The doorman fallacy. Coined by Rory Sutherland to refer to conspicuous jobs in a company which seemingly provide no value, but which “strips away the true complexity of what a doorman provides.” :
If that’s the entirety of the job, a technological solution can easily replace the doorman, reducing costs. However, this strips away the true complexity of what a doorman provides.
The role is multifaceted, with intangible functions that extend beyond just handling the door. Doormen help guests feel welcome, hail taxis, enhance security, discourage unwelcome behaviour, and offer personalised attention to regulars. Even the mere presence of a doorman elevates the prestige of a hotel or residence, boosting guests’ perception of quality.
When you ignore all these intangible benefits, it’s easy to argue the role can be automated. This is the doorman fallacy – removing a human role because technology can imitate its simplest function, while ignoring the layers of nuance, service and human presence that give the role its true value.
For once in a blue moon, I am attending a writers’ conference — ArmadilloCon 2026 in Austin, Although I won’t exactly be blogging full throttle about it, I will mention books and authors I encountered during it. A lot of the authors are also on bluesky and many have domains (unlike literary authors, who have trouble figuring those things out).
Actually I will focus more on sci fi authors than normal.
Armadillo Authors
Rudy Rucker is a distinguished mathematician, computer scientist, sci fi author who will be attending. I am currently reading “Mad Professor” story collection. I’m also browsing through his Complete Stories. If I can get access to it, I might also read through his Collected Essays.
While exploring the magic of yt-dlp, I realize that I really need to become proficient in Windows PowerShell. I don’t know why I waited so long to do that.
Epub/CSS/Web
I have recently made a lot of progress on my epub template. Now comes the hard/fun part: writing css specifically for the web. Theoretically I have already done the hard stuff on several different websites (see the long interview I did with Texas author Clay Reynolds). I just need to collect all the things I learned into one common template using the same style classes from my epub file.
Speaking of epub css, I had an interesting revelation. Previously my css to manage images on epub had meaningful functional names. Eventually I realized that the context or the function of div + image mattered less than how wide I wanted the image to be on the display. So I changed my css classes to things like: div.image-float-right-50percent img and div.centered-image-35percent img (and variations of that).
Suddenly everything was easier. In ebooks the only two things that matter for images are 1)what percent of the width should it occupy and 2)should it float or be centered as a block? At first, I thought I might need to do variations for float-right and float-left; maybe if I am designing a sophisticated interface or navigation aid, that would be necessary. But in most cases when you want to float something, you float it right. You could perhaps compile a list of float-left styles. But instead, I’m going to attach an id attribute to these HTML elements for those isolated cases so I don’t need to.
The counterargument to using numerical styles is that the names for these styles might be inappropriate for generating html for the web. In ebooks you have a fixed image width, but in browsers, there are more possibilities. I fear that something like div.image-float-right-50percent might need to have a sliding percent depending on the viewport. Then again, maybe the css characteristics for browsers will be the same for all 50% width.
WordPress Databases and Hardening
Now I am needing to improve website performance for WordPress and quickly! My hosting service is making me aware of my use of system resources, and I’ve had to optimize this website. I’ve also decided to focus more on WordPress security and backups. In the last two years the web has become a denser, more complex and dangerous place.
I just realized that the numbering of my columns is off by 1. This is actually the 60th Robert’s Roundup Column I wrote; the first one was specific to Smashwords and was unnumbered. I’m going to revisit the ebooks I obtained for each column. That column was particularly remarkable:
I never explained why I list some of my ebook purchases as Under the Radar and others as Blink and It’s Gone. Basically Blink and It’s Gone are ebooks which are rarely discounted. 90% of the time, these are books by known authors publishing by well-known publishers. In contrast, the Under the Radar titles are often by indie authors or self-published titles which I obtained either for free or for less than $1. In fact, some of the Under the Radar authors are very distinguished; sometimes a major publisher is publishing them, but for one reason or another, the prices are low and generally stay that low.
Frankly though, I pay a LOT MORE ATTENTION to the indie authors on Under the Radar than I do with the Blink and It’s Gone authors.
I produced two more “literary elevator pitches” for Jack Matthews ebooks. I show up myself in both videos near the end, but primarily it features Jack Matthews audio.
David Wallace-Wells has second thoughts about the recent Atlantic article about reading habits:
You might assume, especially given social stereotypes and caricatures, that the reading decline would be concentrated among the young, with that turn away from books and toward phones therefore spelling doom for future literacy. You might think the problem would be exacerbated by schools and universities turning away from demanding reading curriculums and the arrival of artificial intelligence to do our reading for us. But in fact, young Americans are — according to this survey, at least — reading more than they did a couple of decades ago.
In 2003, for instance, Americans ages 15 to 24 read 8.4 minutes a day; in 2016 they read 7.8 minutes a day; and in 2022 they read 11.7 minutes a day. Also in 2003, those between the ages of 25 and 34 were reading 9.6 minutes a day; in 2016 that group read nine minutes a day; in 2025 they read 10.2 minutes a day. If these numbers represent a crisis, it doesn’t appear to be a new one.
Among Americans 65 and up, the base line is higher and the decline in time spent is larger, too: For decades, at least, the bulk of the country’s reading has been done by Americans in their golden years. In 2003, older Americans read on average just under an hour each day — 58.5 minutes. By last year, that had fallen nearly by half, to roughly 32.4 minutes each day, a drop that represents the lion’s share of overall reading declines. To the extent that we can talk about the decline of reading as a mass phenomenon, it seems concentrated not among the next generation but among the previous ones. The pattern may seem counterintuitive, but it echoes some other findings about social media use and disinformation: For all the hand-wringing about the effects of new technology on kids, the impacts may be just as corrosive, if not more so, on their grandparents. (Perhaps this is one reason The Wall Street Journal recently declared that “Dad Books Are a Dying Breed.”)
I jokingly like to claim credit for helping to “discover” the literary talent of Joy Castro (because I begged her to submit a story to the undergraduate literary magazine of the university I attended (Trinity U). She has since established herself both as a literary academic and prolific author. Here’s a story she published a while back (titled “Betrayed”) about a trip she took down to Port Aransas and recalling an earlier trip she took there with an old boyfriend. Here’s a video (YT) of a talk & reading Castro gave about how her Cuban grandfather in Key West had worked a cigar factory as a lector. The lector’s role was to read aloud novels and leftist political ideology while the workers rolled tobacco into cigars. She used this setting as an inspiration for her 2023 novel ONE BRILLIANT FLAME (which she reads excerpts from). Here’s her website, Wiki page and a good long interview she did in 2020 with craftliterary.com
Under the Radar
Happiness: Ten Years of N+1. (Collection of essays from the influential lit journal).
