January 2022 – Books and Coffee

January 30, 2022January 29, 2022

Film: Kingdom, Seasons 1 & 2

Kingdom
by Kim Eun-hee
available in the US on Netflix
2019 – present

A nice distraction from a devastating real life plague is… A story about a much gorier and even more devastating FAST ZOMBIE plague with gorgeous sets and costumes, political drama, and a dreamy lead actor!

Set in a mythical, historical version of South Korea, Kingdom follows attempts to take the (alternate history) Joseon throne through political intrigue during a concurrent zombie plague crisis. While medical professionals are initially ignored (so relatable and familiar), and class concerns override action for the public’s well-being (same), all the key characters are soon navigating a dangerous political situation while struggling with a fast-spreading zombie plague that sounds too outrageous to be believed… which means people have to learn about it the hard way.

Fast spreading in this case means the infection spreads within minutes, resulting in fast zombies – the worst kind. Especially if you are trying to flee from large groups of them in a very elaborate period costume!

I enjoy the fast pace of the story, especially Season 2. I also appreciate the handsomeness of the put-upon crown prince character, played by model-turned-actor Ju Ji-Hoon. (There are some great photos of him in lovely clothes on the Internet… *sigh*)

My father got Netflix and asked what to watch, and was immediately addicted to this story, so I’ve been quite pleased with myself for recommending it.

Highlights: Hostile royal families, rivalries, murders, pretty gowns, hilarious hats (historically accurate), sharp swords, horses, spikes, blood, battles, bureaucrats, executions, self-absorbed rich people, GORGEOUS palaces (including the historic palaces that I had a chance to visit in Seoul!), sensible anti-zombie precautions, teamwork, bravery, good intentions, strategic planning, bad odds… It’s all so well done!

This series is highly recommended if you like fast zombies, political scheming, Korean historical buildings and costumes, and a fast narrative pace.

January 29, 2022

Film: The Matrix Resurrections

Oh! So, I mentioned how excited I was about this 4th Matrix film back in September, and I’m happy to report that I adored it for unexpected reasons.

Yes, it’s funny, and self-aware, and makes jokes about being forced to make a 4th film in a franchise by Warner Bros – yes, all that.

Yes, I saw it in theaters, and it looked great. (And then I watched it again online, and it STILL looked great.) It is action packed! The effects are pretty! The story lines about re-evaluating life’s meaning and struggling with middle age are relevant!

The pleasant surprise, something I hadn’t realized during filming here in San Francisco, was how wild it is to see the setting of your real life used in a film. Sure, I often enjoy seeing scenes from San Francisco in films, but this was different. This was very specific. SO specific. A building where I worked for 10 years is a settling for key scenes in the film. The coffee shop meetings and fights were set there. The top of the building serves as a backdrop in other scenes. And nearly all of the chase scenes and outdoor night scenes were filmed on the surrounding blocks, where I have walked (and shopped, and dined, and caffeinated) countless times.

Even some of the later scenes, where the protagonists flee into other buildings, felt eerily familiar, because I have been in those buildings, too! My second viewing required sending time stamps and photos of filming locales that I’d walked past just days before to a friend, so he could see what the doors in the lobby scene looked like from the other side… Plus time stamps of when our current mayor has her cameo.

I know it wasn’t as big a blockbuster as the first one, but the film is still a treat for hardcore fans (yes, I own the prior 3 films; yes, I’ve seen the first film more times than is reasonable) who were interested in how people managed to recover after events in this world after the ending of the prior trilogy, and anyone who has worked in the area north of Montgomery Street BART!

January 29, 2022

Pandemic Life: Late January 2022

I was hoping to post a pandemic living update AFTER the omicron peak was far behind us, but the peak isn’t happening everywhere at the same time. While there is a lot of chatter about how the infections can be less serious with the omicron variant of COVID-19, they are still serious for too many people: the US is still losing more than 2,200 people to COVID EVERY DAY.

But: a downturn in local new case numbers after an alarming spike is still somewhat encouraging, and we’ll take encouragement where we can get it.

Screen grab from https://sf.gov/data/covid-19-cases-and-deaths this evening, showing how BIG the recent infection spike in San Francisco was, and how alarming it was considering our success in keeping rates low earlier in the pandemic. (There’s a lag in data gathering, so we’re always about a week behind the trend, but the steep drop is promising.)

As noted in an earlier post, there aren’t many restrictions that affect me, as a fully vaccinated and boosted person here in San Francisco. I now have some fashionable and very comfortable FFP2 masks (a European variation of a good mask standard) for transit and indoor public places, and can largely go anywhere and do anything. Outdoor dining has been delightful recently.

