jaggedwolf | Roundup (23 July 2019)

Day 11 of that ~digital detox~. It really does feel like there's drastically less background noise in my brain now. That feels nice.

Reading

Finished A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. It ended with the '93 Oslo Accords, so I should probably read up on what happened since. The slightly shifting stalemate did get repetitive towards the end, though I think reality's more to blame on that one than the writing.

Another chapter of Digital Minimalism, this one going on about the value of being alone with your own thoughts and taking walks. Which, fair, and the unexpected presence of fireflies is an incentive for me to walk. (Probably not unexpected to anyone else who's ever lived on the East Coast.)

Started reading Kirith Kirin by Jim Grimsley. Am realising it has been a while since I've read a fantasy book.

Other Media

I finished Gentleman Jack and it was so good! Anne Lister is such a fun asshole protagonist, and I could probably go on and on about how much I love how firmly grounded in her perspective we are. I cannot believe how tropey this show is (even that scene on the cliff or whatever, god). It also surprise hit me with sibling feelings in the last two episodes, which is very rude and now I have to go look up what happened to Elizabeth Walker.

I don't know what they're going to do with S2 - the Ann(e)'s story doesn't have a particularly happy ending, and Lister's behavior gets rather worse (voter intimidation, anyone?), but I am going to treasure this first season forever.

I finished up the Eleventh Hour arc of TAZ. I really liked the mechanic of this one, though I think the highlight was Merle getting knocked out halfway through Clint's Book of Mormon parody.

A friend got me hooked on the romance reality tv show Are You The One?. The deal is that there are 16 contestants, and that there exist 8 perfect pair-ups among them (as determined by interviews and tests or whatever other nonsense). The house's goal is figure out the perfect match by the end of 10 episodes. Normally it's all straight couples, but this season everyone's bi and so anyone's a potential match. I have gotten hooked on the ridiculous drama and also the math.

Someone even made a blog tracking the probabilities: http://areuthe.blogspot.com/

It is great trash tv, and ofc I'm now very invested in Danny the tall nerd finding happiness.

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