One highlight of the fortnight was going on a tour of friend’s Animal Crossing islands. With a WhatsApp call for chat. It makes you realise how big the game is – not in what you can do, but in the number of characters, and the number of objects. It’s all so extra – the detailing, the actions, and most of all the weird algorithms that power everything that happens. They’ve had 20 years to hone and perfect them (they haven’t changed radically from edition to edition), but they just get more nuanced. This is how flowers work. And because the rules are so dense and obtuse, there’s extensive myth making amplified by social media.
Animal Crossing link load:
thread of island tours, showing what’s theoretically possible (most must be hacked or time travelling)
Other highlights were meeting George and Yumiko in the park (separately). It doesn’t feel long since I last saw them, but in reality it’s been ages. Idle chit chat but really it’s comparing coping strategies. And I managed to offload some of my fruit gluts that regularly seem to be happening (everything-can-be-delivered is great, apart from quantity).
Several people I know have had birthdays too, plus it’s mine this week. Mine’s a minor number, but it must be hard for those reaching an arbitrary life milestone. Is it memorable? Maybe in hindsight. Mainly it means even more deliveries for me this week.
One day soon us queers are going to take the rainbow back. You ruined it first with PACE, and now it’s some generic heartwarming kid’s fridge poster drawing. You take our identity, we will steal it back.
Jerry Saltz’s piece will be the best thing you read in a while
What the next generation of console’s games will look like, and why a AAA game will be eyewateringly expensive to make
Talking Pictures, and lifestyle TV channels
Mark Pawson’s on Instagram, which makes 15-year-old-me very happy
Some food things I’ve liked:
Italian food social media: Rafael on TikTok, Debora, Italian pizza queen on Insta. Optimo!
Nathan on TikTok. He’s obviously got some cheffing background, but seems to be a photographer? Anyway, he reminds me of Max of Max’s Sandwich Shop.
Queer things:
Good interview with Florian Hetz, who takes very different, intimate photos
I enjoyed Circus of Books on Netflix. The most unlikely tale of an SF porn shop and the family that ran it. Including an interview with Jeff Stryker! And a coming out story that made me cry, plus AIDS hangs over the whole film.
Jack Cullen’s lockdown blog. He lives and works in a pretty alternate universe of gay London to me, but the posts are interesting and thoughtful.
Haven’t had time to have a poke around The Julia Stoschek Collection, but it’s a comprehensive video art collection that they are starting to make available online. Which is weirdly a first.
Paul sent me a link to a postcard in the SFO Museum Collection. This of course led me to spelunking into other great postcards (thanks to Aaron who works there). And then that got me into a tailspin of the Golden Gate International Exposition. And the Bureau International des Expositions. And Floridade flower festival in the Netherlands in 2022!
That’s probably enough. Stay safe, stay home, stay alert, stay tuned, stay still, stay awake, stay alive.