I just finished watching The Hot Zone (obviously, I watched Outbreak back in the day – I think I’ve heard this referred to as a remake, which doesn’t make sense; it’s based on the same real events, yes, but they’re both fictionalized and thus don’t actually have the same plots, and this one is a miniseries rather than a movie). *ETA: Apparently it’s not a remake; there was supposed to be a movie based on The Hot Zone (the book… Read more »
Posts Categorized: Blog
Consider Yourself Spared of Nautical Puns
I went kayaking on Wednesday for the first time in a few years, and for the first time on a body of water more than three feet deep and on which I was not always traveling downstream. If I thought my arms were the weakest part of my body before, now I’m certain. The puniness of my arms forced all other sorts of body parts to take up for them: my back, my wrists, my neck. I don’t know how… Read more »
My Writing Process
I can’t write yet; I haven’t had coffee. Ooh, look at what came in the mail. I better try it on! I really need to take a shower before I get actual dressed for the day. If I write for an hour, I’ll let myself have another coffee. First I just need to read everything that’s been posted on the Previously TV Chernobyl message board. Okay, I’ve made a list of the three stories and three essays I want to… Read more »
Books of 2019, Part 4
Brain Bugs, by Dean Buonomano: I don’t usually have this specific a vision for the structure of a book, but I really think this one – which details some of the ways that [our brains evolving to function generally at their best] can lead to [unintended negative (or simply superfluous) consequences], e.g. optimizing for short term benefits (the way we might have needed to when our survival was much less certain) rather than long-term ones – would have benefited tremendously… Read more »
Sparkjoynotes
It seems like a fairly safe (if mundane) statement to make that America/the world’s obsession with Marie Kondo and downsizing has to do with both environmental concerns (not that getting rid of personal belongings does any good for the environment directly, but I think the impulse is connected) and a desire for control (in a world – and for Americans, a nation – whose survival seems more and more uncertain by the day). Owning fewer things seems like it should… Read more »
Sing song
Today I read this article with one of my students–it focuses on the role of repetition in listening to/enjoying music–and then started to make a list of things that felt analogous to the Diana Deutsch experiment described therein (to summarize, Deutsch recorded a spoken sentence, then looped a phrase “sometimes behave so strangely;” after hearing the loop numerous times, the original sentence (which on first lesson sounded wholly spoken if slightly melodic) now sounds like someone speaking before suddenly switching… Read more »
Birthday Express
For my birthday, which was yesterday, I gave myself the gift of no longer running for the subway. I wish I could say I came to this decision 1. based on ideals about either a) leaving early enough not to need to run for the subway or b) some sort of well-developed thoughts about whether saving two minutes is really important, or 2. because of some critical junction of age (no running for oldsters!) and technology (perhaps it isn’t actually… Read more »
The Joys of Dance Academy
I’ve made a goal to write 500 words a day and this may be a way of finding a loophole/avoiding the short story I’m working on – but if, as they say, writing is a muscle, consider this flexing. Even if I’m flexing one muscle while lying in bed watching TV with the rest of them. And in this scenario what I’m watching (unless there’s a gymnastics competition, preferably with either a competent or ludicrous commentator) is almost definitely the… Read more »
Books of 2019, Part 3
The Circle, by Dave Eggers: I think that in order to accurately gauge whether this is prescient dystopia or heavy-handed…I have to try to imagine reading it back when it came out in 2013. And I think in 2013 it would have seemed dark but clearly exaggerated, while now it seems…pretty close to the actual state of things. So I’ll say it was, indeed, unfortunately prescient, and also thoroughly enjoyable, even though there was one comparison (or three, really) at… Read more »
Disparate thoughtlets: a quartet for muses and ramblings
1. Things I’ve overheard recently in my house: “No…horribly, I’m still in the dating pool.” “This is my first time being a butt guy, I think. That makes me a team player.” I didn’t intentionally juxtapose those sentiments…they were just the only two interesting things I eavesdropped lately. I swear! 2. Thinking further about chores: Another way to slot chores into column A or column B is…well, I wanted this to be a legitimate methodology, but now that I’ve begun… Read more »