Metamorphosis: Climate Fiction for a Better Future. (Edited by Grist).
Gone like a Goldfish by Anonymous.
Two books by W. Royce Adams (Home,) Scar Songs (short stories about males at various stages of life) and As Time Goes by (a reflection on aging). Amazingly, Adams is a 94 old retired English professor who started writing actively after retirement. He wrote several books for young readers including an adventure series based around a mythical place called Rairarubia. Here’s a reading of Adams talking about As Time Goes By (YT) Here’s a promotional vid about one of his Rairarubia books. (YT) Here’s a better organized list of his writing credits and awards.
Group Sex Novel by Ann Arensberg. (W, Obit) Despite the racy title, it’s a more mundane but satirical look at publishing and sex. (First chapter was great). Her first novel Sister Wolf won the National Book Award for best novel in 1981.
In Session: Dark Female-Led Novel by Laine Ashford.
March Book (Poetry) by Jesse Ball.
Rental Sister Novel by Jeff Backhaus. A young Japanese woman is hired by a man’s wife to break down the walls between them.
Clear: A Transparent Novel by Nicola Barker. Strange tale of real-life magician David Blaine who who sits suspended in a transparent box. It’s fiction!
Augustus Carp, Esq. by Himself, Being the Autobiography of a Really Good Man by Henry Howarth Bashford. Comic 1924 novel about a conceited oaf.
Infinity in the Palm of Her Hand: A Novel of Adam and Eve By Gioconda Belli. Noted Nicaraguan journalist writes a meditation on the Adam-Eve story. Prolific author/poet rarely translated into English, but this FSG book was translated in many languages. PW wrote, ” The unfolding of knowledge and humanity is both primitive and breathtaking in Belli’s view. And without abandoning the timeless biblical story, Belli manages to introduce a modern Darwinian element that’s both stark and eloquent. Belli tackles Genesis with perception-rattling gravity. ” Alan Cheuse does a NPR review (with audio)
Running the Rift: A Novel by Naomi Benaron. Story about a gifted runner in Rwanda who overcomes political turbulence to become a marathon runner. Bellwether Prize winner. Kirkus: “where Benaron shines is in her tender descriptions of Rwandan’s natural beauty and in her creation of Jean Patrick, a hero whose noble innocence and genuine human warmth are impossible not to love.”
Cleopatra Dismounts: A Novel by Carmen Boullosa (W)
Unthinkable Thoughts of Jacob Green by Joshua Braff. Jewish teenage boy in the 1970s deals with growing up, sex, etc.
Defenestrate by Renee Branum (Home). A brother and sister fascinated by the idea of defenestration move to Prague and grapple with family myths. I think “falling” is the book’s recurring metaphor. Lots of positive press from NYT, New Yorker, etc.
Furious Future Stories by Algis Budrys.
The Price of a Haircut by Brock Clarke. Stories.
Voyage of the Morning Light: A Novel by Marina Endicott.
Like Flies from Afar Novel by K. Ferrari.
Valleyesque: Stories by Fernando A. Flores.
One Day at a Time: and other stories by A.K. Frailey.
Rat in the Kitchen: A Comedy Crime Novel by Rick Gene.
Groceries by Matt Gibson.
Red Magician by Lisa Goldstein.
Urban Bestiary: Encountering the Everyday Wild by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. Essay about common creatures you might encounter in one’s backyard (or a field across the street). Insightful, informative.
Camel Bookmobile Novel by Masha Hamilton.
The Casualties Novel by Nick Holdstock. (Home) Some sort of apocalyptic mystery taking place in Edinburgh about a man who likes finding the secrets of the city’s residents. Polarized reviews, but some highly positive (See here and here) Holdstock is a journalist and China expert who has written both nonfiction and fiction.
Don’t I know you? by Marni Jackson. (Home) Imaginary encounters with celebrities by a noted Canadian journalist and humorist.
Underdog by Anne Joyce.
Balls by Nanci Kinkaid. Satirical look at football coaches and their wives. Kinkaid wrote the excellent Verbena novel.
Immediate Family Novel by Ashley Nelson Levy.
Big Time by Fritz Leiber.
Doctor Robert by Bobby Lopez.
Anomalous Events in an American Suburb by Ross Myers.
Trail of Crab Tracks: A Novel by Patrice Nganang. Camaroonian novelist. Book was named a New Yorker Best Book. A Trail of Crab Tracks becomes a singularly complex interrogation of the relationship between thought and action, between writing and the world.” ―Kristen Roupenian,
All the Houses a Novel by Karen Olsson. Daughter returns to Washington DC to care for a sick father who was involved in a political scandal.
Without a Dowry and Other Plays by Alexander Ostrovsky.
Francis and the Women: A Novel by Siggy Patton.
All you never said by H. Pearce.
Erratic Facts by Kay Ryan (poetry).
Mother Country Novel by Irina Reyn. 2019 Ukrainian novel about a Ukrainian mother living in NYC and facing all sorts of problems taking care of her child and making a living. “Mother Country is a beautifully envisioned, morally urgent novel set at the disputed borderlands of a divided family and country. Irina Reyn is a superb chronicler of America, Ukraine, and all points between, resulting in a book of uncommon power and purpose.” –
Crompton Divided by Robert Sheckley. Comic novel about a man whose psyche is divided into three parts on 3 separate planets. “Rickety, but full of inspired and often pointed foolery.” (Kirkus)
A Curable Romantic novel by Joseph Skibell.
Man in a Cage by Brian M. Stableford.
I look for You in the Crowd Novel by Michael J. Vaughn. Also Semiprecious.
Dream Merchant: Novel by Fred Waitzkin.
Self-Portrait with Russian Piano Novel by Wolf Wondratschek. Story of a jaded pianist who reflects on language, art, politics, etc. Reviewed by actor Ethan Hawke of NYTBR: It is at once egoless, sly, profound, funny, authentic and utterly mysterious―without ever seeming to break a sweat . . . An immense humility encompasses the novel. In a world that shouts, this book is a song played softly, and slowly.
Moon Goddess’s Smile by Catherine Wu.
Night of the Avenging Blowfish: A novel of Covert Operations, Love and Luncheon Meat by John Welter. Comic novel about a secret agent
Sex Academy: Three Book Collection Fun and Filthy Noellas by Lucy Xane.
