Clickety-Clack
Happy February. This is the second issue of Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit — it’s like spam, but only bugs you once a month.
January is a long 31 days, which should have given me plenty of time to compose a thoughtful, witty electronic missive for you. But instead I’ve waited until the last couple of hours to dash this off. Not auspicious! But I’m hoping I’ll figure it out as the year crawls along. We shall see…
Good luck
Last month, I mentioned how it’s the Year of the Rabbit, and I’m a rabbit, and traditionally, that’s supposed to mean bad luck for me (according to my mom). But then my mom told me that this year is actually supposed to be a good one for me (according to my aunt). So who needs auspicious beginnings when I have two old Chinese ladies and 2,000 years of Chinese superstition on my side.
Shift happens
The best thing I saw last month was Marcin Winchary’s talk on the weird history of keyboards, “Shift Happens”.
He has an amazing-looking book coming out soon with the same title and subject matter, and the book’s website is just as nifty. And while you’re waiting for the Kickstarter to launch, there are some great stories in his newsletter archive to keep you entertained, as well. Read:
“The monkey lives”, which includes excellent photos of animals typing.
“The trip to Spain: The bad parts”, which includes this little gem: “…yet another piece of software with a heart of gold married with the user interface of asbestos.”
Other rabbit holes
Kottke is back. Before Twitter, there were blogs and RSS. Not a lot survives from those days, but kottke.org is still alive and kicking — and he’s returned just in time after an extended hiatus. Here’s some classic Kottke — a nice little supercut of things happening in unison.
Spielberg’s still got it. He’s always been a little up and down, especially when he doesn’t get the right mixture of magic and schmaltz. But for the last decade or so, I’d basically stopped watching his movies altogether. It seems he’s found a late-career gear. The Fabelmans is a good one. But West Side Story is the one that really suprised me with its energy and virtuosity. Sharks and jets as exciting as dinos.
John Cale’s still got it, too. My favorite ex-Velvet released his seventeenth solo studio album, Mercy.
New (to me) music. From the Guardian’s “10 best jazz albums of 2022”, Mary Halvorson’s weirdo guitar-playing and compositions caught my ear. Here’s “Side Effect”.
That’s it. Have a good month.
jf