what are you into right now?

playing bouzouki
walking
being married
gin and tonics
Richard Powers's novel The Overstory
arranging 80s synthpop for mandolin
weed gummies
getting into a hot tub with my wife
reading Richard Powers's novel The Overstory whilst in a hot tub
having weed gummies and getting into a hot tub
more walking
oatmeal squares
changing from AC to heat

^ damn brah, you got it

stoned hot tub life is aspirational

i want a hot tub and a sauna so bad

Let it be known that I never thought I was the sort of person who would (or could) have such a thing. Always associated them with scumbag porn directors with gold chains bouncing in their chest hair while they smoked a cigar and talked on a cell phone in a New Jersey accent.

But then the inflatable/portable ones became (relatively) accessible and, given COVID, started to seem like a possibly forgivable indulgence. Three hundred dollars, an extension cord, a garden hose, and a six-foot circle of space. Badabing.

Don’t disrespect the….

Maple syrup oat biscuits
not boozing
twin peaks (again)
being in a deep forest in the rain

Convalescence
No booze (7 weeks and counting)
Reading (no pattern, just reading)
Films (I've got so much catching up to do it's actually terrifying, in a good way, mostly)
Meditating once a week, looking at more frequently
Japanese ambient (not in a fetishistic way. Ok, maybe in a bit of a fetishistic way)
Cooking (18 months vegetarian + no dairy and why in the hell didn't I do this before?)

cooking
spaghetti westerns
getting back into comics, partly reading but also binging the Comic Books Are Burning In Hell podcast

My cheap secondhand Canon 5D Mk 1 and the golden light of autumn on trees and water

Alcohol free beers (seeing some improvements from the initial offerings in the market)

EastEnders - simultaneously balancing the plot lines of new and old episodes

Luna, check out the Athletic offerings. I like the Upside Dawn a lot.

Among gin alternatives, Ritual is superb.

being in a deep forest in the rain

hell yeah

i got really into houseplants this past year. stress-buying at various points throughout the pandemic. some have died but it's a goddamn jungle in some rooms

i have one named Robert. Robert Plant.

Japanese ambient (not in a fetishistic way. Ok, maybe in a bit of a fetishistic way)

lol, i appreciate this

(we have a home art studio and i got it set up pretty cool)

can i get some details on this, i am about to set up one in a new place in 2 weeks

― typo hell 13: crypto in insidious, though (Karl Malone), Monday, October 18, 2021 9:25 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

talking mostly about vibes bc the studio itself is lacking in some fundamentals -- a sink, mostly -- and i have yet to set up some really cool equipment -- a family member's etching press! but once i do some organization we have some cool stuff. we have the press, a lot of artists' watercolors i've accumulated, a ton of nice cotton papers - arches watercolor stuff that i pick up whenever it's on sale, a lot of printmaking paper from the family member. i don't want to deal with the expense & hassle of putting in a whole bathroom up here, but i'd love to have just a utility sink. that would make it really great.

but the vibes are really nice i have to say. it's an old house and the attic is huge. i brought up a ton of plants, the 100-year old pine floors are in kinda rough shape and were never meant to be finished but they have a cool really dark stain and look great imo. i fuckin love attic spaces especially in old houses, i feel lucky. still doing the cheap midwestern city thing and i don't regret it

the vibe is the most important! i am going to miss my current studio, my first real one i've ever had. i only got to spend about 4 months with it, but now i'm moving and can't afford to have a separate studio, so it's back to the "apartment studio" situation again in 2 weeks for me.

i think i can make it work (i will make it work!) but my main practical concern is how to keep my dog away from my paints. she has a bad habit of licking paint (caught her twice before), for one thing, but also she sheds a bunch and it's so fucking annoying to be perpetually cleaning out dog hair out of wet paintings.

but i think, if i remember the floor plan of the new place correctly (wish i had more photos or a blueprint!), there isn't really a space where i can close the door or separate it from Bird (my dog). the "studio" is likely to be just in a big open room, what would normally maybe be a dining room area.

i'm having this nightmare vision of catching Bird with a thick slab of Cadmium Lemon across her face and tongue, then waking up the next morning to find a fresh batch of dog hair on every canvas in the room

btw i think i posted that to wrong thread karl but ah yes you saw it here lol

oh shiiit! *flagposts u*

;)

yea i've also done the apartment studio thing, it was really tough, for us it was kids not pets but really the same problem, they would get into the paint

still getting used to how ilx works it has been a while

oh no, it's good to stay at this level of how ilx works! we can teleport to different parts of ilx like we're dean stockwell in quantum leap. #onethread

new age vibes i feel that other threads presence right here right now

some more things I'm into:

The Expanse (we just started season 3)
trying out recipes for "working mom" dinners that take 30 minutes or less
squash of all kinds
this new oversized plaid flannel hoodie i got at an LL Bean outlet over the summer, it is very soft and warm
Patrick Shiroishi

“nightmare vision of catching bird” is a good sentence fragment

Or Dario Argento movie title.