Blink and It’s Gone
All We Know of Pleasure: Poetic Erotica by Women (Edited by Enid Shomer).
Steps by Jerzy Kosinski. National Book Award winner, 1969. Novel of power, libido and morality. “By some miracle of training, which recalls the linguistic bravado of Conrad and Nabokov, he is already a master of pungent and disciplined English prose. Simply as a stylist, Kosinski has few equals among American novelists born to the language. And I have also become convinced, after reading Steps, that he is one of the most gifted new figures to appear in our literature for some years.” (Irving Howe)
Lightning Song by Lewis Nordan. Southern novel by noted Southern humorist.
Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past can help us survive the climate crisis by Michael Mann. This 2023 in-depth study of earth science, paleoclimatology, the historical record and climate policy by leading climate scientist Michael Mann is a must-read. I have been tearing into this ebook. (I wish I’d studied these topics back in college!)
Siren and the Seashell and Other essays on poets and poetry by Octavio Paz.
I also bought another copy of Susan Sontag‘s Against Interpretation which I plan to write about.
Podcasts/Media
Today (August 4, 2026) is when Ray Bradbury’s famous story “There will come soft rains” takes place (from the Martian Chronicles). Here’s a great radio version of the story — with sound effects, etc. (YT).
Introduction: Archive.org and the Death of Standards
I hate to be the one to break the news, but as I use archive.org more often, I have noticed that it hosts a lot of unauthorized or infringing audio or video. I mean a LOT!
I always knew that any nonprofit organization that hosts content will feature uploads that shouldn’t have been uploaded there. Frankly I am glad that audio & video uploaded from the 1920s-1940s are available because often they are not available for elsewhere, often not even on the used markets. I expect that was mainly a manpower issue and that eventually volunteers will block items that were obviously infringing. For music, I thought that eventually albums will be streamable but not be downloadable; that seemed like a fair way to address infringing content.
Also, I knew that some types of audio and albums never were digitized and often were originally CD compilations of dubious origin. Look at this “album” on archive.org which actually consists of 1800 mp3 tracks. A quick look reveals that there’s a lot of unknown 90s Eurodisco tracks on this collection (well, unknown to me). But there’s also a bunch of extremely well-known tracks as well (such as Haddaway’s What is Love, Mariah Carey, etc). This seems to come from a lot of Russian compilation CD’s (I know them well). Although the zip file (13 gig) is probably too big to download directly, you probably can download the torrent (I haven’t tried).
I have significantly less scruples about downloading music from the 1960s and before — if only because of the importance of discovering and preserving our cultural history (and the fact that many of these albums — while available for streaming and for sale–often have inflated prices because of their obscurity. That’s a rationalization of course, but that’s the story I’m running with. Practically speaking though, almost none of these titles are available via library interlibrary loan, so there’s little other option.
Here’s another reason to love and rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Performances at the Bronze! Here’s Cibo Matto in a prolonged performance of Sugar Water. (YT). Here’s T.H.C. singing Wild at Heart. (YT). Here’s a YT playlist. (YT)
Aha, T.H.C. (W) is the work of George Sarah (BC) and Sarah Folkman.
Obit for William Orbit by Ben Beaumont-Thomas. “Orbit’s astonishing range of sound – heavy breakbeats, acoustic guitars, trance synths and more – was put to use on everything from sweeping ballads to the pell-mell acid house of the title track, re-establishing Madonna’s credentials as a vanguard pop star and earning her first non-video Grammy award wins.” (Speaking of the iconic Ray of Light album).
I have been sifting through Orbit’s legacy and learning about the British singers like Katie Melua, Beth Orton and others.
Before she become a global musical superstar, the Greek singer Nana Mouskouri came to the US in 1962 to record a jazz album with Quincy Jones. It is absolutely lovely — here it is on archive.org. Here she is singing A Force De Prier in 1963 Eurovision. She didn’t win (idiots!) but her performance is remarkable! (YT)
Klaus Heinrich by Proffen. Great electric jazz, with female vocals. That opening title song is really catchy! (All the songs are similar)
YouTubey Stuff
2026 Eurovision had “Professor Eurovision” segments on Eurovision 2026 which tried to address perennial contest hard questions. Like: 1)which songs are the most successful? 2)Are there too many gays in Eurovision?(!) and 3. which country have received 0 points most often? (YT)
Here’s a great 1990 live performance of “Groove is in the Heart” by Dee-Lite months before they released it. (YT) The dancing is as crazy as you would expect.
I’ve always been a fan of Ladytron. Here they are talking about their musical influences (YT) This comes from the great “What’s in my Bag?” video series where musicians talk about their favorite albums.
Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir’ also does a What’s in My Bag video. (YT) She’s done a lot of movie scores, and I first heard about her from the amazing score she did for HBO’s series Chernobyl. (YT) The “Turbine Hall” track was particularly harrowing.
This delightful nonsense duet song (From Three Little Words movie) shows Debbie Reynolds 2 years before Singin’ in the Rain came out. Reynolds was 18 years old at the time! (YT)
Adriano Celentano sings the Ciao Ragazzi Ciao (YT)(tr. as Hey, Fellow, hey). Here is on archive.org the Non Mi Dir album released in 1965 where it came from.
Sammy Kane Kraft (W, Home) was an actress/athlete/musician who tragically died in a car accident at the age of 20. Here’s a great funky country song “Wasted” she performed at the LA Hootenanny (her last show).
I never thought that live versions of Cibo Matto Songs would do them justice, but here’s their 1997 live performance of Birthday Cake.
In 2014 they released another album called Hotel Valentine. Here are two live performances they did at the time (Live on KEXP, Summer Sonic Japan 2014).
Chocolate Cherry by Joe Tex Band. (YT) Texas was a Texas R&B singer popular in the 1950s and 1960s whose bands occasionally performed instrumentals.
ROCKING ITALIANO: Lately I have been watching lots of Italian singers on 1960s Italian TV (many of whom are still alive!) Here’s a killer song (Ciao Ragazzi Ciao, YT) by Adriano Celentano (who is a combination of Elvis and Weird Al Yankovic).
WEIRD AL’s latest song and video (with an unusual celebrity cameo!) provides a delightful biology lesson. (YT)
Marsh Family –a singing political parody group located in Faversham, Kent (UK). Here’s a wicked anti-Trump political parody (YA) based on Morissette’s song Ironic. This time it’s named “Isn’t it Moronic?”) Here is their BC page.
