[EDIT: I realize that, as I’d guessed in the first paragraph, I’d forgotten to talk about a bunch of things; those work-related interruptions did indeed screw up my train of thought. Additional thoughts will be added below.]
I’m having one of those days where I’m not particularly busy, but I can guarantee that as soon as I start getting on a roll here, I’ll be given some work to do. I’ve been wanting to write here all week, frankly, and the whole week has been in this same sort of vein; I’m terribly idle right up until the moment I decide to be personally productive, and then I’ll get handed a large project within the next 1-5 minutes of that decision. If I’m stalling here in this introductory paragraph, it’s because I’m reluctant to suddenly lose my actual blog-worthy trains of thought.
As it happens from time to time, I’m starting to have trouble articulating this blog’s primary purpose. I like having a blog, and I don’t plan on deleting this one; it’s just that I simply don’t have the time/inclination to do any serious criticism here. I’ve noticed lately that to the extent I write anything even remotely critical at all, it’s mostly just “I like this, I don’t like that.” Superficial, not particularly hard-hitting, shallow. Again, it’s difficult for me to find time to write the way I’d like to, and I’m currently in this phase where I’m having trouble really getting into things the way I used to, which has a tendency to result in apathy. I’m not sure if this is a side effect of my new head meds or not; one positive side effect of these head meds is that my ability to simply let things be what they are is a lot stronger.
- Westworld: I’ve started to notice (on Twitter, at least) that there are regular watchers of this show who are becoming angry and impatient at the show’s very slow doling out of information. There are too many mysteries and not enough answers, they say, even though we’re only halfway through the first season. There is now a struggle between the pleasure of anticipation and the need for instant gratification, and I can’t help but wonder if Netflix and the culture of binge-watching has ruined the ability for a television show’s cliffhanger to be effective. Westworld reminds me a lot of Lost, in this way, but Lost suffered from a different problem; Lost’s mysteries overwhelmed the show itself to the point where there were no answers that could ever possibly be adequate. I remain very optimistic that Westworld will not suffer this fate; each episode has been meticulous in its construction and I remain confident that the showrunners know exactly what they’re doing. (The show’s only made one real blunder, as far as I’m concerned – the dopey and crude lab techs from this last week’s episode are gross and annoying, and their scenes aren’t nearly as well-written as everyone else’s.) In any event, I’m just grateful to watch Anthony Hopkins kill it on a weekly basis.
- Cubs: I am no longer the die-hard sports fanatic that I used to be; among other things, I found my intense superstitious behaviors to be an impediment to the simple enjoyment of watching a game (i.e., if my team needed to score a run / goal / touchdown, I’d have to leave the room and pee; I could only listen to the Yankees on the radio, even when the radio broadcasting became abhorrent to listen to, etc.). Also my wife and I cut the cable cord a few years ago and live sports, for the most part, became something I simply couldn’t watch, which made this transition into the non-sports-caring person I am today that much easier. In any event, I’m still terribly superstitious, as it turns out, and so even though I was rooting for the Cubs, I was terribly afraid of saying or doing anything that might jinx them. The most I could allow myself to do was to “Like” the various Cubs-related Facebook posts that my family and friends posted, and that was it. I know it’s ridiculous, and this is why I’ve forcibly stopped myself from caring so much. [EDIT: So, anyway, GO CUBS! Very happy for all my Cub friends and family. I, of course, didn’t watch. You’re welcome.]
- Games: It’s big-budget first-person-shooter season, and as such I’ve decided to give in and rent the big three. I’m still in the first mission of Battlefield 1, and while it’s technically very impressive I’m not, like, craving it. My rental copy of the new Call of Duty is en route, as is Titanfall 2; I ordinarily would be happy to ignore both of these games except that their single-player campaigns have been getting surprisingly great reviews, and that’s the only bit of those games that I tend to get involved with. So be it. [EDIT: I also ended up giving up on XCOM 2; I can tell it’s a good game, but I also know I’m far too intimidated by it to give it its proper due. I may pick it up again during a release lull, but I wouldn’t expect myself to get much farther than I already did.]
- Books: Man, it’s been a while since I’ve talked about books here. The last thing I mentioned was The Nix, which I adored. Since then, I’ve read:
KLF: Chaos Magic Music Money J.M.R. Higgs A- The Tresspasser Tana French A Death’s End Liu Cixin B+ Pym Mat Johnson B- His Bloody Project Graeme MaCrae Burnet B I am now currently reading I.Q. by Joe Ide, and even though I’m in the early going I’m enjoying it quite a lot.
Shouts From The Couch 