Marcos asked me to post in here:

- Bloodborne the video game (my travails and hardships documented on the thread)

- a DJ guest mix of "ravey bangers) which I just finished for my friends' radio show

- speaking of ravey bangers, the new album by Chrissy called Physical Release is packed full of them

- trying to find ways to wear these keen Levi's burnt orange cords I bought on a whim without looking like a children's TV presenter or some sort of red-trizered Etonian prick

- as such I seem to have bought three identical but differently coloured overshirts which i will probably where over a grey turtleneck but this is all being worked out as the weather turns to shit

- the movie Saint Maud. It's a masterpiece

- nice rums and whiskies as the weather turns to shit

- the Blindboy podcast which has become a soothing lifeline over the last year of stress and lockdowns. His hot takes and Limerick lilt are enough to quell anxiety

- I'm also listening to Dune as an audiobook. It's good. Bit of a slog in places but good.

- getting back into running, which I couldn't do for a few months due to a torn calf muscle. Running in the city after dark is a lot harder than last year as it's much busier with cars and people. I choked on exahust fumes the other day. Must start getting up early and doing it then

- growing my hair long and embracing the natural wave and curl. I used to hairdry religiously cos I hated the way it curled up in weird places but after a proper styling from a hairdresser who knows his onions, I'm rather happy just letting it do its thing

*adds +20 commission bonus to marcos points*

i've played most of the from games, but haven't played demon's souls or bloodbourne. what do you think?

Listening to a vast amount of podcasts of different types. Various books, US politics, myth debunking, anti racism/decolonisation etc etc

hopefully getting back into sewing. Finally got a couple of zips back on jeans yesterday after months of nothing.
Got to trace a pattern and customise and cut a jacket or 2.

doing one major cook per week then reheating. Think this is a fusion of various things or me just bunging in a lot of veg, fungi and fruit into a mix.
Currently buying a load of reduced veg & fruit the day before teh major cook . Things just on the turn and not looking the best for display in a fruit & veg place that's a bit outof teh way. Also still buying a lot of Asian veg & fungi and sauces and stuff.

Watching mainly videofiles of foreign tv. Not watched a foreign film in a month or so. Need to watch some tarkovsky and Kurosawa I downloaded though.

Reading a load of antiracism books and hopefully having more turn up in local charity shops.

Finally getting a couple of teeth fixed. Came out of the major lockdown periods with them in a really not great state.

Macy Gray who had passed me by at the time but I just recently picked up her first best of and quite enjoying it
Vince Martin , Fred Neil's one time singing partner and I think they picked up some of teh same influences , jazz & country and stuff , been neglecting his If the Jasmine Don't Get You... the Bay Breeze Will for too long. BUt getting back into it.

TULCA Festival again , now back at teh traditional time of year. But seen most o fit now so not sure if it will keep me going for another 2 weeks. Still has some interesting stuff in.

i've played most of the from games, but haven't played demon's souls or bloodbourne. what do you think?

― just staying (Karl Malone), Monday, November 8, 2021 2:48 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'd only given Dark Souls III a rudimentary play as it came bundled with Witcher 3. I found it a rather oppressive experience: Creepy, gnomic, insanely difficult, utterly devoid of any humour, and just generally stressful.
So I don't know why I picked up Bloodborne for any reason other than it was on sale and I get really in the mood for Victorian Gothic horror from time to time. At first I hated it. Hated it. I couldn't get past even the most basic of enemies. It's all documented on the dedicated thread.
But yes, I got a bit of help from Jordan, Josh in Chicago and a few others, and also followed a YouTube guide by a guy called Jumpin Productions which is excellent. I'm still playing with the guide and enjoying it a lot more than before. Once you get your head around it, it all starts to click. But man, it is nevertheless extremely grim and creepy. I said it on another thread but why "adult gaming" has to automatically be all about lonely wandering through oppressive landscapes is beyond me. Yeah, there are a bunch of whimsical art games with a bit more colour in them, Journey etc, but they're still isolatory on the whole. Even grown-ups need a bit of therapeutic light relief I think, which is why I miss my old Nintendo.