You may already know that I have owned tons of music CDs and also have checked out a ton of CD’s from the library. I realize that it is slightly anachronistic to spend so much time accumulating music files, and sure it consumes a lot of time sometimes, but I have stumbled upon lots of amazing stuff. But honestly, I still haven’t listened to a lot of it, and often I listen to albums only once and then forget about it. So it’s probably a good idea to write about rediscovering albums already in my music collection.
Here are some digitized CDs I have gotten into recently:
Albums by Cibo Matto. Holy cow she is good and strange and jazzy and eclectic.
Trance stuff by Jes. Jes sings a lot of tracks. She has a lovely voice, and she seems to produce her own tracks (I love Memento).
Fastball. Iconic Austin rock band (whose song “The Way” is one of the most melancholy-nostalgic songs I have heard,
Analog Africa albums. Some German company compiles lots of niche Africa bands from previous decades. Eclectic crate-digging stuff — always great.
Reviews
Ultraviolence by Lana Del Rey. Lana Del Rey has a sultry, syrupy artificial singing style which lingers on a lot of notes. These slow and overproduced songs add all kinds of unnatural reverberations and multitracks, so Del Roy’s vocals almost never appears in isolation. This makes the songs sound multilayered, trembly and almost psychedelic, with the instruments giving the songs extra fiber. Great melancholy lyrics and amazing expressive vocals give the songs emotional heft (especially in songs like Pretty When You Cry and Money Power Glory). The title song, Ultraviolence plods along beautifully, and Shades of Cool (probably the most conventional song here) soars slowly as the guitar crashes away until it starts to soar some more. The only thing I can compare it to might be Low or Goldfrapp or maybe Pink Floyd (!) This is a great indefinable album; all I can say that everything blends together beautifully, even if it is densely packed.
Jes‘ Memento. Collection of trancey or rocktronica tracks either by Jes Brieden or collaborations Jes had with other trance luminaries (like BT, Tiesto, Markus Schulz, etc). Jes has a lovely & iconic & soulful voice (you hear it, and say, hey, that’s a trance song). One great collaboration is Sunrise (with Aly & Fila) where Jes actually has meaningful lyrics to sing (and isn’t merely sampled in myriad variations). (Two other tracks to showcase her voice is the forlorn “Fall into You” and the first track, “All or Nothing”). I absolutely love “Awaken” (a sole Jes production that starts with a verse and then gradually builds up with a steady beat — out of the versions I’ve heard, this is my favorite). “Under the Midnight Sun” is a fun upbeat Jez production that has the lightness of a mainstream pop song. Although this album has lots of bright spots, it can be fatiguing to listen to it straight through. (Here’s that kickass remix of Awaken YT and her being interviewed YT on a local news show).
Cibo Matto: Viva La Woman. This first genre-bending concept album by this punk/rap/jazz band used eclectic samples, trip hop sound and female yells and chants to produce a soft mysterious sound. The downtempo tracks like Sugar Water, White Pepper Ice Cream and Theme are lovely and brooding, while the more upbeat and punky Le Pain Perdu and Know Your Chicken have an absurd postmodern craziness. Don’t get the food themes, but the melodies and textures and juxtapositions are always fascinating even if it sometimes feels disjointed and improvisational. This works more as a concept album than as a showcase of pop songs.
Cibo Matto, Stereo Type A. This second album by this genre-bending group has more fun and danceable trip hop tracks while preserving the eclectic Japanese style and jazzy arrangements (horns pop up in several places). They certainly do a better job of showcasing the range and personality of Miho Hatori’s soulful singing style. The first few tracks (Working for Vacation, Spoon, Flowers) are strong, tight electronic songs reminiscent of Komeda or Ladytron. Some tracks are so funky and elegantly produced that they might have been done by Fatboy Slim, and the spacey “Clouds” recalls David Bowie or Gary Newman. Three rap songs (Lint of Love, Sci-Fi Wasabi and Speechless) sounds contemporary and upbeat. The last few tracks are more experimental: some hard rock (Blue Rock) , dreamlike (Mortming, Sunday Pt 2). Great album, though it offers so many flavors that a certain fraction of the tracks will disappoint.
Peru Selvatico: Sonic Expedition into the Peruvian Amazon 1972-1986. A delightful compilation of fast easygoing tropical cumbia guitar melodies with galloping percussions which are mainly instrumentals (although vocals pop in occasionally). Without the usual Latino brass, the dance tunes feel low-key and relaxing, like a psychedelically colored smoothie. Most of the tracks are short and full of reverberations, organ and repetitions. These instrumentals are so gentle that one could even fall asleep to them.
self-titled by Tarkovsky Quartet. This lovely debut album by the French piano quartet was inspired by the spirit of filmmaker Tarkovsky. They are slow, impressionistic and full of lingering pauses and brief melodies. Consisting of a piano, cello, sax and accordion, they don’t so much blend as interweave. The structure feels loose and improvisational although I’m confident that everything was meticulously composed in advance. L’Apocalypse is slightly mad, but energetically swerves from instrument to instrument; the accordion provides nice reverberations; it almost feels like a woodwind instrument. Doctor Faustus is slow and mysterious, with the cello providing a secret passion. Putting these 4 instruments together doesn’t make sense, but it works extremely well here. Despite the slow tempo, complex melodies, pauses and occasional dissonances, this album is very listenable. Great for concentration or even sleep.
Hello Waveforms by William Orbit. British music producer Orbit is mostly known for producing the phenomenal Ray of Light album by Madonna. Here’s a understated downtempo electronic album full of pleasant moments fluttering tones and relaxing interludes reminiscent of Brian Eno (especially in “Fragamosia” and “Firebrand”). If one were not paying attention, these low intensity melodies would seem ordinary, but all the songs have fine textures and nuances crammed into 4 or 5 minutes. Surfing and You Know Much about Flying Saucers have gentle upbeat melodies, almost no crescendos, but a steady beat. Spiral introduces vocals by the Sugababes, and “They Live in the Sky” has airy cooing vocals by Annette and Paulette Morris. It’s surprising and refreshing that a pop producer would make such a slow minimalist album without a dance beat; it seems created to relax the mind and body and escape the noisy urban world.
