w/e 2024-09-15

Back to Essex this week and only ten minutes into the journey, ten minutes too late, I realised I’d left my headphones at home. There are worse things to leave behind but it does mean hours of travel and days away without the ability to block out the world or, worse, my own thoughts.

§ This error has hampered my ability to listen to the new album by BAD MOVES, Wearing Out the Refrain. Based on 1.318 listens it’s full of catchy indie power pop punk rock whatever numbers just like their last one, which I loved.

§ We had a nice couple of days in Wivenhoe, fortunate to coincide with some late summer sun, ideal for wandering around and sitting by the water watching boats drift by. Very lucky. (Thanks T&J.)

§ As usual I watched Monday’s Apple event, while chatting along with friends and strangers online. These things seem increasingly weird and pointless. A lot of it feels like watching a very long advert for Garnier hair products, with its focus on minute “scientific” technical details that make no clear difference to you. The presenters appear ever more inhuman, coached and polished to uncanny perfection, stood stock still (except for Kreg who kept jiggling around). And there are fewer and fewer meaningful things to announce. The new products are a bit faster, a bit smaller and bigger. There’s a new button on the phones and the earphones do some new things. 1 hour and 39 minutes.

On the plus side, it’s an annual pleasure to find there’s nothing new, different or interesting enough that I want to buy.

§ We watched BlacKkKlansman (Spike Lee, 2018) on iPlayer which was OK. Unless you’re going to rate it higher because you agree with its important message it’s not an amazing film, full of underdeveloped one-dimensional characters.

§ We started watching the third season of The Morning Show but I don’t think I’ll carry on with it. The first seasons were good or, at least, fun enough, but with that main storyline out the way it’s hard to care what happens to most of them. Billy Crudup’s still fun and Greta Lee is always good to watch but they’re not enough.

§ That’s all.