deus62.com

| 2025 | one thought at a time |

"Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die!”
(Jethro Tull)

04 | April

23 | The other day I finished reading "The Mood Machine" by Liz Pelly. In a review, "The Guardian" accurately called it "[...] a savage indictment of Spotify." I wasn't surprised when, just recently, Rick Beato invited Anthony Fantano ("The Needle Drop" and "fantano" on YouTube) to not only discuss this book but many other recent developments that have inhibited the global music scene in general.This conversation is a goldmine for those of us who have long realized that not everything is well in regard to music production and music consumption.There are countless nuggets here to contemplate, but what I have taken away from it all, as a summary of sorts, is this:Algorithms are narrowing people's experiences and serve up what those people are already familiar with. That severely limits the development of music, of something new, ground-breaking or different. Add to that the rise of AI in music (and, in fact, anything art-related) and if things keep developing into that direction, music will become completely stagnant. As stated by Fantano, streaming services are showing hostility towards anything that isn't endlessly and profitably marketable.The need of those services to increasingly force-feed listeners music they will most probably listen to endlessly on repeat, because they are being served what they already liked countless times and already know (and that in an ever-more aggressive, refined and streamlined fashion), is solely due to keeping shareholders happy and to maximize profits at any cost (or cost reduction).Artistic freedom and innovation are being discarded on purpose, the listening experience is being automatically limited by algorithmic profit maximization ... and we're all the worse for it.If alternatives to established streaming services do not pop up and other distribution channels aren't established, we're all in for a massive (!) change.

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22 | When eternal Donald Trump critic Bill Maher suddenly became star struck when he visited Donald Trump in the White House, I immediately thought of writing a short text that I didn't need to write ... Larry David did it for me a few days later.In his satirical essay in the New York Times, “My Dinner With Adolf", he spoofed Bill Maher‘s glowing review of his White House dinner with Donald Trump:Imagine my surprise when in the spring of 1939 a letter arrived at my house inviting me to dinner at the Old Chancellery with the world’s most reviled man, Adolf Hitler. I had been a vocal critic of his on the radio from the beginning, pretty much predicting everything he was going to do on the road to dictatorship. [...]He was wearing a tan suit with a swastika armband and gave me an enthusiastic greeting that caught me off guard. Frankly, it was a warmer greeting than I normally get from my parents, and it was accompanied by a slap on my back. I found the whole thing quite disarming. I joked that I was surprised to see him in a tan suit because if he wore that out, it would be perceived as un-Führer-like. That amused him to no end, and I realized I’d never seen him laugh before. Suddenly he seemed so human. Here I was, prepared to meet Hitler, the one I’d seen and heard — the public Hitler. But this private Hitler was a completely different animal. And oddly enough, this one seemed more authentic, like this was the real Hitler. [...]

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21 | Often, we have a puzzle lying around when either one of us has/had a week or two off (today, I'm off 24/7 and my wife only every couple of months).These past two or three days, we've completed "The World of Shakespeare" (meaning my wife completed it because I'm blind as a bat). If you look closely, there are countless plays integrated (for example, search for "Romeo and Juliet" ... center, top ...) ...

link: "The World of Shakespeare"

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20 | "The Traditional Designs of Ukrainian Egg Decorating."

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19 | Here's a rather unique approach to getting a TV series made: "The Chosen: The Christian-funded hit about Jesus taking the US by storm.""It's one of the most successful crowdfunded entertainment projects ever, with its makers claiming that during four seasons of the series, viewer support raised nearly $100m in production expenses. But the chances are if you're not a US Christian, you might never have heard of The Chosen, the first multi-season series about Jesus of Nazareth, told through the eyes of his disciples and followers, as well as his opponents – as initially it was only available on its own platform, or through other Christian outlets. [...]From a small pilot in 2017, created by Illinois-born filmmaker Dallas Jenkins, with $11m raised from donors, The Chosen has sprouted into a production that can be watched on its own app, and on streamers including Netflix and Amazon. Its makers claim the series has had 200 million unique viewers across its platforms since launching. Season four had red carpet premieres in Los Angeles and London this week, to be followed by a limited cinema release (previous seasons pulled in around $35m at the US box office). The actor who plays Jesus, Jonathan Roumie, has met the Pope, twice, to talk about the series and his portrayal of Jesus. [...]" (source: BBC, 24 January 2024)Season 5 is arriving on screens around the globe at this very moment.

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18 | Sorry for the delay in posting some of this week's thoughts and snippets. A glitch in the matrix told me things were posted although they were not. Two engineers were summarily executed.

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17 | Off-the-wall recollection: My wife just let me know that I forgot to zip my pants. Right there and then, I remembered that ages ago, at some sort of weird talent show at my old school in Copenhagen, Denmark, three guys performed an intricate rhythm pattern by placing their crotches next to a microphone and zipping and unzipping their jeans. A three-minute composition. Must have taken lots of practice.

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16 | A quote by some random person I saved the other day: "What? Influencers are my friends, and the only reason they mention a product or service to me is because they care about me and want me to live my best life."

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15 | If there is one thing I would absolutely sign my name to, it is to what Hugh Grant stated in a "Webinar" ("The Phone-Based Childhood, EdTech & What To Do About It") that you can find on YouTube.Interestingly enough and very much in synch with criticism of "Big Tech" in said webinar, I had various identical snippets bookmarked on Instagram for reference and, surprise, surprise, the next day all of those had magically disappeared. Not a single one left. I seriously doubt that of the six people who had posted them, every single one decided to delete them."[We are] watching our children suffer, horribly, and it's been very depressing watching Big Tech kidnap their lives and to see children really finding it very difficult to get properly interested in anything that isn't a screen, swarming like blue bottles around any screen that appears in the room, instantly and tragically, or if you take them on some fun outing, you know, within six minutes - [and] I'm sure a lot of people [who have kids] on this webinar have had the same experience - you know, 20 minutes in, 45 minutes in, "Can we go home now? ... Can we go home now? ... Can we go home now?" because they are so desperate to get back to a screen, and the exhausting nature of parenthood under these circumstances, year after year, month after month, day after day, fighting the children, "No, no, no, no, no, no ... give that back, or, no, we agreed you could have 20 minutes on Saturday and you've had half an hour", on and on, "Why are you going to see Tommy and not Johnny?" ... because we know Tommy is allowed endless screen time and it's shattering.And so it was extremely surprising and extremely depressing when you get emails from the school, or the new school you sent your kid to, saying proudly "We give all our children their own Chromebook, or their own iPad" and you just think "What, how ... how could that be a good idea?If school is for anything, it's surely that they deserve six hours off from their addiction, from this crazy addiction, because to people like us, honestly, Big Tech with its extraordinary powers seems like a drug cartel pushing its wares at children and it seems to me that way too many schools, instead of calling the police, are saying to the drug cartel waiting outside the school gate, "Would you like some biscuits? How can we help you?" and it's wrong! It has to be wrong! [...]"Yes, it is absolutely important to teach children and young adults the proper use of gadgets, social media and technology in general, but also in Germany, my impression as a teacher (mind you, as a very tech-savy teacher) was that those making the decisions had and still don't have a single clue, aside from toeing the (ideological) line, as to what they are actually doing and why they are infusing children's lives with media that often don't serve a single visible purpose in schools ... besides appeasing (often overly-protective) parents who a) think that without a smartphone or tablet, they are going to lose control of what their children are up to at any given time and b) are often equally addicted to their screens.

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14 | As you all know, I'm a huge movie buff. Still, after decades of having watched just about everything available on the planet (and beyond, via NASA), I still find myself regularly looking up different aspect ratios that for some stupid reason, I can never recall. Well, via Kottke.org, here's a fun run through of all the different types of film, aspect ratios, and projection options, presented by Ryan Coogler.