Dandelion Gum by Black Moth Super Rainbow. This unusual album prominently features a vocoder and various kinds of chip-electronic music paired with a conventional rock band and organ to produce a series of psychedelic instrumental riffs and occasional melodies which feel like KraftWerk or Stereolab. At times it is zany and fast-paced (Lollpopsichord, Rollerdisco ). At other times it is slow and wistful (Untitled Roadside Demo, which is a real gem). At other times it is glitchy, choppy and very percussive (Caterpillar House, Melt Me, Sun Lips). Normally I would cringe at these artificial electronic effects, but it overall effect seems closer to contemplative jazz fusion because it blends so many strange and eerie effects into something calming and even transcendant. Described as “hypnagogic pop” (or “pop music refracted through the memory of a memory”) it really grows on you.
Girl from Greece Sings by Nana Mouskouri (1962). This early English-language album by Nana Mouskouri (produced by Quincy Jones) features American jazz standards. The torch songs are gentle, slow, deliberate, and absolutely beautiful. Nana’s tones are pitch-perfect; her singing style reminds me sometimes of Streisand or even Fitzgerald, but it’s more subtle and toned down. Although the arrangements have lush moments, mostly it stays lowkey with quirky embellishments (like the drums in I Get a Kick out of You). Songs like “Touch of Your Lips” and “You Forgot All the Words” are slow and dreamy, but the light string arrangements are divine. All the songs sound familiar, but Mouskouri’s slight accent and unconventional intonations give it a distinctive, charming flavor. All the songs are winners, and this is great relaxing, sleep-inducing music.
Secrets by the Human League. 2001. This later HL album really captures the original 80s synthpop sound that made them famous. In between several short electronic interludes (which are catchy, funky and pleasant), HL offers a bundle of peppy sounds with Philip Oakley singing lead and the two female singers (Catherall and Sulley) singing background and harmonies. The synth sound feels like Ladytron, Depeche Mode or Tom Tom Club, but the melodies themselves feel more like mainstream pop (esp All I Ever Wanted, You’ll Be Sorry and Sin City). Although I like the weird & grungy Reflections and Sin City, other tracks Liar and Love Me Madly just gallop along. With the synthbeat and electronic flourishes this almost feels like a retro-dance album.
Подарю Тебе Полмира by Nepara (2006). The lovely duo (Alexander Shoua and Daria Khramova) that comprise Nepara (“Not a Couple”) sing pleasant upbeat danceable songs with a retro-disco beat. But this compilation (which include many of their earliest hits from 2003 and 2006) also has lots of ballads (Развлечься, Бог тебя выдумал, Взлетай) that soar beautifully. The understated arrangements remind me of El Kravchuk or Mummy Troll. Finally, several oddballs are thrown in (a Russian version of “Sunny” and techno versions of Ukrainian folk song Chervona Ruta and their own Другая Причина).
Canyon Trilogy by R. Carlos Nakai (2014). Nakai is a famed performer of the Native American flute, and this is his most famous work. These pieces are solo pieces with multrack of the same instrument, creating a multilayered effect of reverberating sound. These slow pieces are solemn, spiritual and surprisingly intricate even though they all sound similar. I love almost every moment, and this is ideal for sleeping music. Nakai plays a lot of classical music and founded a jazz quartet, which is kind of mind-boggling.
Preliminary estimates suggest that the European heatdome/heatwave has caused 20,000 premature deaths.
An EV expert surveys recent advances in EV battery technology. (YT) Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) is significantly cheaper, and all cars are switching. It’s been around for a while, but it is being scaled up. China’s LFP has significant overcapacity in LFP battery. There are some new battery technologies (Sodium-ion, Lithium Manganese-Rich (LMR)Lithium-Air), but LFP is still going to dominate over the next decade.
I have actually tuned in to several FIFA World Cup games this year. Fun and exciting.
Highly recommend Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies, a sleeper historical drama, starring Tom Hanks.
ROB REINER HAS A SURPRISE CAMEO! Surprised & Delighted to see Rob Reiner playing “George Washington” in a caustic political comedy sketch on Larry David’s new show. Have no fear. I predict within 24 hours it will be on YT and social media everywhere.
Becoming Human — a website that compiles information about the earth and the emergence of life and humanity on this planet. Related: The PBS Eons show, which is about the fossil record, paleontology and ultimately climate science. I am frighteningly ignorant about this subject despite my curiosity. Here’s a complete YT playlist. Sadly watching these episodes through the PBS app is awful because of the mandatory intros. (You would think that they would show only once or twice and never again, but no, for a 10 minute segment, you get 1 minute of promos). The YT playlist when played in a browser with an ad blocker is going to be less painful.
GENEVIEVE GUENTHER: What is more incompetent than pushing energy sources that underlie the high prices of food, electricity, housing, and health care? Coal, oil, and methane gas are expensive sources of energy whose pollution makes food scarcer, home insurance increasingly unaffordable, and collectively costs us $700 billion in health care bills annually. What was the point of the wars in Venezuela and Iran, but illegally securing oil reserves as payback for the American oil companies that gave him money during the campaign? What is more corrupt than the gutting of American science, once the jewel of the world, and destroying our capacity even to predict the weather for farmers, so that you can try to hide your lie that climate change is a “hoax”? What is more selfish and indeed criminal than knowingly destroying the only world we have for America’s children? (LInk). Guenther is a climate activist who wrote a great book (Language of Climate Politics) that combines climate science with rhetorical analysis.
Occasionally I go to FB just to see what the algo wants to suggest for me In the past minute I just scrolled past 3 Spice Girls vid shorts. Help, I can’t resist.
I used to be with ‘it’, but then they changed what ‘it’ was. Now what I’m with isn’t ‘it’ anymore and what’s ‘it’ seems weird and scary to me. It’ll happen to you! (This is a famous quote from the Simpsons by the Grandpa Simpson character)
Here are 2 compilations of Muppets acknowledging that they are puppets: (First, Second ). “A puppet is controlled by a person whereas I am an actual talking frog.” Here’s a fascinating video (YT) about the technical tricks Jim Henson did to make them do incredible things, like ride a bicycle.
NYT commenter about data centers: ” Data centers are not inherently toxic or irredeemably thirsty. The “water problem” is fundamentally an engineering choice dictated by local water pricing vs. local electricity pricing. When facilities are built with closed-loop systems or air-cooling, their direct local water impact drops close to zero. The friction occurs when large facilities rely on municipal drinking water and evaporative cooling in regions that lack the surplus water infrastructure to support them. So advocate for proper regulation of the construction of data centers. That is helpful. Opposing AI in general, based on water demands, is not well founded.”
Funny sitcom moments:
Frazier: I told Lilith she looked fat in the dress?
Norm: What is your punishment.
Frazier: I’m not getting any.
Norm: You got off easy.
