This week we finally got our first real hint of spring. The kind where you can open the windows and let the outside world back in after months of keeping it at bay.
It lasted into the evening, and there’s something about that time I’d forgotten over the winter. The smell coming through the screens was different. Not the bright, clean air of a sunny afternoon, but earthier, more settled — the day cooling down after baking in the sun. The cats noticed immediately. They found spots at every window and got playful and curious in a way they hadn’t been since fall.
I know plenty of cold days are still coming. But it felt, for the first time this year, like something was beginning again. It’s a small win, but I’ll take any I can get these days.
My Picks
Anil Dash has perfectly encapsulated the outrage being perpetrated upon us by corporations who are using the best parts of the free and open Internet to take it away from everyone else and exert complete control over our online lives. I’m sharing this one widely.
I recently started rewatching this juggernaut of a political series from the turn of the 21st century, and what a trip it is. Civic exposition! Bipartisanship! Principled living! Sure, it was largely fiction even then, but this is escapism at its best, hinting of a better world if only we’d get our act together. Ahhh.
I’m a sucker for retro interfaces, and this one seems to be hot right now. It lets you watch YouTube like old-fashioned cable TV, in curated, topic-based channels where you drop in to whatever’s currently playing. You can even import the channels you follow.
Tiny Puppet Sound — French House Mix
Right now, the world needs a puppet playing French House music during a lunch break shared among friends. Or at least I do.
Recently Published
Watching Someone Else’s Tuesday
My recent trip got me out of myself and the rut I didn’t even realize I was in so deeply, all because it was a completely different experience, and I couldn’t coast. I had to simply be and do.
One knock-on effect of the trip turned out to be a huge dropoff in my AI use, and it continued for quite a while after I returned. This was an experiment I didn’t intend to run on myself, but it revealed a lot.
In the Groove
Growing up, I kept stumbling into music that had no obvious category. Things that felt like they came from somewhere I hadn’t been yet, sounds that didn’t fit neatly into anything I already knew. Those discoveries had a huge impact. Some of them became foundational, and are still active inside me.
One that’s been on my mind lately is Yello’s first album, Solid Pleasure (1980). I came to it at a formative age, and something about it lodged deep. Listen to Bostitch and try to pin down what you’re hearing. Is it disco? New wave? Something from another planet entirely? That ambiguity is precisely what I love about it. It has a distinct and uncompromising point of view.
Having a distinct point of view isn’t talked about much, but it’s so important. Ideas and creativity get a lot of ink, but I’m starting to realize that execution and point of view are where it’s really at. Those qualities are what I keep reaching for in the music I make. I may not always get there, but it’s the right thing to chase.
We can all use more small wins right now. I hope you’ve got some you’re holding onto, and that more are on their way for all of us.
Until next time…