On Walking

Also: Chicken Jockey Cinemas, Movies Aging Poorly, and Millennial Core

During the early days of the pandemic, living alone in Cape Town, I started walking. At first, we were only allowed outside between 6 - 9am, and I used most of that time to not be stuck in my apartment. Walking along the ocean and the mountain (as one does in Cape Town), I kept lengthening the amount of walking I was doing. It was peaceful, calming, and I occupied the long walks with either a podcast, an audiobook, music, or just silence (and my thoughts).

And since then, I haven’t stopped walking (eventually replacing some of my walking with running). In fact, when I visit new cities, my favourite activity these days isn’t to find a great restaurant, a museum, or a great attraction. It’s simply to walk out of my hotel and see where the day takes me (accounting for safety of course). With my interest in urbanism, it combines the meditative joy of being present with your body and your surroundings but exploring how people live. From the wonderful mix of architecture in Honolulu next to the ocean, to Hong Kong’s mix of high rises alongside its mountains, to Tokyo’s rich diverse zoning, to Parisian alleys and cafes, to New York City’s vibrant mix of languages gracing your ears in eclectic neighbourhoods. It’s endlessly interesting.

Walking in nature is the same allure, but instead of the emergent hive of humanity, one is treated to the divine of the environment: leaves under your feat, a river carved from a previous ice age, new green during spring, and the impressionistic hues of autumn.

My joy from walking comes from a journey I started when I was 19. I don’t know why (yet), but I’ve always had this insatiable desire to create, and sometimes I feel it can intrude on the rest of my life. When I turned 19, I had a cliche epiphany that I would likely never be satisfied. And so, I started the goal of trying to find balance. It started with carving out the end of my day for watching the sunset. That was almost half my life ago, and yet, I’m still learning to get better at this. In some sense, deliberate walking not to get somewhere, but to simply move and meander, these days sometimes feels like a rebellion against the algorithm and against neoliberalism: that overbearing noise that life requires us to be productive for it to be meaningful. If you aren’t holding onto the stream of capitalism, it’s going to leave you behind! Nah, let it pass me by, the whooshing noise of ads and status games moving on like a parasite finding a new host. I’ll be here, vibesmaxxing to the ocean and demolished buildings that leave their own borders behind on the buildings next to them.

One goal was to eventually get around to doing a big walking trip: either a long trail (like Appalachian), some of the pilgrimages (Camino de Santiago or Shikoku Henro), or simply picking a city and walking through it every day. And, so I’ve settled on the Camino Frances, in part because of its more spiritual nature and accessibility. It will give me freedom to process my divorce and the life juncture I find myself at. By this time next week, I’ll be on my way, and so, I’ve decided to put the newsletter on a hiatus until I’ve returned.

It’s been a great run. ~119 weeks of continuously writing and publishing every Sunday. Feeling proud of that. Time for a break. Time to wander a little bit.

PS. I'm pausing the patronage subscriptions while I'm away. Thank you again for the support.

---

Bonus Content!

In anticipation for this trip, I’ve mostly just been spending my time planning + finishing draft 2 of my novel. Purposefully haven’t really started any new media.

✍️ Writing - Draft 2 is *done*

In a photo finish, I've completed the second draft of my novel! It’s taken me 20 months to get here and I’m quite proud. I *am* looking for beta readers. If shipping and budget permits, I’d love to send you a physical copy. Let me know if you’re interested.

📺 Watching - White Lotus

I loved the finale of White Lotus. Some people aren’t happy? But, I think that’s the point, in that the show is supposed to throw red herrings around that won’t necessarily be complete. Either way, ended better than I expected. I’m quite curious though if they would be able to switch up the format a bit. One can start seeing the patterns here and wondering what a fresher take on the show could be.

💾 Links!

Chicken Jockey Cinemas

Not really a link, but if you’ve been paying attention to cinema, you’d know how wild young men are getting at the Minecraft Movie. It’s a viral meme and fascinating in itself. I’m not entirely sure why it’s gotten so memetic (catchphrases are a thing in many movies). It just seems coincidental.

I find the vibrancy of it entertaining. The excessiveness, however, is in poor taste (throwing popcorn around that the cleaners have to clean), but, it’s given me some, perhaps controversial thoughts about the cinema experience.

Cinemas have been closing down in favour of home streaming. What cinemas do have, is people… and so *maybe*, cinemas should actually lean into being more casual spaces up to being concert-like experiences. Like, making it acceptable to be chatty, to be on your phone, and to have fun. So you’d split the cinema between silent screenings and regular screenings (where it’s more permissible to be present with the people around you). It’s not saying that one should allow excessive disruption, but it’s essentially leaning into the more social nature of watching cinema with other strangers. Perhaps, the model requires a membership system so it’s not just full of annoying teenagers, but I think there’s something here. Curious whether you have thoughts.

Movies Aging Poorly

Here’s a really interesting deep dive on how film ratings change over time (good and bad). ht Rian.

The most interesting part of the study is that horror films age the best.

Certain story formats and movie concepts lend themselves to a kinder legacy. For instance, some genres endure better than others. According to our rating-change data, horror movies "age" notably well, while comedy and drama see a marked decline in appraisal over time.

The reason the author gives is that sometimes horror circumvents social norms. But, I think it’s more than that. Most horror is very ‘primal’ and that’s largely persistent over time. But, it’s also because horror works precisely because it purposefully plays with our perception of time and space. Fantasy and sci-fi does too, but in these, fantasy is often depicted through a modern lens into a magical alternate past and sci-fi often ages poorly due to it being predictive. Of the genres outside of regular social norms (like a romcom or comedy), horror feels the most out of time and space even if the depictions take place in a certain period. Perhaps the right way to put it, is that horror as a genre feels the most heterotopic (from Foucault).

Heterotopia is a concept elaborated by philosopher Michel Foucault to describe certain cultural, institutional and discursive spaces that are somehow "other": disturbing, intense, incompatible, contradictory or transforming. Heterotopias are "worlds within worlds": both similar to their surroundings, and contrasting with or upsetting them.

Millennial Core

With enough time having gone by, it’s interesting to look at the 2010s millennial core music genre and accompanying aesthetic: the exporting of the mixture of Brooklyn, Vermont, and the American Mid-West to the entire world.

What’s interesting in this analysis is the perception that happy pop clap music feels flat these days. I tend to agree, but I do crave sincere and positive music as antidote to prevailing times. But, they take different forms. Artist like Big Wild come to mind.

The lights are out, the crowd is gone

But you belong here.

Ultimately when aesthetics become commoditized, it’s hard to distinguish sincerity. So positive optimism in music do exist, it’s just not in the 2010s expensive edgy burger restaurants anymore.

🎶 Music

Bad Nerves - Can’t Be Mine

Damn. Such a fun punk track. Great band too!

That’s it for this week. For the first time, I won’t see you next week, but in a few weeks. Take care! May the sunsets be good.

Simon