The bigger things I’m not doing – like flying on airplanes to visit other regions – relate to my risk tolerance. Why go to locations with poor health figures (indicated by low masking/vaccine rates), dangerously full hospitals, and/or unusually high case numbers? No one is preventing me from going, but regions that are struggling (or which are actively opposed to infection prevention politically) are unlikely to be both comfortable and fun.

(There are still countries that are restricting non-essential travel, and I don’t blame them – the US did the same thing! Some are much safer to travel within than the U.S., but that’s also why they are closed to Americans right now.)

A friend in [a European country] who had COVID in 2020 said they are tired of COVID restrictions, but… they’ve been under so few meaningful restrictions over the duration of this pandemic that I’m wondering if they are just saying that to be polite. (Currently: restaurants there must have guests depart before 11pm, and there are limits on group sizes of 8 for dinner, 50 for other events… how would this even be noticeable?) Another friend in their country just got COVID this month, and so may view it differently, but it may be too soon to ask.

I’m just excited that ZERO friends have announced new COVID infections in the past two weeks! That bodes well.

I visited an office that requires masking and vaccine boosters (YES!), and was quite comfortable. It was novel and vaguely pleasant to be in an office and around other people in a place with a safety culture! I… could get used to that.

January 29, 2022

Summer Weather In Winter

January in San Francisco can be heavenly

Weblog by A. Elizabeth Graves. iPhone photography and links to science-y and foodie topics.

We are having an unusually dry and summery January here in California, which seems set up to remind me that just last month, I had been considering living in Boston (which is under a blizzard warning) for a professional adventure, but perhaps I should stay put.

Walking around town without a coat is pleasant, until I remember how much rain we desperately need to function during this historic drought. For context: wildfires have already started – in JANUARY. Which… is just NOT RIGHT.

I would happily trade these bright, still days for the water we need to thrive!

January 16, 2022January 17, 2022

Book: Barbara Kruger: Thinking of You. I Mean Me. I Mean You, edited by Peter Eleey, et al.

Barbara Kruger: Thinking of ~~You~~. I Mean Me. I Mean You
edited / essays by Peter Eleey, Robyn Farrell, Michael Govan, James Rondeau, Zoé Whitley, and more
published by Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) and DelMonico Books – DAP
2021

Barbara Kruger’s retrospective has been calling to me from afar, and I was able to buy the book to read up in advance of seeing it!

Kruger’s most famous past works are widely recognized for their iconic consistency: a bold, black and white image with direct, engaging, nearly accusing Future Bold Oblique text on a high-contrast (often red) background. (I can just say, “Your Body is a Battlefield,” and the image will pop into your head!) She’s done much more with words, and I’ve had the pleasure of exploring a room wrapped in her power-questioning, engaging, accusatory texts.

This book features a significant amount of engaging, unsurprisingly bold, unsurprisingly relevant new works by Kruger, plus excellent essays about her and the ongoing relevance of the questions her work asks. Her work quotes Orwell, mocks the powerful, and challenges our willingness to be reduced from active citizens to consumers. The essays approach her challenges to us from different angles, quote James Baldwin, ask about our tendencies to judge, discuss empathy and contempt, and are thoughtful throughout.

The collection of recent work includes long walls/rooms of text, and it’s great to have them in book form to be able to take the time to read them all the way through.

It also comes with homework! There’s a collection of essays at the end which are presented as a sort of “syllabus” to the lessons we could be learning from all of this.

It’s a great book – not just in content, but also in form! The covers are boldly printed book-board with a printed fabric spine, and all the fore-edges are painted the same green as her work (and the x’s on the cover). I appreciate the boldness of the design.

For sale at the LACMA store, and wherever fine art books are sold.

This book is HIGHLY recommended if you love: Barbara Kruger, well-produced art books, text art, and concise, incisive cultural commentary.

January 16, 2022January 18, 2022

Life: Staring At the International Space Station (a tiny dot)

The NASA App sends me notifications about 15 minutes before the ISS may come into view, along with coordinates appropriate to my location.

So ,YES, I was just standing out in the cold, holding my phone in my icy little hands with the compass app on, pointing it toward 220-ish degrees, and was rewarded by a brief glimpse of a very tiny, bright dot moving in a straight line between the clouds.

A tiny dot in the sky can be very pleasing! 😀

January 14, 2022

Language: Still Studying

And Duolingo gives me a chance to brag about it EVERY SINGLE DAY! (Well, every day I study, which is the same thing.)

