§ It was 67 °F on Tuesday. Come September, 67° will feel like the perfect excuse to dig out all of my favorite comfy sweaters but here, in March, it means t-shirt weather. I took the opportunity grill some carne asada and take a good look at all of the garden beds. A few of the garlic cloves I planted back in October are just starting to come up.
§ I finally figured out the name of my favorite type of tree. It is honestly nothing special all summer but after shedding all of its leaves in the autumn, it is totally transformed. Photos really don’t do it justice. It towers above everything else, standing stark, skeletal, with almost perfect radial symmetry.
It’s a dawn redwood!
§ Since I’ve started wearing my Apple Watch again I’ve noticed that simply knowing certain stats—like step count and walking distance—are being recorded is motivation enough for me to try to improve on them each day. Gamification works, especially on me.
§ The physical construction for that “steam boiler” project I mentioned last week is really coming along. I mean, just look at this monstrosity
§ After disappointing results the first time I made sourdough I tried a new recipe last weekend that is much more hands-off. The gist is:
- Saturday morning mix together 500g flour, 375g water, 10g salt, 75g starter
- Let it sit out on the counter all day, folding occasionally
- Saturday evening shape the dough and transfer it to the fridge
- Sunday morning preheat the oven, take the dough out of the fridge, and bake
Maybe it’s the new recipe or maybe the starter is finally mature or it could be that my expectations are lower than they were the first time around. Regardless, I’m far happier with the results here. I’ve already started making a second loaf.
§ I couldn’t wait and read Annihilation. I read it all in a few late-night marathon sessions, occasionally drifting in and out of sleep, which really accentuated Jeff VanderMeer’s disorienting, hallucinatory writing.
The central “where lies the strangling fruit…” poem(?) feels like something written by GPT-2. I’m not insinuating Jeff VanderMeer actually used generative AI to write it—Annihilation predated GPT-2 by five years—but I think there is something oddly prescient about it, given what the poem represents in the world of Area X.
Overall I think I liked the book although it wasn’t what I was expecting at all—I was hoping for a deeper exploration of the environment of Area X. I’m sure it would benefit from a re-read someday.
§ I also watched Alex Garland’s film adaptation of Annihilation. The visual effects were stylish, Natalie Portman was excellent, and it was fun to see Jennifer Jason Leigh outside of Fargo.
It was entirely different than the book. Like basically a completely different premise. I guess that isn’t inherently bad, just an odd choice.
After watching this, and thinking back to when I watched Civil War recently, I’m beginning to think I just don’t like Alex Garland’s writing, while still being a big fan of his directing. That made it all the more troubling to read that he is stepping away from directing to focus on screenwriting for the foreseeable future.
§ I was planning to read the sequel to Annihilation next but I think I’m going to check out Brothers Brönte instead after seeing Robin Sloan’s recommendation.
Now, keep in mind I still haven’t actually finished Lonesome Dove but I’ve noticed that this is a pattern that I frequently fall into: starting on a new book as I’m just about to finish reading something else. Try not to use this fact to psychoanalyze me too much.
