21 - dr00bot Merrily on High

Image by Nathan Saad.

# m3rRy <hr!$+m@s

Well we made it… And what a disorienting whirlwind of monotony and dread 2021 turned out to be! Personally, I have spent the past 12 months alternating between a state of total dissociation and participating in a self-enforced cultural re-education camp. While all the entrepreneurs in my Instagram feed worked on their “side hustles”, I retreated to the reverie of entertainment, consuming more books, movies and podcasts than is medically advisable. As for the world, here’s some stuff that happened:

COVID is still kind of a big deal: I’m writing this from Christmas isolation 🙃 .
The Olympics are cool: Yeah the IOC might be aiding China in covering up the disappearance of Peng Shuai but… this year’s games were great.
Joe Biden has been stinking up the place: Aside from declaring “Mission Accomplished” in Afghanistan and exiting deftly, Joseph has spent the past 12 months watering-down his entire domestic agenda and passing nothing (as I predicted back in November 2020). Oh and he also (maybe) literally shat himself a couple of times.
The Australian government continued to antagonise China: I’m not a China apologist but it has been hilarious/galling watching Islamophobes like Peter Dutton shamelessly take up the cause of the Uyghurs. Bizarrely their hearts seem to bleed a lot less for the children we lock up in indefinite detention for the crime of “being a genuine refugee”. We also should apparently be outraged by perceived Chinese expansionism, as if we haven’t actively participated in the American Imperial project for the past century. Oh well… At least China only makes up 33% of our exports.
MF DOOM died: This was the first piece of news I got in 2021 and I’m probably never getting over it.

# The Palme d'r00

The only thing I bought in the Black Friday sales this year was a Pro subscription to Letterboxd. I log everything I watch and occasionally write reviews so make like Uncle Kracker and FOLLOW ME (opens new window). These are all the films I saw in 2021:

# Highlights

The Scream Franchise: Easily the most fun I had watching movies this year. Always loved the first two but incorrectly assumed the rest of the series would be shit.
Ghost Dog - The Way of the Samurai: A gangster/samurai/mafia revenge flick with Jarmusch's poetic pacing and absurd humour. Can't explain why this works but it does...
Spring Breakers: This might be the worst marketed film of all time. Only Harmony Korine could make something this beautiful, shocking and hilarious.
Chungking Express: I already thought this film was perfect but then I read that the actor who plays the snack bar owner is named Piggy Chan. An impressionistic masterpiece.
Phantom Thread: I love almost every PTA film (Hard Eight is a hard seven for me) but I think this is my favourite. Alma is one of the greatest characters ever put to film.
Honourable Mentions: The Lighthouse, Can’t Get You Out Of My Head, Bernie, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Florida Project, Cloud Atlas, The Father.

# Other Projects

Unfortunately I haven’t had much time for writing in the second half of this year but I definitely plan to keep up my blog in 2022. I did recently add a couple of small projects to my website.

# dr00 Trends

This is a live interactive dashboard I built to surface personal insights about my health, sleep, mental acuity and behaviour. It’s still a work in progress.

# Monet Myrtle

This is a deep learning model that translates text into horrifying images. I didn't train this model, I just used it to generate awful pictures for my podcast. The piece below is called “Vernon Dursley in the style of Picasso”.

Anyway enough from me… The ham is burning. Thanks for all the love this year. May your holidays be happy and your COVID tests negative!

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