17aug24

The first groundfallen fruit from the cape gooseberry I raised from seed. It was small, but herself and I shared it, and it was sharp but delicious. Good start to the day.

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• What Does Zelensky Want in Kursk?
• Scientists pinpoint dino-killing asteroid’s origin: past Jupiter
• Stonehenge’s altar stone was carried all the way from north-east Scotland. But how?

On the latter, my money says the stone is from Orkney, which was the cultural center of the British Isles at the time, and it was brought down in a years-long ritual procession. With what we now believe we know, look at the structure of Stonehenge:

England, Wales and Scotland: and, if the altar stone is from Orkney, then the central piece represents not just Scotland but Orkney itself, the heart of religiocultural activity in the region at that time. I find that wonderful.

OPERATIONS: I’m behind on probably half a dozen things, but right now I am taking great joy in writing and rewriting a project that was delayed a few years ago, and in a few days will take great joy in wiping it off my board.

Kraftwerk’s legendary Kling Klang studio was famous for containing many weird and wonderful electronic instruments, but one of the strangest was also one of the most mundane: the telephone. In order to avoid any irritating disturbances when the band were at work, it didn’t have a ringer. Occasionally, the story goes, a journalist with the rare opportunity of interviewing the band over the phone would be given a precise time to call, and at that moment one of the band, usually co-founder Ralf Hütter, would pick up the receiver. If there was no one there, he put it down again. That was it.

STATUS: Inbox 88. I’m across email, but it’s in triage mode. Apricots and pears for breakfast, and I’ve cracked the code on making very good lactose-free ice cream. The lime sorbet needed more agave syrup. Tomorrow I get her to test the rhubarb gin infused I canned on the 4th. If I get time tomorrow I’ll try making a rhubarb compote, but right now the focus is on getting pages done and then making good drinks.
READING:  I’M TRAVELLING ALONE , Samuel Bjork
LISTENING: LATE JUNCTION
LAST WATCHED: DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE: exactly what you think it is. Matthew Macfadyen appears to be having tremendous fun. TWISTERS: That was a cleverly crafted script. It’s a flyover country USA film, there are some musical tricks in the middle that make it feel like an old-style big-country movie, the last act slightly upends expectations while staying inside character traits, the romantic subplot rolls pleasantly low in the mix. It’s what I think of as a Sunday afternoon film. One hopes this is the last film where “Glen Powell’s resting smug face conceals a heart of tarnished gold” and he gets to do something else going forward.

THINKING ABOUT:

…the central tenet of his theorem – is the proposal and demonstration of a cinematically inspired method of fabricating history based on the principle of the montage of disparate phenomena in poetic imagery. “Bring together things that have as yet never been brought together and did not seem predisposed to be so,” he suggests simply, citing Robert Bresson.

Jean-Luc Godard, Cinema Historian, Michael Witt

MISSION CONTROL: I can be contacted via the Cheng Caplan Company. Link in masthead to join my free newsletter. Forthcoming 2024: THE DEPARTMENT OF MIDNIGHT, DESOLATION JONES: THE BIOHZARD EDITION, FELL: FERAL CITY new printing. 2025: THE STORMWATCH COMPENDIUM.