Previously on Phil’s Newsletter: I was on a podcast, nails were useful, and I bought a cutting board.
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?Huh, Week A What
It’s Thursday and I’m writnig this from the patio of the SoMA bar & restruant in the neighborhood of the same name here in San Francisco. It’s sweaty out here, in the dog days of SF summertime, which occurs during Autumn. I feel like warmed-over shit baking in the sun, like the kind I had to step over to get here.
I’ve just booked a plane ticket to visit my ancestral homeland in the American middle-west, to visit with far-flung correspondents and most importantly my mother and family. I have not left the city, or even my neighborhood, at all in almost 2 years. Who is going to water my plants? Do I bring a guitar? Do I bring synthesizers?
Fall in the midwest is something that lives in my heart year round, and it will be good to take it in again with eyes and ears. I am really worried about traveling, but, I’ve already lost my Gramps and my Dad without being able to see them for years. I am vaccinated but I am taking a selfish risk. I’m aware.
Halloween Movie Times - Syngenor (1990)
I have not been in the best place mentally for, you know, 2-5 years, but I am doing my best to self-medicate with one of my favorite things: spooky (and/or spoopy) movies! If you’re looking for something new or old to get you in the mood for Halloween, this week’s pick is Syngenor (1990). Here is the trailer for it:
Syngenor came out in that magical time between the 80s and 90s, before the sleaze of the 70s had fully been rinsed out of all media and everything got turned into content for children.
It contains one of my all-time favorite scenes in any movie, where the inventor of the monster (who has been shit-canned by his employer) hears a noise in the night at his home and deadpans “… Syngenor?” as if he’d been waiting for it the whole time. Wonderful.
The Evil CEO who injects what I am calling Syngenor Fluid into his own neck is portrayed in a very weird, horny, way. Literally every man in the movie makes an incompetent, sleazy, pass at every woman they see. This movie goes out of it’s way to make you hate it. Syngenor is a greasy, horny, monster movie that fails to execute on every single level and I love it.
Of course, you can catch some of my other favorites streaming at any time on RetroStrange TV. Speaking of the 70s…
Shin Kamen Rider
They dropped a teaser for Shin Kamen Rider, the new movie from Hideki Anno who made the very excellent Shin Godzilla a few years ago. For those not in the know, Kamen Rider (aka Masked Rider) is a beloved and very long-running Japanese TV series, manga, and so on. It’s run almost uninterrupted since 1971, with a brief pause in the 90s much like Dr. Who in the UK.
I am so looking forward to this. Anno has this great use of what you might call “deep focus” in his films, that give bizarre situations a modern-but-nostalgic feel. It is a hard rope to walk. Plus… just look at the color palette. Hell yeah.
Phil’s Good Links
Hail hail the gang is all here.
The Flickr Foundation has been formed as a non-profit to keep Flickr Commons around. Good
Parker Molloy talked about the absurd lengths the rich go to to convince themselves they are not rich. Yes, $400,000 per year is rich. Anywhere.
Ed Zitron has set his sights and acerbic wit on the world of NFTs. Yes, it’s grifters all the way down.
Ozy Media attempted to defraud Goldman Sachs investors by impersonating a YouTube executive on a conference call. Of course everyone forgave the executive who did it and he’s still got a job. Rich folks take care of each other.
Apple has dragged their feet so long on patching some vulnerabilities for iPhone that a researcher has published them.
Mark Mulcahy, frontman of Polaris and Miracle Legion, posted a live show from 1998 at the late, lamented, Slim’s here in SF.
LittleJS is a tiny 2D javascript game engine that looks promising to me.
Shots fired: The Atlantic says “Facebook is acting like a hostile foreign power; it’s time we treated it that way.”
South Dakota governor Kristi Noem is letting GOP donors pay to force the National Guard to attack migrants at the US border.
Ever seen a mantis do a mating dance at an industrial laser?
“Drunk Cats” is a delightful series of prints showcasing what I just said. Drunk cats. Somebody is getting one of these for xmas
The New York Times is printing stories claiming that criticism of the police is leading to an increase in violent crime, without disclosing that the writer is/was being paid by the police.
Vaccine passport app Portpass app may have exposed hundreds of thousands of users' personal data including drivers licenses.
Utilities Took Public Money, Gave CEOs Millions, and Then Turned People’s Lights Off During the Pandemic — same as it ever was in America.
A beautiful Blender animation showing recursion in ways you wouldn’t expect
Boxing bouts at the 2016 Olympics were fixed by "complicit and compliant" referees and judges, an investigation has found. I keep telling you people that Pro Wrestling is the only real sport.
Posting on Fridays is having mixed results, but it could also be that my content kinda sucks lately. We’ll have to try something different next week. In the meantime, take care of yourself and take care of someone else if you can.
— Phil Nelson
Wizard Tower Gamma, South of Market, San Francisco, California, United States of America, Earth
10.01.2021
No need to bring a guitar. We have many options. Hank says he’ll share.