Frazier: No, I’m not getting any.
Norm: You got off easy.
NETFLIX RECOMMENDATION: “Raise Hell: Life & Times of Molly Ivins” is a delightful look at this Texas journalist, columnist & humorist — and how such an odd bird arose in conservative Texas. I laughed and laughed and laughed the whole time (The answer is that she came from an extremely wealthy Houston family, attended Ivy League schools and could drink alchohol better than any (male) politician. I had the great privilege to see her talk at SXSW 2004 where she was hilarious! (More)
Philadelphia Story (1940). “Everyone had enormous fun on the movie. The days and nights were sweltering that summer of 1940, but nobody cared. Cary got along very well with Kate Hepburn. She enjoyed him pushing her through a doorway in one scene (so she fell over backward) so much that she had him do it to her over and over again. There was a scene in which she had to throw Cary out the door of a house, bag and baggage, and she did it so vigorously he fell over and was bruised. As he stood up, looking rueful, Kate said, “That’ll serve you right, Cary, for trying to be your own stuntman.” (Cameraman Joseph Ruttberg)(Here’s that lovely scene YT)
I’ve been focused on developing standard CSS for epubs as well as statically generated websites. Also, I hope to write an XML schema and write some XSLT transformations.
Wow, i just realized that the default 2025 WP theme uses a font-style which is much too light for most readers. It’s somewhat hard to figure out where to make global changes to font in the theme.
Then under Elements, select Text (or Headings, etc).
Under the dropdown option, you can choose the variant of the font family which appeals to you for the font.
Most WordPress themes come with two or three installed fonts (usually from Google Fonts). I’m not 100% sure, but I’m 98% sure that the installed fonts in WP themes are variable fonts (which can be customized on the fly — and are supported on most browsers, though not on ebook reading systems).
For the 2025 theme, I was using Manrope font for text, but I was using the Regular variant (which is too light). All I had to do was switch from Regular to Medium and voila! That would change the variant of the font family globally to a darker and nicer Medium.
YT dlp, a utility to help you download vids and audio from Youtube. There’s a web-based interface you can use, but I downloaded the command line program, used the presets to write my request and downloaded it locally fairly easily.
Are they better than when I started making them? Unsure, but I’m getting faster at making them.
Up until now I spent a lot of time learning how to use Vegas Pro 19 and troubleshooting the idiosyncracies of the software on my middle-aged PC.
I also used to spend a lot of time editing and moving clips into the right position so that the transitions didn’t look too terrible. You have to have a sense of timing and rhythm. Strangely, it’s easy to overedit out the pauses and breaks. I have to force myself to let things naturally. But you also have to sense which parts of the sequence is not accomplishing anything or dragging down the rest of the video.
(Correction: While I generally agree that editing out the pauses of video looks awkward, you can easily edit the pauses of audio, and the resulting talk will be cleaner, cleaner and easier to follow Audio edits of speech are barely noticeable).
I’m past that. Sure, occasionally I have problems, but I usually don’t spend much time on that. Here is what I spend a lot more time on:
Writing the script. These elevator pitches have to be carefully scripted. First, they need to be reasonably interesting and succinct. Second, I usually am integrating several audio/video files into a single coherent script. It can be hard to do this and still keep the message coherent.
Preparing the graphics. Perhaps other video editors make it easy to create graphics within the program. Eventually I realized that this was extremely tedious with Vegas Pro 19. It was much easier and faster to make slides using my preferred graphic program (Gimp for me) and then just import the finished graphic into Vegas Pro. For my last two vids, I ramped up my skill level a lot on Gimp (especially for the first and last slides). I do the credits almost entirely in Gimp. Sure, it may be nice to have video effects or animation, but is it really providing that much value?
Selecting graphics to use as inserts. I learned quickly that the videos of myself are laughably bad and erratic. I need to do multiple takes and edit until I have the best take. Sure, I can edit out the crappy parts and if you juxtapose two clips together, it doesn’t look awful. But even though audio edits are almost invisible, video edits are still noticeable, and you should avoid these juxtapositions whenever possible. Instead, it’s better to go from a full size image to the start of the next clip. For that reason, it’s important to collect as many graphic inserts as you can.
The challenge has to do with permissions and rights. I basically have no budget for clearance. If I put an image on my video for less than 2 seconds, a fair use case can plausibly be made. On the other hand, the last thing I need is a legal headache after production. Obviously it’s better to find no-cost media which are free to use in commercial contexts. But some kinds of media are highly unlikely to bring legal scrutiny. I’m almost at the point where I’d start subscribing to royalty-free media just to avoid the possibility of headaches.
Decorations for Talking Heads. I use a lot of talking head shots of myself, and that quickly becomes tiresome unless you have inserts or cuts to something with more animation or motion.
But you can liven a static video somewhat by adding graphics or text to the images. Vegas Pro has a Picture in Picture (PIP)video effect which allows you to add smaller graphics inside videos, and believe me, I have used this effect to the max! (By the way, I use this effect so much that I wonder why there isn’t an easier way to add it). Sometimes these PIPs are the only interesting thing about the video.
Using/Making Transparent Images. Once you decide to overlay a lot of images over video, you face the problem of having to slice out the image out of the original graphic. You can’t be constantly overlaying rectangles of photos onto videos when all you need is a single element inside the rectangle.
The end goal is to produce an image where only the element is visible and the rest of the picture is transparent. That means when you overlay the image onto the video, only the selected element will appear over the video. Note that images cannot be transparent if a)the image is a .jpg file or b)if the image in your editor lacks an alpha channel. So if you are manipulating the image in gimp, you probably need to be using an .xcf file (gimp’s native format) or a .png or .webp file.
Therefore, I have had to learn a lot about how to slice portions of an image and add it to a video (or another graphic). Learning how to do this has probably been the hardest and most time-consuming part of using Gimp (my graphics tool). Here is the sequence of steps I have to do to slice an image out of a picture.
Add an alpha channel to the original graphic.
Figure out how to isolate/select the element you want from the original image. (More on that below)
In Gimp, Turn on the Selection Window (under Windows) so that it appears in a dockable window.
Use your selection method to select only the parts of the image that you want. (You may need to choose Select –> Invert to achieve that).
Highlight the delete button to suck out the rest of the picture and leave it as transparent.
Use Crop to reduce the size of your edited image even further.
Selecting by Color. Probably the most common use case is removing the background of an image. If you are lucky, the contrast between the background and main element is clear. (If you generate the image from scratch using AI, all you need to tell AI to make the background of the image a certain solid color which you can easily remove).
