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Posted on 2022-02-17

Things I did today

Gemini!

Setting up my first Gemini capsule was a pretty enjoyable experience. I'm running Agate on a Digital Ocean basic droplet, and I'm building the capsule with Kiln, which comes only as golang source files. It's been quite a long time since I've had to work with compiling from source, but I think it's a nice feeling. It's far from the (relatively) frictionless experience of a package manager, but when I did hit snags, the cause of the problem was much easier to decipher and much easier to fix than some cryptic message about backend spec incompatibilities (I'm staring daggers at you, conda).

Drive My Car

I saw Ryusuke Hamaguchi's film _Drive My Car_ in theaters -- the last day it was showing in Boston. I was planning to see it with a friend, but she caught COVID and had to cancel last minute. So instead, I headed out to Kendall Square by myself after work, grabbed a beer (pretty good) from an extremely overworked and stressed out bartender, and slipped into the theater a minute or two late.

I love movie theaters. I see a lot of people on the webs complain about them and say that they would always rather watch them in the comfort of their own homes. I'm increasingly suspecting that this is all Netflix/Amazon astroturfing -- everyone that I talk to also loves theaters. I've literally never had a bad experience; mediocre is the worst I can say I've had. There's something magical about them. You're suspended in this place beyond the hassle of daily time and space, and you get two hours of your life where you can focus on nothing but enjoy art. It's the one place where it's ok to yell at people for having their phones out.

As I left the theater, I overheard a woman say to her friend "that was the most boring movie I've ever seen". I thought it was brilliant. Some initial impressions and thoughts:

Yes, it's long and glacial, but there's absolutely no filler.
The sound design is phenomenal. There's such detail in capturing the spaces the characters are inhabiting. When there's music, it's a statement. When there's utter silence, it's shocking.
The plot device of the multilingual Uncle Vanya production is very smart. One of the theses of the film, articulated by one of the characters in a nighttime car interior, is that the only way to understand others is by looking within yourself. In the same way, the only way the actors in the play are able to communicate fluently is by memorizing everyone else's lines in their own native language -- communication is a lonely process. Everyone will always speak a different language than you, but it's your responsibility to create and memorize a true translation.
Smoking is so cool. I wish it didn't kill you.
The film does a great job of representing Murakami-isms. I can't point out exactly what those are at the moment, but there were certainly times when I was watching that I thought "yep, that's Murakami alright."
The movie almost makes me not want to ban cars.

In summary, it's great. Stream it when you can. Use good speakers. Lock your phone away somewhere while you're watching.

Med School Progress

- Anki cards studied: 44 (131 deficit)

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