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13 | The last 10 to 15 years of teaching politics before I retired, I spent warning successive younger generations about our aging society and the negative impacts that would have on their own future financial wellbeing.Most people ignored those warnings ... and I wasn't surprised. When I was 16, 17 or 18 years old, I also didn't contemplate any of the problems which might have been facing my generation. Parties, travelling, friends and entertainment were more prominent. I smiled, shrugged things off and kept doing whatever I was doing.But, these last few months, I have noticed a strong shift towards a beginning generational war that is becoming increasingly heated. Now that those younger generations have either established themselves in the workplace or are just about to, they are beginning to notice how heavily they are being taxed to support a rapidly growing number of retirees. And we haven't even started to reach the peak yet, which will arrive in the next 4 to 5 years.In the end, and I'm rounding off statistically, one working person will have to support one that is retired. Including all of the costs that entails.So, retirees are "leeches", they are taking away everyone's livelihood, because of them the working population can no longer afford what the previous generation could, etc. In short, it's all their fault, especially because they didn't steer the boat in a different direction decades ago.Everyone who spent a mere minute thinking about future problems those decades ago knew we were going to reach that explosive stage and now we're are just about to be right in the middle of it when it goes nuclear.The next few years, to say the least, are going to be very interesting.And, which is no surprise at all, successive governments these past two decades have ignored the problem altogether or only offered half-assed solutions because, of course, the voters who put them into power and kept them there were ... boomers.

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12 | We will have a new government in the beginning of May and, because I had the time, this year I actually read the 144 pages of the "coalition agreement", which was published just a few days ago..To be quite honest, I have never read such a meandering heap of declarations of intent which forgoes any plan whatsoever on how to finance any of it (besides heaping another couple of billions of debt on everyone's head).A day after the agreement became public, the leaders of the two parties, the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats (and, no, I'm not kidding) already stated that nothing in the document was set in stone and various (of course the most important) aspects were highly controversial in the many meetings. On top of that, most promises that barely managed to get both parties a hairline advantage in the election went out the window before anyone put pen to paper.My prediction: This government won't last the (four-year) term and the "AFD", our very own right-wing lunatic fringe (which overtook the Christian Democrats in polls while that party was in coalition negotiations) will gain a majority.The depressing thing is that all the "AFD" has to do in the next few months is sit back and let the other two contenders sabotage each other. If they manage to keep their mouths shut so that the electorate won't be alerted to the intellectual, political, economic and social void in their own political programme, they'll be victorious.

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11 | Although I always argue against most AI developments that are seemingly being engineered without any ethics involved, here's an example of a musician I respect, Jordan Rudess, who has been working on an AI model created by MIT to clone his unique playing style. The interesting part starts at around the 17-minute mark.The demonstrations and the talk around the dangers of AI eventually replacing humans/artists are fascinating. As Rudess states himself, currently the models need the input of artists to be able to create interesting and inspiring results, but I always wonder what might happen once those models are trained sufficiently and future developments allow for data sets of hundreds and thousands of artists to interact with each other, removing the input of humans altogether.

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10 | It's the 21st century and, yep, someone actually said this: "If you read to your kids, you’re ‘unfairly disadvantaging’ others."(Read all about it here: source)."

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09 | No surprise, really: "AI Search Has A Citation Problem. We Compared Eight AI Search Engines. They’re All Bad at Citing News. We found that… [...]

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08 | Jason Koebler (404 Media) writes about Sarah Wynn-Williams' "Careless People", a book that I read and I think really everyone else should read as well.Of course, the book confirms what all of us - who still have a brain and a moral compass - already knew:"'Careless People', by Sarah Wynn-Williams, is, [..] notably, a book that Facebook does not want you to read; Wynn-Williams is currently under a gag order from a third-party arbitrator that prevents her from promoting or talking about the book because Facebook argued that it violates a non-disparagement clause in her employment contract. Wynn-Williams worked at Facebook between 2011 and 2017, rising to become the director of public policy, a role she originally pitched as being Facebook’s 'diplomat,' and ultimately became a role where she did a mix of setting up meetings between world leaders and Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg, determined the policy and strategy for these meetings, and flew around the world meeting with governments trying to prevent them from blocking Facebook.[...] If you care about how Facebook has impacted the world at all, the book is worth reading for the simple reason that it shows, repeatedly, that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook as a whole knew. About everything. And when they didn’t know but found out, they sought to minimize or slow play solutions. Yes, Facebook lied to the press often, about a lot of things; yes, Internet.org (Facebook’s strategy to give “free internet to people in the developing world) was a cynical ploy at getting new Facebook users; yes, Facebook knew that it couldn’t read posts in Burmese and didn’t care; yes, it slow-walked solutions to its moderation problems in Myanmar even after it knew about them; yes, Facebook bent its own rules all the time to stay unblocked in specific countries; yes, Facebook took down content at the behest of China then pretended it was an accident and lied about it; yes, Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg intervened on major content moderation decisions then implied that they did not. [...]It has been years since Wynn-Williams left Facebook, but it is clear these are the same careless people running the company. When I wonder if the company knows that its platforms are being taken over by the worst AI slop you could possibly imagine, if it knows that it is directly paying people to flood these platforms with spam, if it knows it is full of deepfakes and AI generated content of celebrities and cartoon characters doing awful things, if it knows it is showing terrible things to kids. Of course it does. It just doesn’t care. [...]

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07 | Since we were talking about films and because I absolutely hate all of the Star Wars prequels with a fierce passion, Anthony Lane's 2005 dismantling of all three in the New Yorker is still an absolute joy to behold today. Here are some highlights:"The general opinion of 'Revenge of the Sith' seems to be that it marks a distinct improvement on the last two episodes, 'The Phantom Menace' and 'Attack of the Clones.' True, but only in the same way that dying from natural causes is preferable to crucifixion."“'Revenge of the Sith' is a zoo of rampant storyboards. Why show a pond when C.G.I. can deliver a lake that gleams to the far horizon? Why set a paltry house on fire when you can stage your final showdown on an entire planet that streams with ruddy, gulping lava? [...] [I]t takes a vulgarian genius such as Lucas to create a landscape in which actions can carry vast importance but no discernible meaning, in which style is strangled at birth by design [...].""So much here is guaranteed to cause either offense or pain, starting with the nineteen-twenties leather football helmet that Natalie Portman suddenly dons for no reason, and rising to the continual horror of Ewan McGregor’s accent. 'Another happy landing' — or, to be precise, 'anothah heppy lending' — he remarks, as Anakin parks the front half of a burning starcruiser on a convenient airstrip.""Also, while we’re here, what’s with [Yoda's] screwy syntax? Deepest mind in the galaxy, apparently, and you still express yourself like a day-tripper with a dog-eared phrase book. 'I hope right you are.' Break me a fucking give.""The young Obi-Wan Kenobi is not, I hasten to add, the most nauseating figure onscreen; nor is R2-D2 or even C-3PO, although I still fail to understand why I should have been expected to waste twenty-five years of my life following the progress of a beeping trash can and a gay, gold-plated Jeeves."

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06 | Sometimes, fan edits are the better versions of films, like in the case of Alien 3, which was just released this Friday and is available via A34K.The people who worked more than five years on this version massively improved the janky alien special effects from the original, compositing was improved overall, the film was color regraded frame by frame, extended scenes were included and other short ones cut. The resulting alternative cut is a lot more cohesive than the original.Great work by everyone involved and the best version of the film so far (which previously existed in both a theatrical and an extended director's cut).

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05 | Great weather today and a day spent away from the PC.

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04 | "Becoming Led Zeppelin" was entertaining enough and had great sound, but didn't really offer anything new (besides a couple of John Bonham interview snippets) to anyone who knows more than the average person about the band.If you do know a little more, this new film came close to an attempt at white-washing, leaving out all the juicy bits of the debauchery going on, the appropriation of old blues numbers, the ensuing lawsuits, etc.On the other hand, I suspect, this "authorized" version of Led Zeppelin's gestation period and breakout would otherwise never have seen the light of day, especially in regard to getting the remaining members to agree on the content and the material which needed to be licensed.

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03 | Do watch the captivating Rick Beato interview with Tom Scott, even if you don't really know who he is (a legendary saxophonist, composer, and arranger whose work spans iconic sessions with The L.A. Express, Joni Mitchell, Steely Dan, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd and countless others).The interview offers an endless stream of absolutely fascinating anecdotes, stories, insights and background information on a vibrant L.A. music scene from the end 1960s onwards, a music scene which - in this form - simply doesn't exist anymore.P.S.: I have tons of recordings in my collection that Tom Scott was a fundamental part of (or that wouldn't even have existed without him).

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02 | I fondly remember Val Kilmer (1959-2025), who passed away yesterday. Three films of his belong to my group of favorites, Tombstone (1993), Heat (1995) and, yes, The Doors (1991). He was a great actor and it was sad to see how his ill health kept him away from more work later in life.