Stevolende I'm very jealous about your ability to make clothes. I can barely sew a button on, but if I could magically grant myself a practical skill, making my own clothes would be up there as one of the things I'd love to be able to do.

yeah, took me way too long to get into. If I could do things over again I think I might get myself into a dressmaking course in my mid to late teens then just be building on that ever since.
I was being lined up for a FAS course in design in 92 that fell through which might have meant I got into this much earlier too.
Has certainly meant i can dress in clothing I like over the last few years. THink I was looking for a pair of striped turn of the 70s Levis or similar for a while then realised I could probably make them.

I mean, that's it. Sometimes I'm just like "Man I just need this exact design in this fit" but it either doesn't exist or it does kind of exist but it's prohibitively expensive or not quite right

It's not really that difficult , a bit time consuming and potentially somewhat frustrating. So worth a shot. I started out learning how to sew by doing stuffed toys on a community centre course. I had done some machine sewing of patches in my teens and narrowing jeans legs.
Do wish I had done more practical stuff at the time. Would have been a nice thing to have for those years.
Still it's a nice thing to be able to do and you can start with something a lot less ambitious and work your way up. & ok it doesn't suite everyone but it is really useful to know how to do.

I'm just a bit frustrated that for various reasons I haven't got more to show for this year. I do hope teh more i do the better i get.
BUt I have a problem with clutter on the work table since it's the one large piece of furniture in teh place so gets covered too easily. & not bee feeling motivated this year. So now have several thing si meant to do earlier this year still waiting to be done.
Did get to attend a lot of webinars and listen to podcasts and things but could probably have done both if better organised.

this my favorite thread

i am into rn:

this moxie/parris set streaming live on NTS right now it is really good
this bomb-ass sativa i bought last week
my houseplants, they're taking over, you should see this philodendron selloum in particular. some are dying though too
my new job, wfh groove, financial stability. i miss going to a campus though sometimes
the sun, always
taking walks
SOPHIE "just like we never said goodbye" "is it cold in the water"
sly "just like a baby"
yoko "death of samantha"

It turns out I am willing to play drums for anybody in town.

Also those thinhs that are like juice boxes but with wine? are okay

I have a hammock and it is nice today

Tiny hats: they might be cool again someday

Roasted apples

Peruvian rotisserie chicken

Geology

hiking
playing guitar during lame work meetings
cashews
starting movies/shows and not finishing them and not feeling guilty about it
walking 2-3 miles every day
billiards
reconnecting with old friends
wearing t-shirts (never really been a t-shirt guy before)
shooting hoops with my kids
grapefruit

oh i sat in a hammock this weekend on a trip to MI, it was between two trees on this small hill so i felt truly suspended in the air

cashews are so good
grapefruits are so good

IK found an acoustic guitar in the bin enclosure. Wonder if it was a mistake still but nice find I think. hoping it doesn't spread woodworm to everything else at least

Making my own gnocchi. No idea it was so easy! Easier to get right than "normal" pasta (though of course when I made it for my sister in a recent visit, they didn't come out right for the first time)

starting movies/shows and not finishing them and not feeling guilty about it

^ hero behavior

let's please normalize not feeling guilt about what media we do or don't consume

I mean it's all a voluntary leisure activity anyway

for real there is little time to waste on bad art
the converse is that it is also okay to waste time on bad art

or inverse? idk what those mean. in any case idk really know what is good art or bad art anymore. good art can be bad and bad art can be good

I abandon most things before I finish them - books and games mostly, and on the rare occasion I start watching a show, those too. For some reason I make it a point to finish films though

Most things are too long

Tove Jansson's island cabin:

https://www.finnishdesignshop.com/design-stories/travel/on-klovharu-island-tove-janssons-spirit-and-handprint-live-on

let's please normalize not feeling guilt about what media we do or don't consume

I mean it's all a voluntary leisure activity anyway

― actually, it's "in which we're livin'." (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, November 10, 2021 11:33 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

theres only so much time in the day etc etc

Jens Larsen's jazz guitar videos