Star Trek can wait. Maybe everything can wait. On the one hand, I sort of don’t want to do anything — even this excavation of space — till the immediate crisis is sorted out. On the other hand, I had three of the most creatively fruitful days I’ve had in years this weekend, unrelated to said immediate crisis.
On my third, (mage?) hand, the immediate crisis might end or it might not but there will be twelve more things before you’ve even read this, so whatisthefuckingpoint, etc.
Touch, meet go.
Here are a few things I wanted to call out. Some of them are from my regulars:
- A.R. Moxon, as usual, has some good things to say. Gave me the title of this post, now that I mention it.
- Anne Helen Petersen topped her most recent email with a fairly comprehensive list of recent analyses and statements.
- Joanna Robinson, on bluesky, shared this longlist of ways to help Minneapolis.
- Austin Walker, also on bluesky, is skeeting and reskeeting a blue streak. He’s worth following, if you don’t.
I might be in parasocial relationships with all four of these folks but also, I don’t know what I’d do without them sometimes, or without people like them.
This next was written prior to Alex Pretti’s murder, i.e. still considering the aftermath of Renee Good’s murder, but I guess we’re moving past those kinds of markers, now. Anyway: Lily Osler springboarded off Stalker of all things, to consider how resistance tests the soul.
If you’re tired of thinking about death squads, and honestly who could blame you, something else important happened last week, which is that Mark Carney gave a speech that requires some deep reading by Canadians. Here’s a great (Canadian!) podcast I listened to, and plan to continue to listen to.
I saw Eva Victor’s Sorry, Baby over the weekend and while it is by no means light subject matter, it is a fucking magnificent work of art. Sometimes seeing something so rich and humane can make you feel like you’re in the presence of the better reasons why any of us are here at all. Toronto Public Library members can watch it on Hoopla.
I watched Hlynur Pálmason’s Joan of Arc over the weekend, too, and in an entirely different register, that is also a magnificent work of art. Criterion Channel subscribers can watch it here.
Be safe out there, wherever you are. I’m going out in the snow now.