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01 | Apparently, Cillian Murphy once said: "I like being at home. My life is very simple. I read a lot of books. I watch a lot of movies. Listen to a lot of music. Walk the dog. Cook with my family. I am boring." Yep, that's me, down to a T ... minus the dog.

03 | March

31 | Richard Chamberlain, who passed away two days ago, hadn't really been on my radar for decades. I still fondly remember him starring in "Shogun", the original TV series from 1980, which was one of the very best at the time.

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30 | The "Trump vs. Greenland" story would make for a great film-length political satire. 10 years ago, people would have laughed in any person's face if he or she had dared to dream up such an utterly demented scenario for public consumption.

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29 | One of the most annoying things about online publications is that many don't mention a publication date anymore or hide it so well that it is almost impossible to find. That way, many of those sites can publish and republish dated material ad nauseam and, of course, they frequently do.

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28 | I was on a "Saxon" binge lately and have only now really begun to notice how consistently they have been producing albums since 1979 (around 30 studio albums from 1979 to 2025, lots of live albums, compilations and more.I was a big fan of their first four albums and am now going through all the others, which offer quite a few highlights (as well as quite a few clunkers) strewn about, so I think I'll sit down and assemble my own "Best of" compilation, which should prove to be quite extensive.

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27 | Some conservative agitator posted a video of spring breakers failing to answer even the simplest questions from the US citizenship test and, of course, those spring breakers were mocked mercilessly online.When I watched the video, I thought of two things:The people mocking this younger generation were exactly the ones Jay Leno loved to expose in his long-running Tonight Show "Jay Walking" segments, each and every one showing how most people on the street consistently failed the same (and just about any other) simple questions.Plus, in regard to how educational systems have declined across the western hemisphere, I don't think any population of any country would do much better. We love to think so, but I sincerely doubt most of our citizens would do any better.

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27 | Here's an interesting concept: "[...] What the Dead Can Say is my eighth book. Over the course of my career, I’ve published books with Random House and Scribner, and fiction in the New Yorker. But for this most recent novel, I was no longer interested in chasing the prestige that such literary icons confer, no longer wished to jump through traditional publishing’s increasingly narrowing hoops. Instead, I decided to privately print a 1,000-copy limited edition run - then undertake a 10,000-mile journey through 28 states to give away every copy." (A Mystery in the Shape of a Book)

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26 | I wonder if Trump's attacks on various (former) partners isn't something that is going to come around and bite him in the ass at some point. Nationalism, something I thought we had gotten over, cuts both ways and, in the long run, the US president seems to both be rekindling and strengthening those he intended to weaken. Not a smart move, especially if partnered with a more than bullyish trade war in just about every direction.Although it's certainly unfair, the behaviour of one's government tends to reflect negatively on the entire population of a country and I'm beginning to notice in my circles, heretofore decidedly US-friendly, how quickly anti-Americanism is rising.

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25 | I have and had no idea who "Gabriela Bee" is or was, I have never watched any reality TV shows on- or offline and, apparently, this cover version has passed me by for 5 years or so, but it's an excellent take on a famous Beatles song.

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24 | I was at this guy's place (and his photo studio in Copenhagen) several times about 20 years ago, for dinner or just to hang around, and it's still a veritable and absolutely fascinating museum.

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23 | Music is increasingly becoming a throw-away commodity to - apparently - have running in the background while doing chores, playing games or sleeping.I constantly come across tunes - on major streaming services - which are either not tagged at all ("track01" by "unknown artist") or tagged incorrectly (wrong artist, wrong year, wrong album, wrong recording dates, etc.).99.9% of the people don't care. The music makee "boom", or "swish" or "clang", and it be A-OK for average Jane or Jay.

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22 | Well, why not? Here's Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love" as a 1960s girl group rock cover.

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21 | Why Is My Drink So Damn Weird? When every cocktail is an experiment in novelty, ordering feels like a gamble. But if history teaches us anything, it’s that this era won’t last forever.

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20 | Digg is making a comeback? Color me surprised!

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19 | Switzerland must have changed quite a bit since I was there last.

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18 | "On Broadway" by George Benson, from his live double-LP, has always been a favorite song of mine.I have fond memories of an old friend, Enrique M., who was great at playing and singing it (when he was sober) and, shortly after midnight sometime in the end 1970s, we spontaneously performed an extended version of it at the Ecuadorian ambassador's residence on New Year's eve, in front of more or less intoxicated parents and other party guests. What a blast that was.Torsten Goods, an excellent German guitarist and perhaps the world's biggest George Benson fan, loves performing that tune. Have a look at the following three videos. Everyone is having lots of fun with the song:(01) Here he performs it in a small an intimate studio setting together with Joscho Stephan, another favourite of mine and one of the world's best gypsy jazz guitarists: "Tribute to George Benson - Joscho Stephan & Torsten Goods - On Broadway".(02) Torsten Goods managed to get George Benson to perform at Good's hometown jazz festival, in a town named "Erlangen", not really the centre of the universe by any stretch of the imagination. Here is an excerpt of "On Broadway": "George Benson meets Torsten Goods & Friends". Great stuff.(03) Last, but not least, here's Torsten Goods performing the tune live with his small band at the "A-Trane Jazzclub" in Berlin: "Torsten Goods - On Broadway (George Benson)".

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17 | Rick Beato posted another wonderful interview, this time a nearly two-hour long one with Hans Zimmer, who clearly enjoys talking to someone who appreciates the art of soundtracks. Zimmer has lots of anecdotes to share and offers tons of insights in regard to his creative processes and where film soundtracks are heading.If you are looking for high quality content, you'll find it here. Highly recommended!

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16 | I just read some reviewer calling Boston's third album Third Stage "an underappreciated gem", easily as good as the first two albums.No it certainly isn't. And neither are any subsequent Boston releases which all failed as albums. Yes, they might have a good or decent track here or there but, altogether, I wouldn't listen to any of those muddled albums a third time. Twice was enough. Shelved for eternity.

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15 | I have this wonderful kitchen radio with excellent sound that I have running whenever I have chores to do in that part of the house. The best thing is that it connects to just about any Internet radio station I tell it to tune into and, most of the time, I listen to American radio stations.And on those I get to listen to about 5 public service announcements per hour that seem to be common in the US. The problem is that they are insanely stupid and offer the most obvious information and advice that you shouldn't need to give to people ... anywhere.Most of what I'm exposed to is akin to telling people to first put the right shoe on and then the left one. Don't forget to lock your door when you go on holidays. Don't keep the stove on. That kind of stuff. Are people really that dumb?

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14 | Does anyone remember Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide? I certainly do. I gave a copy of each new annual edition to my dad as a Christmas gift. We both loved movies, the concise and sometimes hilarious (and mostly accurate) reviews and had a good laugh dissecting each new edition, especially the films Maltin had given his lowest rating to, "Bomb!" We had endless hours of laughs and discussions about those and many other films listed, comparing the tastes of the various reviewers to ours, agreeing or disagreeing and often also rewatching a few films each time.Incidentally, my mom wasn't such a fan of the Movie Guide because my dad frequently used it to decide which movie to watch on any given night, which didn't always align with my mom's taste. If Maltin had shrugged it off, it wasn't allowed on the TV screen, at least not when my dad was present in the living room (and/or still awake).Unfortunately, the movie guide was discontinued in 2014, by which time online resources had become a thing on a much broader scale.Our favorite review, and perhaps one of the most known ones in the guide, was Maltin's 2 out of 4 star review of the 1948 musical "Isn't It Romantic?". The content of the review? -"No!"

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13 | Quite often, I somehow have a knack for liking - or at least appreciating bits of - films that others have absolutely destroyed in reviews. "Aeon Flux" is one such film, which I viewed again yesterday while recuperating from an annoying medical procedure.I simply cannot find the review online anymore, but ages ago, in his review of the film for Variety, Justin Chang called Aeon Flux "spectacularly silly". It's a review I saved at the time and wrote, as a note to myself, "Certainly, but it's a good film for those of us who do appreciate style over substance once in a while".Luke Slater on "badmoviemarathon" had this to say:"The film’s plot is frankly scattershot, throwing ideas at the screen and sort of catching the audience up with flashbacks and exposition. It’s kind of trying to fit in a lot more material than it really has time for, and the result is uneven. [...] Aeon Flux is a bit of a mess, but it isn’t a terrible film. The accents are distracting, but the actors are mostly pretty good. Ultimately, the problem is a triumph of style over substance, such that even the style feels hollow and dull."So, it's just that I didn't think the style was really that dull at all. That's the only difference, I guess.

