Welcome to Learned, a short, weekly look at language, education, and everything else under the sun. I’m Joel, amateur linguist and professional slacker. This week, we're hot and tired.
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I am, once again and still, trying to finish my dissertation. It's also really, really hot and kind of impossible to work through. So, here are three very quick takes on things I've been up to when not writing away.
Photo by howling red on Unsplash
Bill and Ted Face the Music
Had this come out in any year except this one, I think I would have chuckled a bit, laughed at the right places, and then immediately forgotten about this movie. As it is, I did laugh at all the right places, but there were so many more of them than I ever would have expected. It was great. I guess what I'm saying is, in a different year, this would rank a solid B. This year, it's an A+ triple-win.
It's a bit more interesting to compare it to the other mainstay of my childhood that's having a much better revival than anyone could have predicted: Cobra Kai. It's just been picked up by Netflix and I'm looking forward to it, if for no other reason than I've been showing The Karate Kid to my classes for years as a way to open discussions of stereotypes and representation.
I'm not sure what franchises are still up for reboot / revitalization and which ones have fallen victim to the pandemic, so I'm just going to leave this script for Buckaroo Banzai Against the World Crime League here and walk away.
Gorillaz' Sound Machine
Gorillaz spent the first part of year releasing one video a month for the first five tracks on their latest record, Sound Machine. The videos continue a tradition that's been going on for 20 years now, of telling a vast, very weird story in bits and pieces built around songs and videos. It's great.
In discussing it with friends, two observations came up. One - lead singer / mastermind Damon Albarn will be remembered for Gorillaz rather than Blur, his first very successful band. Two - I wouldn't classify Gorillaz in my list of favorite bands. They might not even crack the top 50, if I'm being brutally honest, but I buy every record and watch all the videos because I know, even if I don't like it, it's going to be interesting and something I've never seen before. And that's a rare thing these days.
I've pre-ordered Gorillaz Almanac, only the second musical autobiography / story of the band that I've bought in recent years. The first one was Beastie Boys Book, and I bought it for a lot of the same reasons. Not one of my favorite bands, but an always, always interesting act to watch.
I was meant to be in Tokyo this weekend. I miss it. Photo by Sven Scheuermeier on Unsplash
Walkaround
As mentioned a few issues ago, I've been walking a lot recently. Like with any steady exercise, it's had positive benefits in that the same amount of time is now taking me further, at a faster rate, and therefore burning more calories. Which is good. Because, as I put it to a friend the other day, I'm finding myself mentally exhausted and physically bored.
I don't think there's ever been another time in my life where I have been, on the one hand, so bored, and, on the other, so tired. Of everything. Tired of trying to write my dissertation. Tired of trying to teach entirely online. Tired of having to weigh every decision on a risk vs. reward vs. necessity scale. And doing it all while sitting in front of one screen or another. So, I've been walking.
And, recently, I've been thinking I need to add something else to the mix because we're just about to enter typhoon season in Japan, which means we have days like the one we're having as I write this: warm, horribly humid, and either windy or gusting rain depending on the minute. In other words, not ideal for walking.
I'm considering yoga, aerobics, movement games, and anything else that might actually be available to me. Because, like I said, I'm tired and there doesn't seem to be anything else to be done about it right now.
That's all I've got for this week. One more week of semi-coherent non-posts and I'll get back to a more regular, more entertaining version of the blog. Promise. Until then, stay safe, stay strong. Learn something.
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Joel