Hearts of Oak by Ted Leo

In a moment that had me feeling my age, I learned that Hearts of Oak came out 20 years ago last week.

Ted Leo is one of my favorite artists of all time, and though I was a fan before its release, Hearts of Oak is what endeared me to his music. Although thinking on it, I might have a similar reflection in a year or so when Shake The Sheets hits its 20th. Ha.

I’ve been lucky enough to meet Ted once. We have a few mutual friends, and he came out for drinks with my brother and me one night in Brooklyn. It was a fun and strange experience because my brother didn’t know Ted, but Ted knew of him. Ted’s a fan of The Fluid, my brother’s old band. Anyway, Ted’s a great guy, and his music is something I listen to with great enjoyment often. I’m guessing I’ll also be doing that 20 years from now.

Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock

⭐⭐⭐⭐

File under: Sword and Sorcery

Wizard-level reading challenge: A book with the same title as a song

I just finished Stormbringer, which works as one of my reading challenge books. This time it’s “a book with the same title as a song.” The song, in this case, is by Deep Purple, and it’s…something else. I’m not sure if the song is named after Elric’s fabled black blade, but the lyrics don’t seem to have much to do with it.

When I was a kid, one of the first series of books I read was Michael Moorcock’s Elric books. Yeah, I quickly made the leap from The Chronicles of Narnia to more adult books. I remember getting kicked out of my fifth-grade classroom for reading James Clavel’s Shogun. I highly doubt I knew what was going on and probably missed a lot of the themes, but I have fond, fond memories of being able to lose myself in big, juicy books. The Elric books were not big, but they lit my imagination up like nothing else. Something about an albino elf-type with a huge, rune-inscribed sword that drinks souls, maybe? I guess it’s not a surprise that a twelve-year-old would be into that.

I’ve recently taken to re-reading a lot of the books I loved as a teen, and frankly, when I picked up Vol. 1 during the pandemic, I was a little wary that I’d enjoy it as an adult.

So, I was surprised when I did. Sure, they’re dated in a lot of ways and occasionally a bit awkward, but for fantasy adventures, they work well on a few levels.

Stormbringer, which covers Elric tales written fairly far apart from each other (though presented in “chronological order”), is more of the same. It’s a fun and entertaining read that dips into some complex themes and situations that are both odd and universal. Elric and company looking to rent an apartment in a moving limbo-city? Surprisingly interesting.

I do not think the stories of Elric are for everyone. Though, the popularity of the Witcher makes me think there might be a good-sized audience for Elric. Elric of Melniboné, the original White Wolf, for sure inspired the creation of Geralt of Rivia. Another fun fact: Moorcock’s ideas around the multiverse and the Eternal Champion predate Marvel by quite a bit. I think there is a lot in popular culture that can tip a hat to Moorcock and his work.

Yoga Nidra and NSDR

I first heard about Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR) and Yoga Nidra on The Huberman Lab Podcast. I tried it out the next day to relax and take a restful break, and I found it…enjoyable. I’m not sure I can speak to the long-term benefits, as my practice here has been intermittent at best, but as with some of the other new-fangled health advice I’ve come across (cold showers first thing in the morning, as an example) I find myself enjoying the practice.

Here is the meditation Huberman recommends. I’ve not used it for sleep—I read before bed, and that puts me out most of the time—but I have used it for a short break and to get back to sleep. It’s worked great with one issue; sometimes, a YouTube ad pops up, kinda mucking with the vibe.

Show, Don’t Tell

I’ve read many books on writing, most of which have some good and some not-so-helpful advice. A few tips, however, seem to come up over and over.

One of the most common and misunderstood is “show, don’t tell,” which means describing what is going on is better than just stating the events as they happen.

On the surface, this is excellent advice. And it does work. But, as with many things, it can be taken too far. If all you're doing is showing your characters' movements and physical actions as they progress through the story, you’re missing out on one of the best ways to build emotion, connection, and understanding with your reader. You also need to describe what is going on internally—showing—or telling, in many cases—your reader what your characters are thinking and feeling.

I’ve recently been reminded of this while listening to Savannah Gilbo’s fantastic writing podcast, where she covers this very thing. Her podcast is excellent, and this particular episode encapsulates the good advice around “show, don’t tell” very well.

