Etcetera #12: Redemption, Mermaids, Pleasurable Sadness

I recently mentioned the 1997 film Grosse Pointe Blank in a tweet and was immediately followed by an account belonging to something I had never considered might exist: a GPB podcast. I haven’t listened to any episodes yet; hopefully they’re as interesting as this article, written by one of the hosts. It’s a deepish dive into a few recurring lines of dialogue that are spoken during the film by the main character, hired gun Martin Blank (John Cusack), and looks at what they disclose about the character and how he rationalises what he does. If you like the film, or are more generally interested in meaning and self-awareness in fictional environments, this might be up your street.

This project collects references to locations in rap lyrics. The next step would be to make a Google Map of them, right? No. The galaxy brain play is to produce and install street signs displaying the lyrics in the relevant locations in those areas. So far, over 75 signs have been installed in New York, over 100 in LA, 22 in Philadelphia and 27 in Atlanta. Unsurprisingly, all have been stolen or removed.

I’ve linked to a couple of Bullseye episodes in recent weeks. My opinion that Jesse Thorn is one of the great interviewers is further cemented by the way he asks Robert Webb about his previous criticism of Mermaids, a charity that supports gender-diverse children and their families. What The Spectator refers to as ‘ambushing’ by Thorn is in reality a careful, even gentle, raising of the issues, and Webb is given all the time and space he needs to clarify his views—you won’t be surprised to hear that he does not take it, preferring to cower in fear of this ‘great debate’ and clam up. The awkwardness of this segment is entirely down to Webb and the post-show follow-up doesn’t improve things. A startling end to an otherwise interesting interview with two of the most overrated UK comedy performers of this century. (Face facts people!)

My son is very young and his reading is not yet as developed as his other skills, such as drawing on the wall and complaining that yesterday’s favourite food can no longer be sanctioned. He has a lot of books. Some tell (for his age) epic, sweeping tales of bravery and kindness, while others that he’s retained from being a baby focus more on bold illustrations with fewer words. I try not to deny him the latter—it’s more important to me that he retains the desire to look at or listen to me read a book rather than it being a dreary, parent pacifying slog. This article was shared fairly widely on ed tech Twitter where I sometimes lurk and it focuses on that difficulty-enjoyment-growth trifecta.

This article discusses the ephemerality of objects in fiction and, to join it up with the previous link, makes me think of Julia Donaldson’s The Paper Dolls and its surprisingly moving depiction of how people and objects disappear into a child’s memory.

Kaoru Takamura’s books made her an acclaimed bestseller in Japan for decades, but her work—lengthy and maximalist—hadn’t ever been translated. Here’s how it happened. Robin Sloan correctly notes:

Continuing the feel-good factor, here’s an overview of ‘the paradox of pleasurable sadness'—the way that people generally avoid negative emotional experiences yet often enjoy sadness portrayed in music and other arts. My take is that there are strong connections here with recent Etcetera links about nostalgia and its role as a coping mechanism. When the present is distressing—whether that’s due to pandemic conditions, difficult economies, personal circumstances—we are tempted to look to the past for guidance. We often turn to media that makes us feel strong emotions, and music just happens to be one of the easier ways to evoke feelings of sadness and longing.

On 1991 and the crashing together of the mainstream and the alternative. (Note that this is from Australia’s ABC, so some of the bands might not be familiar to you. I was initially confused.)

A take on the micro-sketch format of observational satire that’s been birthed by the pandemic and raised on Twitter. You know the sort—the characters are idiots, at best well-meaning and at worst without morals, put into a situation where their negative traits stand out with hilarious consequences. I broadly agree with this piece; it highlights some of the lower quality fare in the genre and points out occasions where the satire is punching down rather than up.

A discussion of non-recipes: ones in which the precise quantity of ingredients is not terribly important, or perhaps even the nature of the ingredients themselves, or else a degree of improvisation is not just encouraged but required.

How companies simultaneously target people of different political leanings with different ad content—e.g. Big Energy pushes fossil fuels to a conservative audience and clean power to a liberal one. This in itself is not news; companies have been doing this in one way or another for years. What has changed is that Facebook and other ad platforms make it easier to track an advertiser’s activity. And guess what? No-one much cares.