Recently updated blogs

Weird pigeon That heron was back, doing its worst pigeon impression.In "Garrett prepares to hunker down for autumn" news, I added some new purchases to the bookshelves. This is what 7kg of books looks like Doctor Aphra is one of my favourite characters in the Star Wars universe, but I never had the chance to read the complete run, so I’m looking forward to diving in.I can’t remember how I …

Difficult relationships between fathers and sons have been fodder for writers for millennia. Sometimes these relationships are simply power struggles, as in so many Greek myths, such as the conflicts first between Uranus and his son Cronus and later Cronus and his son Zeus. Or their conflicts are representative of social strife, as in Ivan Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons. And other times, like in many of Franz Kafka’s most famous …

Thanks so much to Joe Allen for the interview! I had written about The Jade, a fantastic Bristol band from the heyday of indiepop that for some reason only put out two demo tapes, no proper releases. After discovering them, I was wondering how come the band didn’t put out any records, their songs were really great! Happy to know to learn more details about the band, and also super …

From From Peoples into Nations: A History of Eastern Europe, by John Connelly (Princeton University Press, 2020), Kindle pp. 210-212, 238-240: In 1878, representatives of Europe’s major powers convened in the capital of the new German nation-state for negotiations that bear all the hallmarks of the more famous effort in decolonization and democratization that transpired at Paris after World War I. At Berlin in 1878, statesmen determined the boundaries, constitutions, …

Video: Lizzy McAlpine – “Pushing It Down and Praying” From the deluxe Older (and Wiser), out October 4 on RCA/Sony. I got into Lizzy McAlpine this summer after reading Amanda Petrusich’s New Yorker profile. Her album Older is great and now she’s releasing an expanded version with five new songs. The “deluxe reissue six months after the original release” game is a racket, of course, but that’s the music business …

Local heros: Three men of Kochi. A Little Trip To Kochi City On Sunday, that same Sunday I met a man and his mother, I continued on the bus to Kochi City. I got off in front of … 🐞 Read more about it ➞ ➞ ➞

warmbru curiosity explored why, after centuries of wearing hats, the trend fell out of favor in the middle of the 20th century. He explained that while both men and women wore hats for practical reasons, such as to keep the elements at bay, hats were also indicative of society and class. Why did hats suddenly almost die out? Not completely but to a large extent. Let’s first consider why people …

I love the title Purple Noon. It’s the name for the 1960 French film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley; and while Highsmith’s title explains, with cold-blooded cheek, the character of her murderously desiring protagonist who wants everything, Purple Noon tells you what he desires: A world of summer heat and sun and, especially, luxury, as exemplified by that color Purple—the shade of royalty, the aristocrat’s hue, …

Why there won’t be a high-speed railway from Singapore to China, and how Thailand and Malaysia have set back a truly unified system by years. The Singapore-Kunming Rail Link (SKRL) is a planned network of railways to create a unified line from Kunming to Singapore. This is part of the Pan-Asian Railway, which envisions three routes connecting Kunming to Southeast Asia: – Western route via Myanmar – Central route via …

The popular history of technology usually starts with the personal computer, and for good reason: that was the first high tech device that most people ever used. The only thing more impressive than the sheer audacity of “A computer on every desk and in every home” as a corporate goal, is the fact that Microsoft accomplished it, with help from its longtime competitor Apple. In fact, though, the personal computer …

In the morning, I received a phone call and was told to board a flight. The arrangements had been made on my behalf. I packed no clothes because my clothes had been packed for me. A car arrived to pick me up. The radio announced traffic due to an accident involving a taxicab driver, a police officer, and a woman whose occupation the dispatcher did not care to identify. But …

Serkan Avlik and Ojan Genc in Ostan, Park Theatre. Photo Jack Bush Arzhang Pezhman's play Ostan is set in a car wash where owner Shapur (Dana Haqjoo) employs asylum seekers. Rebin (Ojan Genc) doggedly chases progress on his application for indefinite leave while trying to train newbie Gorkem (Serkan Avlik)...