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12 | Politics II: Bill Burr on Elon Musk: “This is why I hate liberals. Liberals have no teeth whatsoever. They just go, ‘Oh my God, can you believe this? I’m getting out of the country!’ I’m just like, 'you’re gonna leave the country because of one guy with dyed hair plugs and a laminated face? Who makes a bad car and has an obsolete social media platform? Why doesn’t he leave? Why are we so afraid of this guy who can’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag?'”P.S.: Using "and they just go", "and I'm just like", Bill Burr has now also joined the large group of individuals who are actively trying to dumb down language to a pyroclastic flow of verbal diarrhea.

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11 | Politics I: Can't find the source anymore, but the following, which I think is 100% accurate, I read over on "X" the other day: "Because the press secretary is completely in over her head and doesn't know anything whatsoever, the Press briefings in the White House are pretty much reduced to sporadic displays of childlike affection for a lunatic."

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10 | I have a Microsoft 356 license and also keep Microsoft Edge around for testing purposes (only). All of these programs are stuffed to the brim with AI functions, and new ones are being added constantly. There isn't a thing you can do without AI intruding right and left. Texts, emails, spreadsheets, images, even music; you name it, and Microsoft wants me to use their AI functions to complete each and every task.Are we really so incredibly numb and dumb that we are ready to accept this AI drivel that has this totally bland tone, generic look and often offers faulty content most people cannot detect? Really?We've taught ourselves and our children not to do any sensible sports anymore, to only venture where things are "safe," to sit and stare at screens instead of developing a sense of the world, and now we are going to teach everyone not to think, speak, write, and draw anymore? To drop all creativity that does not rely on AI technology? Really?No wonder more and more imbeciles are coming into power.

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09 | As I have been told, this became a meme around 2018, but I hadn't encountered it before. Still, for those of you like me who haven't seen it, here is some nutritional advice that, I guess, wouldn't pass muster anymore today:

"Crash Diet for Women" (Vogue, 1977)

WINE AND EGGS / 3 days / loss: 5lbs (2.5 k.)Breakfast:
- 1 egg, hardboiled
- 1 glass white wine (dry, preferably Chablis)Lunch:
- 2 eggs, hard-boiled is best, but poached if necessary
- 2 glasses of white wine
- black coffeeDinner:
- 5 oz. (150g.) steak, grilled with black pepper, lemon juice
- remainder of white wine (one bottle allowed per day)
-black coffee

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08 | Apparently, by throwing 320 million dollars at the screen to see if they would stick, the Russo Brothers managed to produce an absolute dud, "The Electric State".The (advance) reviews published by people I trust are extremely negative (IndieWire gave it a D-). Many of those critics have called the film "boring", the filmmaking "atrocious", the screenplay "soulless", the CGI "silly and distracting" and, last but not least, Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt "horrible".Not that any of this surprised me, but it is still depressing to think what else and how many better other films good filmmakers would have been able to do or make with the incredible sum of money that was totally wasted here.

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07 | "Roy Ayers, Jazz-Funk Virtuoso, Dead at 84. Vibraphonist behind 'Everybody Loves the Sunshine' paved the way for neo soul and became sampling fodder for hip-hop producers."I have listened to Roy Ayers' music for decades and have tons of it in my collection. His music was always fun and energetic and became a center of my "Acid Jazz" collection.I also fondly remember seeing him live several times.One of my favorite live moments is "Battle of the Vibes" (Ayers, if you don't know him, is the second guy playing) off his "Live at Ronnie Scott's" DVD. Do check it out! Tons of fun!

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06 | Sporting an ugly cover more akin to a Police album, David Lee Roth actually briefly hit the charts again with the release of his first EP and the 4 follow-up solo albums in a "no-frills, every-expense-spared" (Classic Rock review) clamshell box set. I won't buy it because I have all of the material already, but I hear the remastering is pretty decent. So, if you don't have those albums yet and think you are missing out, jump aboard.

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05 | We live in times in which many people are becoming increasingly self-centered. This includes a large number of people in key government positions who, at least from my point of view, have more or less lost touch with those people they are supposed to govern and/or provide for. The people I mean should really read the following excellent firsthand account of homelessness. And so should you."The Invisible Man: We see right through the unshowered soul living in a car by the beach, or by the Walmart, or by the side of the road. But he’s there, and he used to be somebody. He still is. A firsthand account of homelessness in America".P.S.: The author, Patrick Fealey, has been a writer for his entire life; first as an award-winning newspaper reporter and critic (for The Boston Globe and Reuters), then as an unemployed one struggling with manic depression, then as one living in his car in a coastal Rhode Island town.

***

04 | I came across the following quote today (by someone named Catherine Pulsifier, who apparently is an author of these self-help and self-improvement books I wouldn't buy if someone paid me for it). I think it is quite accurate:

“Retirement, a time to do
what you want to do,
when you want to do it,
where you want to do it and
how you want to do it.”

***

03 | The Academy Awards went exactly as I had predicted. I was only off by one award. I should have bet a large sum of money on the outcome. But, altogether, it was, again, a (very) weak year for decent films coming out of (mostly) Hollywood and it is more than symbolic that an independent film, Anora, won 5 awards.

***

02 | My wife and I both caught something she brought home from school (on the last day before a one-week break, of course). So, we're both down for the count at the moment.

***

01 | Joseph Wambaugh passed away yesterday. Back in the day, I was a huge fan of his work but, over time, lost sight of what he was putting out there.A friend at school had turned me onto his "The Choirboys (1975)" and I remember reading many books of his around that time, all of which were great (and some funny as hell). I remember having read "The New Centurions (1971)", "The Blue Knight (1972)" and "The Onion Field (1973)".I never read his "Hollywood Station" novels he published from 2006 onwards. Maybe I should.P.S.: Wambaugh also co-created the acclaimed 1970s anthology series Police Story for NBC.

02 | February

28 | As a result of often randomly reading around, here are three fun articles, two old and one (relatively) new one:(01) During a 1994 blackout, L.A. residents called 911 when they saw the Milky Way for the first time.(02) Man threatens to sue magazine for using his photo in article about hipsters looking alike, before realising it isn't him.(03) The popularity of the ‘Mar-a-Lago face’ soars in Trump’s inner circle: Botox, visible facial fillers and exaggerated tans comprise the aesthetic popular among Donald Trump’s entourage. What’s behind this new fad?

***

27 | He was one of my absolute favorites. I think I watched every single film he ever acted in, many of them several times.In 2011, he was asked how he would like to be remembered: "As a decent actor. As someone who tried to portray what was given to them in an honest fashion. I don't know, beyond that. I don't think about that often, to be honest."

***

26 | MoFi (Mobile Fidelity) has started adopting a release schedule that will lead to me being dead and gone before the last Van Halen Roth-era album is released. They announced the Van Halen remasters in 2021 and now, in 2025, we are about to get to the third album, which has been delayed again and again. Apparently, companies like MoFi aren't really interested in making the money they could make by planning better (and actually delivering on mostly nebulous promises).

***

25 | Hoarding disorder: As of today, I have 3000 movies in my possession.

***

24 | As predicted by anyone of sane mind, the German election this past weekend showed several problems we are facing:Just like in most other western states, the erosion of a sturdy, knowledgable, reliable, solidly democratic and defensive political center is eroding at ever increasing speed. That center has - as of today - still not found a way of defending itself against two opposing poles doing their very best to tear it apart.As in just about every other western democratic state, career politicians are regularly too far removed from the population's everyday lives to effectively represent it.The idea of solidarity is being erased by people who constantly lament that they are the ones being exploited (while, at the same time, being much better off than 98% of the planet) and who have manoeuvred themselves into a destructive mindset by living in social media and information bubbles they neither recognize nor understand.Destructive nationalism is on the rise once again.Foreign policy has increasingly become Machiavellian. I never thought I would see the day.As a result, there is a huge disparity between what is real and what isn't. Perceptions are skewed and the varying parties in power are doing their very best to keep them skewed ... in their favour.My prediction: Our new government, which will need quite a bit of time to take shape, will try to keep all of these opposing pull factors at bay, working from an election result that simply doesn't give them the power to do so in any effective way. If this new government survives the full term, which I sincerely doubt, the end result will be (unless they manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat) nothing more than a delay of the inevitable, a shift to the populist part of the electorate that has had foam spewing from its mouth ever since the start of the Corona pandemic.In the end, and I firmly believe this, history books will show that the Internet, social networks and a fundamental failure of western education will have eroded democracy in such a way that, for however long it will take, populism and nationalism were allowed to gain the upper hand.

