Spool Five

Some notes on the year.

Movies/TV

Lots of TV shows this year. These are some of the ones that stood out.

Great

• Andor
• Adolescence
• The Rehearsal - Season 2
• The Pitt (probably my favourite of the year)
• The Chair Company
• Squid Game Season 3 (might be controversial to have this here, but I enjoyed it)
• (movie) Jia Zhangke’s “Caught by the Tides”. Deeply moving meditation on time, love, displacement and process.
• Long Story Short
• (movie) No Other Choice
• The Studio
• I also went to a screening of Kwaiden (1964) this year and it was incredible.

Hounorable Mentions

• The Eternaut
• Pachinko - Season 2
• Severance - Season 2
• Foundation - Season 3
• Dept Q.
• Alice in Borderland - Season 3
• Slow Horses

Disappointments

• The Last of Us - Season 2
• (movie) One Battle After Another - had its good points definitely, but I always have very high expectations for PTA and the last two let me down.
• Alien: Earth - I did really enjoy this, but a lot of problems with it too (as an ‘Alien’ installment)

Books

Not too much reading this year, but my favourite was definitely “Every Living Thing” (Jason Roberts).

This is just a short post I’m leaving here for posterity.

I’m once again in the process of moving house, and still renting. I’ve lived in dublin for around 8 years out of the past 15 or so, and it had always been a struggle finding somewhere to live, and it keeps getting worse.

It’s the beginning of a new year and I’ve dusted off an old smartwatch to help me with my new year’s goal of exercising and staying active more. I started to feel a bit guilty, relying on Samsung and Google’s proprietary systems to help me track things like heart-rate, time spent exercising, etc.

I’ve been experiencing moments of melancholy and nostalgia over the past months. Nothing too intense, just notable. It’s an old, familiar feeling, but one I hadn’t felt in a long time.

Prior to teaching kids English, I had zero experience working with children. I was so surprised and relived to find that the kids I teach here are very smart and well-behaved for the most part.

I currently live in what you could maybe call a ‘suburb’ of Seoul. I guess when you think of suburbs you think of sprawling streets with houses and lawns. So, in that sense, my town is not a suburb. But, if you imagine stacking all those houses on top of each other - stretching between fifteen and thirty stories - and imagine all the green lawns as ‘communal’ gardens, then, yes, it is a suburb.

Wed 2 Jun 23:18:06 KST 2021

Dear Gopherspace,

I still haven’t gotten the hang of journaling. Perhaps my life isn’t eventful enough. I imagine journals to be writings you look back over later in life to trigger memories of places, times, people, feelings, thoughts, etc.

Christina’s Five Questions for May 2020

This is my first time participating in this. I think it’s a great idea and I love reading other people’s answers.

Home of the Five Questions

I’m fairly apolitical by nature. I’m not sure where this comes from. It’s probably form my father.

I grew up in a rural area of Ireland, near the Northern Irish border. When I eventually discovered Marxism through the Communist Manifesto (I was around 20), I was blown away by its clarity and precision. I still believe its the only analysis of political economy that makes sense. I’m generally not a fan of ‘grand theories’, but if there was ever a case for their validity, it lies in Marx, not Einstein, or Hawking, or anyone else. I still go back and read some Marx every so often, and it continues to astound me. I get the same feeling reading Freud. Even at the level of style, I love their works.

Dear Gopherspace,

It’s been a while since my last update. I’ve been busy at work.

I received a lovely email from gopher user f6k about how my phlogs about teaching in Korea reminded them of their own time teaching abroad. It’s so nice to feel there are others out there with similar thoughts and similar love for this wonderful protocol.

Wed Mar 24 19:58:04 KST 2021

I mentioned in my first post here that I am currently living in Korea, but that I would soon be returning to my home country, Ireland.

Sat Mar 20 14:11:33 KST 2021

I had my first covid test this morning.

I wasn’t symptomatic, nor had I been in contact with anyone who had tested positive. Nevertheless the test was mandated.

Wed Mar 17 22:35:27 KST 2021

I used to study philosophy. Specifically, the philosophy of technology and hermeneutics. In the philosophy of technology, there has recently (recently in academic terms at least) been an increase in interest in Michel Foucault’s late lectures. In these lectures he continues his examination of power, but turns toward a more ‘appropriating’ sense of power. To do so, he returns to an ancient Greek understanding of ’technologies of the self’. Of course, the term ’technologies’ is a bit ambiguous here.

Sun Mar 14 16:28:16 KST 2021

I’m not really sure what to put in this gopherhole.

I have a Gemini capsule now, and a regular old http site, and I don’t really see the point of repeating the same content over and over again.