To do this, click the area of the background with the color, Select by Color and then press Delete. You might need to invert the colors.
Alternatively, you can use the Path tool to draw around the borders of the element you want to select.
Start adding a series of dots to surround the region you want to enclose. Be sure to add them consecutively (and right click to delete extra ones). Eventually the last place you want to place a dot is the first place you put a dot, so that will cause the region to be enclosed. (If it doesn’t connect smoothly, or if the dot goes off somewhere wild, you may need to delete dots or just start over). Press enter within the tool.
Click delete (or Invert –> Delete) to delete the part outside the connected shape.
In one case I had several regions which needed to be deleted. So I had to delete the regions one at a time. After you use the path tool to draw another shape around your second region, in path options, click SELECT FROM PATH.
The key thing was making sure that the Selection Window is visible so you can verify that the second region is in fact highlighted along with the primary region. The selection window confirms which regions are being selected for deletion.
Update: Select by Path is still a very clumsy way to make things transparent. But I found some of the paint tools like CLONE help smooth out imperfections of photographs.
Removing a strip from the middle of an image and connecting everything back:
Select the segment: Use the Rectangle Select Tool (R) to select the entire right segment.
Cut it: Press Ctrl + X (or Cmd + X on Mac).
Paste it: Press Ctrl + V (or Cmd + V on Mac). This creates a Floating Selection.
Move it: Press M to activate the Move Tool. Click inside your pasted segment and drag it to the left until it abuts the left segment.
Anchor it: Press Ctrl + H (or click the green anchor icon at the bottom of your Layers panel) to lock it back down into the main layer. In GIMP 3.2 for Windows 11, pressing Control + H acts as a toggle for your selection boundaries. It hides or shows the “marching ants” (the dotted lines) that outline your active selection. This lets you view your image clearly without those lines blocking your design.
Honestly I have a hard time moving just the selected segment and then doing other functions (crop, clone, etc.). Some things I have noticed. If you are connecting two segments, one exists on a layer above the other; that may interfere with the ability to edit/overwrite portions of it. You can fix this by reordering the layer and/or checking the Sample merged option on Clone tool.
Here’s another way to do it with Zealous Crop (I haven’t tried this before, but it makes sense)
If the empty space between the segments is completely transparent (shows a gray checkerboard pattern), GIMP can do this instantly for you.
Remove any active selections by pressing Shift + Ctrl + A.
Go to the top menu and select Image > Zealous Crop.
GIMP will automatically slice out the empty transparent strip and seamlessly snap the left and right segments together. [1, 2]
I have noticed that despite cropping gimp will “remember” the deleted/hidden parts of the original image. I could not figure out why, so I ended up exporting from .xcf file to a .png file and/or flattening the image.
Tips on Using Gimp’s Clone Tool
After hitting the Clone tool, you should control-click on the region you want to start cloning.
You can adjust the clone brush size to suit your needs (or even choose a different brush), but you can also change the angle of the clone tool. This makes it easier and smoother to overwrite diagonals.
Sometimes Clone doesn’t work. To fix, Select None and/or change layer order.
Set Up Your Target Layer (Best Practice)
To keep your edit clean and non-destructive, you should clone onto a fresh, blank layer so you don’t overwrite your original artwork.
Step 1: Open your Layers Dialog (Ctrl + L).
Step 2: Click the Create a new layer icon at the bottom of the panel, name it “Cloned Elements”, and make sure it is filled with Transparency.
Step 3: Click this new blank layer to make it your active target layer. [1]
Today, it’s not just MAGA voices who demonize state institutions but also Silicon Valley libertarians. One of the leaders of the U.S. labor movement recalled to me a private conversation she had had in 2017 with Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech entrepreneur, venture capitalist and prominent libertarian thinker. For a while, she couldn’t understand why libertarians — or more broadly, radical free-market ideologues — were in such denial about climate change. But then it became clear: The climate crisis is not something even the wealthiest individuals or most powerful corporations can tackle on their own. It demands large-scale state intervention and international cooperation, which runs counter to their ideological rejection of collective governance and public regulation.
What I see now in the U.S. is a profound inability to discuss seriously how the state can serve the public good. This conversation is still ignored, even by mainstream media, or is considered extreme. Proposals for universal health care — common in many industrialized democracies globally — are framed by many as radical or unaffordable. Efforts to cancel student debt are portrayed not as social policy but as moral hazard.
…
… There is still so much to admire in the country: the openness, the scale, the energy. But many Americans seem to live in timelines that never quite align with the present: Silicon Valley gazes into an unknowable future, while MAGA supporters are locked in conversations about a mythical past that never truly existed.
A powerful taboo still holds: Few dare voice the idea that problems might be solved not by individuals or the market but collectively, through society and the state. The decline of local institutions — unions, public schools — is real. And while many I’ve met speak longingly of better days, they often can’t say when those days existed, only that they’re gone. It’s as if the ability to speak meaningfully about the present has been lost — making it harder to imagine a future grounded in real needs, shared purpose and equality.
(This great essay comes from The Dial, an online zine devoted to personal reporting from around the globe. )
On YouTube I’ve been watching this insane Australian spy-comedy called Danger 5. (View the Full Series here).
Two TV shows. Watched Season 1 of For All Mankind, which is some of the best TV I’ve seen in ages. (Really compelling stories and characters). The great thing about it is that it’s not really about NASA and the moon, but about personal dreams and political ambitions. Also Deadloch, which is a crazy Tasmanian detective mystery involving lots of lesbian characters. Outrageous, lots of plot twists and outrageous comedy, great characters and genuine surprises at the end. (Also, the plots are so convoluted, but I don’t care; I’m just there for the ride). Update: Season 2 of Deadloch was equally inspired and hairy. Season 2 of For All Mankind has become more conventional, less interesting.
30 minute vid reel (YT) of Ad Genius Joe Sedelmaier’s Funniest TV Commercials. (NYT Obituary)
I’m pretty amazed that a substantial amount of the Prairie Home Companion radio show is on Archive.org
Climate Scientist MICHAEL MANN on the American petro-state: “America has now become a petro-state, right up there with Saudi Arabia and Russia. And by that, I mean one of a handful of countries where our policies are almost entirely dictated by an entrenched fossil fuel industry. One can see the United States openly collaborating with Russia and Saudi Arabia to do everything they can to scuttle global climate action because it’s a threat to their business model. So Americans have to recognize—as uncomfortable as it is—that we are now a bad actor in this space. And by “we” I mean the administration that represents us internationally. There are many good folks in the US, obviously, who are very unhappy with the current regime and what they’re doing. But as far as the rest of the world is concerned, they look at the United States as a bad actor that they’re going to have to work around.
