Sidewalken

I listened to Smog’s Knock Knock album through headphones for the first time today it was a revelation. I’d previously only listed to it through speakers at low low volumes. Almost twenty years of living in Japan has me trained to be hyper aware of bothering neighbours, though they don’t seem to have any issues with firing up the weed whacker at seven in the morning on a weekend. Anyway Knock Knock is really good.

I recently bought a couple of linen shirts from Uniqlo. It’s a very nice light linen that really lets the breeze through so these’ll be great in summer. Buuuuuut, they have no pockets. What am I supposed to do with my reading glasses when I take them off to walk or drive? What am I supposed to do with my sunglasses when I go into a store? Ideally, I’d want a shirt with two pockets — one for each pair of glasses. I guess I’m going to have to become a rich enough to afford my own tailor. Or skilled enough to be able to sew my own shirts. How hard could it be?

How does this watching movies thing work again? I know I’ve done it before — my Letterboxd account claims that I’ve seen hundreds of the things. But recently, it’s hard to find the mental space for two hours of filmed entertainment. I guess I saw Megalopolis a few weeks ago, but I feel like that doesn’t really count.

Phew – after a few days of internal debate I’ve decided that I don’t need the new iPhone after all. The only reason I want one is for the better camera system, but I’d still really want an actual new camera with all the image stabilisation, autofocus and low-light performance of the modern models. I’ll put the $1700 the phone would cost and put it toward a better actual camera.

Also my iPhone 12 Mini is still as awesome as the day I bought it. Perfect size and I’ve never felt that it was slow or laggy in any way.

Some fascinating iPhone related thoughts:

• Despite being a total Apple fanboy when the iPhone first came out (yes, I watched the announcement keynote live at three in the morning) I’ve only owned three. First was the 3GS in 2009, then the 5S in 2013 and finally the 12 Mini in 2020.
• No iPhone has ever matched the Talby, my pre-iPhone phone, for pure coolness.
• How long until Apple drops the current numbering system. I reckon it’ll work until iPhone 20, but it’ll look ridiculous after that. How silly to think someday I’ll be debating getting an iPhone 37.
• And wouldn’t it be great if Apple dropped the whole yearly iPhone/iOS/MacOS schedule? Just release things when they’re ready.
• That said, iOS18 is very nice – lots of great little improvements.

After seven millions listens, the opening bass of Clairo’s Nomad still tricks me into thinking I’m about to hear Tribe’s Can I Kick It?

My friend who warned me that my affection for Ben Wishaw would not get me through the blood and trauma of This Is Going To Hurt was right. It’s just too much for me. Pulling the plug after one episode.

Back when I was in uni the Scientologists of Perth had their headquarters on King Street and they used to stop people and get them to do little on-the-spot personality tests to lure them back to HQ for indoctrination. I had no idea about Scientology back then and the guy doing the questions seemed friendly. Can’t recall what was promised to make me go with him, but go I did. I remember sitting in a little waiting area and taking in the posters and paraphernalia. Alarm bells started quietly ringing and I slipped away. At the time, despite thinking I had a razor-sharp critical mind, I was very impressionable and easily swayed. I wonder what horrific course my life could have taken if I’d stuck around. Bullet dodged.

Started this slow Saturday morning with the idea of roasting some lamb for dinner. Can’t seem to find the recipe that delivered perfection to my table last Xmas. None of the recipes on recipe tin eats or serious eats look familiar. Maybe I’ll go crazy and wing it with a basic reverse sear.

One thing I won’t be doing is donning a pair of creepy black gloves like the meat boys do in their manly meaty videos. So industrial.

Wondering whether I should give Yorgos’ new one a try after the awfulness of Poor Things. I am a fan of kindness, after all.

Whenever I walk past a certain area outside our staff carpark I am overwhelmed by overpoweringly thick sweet scent. Someone spilled either a thousand bottles of maple syrup or a couple of bags of fenugreek.

Finished watching Barbie as our TV time movie. I love how it’s so subtle at times and then hitting-you-over-the-head overt at others. Of course, I had to get the kids to rewind the Steve Malkmus/Pavement bit so I could watch it again. I bounced off Slanted and Enchanted pretty hard when it first came out and passed up the chance to see them live on that tour, missing out on what I’ve been told was an awesome version of Fillmore Jive. The lyrics and music just seemed too crystalline for me at the time. Pockets full of rocks and sand? No, thanks. I was much more comfortable paddling in the shallow waters of Mascisy self effacement.

Here’s a hot potato tip. If you’re boiling some little baby potatoes, don’t leave them boiling for an hour. Even if you have pierced them with a fork, they will split open. Oh well, live and learn.

Here’s a hot photo tip. If you go out to take pictures, make sure your camera has an SD card in it and the battery is charged. I went out yesterday and had to use the slow SD card from another camera and then the battery ran out in about ten minutes. Oh well, live and learn.

I arrived early for a doctor’s appointment. Spent a few minutes trying out the new old camera.

For the last few months I’ve been thinking on and off about getting a little compact camera that I can carry around everywhere. Although they were once everywhere, the compact camera market has been decimated by smartphones. Now there are barely half a dozen available and they all seem to be perennially out of stock — and very pricey to boot. More than once or twice I’ve thought that there must be thousands of these things gathering dust on bookshelves and in boxes across the city.

A couple of days ago I was talking to my daughter in her room when my eye landed on the little Canon Powershot that has been sitting on her bookshelf untouched for the last four or so years. It was exactly the kind of thing I’d been looking for and I’d completely forgotten that she had it. Time to get snapping.

Left a chair out on the verge today to see if anyone would pick it up. It was structurally sound, but the white leatherette cushioning was flaking like dandruff so I had low expectations. Two hours later it was gone. Thank god I didn’t pay the $40 the council wanted to charge to take it off my hands.

I hate that I can’t share digital games, books, music and movies the way the we used to. Sad to think something I’ve bought and enjoyed has to just sit in the cloud, a bundle of ones and zeroes, not enriching anyone’s life.