but don’t go in with high expectations.
䷒䷊
I doubt I’ll revisit Washington (too depressing) but I might relisten Pearly Gates to see what I missed.
Midlife is a strange time. Major decisions have been made, and with kids the focus has been switched towards preparing for their wild problems.
But we’re not old! We’re caught in a predetermined present, experiencing physical decline, playing out the decisions of the past, while dimly peering towards decades of an uncertain future.
So how we manage? The book starts with contemplations upon regret (fully acknowledging that much “regret” in affluent countries are #firstworldproblems). Then Setiya ponders how to best consider about our mortality and closes with a chapter about life beyond goals.
When young, we pursue projects for specific results. Get that degree, grab that job! The paradox of such pursuits is that accomplishing the goal kills the goal. I often felt such emptiness after final reviews. A killer presentation is better than failure (I’ve done that too) but still left lingering hollow emptiness. All for what? On to the next semester.
Accomplishments are critical in the pursuit of prosperity (there is almost little income benefit between a high school graduate and a 3-year college dropout). Crossing the next check box can’t be all there is, especially now that the ultimate checkpoint is visible in the far horizon.
Setiya brings up the concept of “atelic activities“. Activities for their own reward. Walking for the joy of taking a stroll (not just getting to point B). Reframe one’s hassles with kids from specific tasks (cooking, cleaning, training) to the generic atelic act of parenting (easier said than done!).
Live in the present.
I’ve noticed this shift in my reading. I used to devour business books, searching for nuggets to improve productivity and leadership skills. But I’m now closer to retirement than hand drafting in Berkeley. The ROI has waned and this homo economicus has turned away from consuming productive fare.
My bed stand currently has two books of poetry, a book on philosophy, and a photo monograph. Hell, instead of reading last night, I listened fifteen minutes of Sunday at the Village Vanguard.
Midlife might not be pretty, but that’s pretty cool.
䷠䷋
I enjoyed the book, listening to it twice before writing these notes. Setiya dives into deep topics but writes accessibly for a popular audience. He knows he’s in the self help genre and respects that we aren’t his academic colleagues.
This book is worth reading well before breaking into your forties. It’s good to get some advance warning on the foibles of the upcoming decades. Just like my recommendation to read Travels with Epicurus to folks my age.
This show started with a content warning, maybe for a couple stereotypes that are bit distasteful in today’s sensitive era.
I could see it being annoying but it seems overblown in today’s plethora of awful options on YouTube. To be honest, the Shang Chi’s lousy execution was more offensive to my Asian Asian American identity than ten seconds of a buck tooth Siamese Cat playing drums with chopsticks.
Aside from the content warning at the start, this was one heck of a fun animation, Siamese and all!
Like 101 Dalmations, it tells a fun short story with a few memorable scenes, especially the one of the alley cats (including Shun Gon the Siamese) are really wailing on the music.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve lost interest in challenging art. I might be able to handle half an hour of an avante garde jazz album while falling asleep, but movies and TV shows are too visceral. I can handle a little cringe, like that Siamese cat, but I don’t have the emotional wherewithal to focus on heavy stuff for 90 minutes (much less 10 hours!).
I just want well crafted fare that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Turns out Disney+ was a godsend for me.
䷰䷤
BTW I found Eva Gabor’s accent on the mother cat delightful, it made the movie feel properly European (if not exactly French). And Phil Harris’s all-American accent was perfect foil as Thomas O’Malley.
I’ve recently become a big Daniel Klein fan so I borrowed this book without much thought.
Turns out that it dovetails perfectly into my current kick of learning about the phases of life, especially aging and death.
The book is a meditation on growing old. It makes sense that a countercultural philosophy student from the 60’s would question our current obsession on everlasting youth.
The “Travels” in the title is a stretch — he stays on just one Greek island. But the “Epicurus” part is dead on. Klein is clearly biased towards the gentle hedonism of the philosopher and sees it reflected in world view of the inhabitants on this island.
He shys away from the gnarly parts right before you expire, but the book is otherwise a fulsome exploration of that season of life when one is no longer young but not yet decrepit.
䷌䷷
Seems that I’ve developed a syllabus of self-help books for the arc of one’s life.
So Good They Can’t Ignore You – top notch advice at the start of a career
Wild Problems – a framework for thinking about life decisions
Midlife – contemplations of viewing life from the middle
I listened to this book a few months ago and listened to it again after Richard Rohr’s Falling Upwards.
While Rohr book is explicitly spiritual, Brooks stays within the contemporary self-help genre. He mixes psychology, social studies, ecumenical spirituality, with some actionable exercises.
Having listened to this book twice, here are some key takeaways:
A formula for a life of satisfaction is “What-you-have (Divided By) What-you-want”. Unchecked desires will always outpace what you’ve earned, so controlling wants is the key to satisfaction. Acquisition will never lead to happiness.
Thomas Aquinas has a challenge to search for one’s idols – Money, Status, Pleasure, and Power over others. Rank them in attractiveness and the top item is your idol. Tread carefully when toying with your personal idol.
As we get older, our quick witted “fluid intelligence” gives way to plodding “crystalized intelligence”. We used to quickly flip through the Rolodex. Now we’re slower, but the mental phone book is much bigger. Instead of fighting the inevitable, we should change our work to fit our older brains.
We should consider the Hindu concept of Ashramas, the Four Stages of Life (about 25 years each). Start as a child (student), then a householder (prime earning years), hermit (when the grandkids arrive, retreat into wisdom), and finally the wandering ascetic (give everything up for the divine). Most strivers get stuck between the second and third phase. Refusing to enter the hermit phase leads to bitterness as the world leaves you behind.
To grossly oversimplify the book, Brooks closes with this seven word summary
Use things, love people, worship the divine.
This book was worth two listens, but I must admit that audiobooks are a multi-tasking form of consumption. Even though it’s a favorite listen of the year, I haven’t felt compelled to sit down and focus upon the text.
So, a qualified endorsement for us middle aged folks figuring out “what’s next?”
~
I tweaked my upper back a month ago and a coworker brought up the idea of getting a foam roller. I missed out on this fad over the past decade. Its like having your own personal masseuse. Not perfect, but for $17.13 it’s awesome!
Here is a video focused on the upper back, and another that included stretches for the armpits.
As counterpoint, here is a video that questions the efficacy of foam rolling. My takeaway: use the foam roller as a stretching tool, but don’t overdo it. (The channel’s explanation of fentanyl addiction is excellent and depressing.)
We’ve entered a new phase in humanity where most of us will suffer an extended period of dying. Medicine most likely won’t let us just keel over on the sidewalk.
We need to plan on navigating a harsh decline as time slowly eats away at our bodies.
The book explores this new phenomena, how we’ve dealt with it in the past century, and proposes better ways for managing our final days.
Ultimately it’s an upbeat book about a dreadful subject.
Though it’s gonna take some hard work to make it happen.
䷧
“A Better Life” (chapter 5) is one of the most inspiring things I’ve read as an architect. It’s a full throated endorsement that small improvements to an environment can improve lives. But as an owner, I am now keenly aware of the operational constraints push against such initiatives. Tellingly, it was a doctor who proposed (and realized) the changes that greatly improved patient outcomes. If we want to stay relevant as an industry, we can’t settle for being as service providers. Effective architecture is not just designing the structure, but challenging the entire system.
