Jpeg Corner #1 - January 2024

Let's try something new

As a new year resolution I thought I’d like to keep a bit more track of all the stuff I’m seeing, reading, watching or just caught my attention through the year. I guess it’s going to be a quite personal and eclectic list, but still it may be of some use for someone (friends, people I know, or even just myself).

So here we go, the format is pretty easy: a monthly post with the most interesting stuff of the month I stumbled upon. Mostly links, a bit of context and maybe some thoughts, we will see. The monthly cadence is probably more for me than for anything else, to get a bit of rhythm going. Sections also may vary depending on what catch my attention.

If it’s of any uses for you, or you have anything to suggest… let me know :-)

Cinema and Series

I had a quite intense January, from a movie watching perspective. My letterbox says I’ve watched 14 movies, 9 of which I’ve not seen before. Best of the month:

The holdovers: last movie watched in January, a heartfelt and witty Christmas movie (why didn’t they release it on that period is out of my mind), with a great Paul Giamatti. Kind of the same settings the Death Poet Society but with much more character evolution (and will likely do less damages). Very nice surprise.

Poor things: simply great, the last Lanthimos movie is as weird as usual, but there’s a clear step up in the settings, scenography, costumes and overall build creation. The punk-victorian world created is full of life and mystery, incredibly detailed and visually stunning. The story evolution is great and Emma Stone performance is all over the place and deserving the Oscar. Probably Greta Gerwig could take a couple of points on how to convey a message up to the end of a movie without diluting it into homeopathy. I don’t think it would be enough to surpass Oppenheimer for the Oscar race, but I wouldn’t be surprise if it will hit hard the awards. I’m actually interested to read the original book, which I’ve read should be pretty interesting on top of having a slightly different meaning.

Howl’s Moving Castle: won’t talk much about the movie, as it’s so famous and established at this point, but will just add a personal note. I’ve only now started my discovery of Ghibli studio work and this is my third one (after Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke), and so far the best by a mile. Loved the layered work and complex characters as much as the imaginative design and build creation.

The creator: I recovered it as I couldn’t see it in cinema last autumn. Great visual design, loved the futuristic settings, all the places that have been shown. Gareth Edwards is great with this stuff and already showed it in the amazing Rogue One. It’s authorial effort however fell a bit short on the story (there may have been so much more to go deep in than this classic AI fear) and the character, especially the main one for which I was lacking much interest. Not sure if it was acting or casting or what, but fell a bit short in overall. But I hope to see more work of this kind compared to the many copy and paste sci-fi we’ve seen in the last while.

TV Series

Short section as I’m still blocked on recovering Seinfield, but I’m at season 9 so almost out. I think overall I appreciated watching it, as it has some memorable scenes and I can see how much it has been referred to in pop culture in the last twenty years. Is it something I would watch if it was aired today as new? No, I don’t think is that funny nor that interesting, time didn’t go easy on it. I guess it never does (even Friends has quite a lot of controversial view today, but at least keeps a lot of fun and relatable feelings). But still, some scene are epic:

Music

At the end of the year I usually publish a spotify playlist with 13 songs (all the best playlists should be 13 songs long, right?) that I got particularly attached the previous here. It’s not specifically new songs, sometimes are songs I discovered (or re-discovered). So it’s quite a mix, but a personal selection of my musical year. Last year, 2022, I didn’t do it, but this year I’m back with a new one.

You can find here 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018 and 2017 (H1 and H2) editions.

This month I’ve pretty much listed to a couple of live that came out at the end of last year. The first one is from Car Seat Headrest, recorded during their last tour. I’m still hoping they are at some point releasing a new masterpiece as the amazing Teens of Denials (one of the best album of 201x). Unfortunately it’s almost 10 years and I fear we won’t see it, but in the meantime this live is quite good.

The second one is a live album with an orchestra by the italian band Fast Animals and Slow Kids. They are doing an european tour to celebrate a couple of early album released 10 years ago, in case you’re interested.

Oh, I’ve also been to see the Rocky Horror Picture show live at Bord Gais Energy Theater in Dublin, was a blast.

Videogames

My current gameplay is mostly recover of old stuff (Assassin’s Creed Revelation, from the Ezio Collection, and GTA V. Yeah, I know, I must be the last one playing it) and things I mostly play with some friends (Battlefield 2042 and Call Of Duty Modern Warfare III). Not much exciting stuff, I know.

But I’ve seen the trailer of Death Stranding 2 and can’t just wait.. The first was an amazing game, and this second episode doesn’t look any worse.

Reads

I’ve mostly finish a book from an Italian journalist, Francesco Costa, which is passionate (and expert) of USA, which is focused on the crisis California is going through, being likely the only economically growing area in the world that is losing people. Pretty interesting, even if I already read much on the theme.

A few articles worth a read:

from New York Times - a reflection on the best movie of the year, before nomination and golden globes awards.

New Yorker editor picks on the best books around (very early selection, but their picks are usually worth it

An analysis on the effects on the IT industry of the end of 0% interest era (the Pragmatic Engineer is a paid subscription newsletter, I guess this link would be for the ones that has it)

Podcast

This one is in Italian, so sorry for who doesn’t speak the language, but it’s one of the best I’ve heard so it’s worth a comment. The podcast is called “L’invasione” (the invasion) and in its 5 episodes describe the start of art of the historical research on the indo-european languages expansion, from where it originate and how it ended up being used (in all its direct descendants) by around half earth population. The podcast debate theory and discoveries derived by glottology, archeology and dna research to describe what we currently know and what’s still debate of one of the most intriguing historical topic.

Quote of the month

There's nothing new in human experience, Mr. Tully. Each generation thinks it invented debauchery or suffering or rebellion, but man's every impulse and appetite from the disgusting to the sublime is on display right here all around you. So, before you dismiss something as boring or irrelevant, remember, if you truly want to understand the present or yourself, you must begin in the past. You see, history is not simply the study of the past. It is an explanation of the present - The Holdovers

That’s all folks.