***

23 | A local newspaper had a surprisingly direct interview with a psychologist today who commented on recent statistics which showed that every second aspirant fails (especially the theoretical part of) his or her driving test. "Direct," because he stated that the problem simply comes down to entitled people suffering from rampantly obvious "stupidity", the widespread inability to learn even the easiest things and then, worst of all, the incapability of dealing with failure in any sensible way, which often results in aggressive behaviour after having failed (once again).

***

22 | It was a nice, sunny day here today, with temperatures that felt like early spring. We spent quite a bit of time on our roof terrace and finished the day off with an excellent dinner at a local Italian restaurant that hasn't failed us once since we moved here. Great food, very good wine, very tasty dessert, attentive service. Worth every single Euro spent.

***

21 | I was at a lot of concerts in my lifetime. The "Casual Archivist" had a great post on February 4, showcasing what concert tickets used to look like.In retrospect, one of the bigger mistakes I made in my life was to not keep the many concert tickets after purchase. I usually bought myself a "Guld Tuborg" (or other beverages in other countries), stuffed the ticket into my pocket in case anyone might ask for it and then threw it out at some point.Stupid.

***

20 | I've been reading "Culture Critic" on and off for a while now and just yesterday, they posted something over on "X" that has been on my mind for quite a while. Here's a quick summary of the somewhat meandering (first) thoughts on a broad subject:"Every aspect of life is being stripped of color.Look at car colors since 1990. Paint suppliers are seeing huge shifts toward black, gray, silver and white color preferences. 80% of new cars are now grayscale. Ridley Scott's "Napoleon" made sets and costumes that are vibrant in reality, but look utterly lifeless on screen. Muted color grades (that blue/gray wash over everything) are the new normal in cinema. Recently, we were told HBO is rebranding Max - again. The big change? It will go from using blues to a duller combination of black and white. In fact, colors in all objects have been steadily neutralized since 1800, per a study of photos of 7000 objects in the UK Science Museum.What is behind the relentless shift to neutrality?It's partly materials. Moving from wood to metals and plastics led to more neutral color schemes.But David Batchelor's book 'Chromophobia' argues that it goes back to very birth of Western thinking. Plato, Aristotle, and thinkers that followed saw color as opposed to the higher workings of the mind. Plato famously saw the world of sight as a deceptive 'prison-house'. Color is a sensory experience, and humans should look beyond the sensory world to uncover truth (using reason). Aristotle thought lines, not color, contain the soul and meaning of an image. The essence of a thing is its form - what makes a chair a chair, not just a pile of wood. Later, thinkers like Rousseau and Kant agreed, stating that the drawing of forms is what gives life to color. Color can only add charm to art, but has no bearing on aesthetic judgement because it is purely sensory. So, color in the Western mind represents chaos and form represents order and rationality.Maybe that's why brands that want to be taken "seriously" choose muted storefronts, unlike a colorful book shop with no such ambitions.But minimalism takes this further. When the modernists stripped all detail from architectural design, it was a kind of extreme rationalism that distilled everything to its basic form. As Adolf Loos raved: 'we have gone beyond ornament, we have achieved plain, undecorated simplicity.' Color was primitive and must be purged along with everything else. Only form mattered. The result was copy-paste, colorless architecture that comes from nowhere and yet exists everywhere.There's no single explanation for the achromatic shift across industries. But commercial incentives is a big one: appeal to the broadest possible tastes and offend no one. Appeasing homogenous, mass consumer markets improves profits in all sorts of things. There's a related shift in music, where complexity is being stripped out to appeal to worldwide streaming audiences. [...]"

***

19 | Adrien Brody is great in "The Brutalist". Finally, a good film.

***

18 | We've got elections here this upcoming Sunday and for the first time in my life, I still don't have the slightest idea whom/which party I should vote for. It really comes down to deciding on the least destructive force for the next few years.

***

17 | The town we live in isn't really on anyone's map and I regularly have to explain where it is we actually live. All that changed last night when a house blew up near here (but far enough away to not have any effect on us) and that explosion made the national news. Suddenly, everyone wanted to know if we were alright. We are.

***

16 | I don't really buy CDs anymore. But, once in a while I do, like today. A shop in Bruchsal, a city just around the corner from here, had two shelves filled with special, deluxe and limited digipak releases on sale for a few Euro each, so I bought some to add to the collection:Van Morrison's "What's It Gonna Take" (2022, Exile), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "Live at the Fillmore 1997" (Warner, 2022, double CD), Chris Rea's "The Best" (contains two new tracks), Keith Richards' "Main Offender" (BMG 2021, remastered deluxe edition), Max Richter's double CD collection "Voyager: Essential Max Richter" (Deutsche Grammophon, 2019), two recent Michael Schenker Group releases, "Universal" (2022) and "Immortal" (2021, incl. BluRay), a Wham "The Singles" compilation, just for the hell of it, plus Nils Wülker's "Decade: Live" (Warner, 2018).A good haul for the price of a Whopper meal or two.

***

15 | I had high hopes for "The Gorge", but, alas, it was just another major dud with two great actors in it who were totally wasted on this trash."A prime example of Hollywood at its most uninspired—cheesy, cliché-filled rubbish that feels like it was written by an AI trained exclusively on predictable action-romance tropes. From start to finish, the film leans on tired dialogue, over-the-top set pieces, and forced emotional beats that never land.Instead of delivering a fresh take, it rehashes every familiar plot device imaginable, leaving little room for originality or genuine engagement. The action is excessive but meaningless, and the romance feels more like a box-ticking exercise than an organic connection. If you’re looking for something with depth, wit, or even just basic storytelling competence, The Gorge isn’t it."

***

14 | Just a few minutes ago, I read "Commentary: What is going on in Germany?" by Constanze Stelzenmüller and Sophie Roehse, published on February 6, 2025. This was written before the Munich Security Conference and concisely summarizes Germany's problems before the upcoming elections.Incidentally, Constanze Stelzenmüller, who has racked up a more than impressive CV, lived just across from us and we knew each other as children way back when.

***

13 | I'm not the fast food type at all, although I do appreciate a good burger every few weeks or so, but "Menu price increases at McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and other chains are sparking consumer revolt" outlines a development that might very well eventually eradicate a lot of franchises if they don't find a way to counteract rising prices and consumer dissatisfaction.

***

12 | If you are at all interested in politics beyond the usual social network fare, have a look at the following in-depth (and free) article to understand what is happening at this very moment (and, as I predict, will be happening across other western democracies eventually): "The Path to American Authoritarianism - What Comes After Democratic Breakdown", written by Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way and published on foreignaffairs.com on February 11, 2025.

***

11 | "Make Analog Great Again!" Best quote so far this year.Edit: I took the quote from one of the comments on this wonderful thread over on "X", which decries SaaS ("Software as a Service"), something that has spread like a destructive wildfire and is nothing but a full-blown attack on our sanity (and wallet).I head over to "X" once a week to visit my "reading" feed on a protected account which is exclusively limited to web development and technology discussions. Everything else, and I really do mean everything else, is blocked out.

***

10 | When I watched Kendrick Lamar at the halftime show at the Super Bowl, I caught myself thinking I'd rather have been at the Copa Sudamericana Final in 2019.See, one band that showed up (for the pre-game show) came from the same city (Santa Fe, Argentina) as one of the teams, a team which had never been in a continental final. Once the first note sounds ("Bombón"), the stadium explodes and when they segue into the second song after a mere minute, "Soy Sabalero" (the nickname of the team), it pushes things into the stratosphere for everyone in attendance.That's a show for the many fans!Have a look : "Los Palmeras | 2019 Copa Sudamericana Final".

***

09 | Jason Kottke has announced that he has "[...] pivoted to posting almost exclusively about the coup happening in the United States right now. My focus will be on this crisis for the foreseeable future."Sorry, but I think it's a pity and in the tsunami of similar activities across websites I read regularly, I also think it will ultimately prove to have been a waste of time. So far, I haven't seen him link to or expand upon things that I haven't read elsewhere countless times already. I think there is a danger of getting lost in just too much (unfocussed) noise.