Cosmic Rays by Melissa Wiederrecht

Over the last few months, I’ve been more and more interested in generative art. One of the artists I’ve enjoyed the most is Melissa Wiederrecht. I first discovered her though her collection Take Wing on the Tezos blockchain. It’s got a unique and beautiful quality that resonates with me.

She has a new collection dropping later this week, Cosmic Rays, and in the lead-up to that drop, you can generate and save outputs. I’ve spent a somewhat ridiculous amount of time doing that, and I’ve been so impressed with the outputs. Here is one of my favorites.

Cosmic Rays by Melissa Wiederrecht

Everything breaks, and that’s a good thing

“Everything in the world breaks…I think that’s a very, very, very good thing. If everything didn’t break, then bad things would last forever.”

~ Jeff Tweedy, paraphrasing his son

I keep thinking about Jeff Tweedy’s conversation with Dr. Shimon Edelman and Matt Whyte on Sing for Science.

In addition to a Most Important Podcast, there is a Most Important Quote in that episode, coming from Tweedy’s son. This quote, shared in an Instagram post from a friend of mine, drew me to the podcast and resonated with me. I’ve thought about it a lot. I’m usually ok with change and have done well when things break down, but there is always a bit of anxiety around change and things breaking.

It’s good to be reminded that change can be good. Something breaking can be an opportunity.

Kairos & Chronos

Asking AI to define Chronos and Kairos and how it relates to daily life was informative, if a bit light on actual meaning. Here’s what I got from ChatGPT:

Chronos and Kairos are ancient Greek words with distinct meanings.

Chronos refers to time as a sequence of events that happen in a linear progression, such as minutes, hours, days, and years.

Kairos refers to time as a concept of the moment or the present, the opportunity that is currently available to you.

In your daily life, you can apply these concepts by being mindful of both the linear progression of time and the opportunities that each moment presents. By being mindful of Chronos, you can set goals and plan for the future, while being mindful of Kairos can help you stay present and seize opportunities as they arise. Additionally, practicing mindfulness and living in the moment can help reduce stress and increase overall well-being.

I can get why people use the terms to describe flow states vs. “regular” time.

For fun, I also dumped the simple prompt “Chronos and Kairos” into Midjourney. The result was great, though I’m not sure which is which.

God of War: Ragnarok

⭐⭐⭐⭐

File under: Action and Adventure

I don’t have much time for games anymore, but over the last month or so, I’ve been chipping away—or maybe I should say chopping away-at God of War: Ragnarok. And I’ve to admit, loving it.

It’s a sprawling game that somehow manages to feel intimate and well-scoped. It’s not an open-world; if you stop to think about it at all, the world feels a bit too on-rails. But as someone who doesn’t love open-world games anymore—I get lost in them and just don’t have the time to explore—I found the constraints made the game better and easier to enjoy.

This is not to say the worlds here are limited; they’re massive and full of things to do. As I drew towards the game’s conclusion, I kept being surprised by a new side-quest or new errand that it was asking me to run. Most of which I very much enjoyed.

I enjoyed the story and worldbuilding as well, even though it hardly felt authentic and, at times, seems a bit too slanted towards giving the action-gamers what they want—bloody hacking and slashing everything in sight. Ragnarok takes extreme liberties with the source material, twisting the Norse and Greek myths in ways that often appear unrecognizable. For the most part, however, I liked what they did, especially with the characters. This franchise has a unique take on the personalities and relationships of the Gods, and while at times it’s a bit like a soap opera or HBO drama, I found it entertaining and, frankly, liked that I didn’t have to think about it too much.

Brass Bell by Screaming Females

It’s finally the weekend. Let’s rock!

New Jersey band Screaming Females have released a new song, and have a new album Divine Pathways, coming out in a couple of weeks. Upon first listening, I expected a solid, straight-ahead rock song, and that’s what we’ve got here with “Brass Bell.” True to form, this new single exemplifies what they do best, hard-rocking anthems that somehow manage to sound signature and familiar at the same time.

Bonus: the cover art looks like the covers from Ben Aaronovitch’s awesome Rivers of London series. Love that.

Frozen Suburbia

This week, we had a freeze here in Austin, which seems more common here in Central Texas. But also something we’re not equipped—on a variety of levels—to handle. Thankfully it didn’t effect my family and me much, but I feel for all those it did touch. I took a walk through my neighborhood yesterday, and it looks like an ice tornado came through. Beautiful, yes, but it is beauty built on destruction.

Here are some photos I captured.