Recently: 16 February

16 February 2024

“The social structure of the internet is shaped far more by humans than it is by algorithms. If we were to draw it on a map, it would look like a river, branching out in every direction.” On the cyclical return (hopefully) of the indie web: We’ve been waiting 20 years for this.
“To write about Lou Reed is to fight with Lou Reed.” Sasha Frere-Jones on the brilliant discontents of Lou Reed.
Artist Hans Ulrich Obrist’s project showcasing the art of handwriting.
The Public Domain Review’s collection of the art of dreams.
The Museum of Screens.
Austin Kleon on why every writing book is good.
“Most truths are like that, easy to hear or recite, hard to live in the sense that slowness is hard for most of us, requiring commitment, perseverance, and return after you stray. Because the job is not to know; it’s to become. A sociopath knows what kindness is and how to weaponize it; a saint becomes it.” Rebecca Solnit on how slow change can be radical change.

I mentioned this is in my last newsletter, but I read Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life and enjoyed it a lot. I’ve a ton of read a lot of creativity books over the past few years, on my quest to self-educate, and this is one of the best, full of practical yet straight-to-the-heart advice.
One of my new passions is long-distance walking (I am finally old enough to admit I just really like to walk and I don’t need to run around ever faster if I don’t really want to) and I have been moving through a list of books on the topic of walking. Wanderers: A History of Women Walking, by Kerri Andrews, seeks to correct the male-centric perspective in the history of walking memoirs. Her examples are exclusively white and mostly from the UK, but it’s a generally positive jaunt through the stories of women trying hard to find some time and space for themselves.
Currently reading: Lizzie Borden by Elizabeth Engstrom, which is amazing.
Lisa Frankenstein is as patchwork of a film as its inspiration, but those patches are made up of stuff I like, and these days I prefer weird and messy to neat and dull—so I’ll call it a win.
Another plus of Lisa Frankenstein is that it’s full of some of my all-time favorite songs—especially this one, which I’d like played at my funeral so you all can dance to it: