December 2022 media
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Stop Talking to Each Other and Start Buying Things: An incisive and rage-filled essay on how capital poisons the internet, inspired by the recent meltdown at Twitter but informed by—as the subtitle puts it—“three decades of survival in the desert of social media.” Really great stuff. Reading this inspired a resolution to write more on this blog next year.
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Laid-Back Camp Movie: An unabashedly indulgent movie, like a mug of hot chocolate with too many marshmallows. It only has enough plot for perhaps three episodes of the anime series it’s based on, but somehow stretches that plot over two hours. The longer runtime is an opportunity to really luxuriate in its atmosphere, though, which is all I ask from slice-of-life stuff.
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Atomic Habits: I like to think about habits—see here and here—and mine have been on my mind lately as the year turns over. This book has some of the most lucid writing on the topic that I’ve encountered. It’s the rare self-help book whose advice feels truly useful and actionable, along with, say, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up or How to Win Friends and Influence People.