Current Status: Night run 🏃
Watched The Beautiful Game which wasn’t the greatest movie but I had to because 1) it was football, and 2) I love seeing things like the Homeless World Cup and CONIFA World Cup in popular media (look ‘em up!) ⚽️ #football #footie
Gorgeous day. Went with my wife up to Minoh Falls. Took photos of falls, the river, leaves, the city view, and all the insect illustrations on the public toilets 🐝🪲🚽🤔
Current status: Minooo Falls
#Osaka #Japan
Read in 2024: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch 📚
… this wore me out. Emotionally… wrung out. Each chapter he just squeezes, squeezes, squeezes. The characters are so real. Lynch’s writing is very poetic. He uses denominalization heavily. The writing makes everything feel alive, even the dead.
Jiufen
This post is part of a series. See the introduction here → (see the whole album in full screen on Flickr here) The gold rush at the turn of the 1900s caused a boom in the small mountain town of Jiufen, with its sweeping views of the sea towards both the northwest and northeast. The narrow road switches back upon itself numerous times as you climb up the rugged mountainside.
Popped down to Kobe Chinatown for some snacks 🥮🥟 before heading over to Merikan Park to see the Port Tower 🗼 and discovered an Aloha dance festival! And me in my Hawaiian shirt! 🌺👕 #otp 💅🫰
Visited ⛰️ Mount Maya today 🚠 and took a few photos: cable car timelapses, cityscapes, mountain-top temples, and snakes 🐍
Started Justice by Means of Democracy by Danielle Allen 📚
AMAZE 😍💅🧝♀️🧝♂️👑💍 #lotr
Since I was travelling last time, this edition of my personal newsletter is a little full. Covers all the hits from the last two months: chopping up tuna in a back alley, baby sushi, and existential ennui. 🍷
Taiwan trip report - Introduction
Taiwan has been on the bucketlist for a while. In the year 2000 I was an exchange student in Kyoto learning Taiwanese from a fellow exchange student who was so excited for elections that he flew back to Taiwan to vote. That was only the second presidential election since the military dictatorship (which ruled from 1949) had transitioned to democratic elections in the nineties. In 2000 things were very exciting since it was the first time an opposition party won the presidency.
Kaohsiung and Tainan, featuring Fo Guang Shan
This post is part of a series. See the introduction here → (see the whole album in full screen on Flickr here) Kaohsiung is a port city in southern Taiwan, developed by the Japanese as an important industrial hub. We hired a tour guide who carted us around to different locations including the port area, the old British consulate, the art walk, and to one of the most intensely nerdy coffee shops I have ever seen (run by what I am pretty sure are devotees of the Falun Gong new religious movement , check out the art to see what I mean).
🐦⬛♬ Mirlo is a collectively owned music service experimenting with novel governance concepts like “exit to community” to make sure power resides with the musicians and listeners. Only a couple days left and they are SO CLOSE to their goal! SUPPORT!
Started Prophet Song by Paul Lynch 📚
Current status: Prom dress shopping with my daughter. 👗🛍️
👧🏻: We HAVE to go together. You are supposed to whine and complain about the time and prices and generally be awkward and embarrassed and old. It’s traditional! 😇
Finished The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 📚 in just over 24 hours. Could not put it down.
Nostalgia riddim! Bluku bluku!
Started reading: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 📚
Loved, loved, loved, “Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow”