Weeknotes #282

Mum and Monica wrapped up their tour of Japan and arrived at our place on Saturday. I had thought that Mon might want to visit Tokyo Disney but she wasn’t that interested and so we opted to visit Tokyo Skytree instead (Wikipedia). I booked our tickets online, worried that we might not be able to get them on the day but it turned out that wouldn’t have been a problem at all—from what I saw, there was no line at all to purchase. I’ve only been up Skytree once, but back then I remember Eri and I barely being able to buy tickets for a late afternoon slot when buying our tickets the morning of. That was back in 2013 when Skytree had been open for just under a year so perhaps it doesn’t have quite the same appeal it once did. Alternatively, the weather was very hazy on Sunday so maybe that put a lot of people off.

My Flighty subscription ended and after a bit of hemming and hawing, I bit the bullet and went with the lifetime option. Brandon expressed surprise that I’d do that given I only fly once a year—and honestly, it probably was a mistake—but I appreciate being able to track flights of friends and family so I feel like I get enough value to justify an annual subscription. That said, the price was ¥40,000 (which won’t pay off for another six years) so I hope I haven’t made a painful mistake.

My weight dropped down to a low of 66.2 after the gastroenteritis but it’s been pretty steadily between 67 or 69 over the past two weeks or so. That would be a little disappointing except that I haven’t actually done much fasting. And indeed, I’m in two minds about whether I try to be more aggressive or whether I content myself with where I am now. Another aspect is exercise. I have wanted to get back into regular exercise for years at this point and perhaps that’s where my focus should be instead.

Are people aware of how good Law & Order was this past season? I’m so out of the cultural discourse that I’m not sure whether anyone noticed (and, honestly, I can’t imagine Law & Order factors much into the cultural discourse these days). I’ve written before about things being pretty rough since the show came back in 2022 but the current team feels like it’s finally got things in dialled in correctly. The premises are the right level of crazy (not too bonkers, not too staid) and the stories leave enough moral ambiguity in the actions of the characters that it doesn’t feel like your hand is being held as Dick Wolf gently points the bad guy out to you. Of course, it could also be because Maura Tierney joined the show. I’m only halfway through season 24 so maybe I’m just in a real purple patch but episodes 8–12 were up there with some of the best from the show’s Golden Age.

Brandon Hodges has a long piece at Next Best Picture about Tom Cruise and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning that’s a a decent read if you’re into that kind of thing.

This was originally written back in 2019 (!) but I came across Eric Neyman’s delightfully unhinged analysis of Shawn Mendes’ political stance on the dispute between Japan and Russia over who owns the Kuril Islands (Wikipedia). Neyman extrapolates ad absurdum from Mendes’ 2018 hit ‘Lost in Japan’ (Apple Music) and, well, I can’t really say any more. Well worth your time if you like the song or need a bit of silliness in your life right now.