***

08 | Today, it was time to once again visit our favorite vineyard not too far from here, "Weingut Klein", just to stock up on mostly white wines until June when we intend to to a "grand tour" sampling the new vintage across many different vineyards in that area.

***

07 | "Paradise", a Hulu TV series streaming at the moment, is just up my alley. Check it out.

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06 | I received "The Fantastic Gustav Doré" yesterday (see my entry below, Feb. 02) and it's a fabulous book! Highly recommended!I bought the book from Amazon (Germany) and although it used to be their core business, today ordering a book from them is closer to engaging in a game of roulette than anything else. This time around, only one corner of this (comparatively expensive) book was slightly bent, so I'm keeping it, but the way they treat books, without any respect, by shipping them in the most flimsy carboard envelopes, is a real shame.And, to top it all off, the person delivering it arrived here around 8 o'clock in the evening, after having started work early in the morning. Slave labour seems to be the most important cornerstone of Amazon's business nowadays.

***

05 | I've always enjoyed Bruce Hornsby's work, simply because he has been a musician who couldn't care less about what other people think he should or should not do. For five decades he's been all over the map musically and, currently, I'm really enjoying the album he recorded with Ricky Scaggs, way back in 2007."Although Ricky Skaggs gets top billing, it's 1980s adult contemporary star Bruce Hornsby who does most of the work on their bluegrass-themed duet album, 'Ricky Scaggs and Bruce Hornsby'. Hornsby wrote five of the album's eleven songs, including a remake of his early hit 'Mandolin Rain,' and his jazz-influenced piano playing is at the heart of these largely acoustic tunes. The duo shines, though, on the handful of traditional folk and bluegrass songs, such as 'Hills of Mexico' and 'Across the Rocky Mountain,' but it's a giggly reworking of Rick James's 'Super Freak' that reveals the casual looseness and good humor of the session as a whole. (AllMusic)"

***

04 | One of the most ridiculous developments across all social media is the rise of what some people like to call "citizen journalism". In the demented universe many people choose to reside in nowadays, filled with "lies", with "system" and "corporate" media supposedly feeding everyone a skewed version of reality, these (usually half-literate) knights in rusty armour pepper the internet with their constant "revelations".Each and every "news item" prefaced by "BREAKING!", "JUST IN!" and "EXCLUSIVE" is, in 99.99% of the cases, hogwash and utterly dimwitted word salad of the absolutely worst kind, written by idiots for idiots.What we would need instead is a lot more media literacy, but that would require the largest segment of the population living in their various bubbles to re-enter preschool as soon as possible. Of course, we all know it's far too late for that.

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03 | I'm just about to add a new section to this website, entitled "conversations".The first conversation will be between myself and an old friend from way back when.It's not going to be a finished product when published, but an ongoing one, residing on a single page that will grow as we go along, much akin to a blank canvas that we are going to add lots of colour to, with broad or fine strokes, hoping to give a glimpse into our lives since we met more than four decades ago.I'll let you know once the first snippet arrives.

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02 | Although I absolutely hate Amazon, I just bought a copy of the following book, hoping it will arrive here without any blemishes whatsoever. If it does, I'll return it:

"If you were a consumer of literature in the nineteenth century, chances are the volumes in your library featured the illustrations of Gustave Doré. From the Bible to Shakespeare, Balzac to Milton, Cervantes to Poe, Doré’s intricate, romantic, and exuberant drawings brought great works to life, and were as treasured as the stories and poetry they depicted. [...]This book spans Doré’s entire career, with chapters dedicated to specific works such as The Divine Comedy, Don Quixote, Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, and medieval fairy tales―each featuring exquisite full-page reproductions that allow Doré’s genius for line, shading, and texture to shine through.The authors also provide a background on the techniques that Doré employed to achieve his exquisite works.Fans of Doré will appreciate this volume’s spectacular production, which features quarter binding, gold foil stamping, embossing on the cover and spine, a belly band, and silkscreen printing on three edges. Filled with incisive analysis and expert historical perspectives, this book is the consummate collector’s item―a volume as expansive and sensational as the artist himself".

***

01 | Just in case you noticed: this year I'm going to change the layout a bit and use a separate white container for each month, which I didn't use for any of the previous micro diaries since I started in 2019. Hence the slightly different look.

01 | January

31 | Listening to: "Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions" (Limited Edition Box Set, Mosaic Records #280, 7 CDs). Great stuff!"We’ve worked years for the opportunity to re-visit the earliest jazz recordings on the Vanguard label, and we’re thrilled to finally present the first of what will be two Mosaic sets devoted to this important archive. A future set will focus on pianists in a variety of settings, but this first set showcases small groups in a 7-CD collection — “Classic Vanguard Small Group Swing Sessions. [...] The set includes highlights from the six-year effort, 1953-1958, that was originally labeled the Vanguard Jazz Showcase series. This collection of 85 tracks represents Vanguard’s first forays into jazz and brings fresh life to the original LPs that were released some 70 years ago."

***

30 | Everyone is talking about Germany today. As I predicted and wrote about here for years now, the shift to the political right is becoming ever more prominent: "Olaf Scholz attacks rival’s ‘unforgivable mistake’ as AfD backs migration plan".But, what the foaming-at-the-mouth and ideologically entrenched parties and press from each and every side of the political spectrum continue to willfully ignore is that many people, rightfully so, are beginning to be seriously tired of successive governments seemingly ignoring their main job completely: government by the people for the people.Too many serious problems (economy, education, infrastructure, etc.) have not been adequately addressed and, by the looks of it, will remain shelved while ideological skirmishes continue to be the "plat du jour."Governments have consciously manoeuvred themselves into a "do or die" corner that they seem to be unable to get out of.That is not how you run a country.

***

29 | After having been a member of various music forums for more than two decades, I've begun to notice a development that doesn't surprise me in the least. Several prominent members who were verbally aggressive know-it-alls in every conceivable way, have all turned into depressed, whiny know-it-all (usually single) seniors, constantly lamenting that peer recognition (and life in general) has passed them by.Really?
I wonder why.

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28 | Although I'm ready to set up two password-protected sections (consisting of several pages each) on my website, one software-related problem has stopped me from doing so.Because this website is very different from other "out-of-the-box" setups, every single page resides on a subdomain. That's not very SEO-friendly, but it's OK with me.The problem is then that if I set up, say, a new section with five pages, which all use the same password, the password needs to be entered each and every time on every single page because, from a security perspective, each page is a different website.There doesn't seem to be a way around that. So, I'm still contemplating how to go about it.

***

27 | After yesterday's post, I headed over to Reddit, where I usually read more than actively participate, and posted this question: "How many smartphone generations do you, the average (!) user, skip?" I expected a few answers, 10 or 20 at the most, but, as I'm writing this we're at 594 ... and counting.Have a look. The answers are fascinating. Most people have been all over the map in regard to smartphones and have the most unique upgrade paths, many, like me, skip several generations and, as just one of the countless points that that were raised regularly, the new Samsung S25 range seems to be a mostly disappointing upgrade that many users are not planning to throw money at.Update: The post has reached 650 681 comments.

***

26 | As I watch people scramble for the new Samsung S25 series, I'm still sitting here with my S10 5G, bought in 2020, one year after it appeared on the market. As far as I recall, it stopped receiving updates sometime in 2023. The phone is fine, the battery still works well, there isn't a single app that is "slow", animations are smooth, screen is as new ... in short: perfectly fine.Besides the fact that I would never buy a smartphone that needs a headphone dongle, which all modern Samsung smartphones do, I simply don't understand people who practically park in front of shops to get the latest model of ... anything. If I read the reviews of the new Samsung flagship correctly, the S25 is only a minor update (some people have actually called it a "downgrade") to the S24 and costs an arm and a leg.I wonder if anyone has recently calculated how many eggs one could buy in the US for the price of a brand spanking new Samsung S25 Ultra.Ah, well ...The average cost of a dozen Grade A large eggs was $4.15 in December (1). The price of a 512GB S25 Ultra is $1419.99 (2). So, that comes out to around 4106 eggs and a bonus yolk, just in case you wanted to know.

