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Should I be paying more attention to what’s going on in Ukraine? The latest news doesn’t sound especially good for the Ukrainians (ABC News). While they repelled the initial invasion, it seems increasingly difficult to believe they’ll be able to completely push the Russians out of the eastern parts of the country. How does this end? Is it worth giving up land for peace?
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That perhaps sounds like I’ve been following the news of the war closely but I confess I started this post like that because I felt ashamed I haven’t actually been paying attention. I’ve seen small updates crossing my inbox and Twitter timeline but I haven’t dug into any of the thinkpieces out there. Well, OK, that’s not entirely true. Driven at least partly by a desire to have a link to end this paragraph, I did read Robert E. Kelly’s recent piece.
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Yes, that Robert E. Kelly (YouTube).
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John starts preschool on 1 June and I made multiple trips to the school over the week to have meetings and collect materials. Eri and I are still hoping that I’ll be able to be the responsible parent but I’m finding it difficult not to slip into the pattern of relying on her to do it all.
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The quotidian matter that’s sucked up all my attention continues to be basketball. The Golden State Warriors and the Boston Celtics have made it out of their respective conferences and my fingers are crossed that it will be a good finals. I’ve been on the Warriors bandwagon since the beginning of the playoffs and I’ll be happy if they win again. Mostly, though, I want fun games to watch.
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The other thing I occupied my time with was Star Trek. I did indeed finish Star Trek: Discovery during the week and it was… fine. I liked it more than Tom did, although I also agreed with all of his criticisms. The show consistently leaves you thinking it could be great if it just didn’t commit the same basic mistakes again and again: making Michael the centre of everything, having every problem be galaxy-threatening, spending so much time on the overarching story that there’s no time to flesh out the characters.
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I did really enjoy the fourth episode of Strange New Worlds but there was another moment while watching it where I felt I was missing some important knowledge from an earlier episode. Since I’ve seen all the earlier episodes, that made me think this was something that had been explored on Discovery in one of the season two episodes I’d skipped. On a whim, I decided to go back and watch the series from the beginning. Not all four seasons, just the first two. I wasn’t sure how long I’d be able to make it but I’m nine episodes in and I am having a ball. The first season is much better than I remember it. So much so that I wonder if I stopped watching the show because I disliked it or for other reasons I’ve since forgotten. I have wondered if a key difference between this time and last is the technique with which I’ve watched the episodes. When Discovery first came out, I was watching the episodes weekly whereas now I watch multiple episodes back-to-back. The fact that Michael is the central character doesn’t feel frustrating. Of course there’s a central character, what matters is that she’s interesting and for all her flaws, that’s certainly one thing the writers got right.
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I used to think I had an eclectic taste in music but then I met Brandon and when he recommends anything on his blog, I realise how far away I am from being a bold experimenter. So this week’s musical selection is cribbed shamelessly from Brandon: Oh No’s OFFAIR: Dr No’s Lost Beach (Apple Music). Enjoy.