Also, if I haven’t mentioned this since switching from other languages to Japanese: Japanese is difficult for me! My reaction when the program shows me an exercise is:

Oh, no! I have no idea what this says!
Oh, wait, I know that word.
Okay, I also know that phrase.
Well, maybe I do know what it says.
[complete answer]
[receive happy success chime]
[repeat with the same lack of confidence, again and again]

I’m still struggling so much over the little connectors, like [o], [ni], and [te/de]. I still fail to see the pattern of when they are appropriate, but… hopefully I’ll get there.

January 14, 2022January 14, 2022

Manga: Spy X Family by Tatsuya Endo

Spy X Family
by Tatsuya Endo
published by Viz, San Francisco
2020 – (ongoing)

Westalis and Ostania are on the brink of war. Twilight, a handsome super-spy working for Westalis, must infiltrate elite society where politicians mingle: to do that, he’ll need a family – by the end of the week – to get into position to collect intelligence on a deadline.

He can’t be fussy.

He quickly adopts a child from a sketchy orphanage, and agrees to a faux marriage with a nice young woman who asks him for assistance, successfully assembling the Forger family. He doesn’t know the child, Anya, is hiding the fact that she is a telepath, or that his innocent-looking wife, Yor, is a professional assassin. Thanks to a series of misunderstandings and barely kept secrets, he won’t understand his (fake) wife or (fake) child any time soon!

This is a light-hearted comedy is attractively drawn. The faux-European setting provides a pretty-yet-tense backdrop, as government security services abduct and torture citizens who: show any hints of disloyalty, are turned in by envious acquaintances, or even are just a little different. The Forger family’s ability to fit in feels ‘high stakes,’ and while each of them has their own reasons they need to pass for normal, they all feel safer together.

Petty office rivalries, secret crushes, childhood bonds, misunderstandings, and sharp objects keep things moving along amusingly! EVEN THE DOG HAS A SECRET!

Viz’s Shonen Jump currently provides subscribers Chapters 1- 58; the compilation books are up through Volume 6 (Chapters 1 – 37).

Spy X Family is a nice way to take your mind off [gesturing]… the state of things.

This Viz preview below sets the scene in English; the Japanese preview below it has catchy music, and shows more images of the characters in action.

January 13, 2022January 11, 2022

Music: Secret Agent at SomaFM

The soundtrack for my time at home this week is Secret Agent, which is a local web radio station run by somafm.com.

I can describe it as a bit of downtempo electronica (say, Amon Tobin), a bit of hip Jazz (something great from Blue Note), a bit of 70s cool (say, Curtis Mayfield), and random clips from James Bond films as punctuation. (“Do you expect me to talk?” “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!”)

Secret Agent from SomaFM

The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. For Spies and PIs too!

It’s fun!

January 12, 2022January 12, 2022

Manga: Kaiju No. 8 by Naoya Matsumoto

Kaiju No. 8
by Naoya Matsumoto
published by Viz, San Francisco
2021 (ongoing)

Kafka Hibino has a dirty job: cleaning up the mess after giant monsters (kaiju) that attack his home city are violently “neutralized” by the nation’s Defense Force.

Kafka didn’t PLAN to be cutting up monster guts: he planned to fight against the kaiju directly at the side of childhood best friend, Mina Ashiro. But his plans went sideways, and decades later, he handles sanitation, while Mina leads the Defense Force’s third division as a national hero(ine), using weapons made from previously killed, powerful kaiju.

But… one day, things go very wrong, and Kafka becomes a part-time kaiju himself. Which is… SO AWKWARD. How will he ever get into the Defense Force and work with Mina if he is the enemy?

This is a charming adventure with dangerous monsters, dangerous humans, loyalty, teamwork, men gossiping in bathhouses, monster intestines, secret identities, partial kaiju transformations, very sharp blades, unexpected alliances, and fun illustrations between chapters.

I subscribe to Viz’s Shonen Jump, so I have access to all available chapters (1 through 54 as of mid-January 2022), and have been delighted by the story so far! Chapters 1-7 are available in book form, and I imagine the rest of the story will be bundled and released in the future.

I’m looking forward to future issues!

VIZ | Read Kaiju No. 8 Manga – Official Shonen Jump From Japan

The world’s most popular manga! Read free or become a member. Start your free trial today! | Kaiju No. 8 – Kafka wants to clean up kaiju, but not literally! Will a sudden metamorphosis stand in the way of his dream?