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25 | When I saw the Academy Award nominations a while ago, I almost fell over backwards. "Emilia Pérez", really? I hated the film and I would agree with many people who stated that the reason it has garnered so many (13) nominations is ideology, not a love for well-constructed films. I couldn't care less about the whole trans angle. This is just not a good film.The New Yorker put it best: "'Emilia Pérez' is an incurious musical about a trans drug lord. The performances of Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldaña bring energy and emotion, but the movie never gets beyond its splashy surfaces. [...] [Jacques Audiard's] work represents an inversion of the relationship between subject matter and narrative: instead of relying on the formal devices of storytelling to elucidate the stories’ characters and milieus, he squeezes the life out of characters and subjects in order to fit the procrustean limits of an efficient story. 'Emilia Pérez' presents twists and turns that exhaust themselves in the strain to stoke excitement; the movie is a wild ride to nowhere."And then I read this, nodding vigorously: "‘Stick-it-to-the-man sentiment’: Oscar-nominated films compete to bait Donald Trump - Almost all the shortlisted movies this year can be seen as a critique of the incoming president. Accident or design?""[...] Hollywood has therefore opted to vote with its Academy ballots, giving a leg-up to films that conspicuously critique the Maga worldview. Hence, perhaps, such an extravagant embrace for Emilia Pérez, a French musical about a trans Mexican gangster that has been criticised as “offensive” by both Mexican and trans communities, and met with a mixed reception from critics and audiences (with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 76% and 30% respectively).Nonetheless, the film has smashed the record set by Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Roma for the most nominations for a film not in the English language, scoring 13 to their 10, putting it just one behind the all-time record earned by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land.[...] Writing in the New Yorker after this year’s nominations, the critic Richard Brody said the “members of the Academy have, in effect, responded to the natural and political disasters of the moment in the name of solidarity”"It used to be a tradition for me to stay up late and watch the ceremony live.Used to be.

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24 | I thought I had really seen it all, but then "Star Trek: Section 31" rolls around, the most unbearably bad, ridiculously cringeworthy and dreadfully juvenile piece of dogshit to ever grace any of my various screens and TVs.This isn't even 0/100, it's a hundred below.God, how I absolutely despise the people who keep on churning out this absolutely braindead stuff.P.S.: No links to this steaming turd, not even the horrible reviews it has collected in absolute record time.

***

23 | As usual, I handed in my tax return forms for 2020 in the very last second, a few days before Christmas 2024. In Germany, while I was working as a civil servant, I was not required to do so, but I always did, knowing that I would be entitled to some sort of tax returns. For 2020, I received a tax return of around $4000 plus an interest fee of around $400. So, spending a couple of hours filling out a few forms netted me enough money for extensive holidays this summer. Cool that!

***

22 | I re-watched "The Lighthorsemen" the other day, a film from 1987 that was once touted to be an epic akin to "Lawrence of Arabia". It is not. It is a mediocre film with a lot of renowned actors wasted on a film that has cinematography to show for itself and absolutely nothing else, especially no coherence. Once again, a waste of time.

***

21 | For those who wrote to me regarding my thoughts on Trump in office: No, I don't have a publishable opinion yet. I don't like the guy, his demeanor and many of his off-the-wall policies, but, just like with Javier Mileil in Argentina, I'm just going to wait and see. Democracy is a wonderful construct that often doesn't work for those who have dug in ideologically, but there is a definite reason for its existence.

***

20 | Well, today I decided to simply let go of my three Instagram accounts and started deleting all my posts. When they also decided to change the feed from squares to whatever new size, all my old posts - which were designed for that old format - suddenly looked like shit, which is and was appropriate for the shit show Instagram (and everything else that curly-haired numbskull touches) has become.I'm going to keep the dead accounts because people have been trying to get to two of my account names for ages now, but for all intents and purposes, I'm gone from anything that has the Meta name attached to it.P.S.: So far, I have only been able to delete the contents (my own posts) of two accounts (not the "likes", because Instagram blocks me from doing so) because Instagram's totally f*cked-up AI bots noticed and locked me out of my third account altogether. Those are apparently the new ways of the world, so I'll just wait a few weeks or months and watch all these billionaires run the entire US into the ground first before I'll give it another try.

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19 | Here's just one example, world-renowned jazz bassist John Clayton, to illustrate how families were absolutely devasted by the LA fires.He is lucky enough to have very good friends and trusted fans and, after Jeff Hamilton, one of my absolutely favorite drummers, started a fundraiser for John and his family, was able to quickly get together quite a hefty sum of donations, but what about the people who aren't as lucky and don't have that kind of support?And the winds are picking up again ...,

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18 | On Monday I had dental surgery that threw me a solid curveball, simply because one part of my jaw became infected. Nevertheless, I'm almost done (step four will roll around in a week or two from now and be completed three weeks later), but getting implants on a larger scale (in my case 8 separate ones) is something I certainly wouldn't recommend to anyone who doesn't need them.

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17 | One more time, because these things are important: "How Google and AI are Killing Travel Blogs Like Mine." In a long and detailed article,Amanda Williams outlines those things that really should alarm everyone, although, presently, not many people seem to care. AI is on the rise and it won't take long until it will be forced down everyone's throat on a global and grand scale, no matter if consent was given or not!AI will have negative consequences, also hefty environmental ones, and it's time to at least inform yourselves!

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16 | I had encountered Simon Oslender before in various constellations but didn't really take notice until this (Steely-Dan-tinged) video, "Along the Coast", featuring Steve Gadd, Will Lee and Bruno Müller, popped up on my YouTube feed. Then I did some googling around and came across the three solo albums that all appear to be just my cup of tea. I think I'm just going to start with the newest release the above song is featured on and work my way back, also to financially support the musicians involved.

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15 | In bed after dental surgery, I was trying to catch up on a stupid series I watched last year, "The Rig". It's not even good, but just the right thing if you sleep half the time because of pain and swelling.But, I had to give up after two episodes because of one single reason: Botox. Two of the female lead roles have these botoxed, fish-mouthed and completely expressionless faces that are just unbearable to watch. They take me out of the plot and action immediately when they pop up, which they frequently do. Especially Alice Krige is painful to look at (and really does look like the Borg Queen today she so effectfully played in Star Trek many years ago).It didn't take me longer than scrolling through three or four reviews before I found similar sentiments over on IMDB: "More botox-faced women: The old lady that owns the company [...] has so much Botox, she has that fish mouth and she has no expression. The main girl also has a Botox face [...] she's so wooden and expressionless. [...]"

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14 | I've had plenty of time to read around these past two days and noticed the increasing numbers of articles, tweets and social network posts taking tech/Internet companies to task for - consciously - trying to make things worse for users and focussing on monetary gain exclusively. This is what they focussed on:(01) "The World Travel Guy", like so many other small and/or independent publishers, fires a salvo into Google's face over on Twitter, saying (and proving): "Google's ranking algorithm is so bad now I have to constantly file copyright reports to keep spam sites from outranking me with stolen content. As soon as these are nuked, more will take their place. This is an algorithm that shadowbans creators and rewards spam."(02) Most of the people I have been following are severely criticising the UK's government for wanting to make it legal for AI companies to train their AI on people's copyrighted material without a licence.(03) Finally, and to my utmost satisfaction, the entire WordPress ecosphere (meaning everyone who isn't on his payroll) is laughing about Matt Mullenweg, who overstepped the line one too many times. Although he refuses to accept that he is the aggressor, the fight against, for example, WPEngine, is beginning to capsize the nest he so nicely built for himself. Although he maintains his innocence despite years of abusive behaviour, also in this case, he now has to acknowldege that "Lawsuits Could End WordPress". In a nutshell, this is where we are at: "Those looking for a sign that the conflict that Mullenweg initiated could come to an end sooner than later were disappointed. Mullenweg appears to be suggesting that only WP Engine can end the conflict by dropping their defensive lawsuit and allowing Mullenweg to resume his attacks designed to drive them out of business. A federal judge ruled against Matt Mullenweg by granting WP Engine’s request for a preliminary injunction to block his attacks against WP Engine."I'll repeat it again: people like Matt Mullenweg ("WordPress"), Elon Musk ("X"), Mark Zuckerberg ("Meta") and Sundar Pichai ("Google"), plus a whole bunch of others, should be tarred and feathered and hunted out of the global village ... rather sooner than later, because:(04) "There’s a reason why it feels like the internet has gone bad."

