New Next
We’re barely two feet into the 21st Century and it’s all a blank sheet of paper from here. No maps for these territories. I like it. It’s freeing. Now we’ve gotten used to the speed of the 21C, we can all quit complaining about how near-future sf gets overtaken by the times so quickly and just swing crazily from here to 2101. I hope for, and fully expect, futures scenarios to get weirder and wilder, hyperlocal and supermodernglobal, very quickly. 2001 to 2018 has been the training ground for the New Next.
I’m looking forward to the New Next. I outlived the old future. Give me a new one to live for.
– Warren Ellis, Busy Signal newsletter
can’t be a purist
“You’re a purist. Your film has to play in theaters.” But people often have home theaters that are arguably better than the local multiplex. So I don’t think you can be a purist anymore.
– Andrew Niccol
Worlds End Outline
source: https://twitter.com/simonpegg/status/432999204236320768
Closure is made up
“Closure is a made up thing by Steven Spielberg to sell movie tickets.”
– Bojack Horseman
The Prayer of the Stalker
“For what they call passion is not really the energy of the soul, but merely friction between the soul and the outside world. But, above all, may they believe in themselves and become as helpless as children. For softness is great and strength is worthless. When a man is born, he is soft and pliable. When he dies, he is strong and hard. When a tree grows, it is soft and pliable. But when it is dry and hard, it dies. Hardness and strength are death’s companions. Flexibility and softness are the embodiment of life. That which has become hard shall not triumph.“
– The Prayer of the Stalker, Andrei Tarkovsky
What Putin Really Wants
“Americans project their own fears onto Russia, a country that is a paradox of deftness, might, and profound weakness—unshakably steady, yet somehow always teetering on the verge of collapse.”
source: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/putins-game/546548/
Vadik Marmeladov Codes of Practice
This feels like a small start to a significant idea. Vadik thinks long-term. He once had the following Codes Of Practise list from his previous business on his personal website, preserved by the sainted Wayback Machine:
- Wear the uniform
- Think long term (like 30 years from now)
- Build stories and languages, not things
- Create your own universe (or join ours)
- Collect samples
- Be a sample for somebody else
- Look for loyalty, not for a skill set
- Do not build utilitarian products. However, use them as a medium to express yourself
- Do not exploit introverts — doesn’t work long term. Learn to be an introvert yourself
- Travel more
- Do not work for corporations. Old corporations were meaningful when their founders were alive, but now, they have outlived their relevancy. They exist only to keep their numbers growing
- New corporations are no better. They »
The Surprising Reason that There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in America
Using a tactic now known as gastrodiplomacy or culinary diplomacy, the government of Thailand has intentionally bolstered the presence of Thai cuisine outside of Thailand to increase its export and tourism revenues, as well as its prominence on the cultural and diplomatic stages. In 2001, the Thai government established the Global Thai Restaurant Company, Ltd., in an effort to establish at least 3,000 Thai restaurants worldwide. At the time, Thai deputy commerce minister Goanpot Asvinvichit told the Wall Street Journal that the government hoped the chain would be “like the McDonald’s of Thai food.” Apparently, the government had been training chefs at its culinary training facilities to send abroad for the previous decade, but this project formalized and enhanced these efforts significantly.
Source: The Surprising Reason that There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in America – »
The Railrodder by Gerald Potterton
Source: The Railrodder (English Version) by Gerald Potterton – NFB
1965 | 24 min
“rule like Stalin, live like Trump.”
Mr. Kasparov wrote this in 2014, pay attention to Garry.
Jimmy Boy @ the Price is Right Summer Beach Party!
Production Number # 7992K*
” The Price is Right is throwing a Summer Beach Party! “
the Price is Right Episode Guide
*1,799th week of Episodes, a Tuesday Episode
~The first 3 digits refer to the number of weeks of new shows. The 4th digit refers to the day of the week (1 is Monday, 2 is Tuesday…). The letter at the end is either D for ‘daytime’ or K for ‘thousand’ (when the weeks rolled over 1,000).
One Bid
