Sidewalken

This is nice — by Chaz Hutton.

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.