“Consequently, we’re going to see Europe and other countries take the lead in fighting climate change. We’re actually going to see China, of all things, taking far more leadership in this area than the United States. And that allows the Chinese leadership to present themselves as similarly taking the high road when it comes to human rights, its treatment of ethnic minorities like the Uyghurs, the surveillance state and all of their sort of hegemonic behavior in recent years. So it helps situate China as the true leader in the world, while it helps to diminish the standing of the United States to the rest of the world. …. It’s ironic, isn’t it, that an authoritarian regime like China might be best-situated to act on climate. But because of the top-down structure of their government, their leaders can decide “We’re going to do this” and make it happen. They don’t answer to fossil-fuel industry lobbyists in the way that politicians in the US do.
SUFFS (TONY-AWARD WINNING MUSICAL)ON YOUTUBE/PBS: (YouTube) This amazing/uplifting play retells the turbulent story about the women instrumental in leading protests to obtain woman’s right to vote in USA. Great music, great cast (starring Shaina Taub, who wrote the musical), it’s a moving & entertaining history lesson and raises question strikingly similar to those we face during the Trump era.
According to the PBS website, this musical is available for viewing ONLY in May-June, so watch it before it leaves! I admit being unaware of almost all the events described in this musical, including the reluctance of Woodrow Wilson to push for it.
The PBS streaming app regularly has award-winning plays and musicals: currently it has Kiss Me Kate, Top Hat, etc.
As wonderful as British actor Anthony Head (RIP) was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he was also terrific as the harsh and narrow-minded Uther Pendragon (father of King Arthur) in the amazing 2008 British series MERLIN. The stories and actors were all first-rate, and it’s streaming now on Amazon Prime. (In that first episode, Head’s character Uther Pendragon will make you want to hate him! — thanks to Head’s performance.
CORY DOCTOROW: “Dear Comrade Trump: On this, the occasion of your 80th birthday, I write to extend my sincere thanks for all the work you have done. After decades of deadlock, you have inspired the world to action! You have done more to de-dollarise the world than any American leader in history. Without you, there would be no way that Ethiopia would be revaluing its national debt in yuan. You have done more to end the global dependence on oil than any leader (except, perhaps, for Comrade Putin). Without you, there would be no way that India would be chucking out its gas hobs and replacing them with induction tops. And, of course, you have done more than any president in history to end American dominance over the internet. Without you, there would be no way the EU would be racing forward with projects such as Eurostack and European Digital Infrastructure Consortium, with whole nations ditching American tech exports like Microsoft Office 365 in favour of free, open, auditable, transparent alternatives running on servers within the EU’s borders. Comrade Trump, you are, at long last, ushering in the post-American world, and a grateful planet salutes you!
****
Siri Hustvedt: Dear Number 47. You’re ageing fast, Mr President, plagued by bruising, memory holes, verbal incoherence and unwelcome fits of sleep. Although plain to many of us who did not vote for you, your age and inevitable death have been invisible in the Magaverse.
Maga magic transformed your real, fat, old man’s body into the spectacular body of fascism, American style: bulletproof, muscle-bound, eternal. The many superhero costumes worn by your 6 January terrorists were testament to that pathetic fantasy of invulnerability, no doubt helped along by the very real carnage of a global pandemic….
…But time is inexorable, the citizens are restless, and your fantasy body is beginning to crack, just as your real body is showing the infirmities that come with 80 years of age.
****
Bill McKibben: On the occasion of your birthday: It was unnecessary to launch a cruel, ridiculous war to convince the world of the benefits of wind energy, solar energy and so on. But you do deserve one small gold trophy as electric vehicle salesman of the quarter. Enjoy.
But it doesn’t take into account the environmental movement which sometimes is embraced across the spectrum… and vilified by some pro-business types. I never fail to be surprised at the complete ignorance of most Americans about the subject of climate change.
(I have created a Climate Change Cheatsheet which gathers my favorite links. But by far the best source of information is the Climate Primer prepared by Kerry Emannuel and MIT.
NYT wrote about this viral tweet about NBA Championship between the NY Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, and I gotta say: it’s brilliant!
(That’s a reference of course to the reservation scene (YT) which is still one of the most memorable and entertaining clips from Seinfeld: )
But many of us, if not most of us, with any savings parked in major stock indices (yours truly included) won’t have any choice. We’re going to end up investing in SpaceX whether we want to or not. That’s because the major indices have been rigged.
Normally, major stock indices have a waiting period before they plow their investors’ money into a newly formed company, in order to test whether that company is worth it. But SpaceX has lobbied index funds to change the rules.
On May 1, for example, the Nasdaq 100 implemented a new “fast entry” rule that will include companies among the top 40 most highly valued companies — which will almost certainly include SpaceX.
Presto! A big chunk of Americans’ retirement savings and pensions (as well as university endowments) will automatically be tied to SpaceX’s market value. At the same time, all that automatic infusion of investment will artificially jack up the value of SpaceX, at least in the short term.
But here’s the real kicker. SpaceX insiders — such as Musk and, reportedly, senior Trump officials — will be able to sell their shares sooner than is usually the case with an IPO, because that’s the way the IPO has been organized. Which means they can enjoy the stocks’ upward tide as the major indices force millions of investors to buy it, and then they can exit SpaceX before the tide goes out.
From a reddit thread about Movie conventions which spoil the scene for you:
In war films any time someone says what they going to do when they go home, they always die.
When picking up a gun it makes clicky clicky sounds, even when the real gun just doesn’t.
Background actors dancing to obviously zero music and trying to do it as quietly as possible while the scene is going on.
People parking 30+ yards away from where they need to go. Just pull up to the damn house, meet up, murder site, etc.
Day for night
This may not apply, but every movie needs to have a scene to address why there is no cell service
Cars having no rear view mirror or headrests on seats.
I like watching people type becuase they aren’t actually typing. Or texting.
Wilhelm scream. I wish no one had ever told me about it
A sound designer told me that he often added the sound of crickets in post for a night shot when there was extraneous noise occurring during a scene. From that point I noticed a lot of crickets during night scenes.
The office ladies podcast busted the “grocery bag” deal – bags of groceries are usually lighter than they’d be in real life, especially the classic paper bad with things sticking out the top – which often includes a baguette and carrot greens
