Dișenťemę
You know when yr pacing about on a thing but then you finally get fed up with it, scrap it, start over, and then the thing's done? Do that more.
Look Around
I had 2 - not just one, but 2 - articles pretty well along their way to completion when I decided that they just weren’t right for this issue… which is to say that there’s a vibe I’m going for which each of these, and its a very temperamental and ephemeral muse that I don’t know until I do.
One was about an article titled Fun is Dead. Even though I’ve got a lot to say on and extensive experience in the entertainment industry (also the namesake of this particular release), I thought it was kind of a trite topic of discussion. Like, don’t respond to how fun is supposedly dead; just go have fun. Which involves thinking and friends and travel and all that.
There was a certain “kids these days” angle to the article which rarely rubs me the right way and for the specific reason that that argument rarely if ever bothers to see the actual circumstances that influence whatever malpractice is affecting the author.
The other piece I had in process was about how I’m seeing a whole lot of talented IT professionals either jumping ship from large projects or organizations, or, more recently, getting laid off. And, yeah, there’s boom and bust cycles and whatever, but there’s a thread that points elsewhere which, now that I’m writing about it, reflects the theme of the first article I tried to write as well: the missing of the material conditions by those directing the commentary or business.
The folx I’ve bene hearing from about their career paths is indelibly one of disappointment. There’s little evidence of unpreparedness, but there is of major misalignments between expectations and reality, as well as the evergreen meddlesome disposition that permeates the major business cultures of Japan. And this time, I get the distinct sense that there’s something with some teeth in their anecdotes and intentions, at least amongst those I’m speaking to - they want to do something meaningful, and are now sufficiently convinced that Japan Inc. simply isn’t up to the task.
And I guess that’s kinda where those 2 almost finished articles left me: wondering about how I’m seeing this, what, socioeconomic myopia seeping ever deeper into the collective psyche of, you know, like, the future. That Fun is Dead article offered no solutions just as major business institutions can’t, and, in fact, is possibly even worse because that article is at least unconsciously duping the reader into thinking that those lamentations are productive. Big Business can throw all the money they like at SDGs and we all know their efforts are all bullshit, but at least they’re kind of honest with us.
But at the end of the day, they’re lost causes, and that’s the myopia, I guess: that we collectively have a cultural story or stories that we’ve bought into which disallow, to an extent, the exploration of novel concepts. And while its far from certain that, like, there is universal Fun and Meaning out there for everyone, there’s certainly a sub-set of folx that exist who are now more than ever seemingly dead set on pursuing it.
Those are the folx I like to encourage, so I think I’m in the right place. How about you?
Newsworthy
I guess this section sorta boils down to, what, some music related thing, some event related thing, and then some IT thing. I haven’t bothered going back and reviewing previous releases, but knowing myself I’m thinking that, yeah, that’s the gist of this.
And though I like having decently fleshed out posts here, there’s definitely such a thing as too much, so my thinking right now is I should limit this spot to about 3 items, no more.
Camp MKUltra 002
Happy New Year! I've got the 2nd iteration of this camping retreat I slapped together late last year - which is ostensibly focused on engaging local businesses while exploring nascent infrastructure, resources, and opportunities, is tangentially related to Digital Springs, and is also really loosely formatted so anything goes - scheduled for Saturday, March 2 in Yugawara, Kanagawa, one stop up from Atami in Shizuoka.
Some details:
Firstly, use the code ULTRA2024 to knock the price down to something like base cost, but hurry up cause there are only 5 spots!
I've already got the site reserved - the owner, Kamiya-san, is a great guy, leader of my chapter of The Rotary Club, operator of Kamiya Onsen, and also director of the local onsen business association.
I will also be sourcing local game meat from my butcher, Yama no Megumi - a wild story of 3 Tokyo butcher sisters taking advantage of Yugawara's annual boar/deer cull by turning an akiya into a processing facility.
And I'll be picking up some craft beers from Yugawara's own Canadian brewery, Humans Beer for everyone to sample.
Of course, bringing additional food and drink is welcome, and definitely don't forget to bring yr own gear.
Noto Peninsula Fundraising Gig & Blood Rite Vol. 19
These gigs were on Sunday the 21st and Thursday the 25th, respectively, so not the greatest days but we didn’t have too much choice - the first was a request for raising funds to support the Noto Peninsula after the New Year’s Day Earthquake by 2 heavy hitters, Obliteration and Bloodbath Records; the second was at the request of Obituary from Florida for us to book some extra shows for their supporting act Karras while they were in town - but great lineups!
I Expose the LIES of Crypto O_O;
Nikita Kent holds her Masters in Economics from the University of Tokyo and has been an active and critical member of both Japan’s and the world’s crypto community at least since I’ve known her, which is… coming up on a year?
She’s got some real spicy - and sorely needed - takes on all aspects of the cryptoverse, which is a big theme of her podcast, Crypto Girls. She recently asked me to be her first male guest and to sit down and talk, no joke, about all the things we hate about this intriguing and dangerous technological ecosystem. And that’s right up my alley, so of course I took her up on the offer.
We had a wild time talking over 60 or so minutes at my favorite crypto-friendly co-working space,
, and came to some wild conclusions, including, counter-intuitively, that “crypto is healthy.”What does that mean? Well, click through to find out!
Here We Will Part
I’m writing this with a cold as I’m only trying to recover from the wild start of the year. Which is what everyone says every year, and then I’m starting to be scared that I’m the guy who points that out every year.
What’s worse though, is that things probably are getting busier. And more janky. And I think a lot of folx just accept that and go along for the bumpy ride without even having the ability to glimpse something a little less janky, something a little more fun. Cause fun is definitely not dead. Its just drifted far away enough from each of us individually that if you really want it, you just gotta go out and recapture it.