DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS (2022)

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A fascinating exercise to watch Raimi's SPIDER-MAN 2 and DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS back to back and to see in action what I found myself thinking: that SPIDER-MAN 2 is a Sam Raimi film which happens to feature Marvel characters while DOCTOR STRANGE (love the easter egg in the former – prescience, much?) is a Marvel film which happens to be directed by Sam Raimi.

While occasional Raimi-ness flared up in the third act of STRANGE - that music note throwdown was pure, giddy genius - I was, as almost always with the Marvel films, disappointed by the weightlessness of it all, the amusement park line-ride fan service, and Raimi's disheartening - though unsurprising - MCU restraint.

For all that DC's done wrong with their approach to their films - and they've done plenty -, they let their directors do their thing: the James Gunn of the THE SUICIDE SQUAD and PEACEMAKER is a far more exciting James Gunn than GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY James Gunn.

(For what it's worth, SPIDER-MAN 2 is still the greatest comic book film of all time, a note-perfect examination of what being a hero is - and the train stopping sequence remains the best 15 minutes of superhero cinema ever. So very very good to see it again.)

tentative release schedule

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(If only for my own reference)…

  • Jun / open

  • Jul / PRESS (A)

  • Aug / open

  • Sep / TSR

  • Oct / TSR

  • Nov / TSR

  • Dec / open

  • January / PRESS (A)

  • Feb / open

  • Mar / TSR

  • Apr / TSR

  • May / TSR

… liking the idea of a monthly release for everything, with open months before and after PRESS (A) releases. Thought I could pull off quarterly, but every six months seems more feasible. Open months for extra TSR or PRESS (A) buffers or RE/EMERGENCE collabs?

noteshift, part ii

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I’m finding the digital shift far more useful in the long run though I write by hand when I need to think and try to decipher what I've written so it's useful later on, more often than not to no avail. My index card system is now defunct simply because I can't read them and, given that I write in fountain pen, the chances of degradation and data loss are just as good via computerized efforts – though with the added benefit of being able to read the latter.

(Will probably create a second Obsidian Vault for those and move them into the main Work vault when needed for projects.)

Also experimenting with adding Toggl to my workmix to get a better picture of how I spend my day. Divided into projects, including into "other peoples' shit"; as Annie Dillard tells us, "how we spend our days are how we spend our lives," and I'd rather it not be overwhelmed – as it has been for the last decade or two – by "other peoples' shit."

noteshift

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I've switched over to Field Notes Pitch Black 64-page Note Books for my journal and I love them. Smoother writing and, for the southpaw that I am, not having the huge gaggle of pages for my hand to fall from each time I start a page makes my handwriting somewhat neater. Waiting, impatiently, on Coal Creek Leather to ship my journal cover for this thing, since, thanks to the weird Note Book size, no one, except CC, makes a cover to fit them. More of a reliance now on sticky notes and Obsidian for making notes useful beyond the act of their writing (working on a new piece on how I use Obsidian and my Stream Deck for July’s MacroParentheticals0082).

(re)read month -> (re)read practice

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Though I just finished (re)reading Calvino’s INVISIBLE CITIES – loved it and, as with McCullers’s THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER, it’s now on the favorites list) – I'm woefully behind on my intended (re)reads so I did the only thing I could think of doing: added more to the list.

But I've also decided to shift it, (re)read month, from being a semiannual event (June and December, I think, was the original plan) and into a more regular practice: I've enjoyed it that much.

Thinking: for every three to five (probably three - or make it four, middle way and all) new books I read, I (re)read one; my complete reading list, from 2013 to the present, lives here.