TMoney

I would think the folks in Cupertino are pretty happy with today's ruling. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being disaster and 10 being maintain the status quo I'd say this is probably a 7 or 8 for Apple. I would think this means most apps are about to go free and require you to sign up for a subscription outside of Apple's payment system so as to dodge the Apple Tax. Good take:

First episode of the new season of American Crime Story was very entertaining and had me going deep down the rabbit hole on Clinton scandals on wikipedia last night. https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/american-crime-story

Nooooooo! Michael K. Williams, Omar from The Wire, gone to what looks like an overdose. https://nypost.com/2021/09/06/actor-michael-k-williams-found-dead-in-nyc-apartment/

What a bizarre, amazing voice. Dig the dream pop vibes.

I want to join a Hunchback-only clan that runs in, fires off their AC-20s, then runs away.

Big Red Machine - How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last? I had never heard of these guys, but they have a lot of collaborators on this album that I do like, such as Anaïs Mitchell, Sharon Van Etten and Fleet Foxes. Very pleasant listen.

Chvrches - Screen Violence Very solid 4th album from a band that at this point knows who they are and confidently embraces it. I'm really looking forward to seeing them live assuming the tour comes through San Francisco in December and isn't derailed by COVID.

Halsey - If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power Halsey + Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross producing? Yes, please!

Another fun legal-ish one to follow is John Carryrou's Bad Blood podcast. He is the reporter who broke the stories in the WSJ that took out Theranos, and subsequently wrote a book about it. He is going to be following the day to day of the trail (at which he himself may be called to testify) which kicks off next week. It should be interesting, to say the least! First two episodes came out last night so this is hot off the press.

"Charlie is good tonight, ain't he?" 😥

Lorde - Solar Power I was pretty disappointed. I'm not surprised to see there is a growing backlash to Jack Antonoff-produced records. Perfectly nice person, but I really don't like his sound. Jack Antonoff, Polarizing Nice Guy | Pitchfork

Interesting, but for four grand curiosity ain't killin no cat. I'd love to hear them in person at a meet if those ever happen again.

Very cool table from the Census data that got released today.

Started in on the AppleTV space show, For All Mankind. Honestly? Not bad! \ Strong vibes of The Martian and other space movies/shows where you have a bunch of engineering types working together to solve problems.

Hard to believe the Winter Olympics are coming in 6 months. The COVID precautions sound like they are shaping up to be even more restrictive than Tokyo. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/09/world/asia/beijing-winter-olympics-covid.html

The new Grand Tour special is delightful!

Nice piece on The White Lotus in the LA Times today. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/tv/story/2021-08-06/the-white-lotus-hbo-cast-mike-white-hawaii-resort-tourism

Feeling the exact same! I can't wait to see what they've come up with! Also I finally figured out how to raise the frame rate cap above 60. It feels so much better now. https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Outer_Wilds#High_frame_rate

I guess I just have a cold heart 😉. Even with those two I'd think the wife would have had to have some sense of what she was getting herself in to and the masseuse is trying to forming a business with someone not of sound mind. 🤷‍♂️

I've kept up, but I still don't know what to make of the show. It is keeping me engaged, but the characters are so unlikeable! It is hard to feel sympathy for any of them!

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday!

The Underground Railroad - Colson Whitehead What if the Underground Railroad was actually a subterranean railroad? That is the hook that draws you in here, but it is the journey through antebellum America that really drives the narrative. This has strong vibes of The Odyssey, filtered through Cormac McCarthy. In my opinion this is/was a deserving winner of both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer for fiction. Whitehead really showed me something here. I think I'll read more of his stuff in the future. I read this ahead of diving in to the Amazon Prime series based on it. The book is brutal. I'm not sure I have the stomach to watch the series after reading the book. One of the things Whitehead does masterfully is to have asides where he will go back and show things from earlier in the book in a new light or from a different point of view. While Whitehead by no means is the first to do this, he does it so tactfully and so beautifully that it really elevates his narrative. I'll be curious how they handle that in the show, given how different the natural rhythms of reading a book are from watching a tv series.

Happy birthday!

HAHA. Dracula! https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/sports/olympics/mbc-broadcaster-apology-olympics-opening-ceremony.html