Test run
Forgoing a main theme this first time!
🚶♀️ I’m walkin’ here!
The first few times I visited New York City as a high schooler, a wee tourist, I felt a constant state of disorientation, aware only of Times Square and Columbia University. Even in the next handful of years, as I became more familiar with areas from Chelsea to Downtown Brooklyn, my adjective of choice to characterize NYC would be a rather flat one: “busy.”
I returned (for a short time) earlier this June. Although I do not believe much has dramatically changed about the city since my prior visit in late 2022, I felt dramatically more connected to the people and places within. I’d fly through book chapters on the subway and do subtle head nods to strangers on the street.
Do I attribute this to changes in my personal character? To the people I was spending time with? To the stories that I’ve consumed, set in the city? Or a natural condition of being in your early 20’s? Has the city changed? (Its suburbs think so.)
There are likely several confounding variables here. In any case, I think my attitude towards NYC has breached some important boundary in a way that I did not expect to occur at this time. I wonder how it will continue to change.
🏨 Wesley’s creativity.
I read the fantasy book The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue earlier this year, which emphasizes the notion that “ideas are so much wilder than memories, so much faster to take root.”
And after watching Asteroid City, I can only confirm that Wes Anderson is a filmmaker with a lot of weird, complex ideas. Armed with a university degree in philosophy, he demonstrates a heightened awareness of the feeling & movement of things. He (and his team) communicates ideas-turned-stories through meticulous detail – of production design, of sound & soundtracks, of humor. I am by no means a Wes expert or even enthusiast, but I certainly appreciate his love of his craft. Wes’ films routinely utilize various forms of communication (photographs, writing) and creation (miniatures1, stop-motion). As a director, he works with recurring cast members in non-traditional ways. Film locations are scouted around the world: the recent Asteroid City was filmed in the town of Chinchón outside of Madrid, Spain.
For better or for worse, celebration of unique style is often accompanied by imitation. Online content, even AI, has started to replicate the “Wes” look – particularly, its explicitly eccentric color palettes and cinematography.
Unable to be imitated, though, is Wes’ certain sort of keen awareness, tied to an authentic interest in different ways of seeing the world. As discussed in this interview, Wes is inspired by 1950s-70s American film: directors like Elia Kazan, actors like Marlon Brando. Having grown up in Houston and lived in NYC, and has now lived in Paris for over a decade, Wes has a unique vantage point of American – and indeed global – landscapes.
Is the excessive detail worth it? I think so. As film has evolved away from modernism, Wes’ post-/meta-modernist creations stand out as potential subjects of analysis. They elucidate the value of stories & storytelling, subvert conventional narratives, and embody true creativity.
📲 Why not track it?
You can now “track & share” everything – and it's all becoming more granular. First, it was Goodreads for books; then Strava for runs; Letterboxd for films; and now, Beli for restaurants. Among the more functional, health/period trackers. What’s next?
I found myself flipping through my journal recently, wondering, what’s the worth of this if it’s not backed up – transcribed, saved, digitized – somewhere? But, no. That could not evoke the same memories that my handwriting could.
Though I am very guilty of using tracker apps, I am cautious about mindlessly digitizing every moment of our lives and identities. An article from 2013(!) warns how relying on “the cloud” for personal memory may be worrisome to not only social interactions, but our very senses of self. So, maybe, don’t upload all that you see, hear, taste, smell, touch, and do onto the Interweb.
🌀 What else?
The entangled history of rail. Owing to the fact that I have to take the Caltrain home later today, I looked up the birth years of some rail services that I’ve been on. NJ Transit was established in 1979; Caltrain, 1992; ScotRail, 1983. But these years really have no correlation with actual years of operation, and exact timelines of “establishment” are complicated by historically changing hands of authoritative power due to purchases, privatization, and nationalization.
Fashion, according to Google. I’m on the search for new accessories, namely sunglasses and hats. Turns out these prompts do not output what is trendy, but rather, some stereotypes. (Well, what do you think?)
Done: Took my first intra-USA redeye.
Doing: Reading Jane Jacobs.
To do: Finish my study abroad scrapbook.
Go touch some grass & stare at the sky!
The day after this was initially published, this nice Vox video about Wes’ miniatures was released.