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13 | Had major dental surgery again today and spent the rest of the day in bed, catching up on a TV series or two.

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12 | Brian Keene linked to an excellent article on Wired, "[t]he inside story of the teenager whose 'swatting' calls sent armed police racing into hundreds of schools nationwide - and the private detective who tracked him down". Written by Dhruv Mehrotra and Andy Greenberg, it's one of those articles that reads like a thriller in many parts.

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11 | I don't know if "enjoy" is the right word for an extremely violent TV series like "American Primeval", but I thought it was a very good series with a solid script, very good acting, but also very bleak tone and some misfires.

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10 | As the fires continue to ravage parts of LA, I heard from an old acquaintance who lost everything in the Palisades Fire. Today, you can also read about lots of other people who barely had enough time to get out and save themselves and their families, losing everything in the process.I simply cannot and do not want to imagine what that's like. Even if you do have a good enough insurance, which many people in LA didn't have, you can never replace those many items and memories that a house or apartment can hold.

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09 | The photos of the fires in Los Angeles have an absolutely surreal quality to them, as do statements by many, which, in most cases, immediately politicized this tragedy and are lashing out at everyone and everything, just because it is those people's modus vivendi.I'm just glad there are still tons of people willing to help those affected instead of sitting in their musty basements, furiously attacking their keyboards, with spittle flying from their mouths amidst clouds of Dorito dust, and blasting their utterly inane bullshit across the globe.

08 | Here's a book I'm going to preorder (publication in August of 2025) : "The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand"."[...] Now for the first time, Stephen King has fully authorized a return to the harrowing world of The Stand through this original short story anthology as presented by award-winning authors and editors Christopher Golden and Brian Keene. [...] The End of the World As We Know It features unforgettable, all-new stories set during and after (and some perhaps long after) the events of The Stand [...] as an essential companion to the classic, bestselling novel [...]Contributors include Wayne Brady and Maurice Broaddus, Poppy Z. Brite, Somer Canon, C. Robert Cargill, Nat Cassidy, V. Castro, Richard Chizmar, S. A. Cosby, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, Meg Gardiner, Gabino Iglesias, Jonathan Janz, Alma Katsu, Caroline Kepnes, Michael Koryta, Sarah Langan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Josh Malerman, Ronald Malfi, Usman T. Malik, Premee Mohamed, Cynthia Pelayo, Hailey Piper, David J. Schow, Alex Segura, Bryan Smith, Paul Tremblay, Catherynne M. Valente, Bev Vincent, Catriona Ward, Chuck Wendig, Wrath James White, and Rio Youers.

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07 | I rewatched a favorite TV series of mine recently, "Southland". It ran for five seasons from 2009-2013. I think it stood the test of time and I remembered it as a series that started strong and became stronger as it progressed. Checking from today's vantage point, it rose from a solid 69% approval rating to one of 85% and above for its third, fourth and fifth seasons. It had a "bold, contemporary tone" and laid the groundwork for series like "The Shield", another one which I gobbled up way back when (*). If you can find "Southland" somewhere, it comes highly recommended by me after this second viewing.(*) Note: Oops. David K. (thanks!) alerted me to the fact that "The Shield" (2002-2008) ran before "Southland". Maybe I shouldn't rely on my memory too often anymore. Apparently, it ain't what it used to be. Nevertheless, both series had similarities in regard to shaky cam and other contemporary style elements.

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06 | I never really thought about what it is that I really do around here, but after I posted a link to my website over on Reddit as an example of what you can do with Carrd, user "chrcnsl" alerted me to a term I had never consciously heard before, "digital garden"."A digital garden is basically a combination of an online notebook and a personal wikipedia. It’s your personal collection of ideas. [...] You likely consume a ton of content: blogs, newsletters, masterclasses, video series, podcasts, tweets, TikTok, longform articles, books, audiobooks, etc — the list goes on forever. But passively consuming it means risking it being forgotten [...] A digital garden is your corner of the internet — a place for you to explore and write about what interests you, just because it interests you. Without worrying about if it’s in your niche. Without worrying whether or not your audience will like it. Without the pressure of having all the answers wrapped up in one neat post. [...] Digital gardens are, in a way, a return to the early days of the internet — before chronological blogs and social media streams took over."I especially like the quote referenced at the end of the article, taken from Maggie Appleton's "A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden":“Digital gardening is the Domestic Cozy version of the personal blog. It's less performative than a blog, but more intentional and thoughtful than our Twitter feed. It wants to build personal knowledge over time, rather than engage in banter and quippy conversations.”Yep, that's actually what I have been doing here since 2019 and, looking at the pages and parts finished and ready to be "planted" here in the next few months, the garden has been growing nicely.Let's hope for uninterrupted good weather.

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05 | Michael J. Fox, a truly worthy recipient.

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04 | Drumeo finally published its "Phil Collins: Drummer First" video that had been in the works for quite some time.Since my childhood and the time I listened to "Genesis" for the first time ("Trespass, 1970), Phil Collins has been one of my favorite artists, no matter how much flak he received for having been literally everywhere as a solo artist in the 1980s and 1990s. As Chad Smith (and many other drummers and musicians) state in the video: "He always played what was right for the music and that's the sign to me of a real musician that knows how to play for the song." Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater) adds: "It's always super musical. There's always shape and dynamics and breath." Yep.He is also one of the few drummers whose sound and style remain instantly recognizable while his technical chops were frightening to those drummers who, like me, tried to copy some of the more intricate "Genesis" material. He was a natural at his instrument and, as he states himself in the video, "I’m not a singer that plays a bit of drums; I’m more of a drummer that sings a bit”."It is terribly depressing to see how fragile the man has become. He can't play anymore. He can't walk properly anymore. His hands are shaking. Decades of touring and hard work have taken their toll on his hands and legs, as most drummers (and other touring musicians that always gave 100+ percent) know they will/would.Still, the man is a legend and left a huge body of work that is exemplary. I have tons of respect for him and still today hardly a week goes by without me listening to something he poured his lifeblood into.

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03 | Just before Christmas, I watched in horror as Google's most recent updates to their algorithms ruined the visibility of many independent websites by practically de-ranking them. Livelihoods were lost and, yes, lives ruined.This move again shows how a few big players seem to be increasingly gravitating towards AI-sourced search results that simply do not offer anything of value to the customer while profiting hugely themselves. I hope these moves will bite them in the ass one day, but with the common Internet user being as passive as he or she is, I don't see that happening any time soon.So, I have added a Links page to my website (via the homepage) which lists and briefly introduces websites I read on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. It also includes some tips on how to find more good blogs, websites and forums, all of which are often all but invisible on Google, unfortunately still the search engine of choice for most people.The page will be updated with more worthwhile links as I come across them.

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02 | Well, 2025 wasn't off to a good start. My wife caught a case of the flu, I feel like that same one is knocking on my door and the weather is horrible (and about to get even worse).Still, we had a cosy evening last night eating leftovers and enjoying the warmth of our apartment (plus a viewing of "Juror #2", which we liked).Today, I added some entries to the memorial website for my much-missed best friend of three decades, Dominique Imbert. As it turns out, a stupid programming error I made hid a few entries for that site from my view and I only stumbled across them today.All of this reminded me that I'm still sitting on a 10-page text detailing my relationship with Dominique that I sat down and wrote the day he passed away. I wonder if that will ever see the light of day, but if it does, then it will be around these stomping grounds here.

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Recent Updates:

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01 | Happy New Year everyone & All the best for 2025!Last night we had the feeling that a lot more money than usual was launched into space and blown to smithereens. For some reason, Germany has seen a surge of imbeciles who think that fireworks are their route to some perceived "Freedom!" that only exists in those heads that were confused by the earth not being flat, the corona virus not having been designed by Bill Gates and baby blood not having been the ingredient in everything the hated "elite" eats or drinks.So, as we head into 2025, let's keep an eye on those braindead morons that are multiplying around the globe, although it's actually easy to ditch them all in one fell swoop: just delete - as I did in 2024 - your social media accounts and / or leave them by the roadside.Then, occasionally, check how much further the populace has regressed into the middle ages.Once a month should suffice.P.S.: We had a wonderful three-course dinner (shortened by one course to come down to two) last night and enjoyed a quiet evening, also, in-between, adding some pieces to this wonderful puzzle: "The World of Hercule Poirot: A 1000-piece Jigsaw Puzzle".

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