Give me some Berlin in that Seulgi

Another month, another media post. This time with old TV shows, old books, everything old. Everything before the time AI slop started creeping into every niche it could find.

Youtube

I stopped watching Youtube documentaries, because the new game of “Is it slop or not?” got on my nerves. I saw weird videos about New York in the 19th century, featuring factories that were clearly AI hallucinations, looking like MC Escher went to bed with David Cronenberg. What the fuck is going on?

Fringe

So then I decided to watch an old TV show from the mid-aughts, called Fringe. It’s quite OK, like a continuation of the X-Files, but with more weirdness. That is to say, it was OK. The first episode of season 2 made me realize what’s going to happen, and I did not like it. I saw it back in the day, sporadically, and ultimately stopped because the parallel reality/dimensions bullshit got a little bit too much for me. Should have stayed a bit surreal, but not go all the way.

Isaiah Berlin

Started reading his essay on Tolstoy’s understanding of history in War and Peace. There’s a scene where a soldier walks across a battlefield, looking for a battle like the one you see in paintings, and can read about in history books. But he doesn’t find it, all he sees is random people struggling with what’s going on, random and unconnected events, no rhyme or reason. Tolstoy rejected the reasonable account of history and dismissed it as hyper-rational and ultimately naive. From what I can tell. Some people called him a nihilist.

Flawless

Continued reading this book by Elise Hu, because now I’ve got time to read. It’s good, looks at the beauty industry in Korea and everything that made it possible. K-Pop and K-Drama as international marketing events for Korean makeup and plastic surgery. Interesting. It’s really accessible with lots of explanations, although some (me) might find we don’t need another refresher on Foucault’s Panopticon example from Discipline and Punish. Still, it’s a good book.

Pirates

Continued another book, this time about pirates in the Caribbean around the early 1700s. Interesting to see the repercussions the Spanish War of Succession had for trade in the Caribbean. Privateers shooting up trade ships, meanwhile the various navies are back in Europe, leaving little protection. The book is called The Republic of Pirates by Colin Woodard. Can recommend.

Seulgi & Irene

SM shadow-dropped another comeback by fellow Red Velvet members Seulgi and Irene, but it’s not so good. I heard one song and immediately forgot about it. Don’t know what the plan is. I think SM is getting tired of it, like they got tired of Red Velvet. Irene is still good though, hope the next album will be another banger.

The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour is back on Amazon Prime, this time with the guys from Throttle House, plus someone that looks like he counts trains, and birds. Idk don’t want to be mean, he’s probably cool. I briefly watched the first episode, but then turned it off because I didn’t care about the cars. True story. Will continue watching at some point.

Anime

Watched some fucked up Anime about a ghost hunter that exorcises by fucking ghosts. Doggy style. The show is even called Kamui from behind or something. What depravity. The show knows its stupid (duh), so it’s not entirely dreck. But I’m not sure sexually assaulting ghosts is the way to go.