Weekly digest 22
Sunday, April 6, 2025- Now that illness is out of the family I've been able to keep up a bit of fitness these last couple of weeks. Once a week I'm able to get out of work early due to not teaching, so I scoot off to the gym now.
- Finally got over to do some gaming with my Dad. My Dad start dabbling in video games last year; I know it was mainly a way to connect with me, but it was nice, and he is getting more interested. We're working through the original Final Fantasy VII as fiddly action games are a bit beyond him at the moment. We just passed the Wall Market scene (which as a conservative Catholic he found... interesting...). Since the birth of my youngest the gaming had to stop, but we're going to try and meet at least fortnightly for a session now.
- My wife and I went on our first dinner date since the baby was born. We went to Pizza Express, as they have a decent vegan menu and we both love pizza so much.
- Went to an extended family dinner in a pub. It's pretty far to travel with two kids just for a pub lunch, but these things have to be done sometimes.
- Saw the school show; it was brilliant. Teaching is tough but events like this make me very proud to do what I do.
- Took our little boy out today to see a procession of vintage tractors through our town.
Links
- I investigated men's morning routines by Alice Cappelle. Alice Cappelle makes these great cosy 20 minute video essays about culture and class. This one was about what men's morning routines tell us about what is lacking in our atomised late-capitalist culture. I don't have a "powerful" morning routine, but I'm very good at feeling guilty about not having one (which is insane, because I have two young children).
- Now is a great time to be writing the future by Writing Slowly. On writing in the time of AI.
- People & Blogs — Matt Webb. I always read Manuel Moreale's people and blogs series, but this one was especially good, I thought.
- This is what AI-generated trade policy looks like
- The Economist's racist, deceitful spiel on Gaza taken apart by Owen Jones. "This is a case study in Western media complicity in genocide" — from the post itself.
Reading
Finished reading The Color Purple, which I read in my teens (I don't remember if I ever finished it though). It's utterly brilliant and I'm glad to have revisited it. This week I'm moving on to Beloved by Toni Morrison.
That's all I have this week. Please feel free to say hi via email; my inbox has been a bit quiet lately.