v (she/her)

a man with long black hair wearing a black cape ALT: a man with long black hair wearing a black cape

sunny week in seattle

London! Longer days are coming ☁️🌥🌤

To me the chatbots pose zero interesting questions about the ‘nature of selfhood’ but dozens about the nature of manipulation. Here the Claude team pretends they are programming the robot for ethical responses but they land on one that is false and disingenuous.

😂.

a “parks and rec” reboot but this time jerry gets to make fun of everyone for having sad lives, andy ends up with donna, ron swanson is the swanky one, tomH is the libertarian, april ends up with Ben, Leslie ends up with Ann.

YouTube video by VendredisurMerVEVO Vendredi sur Mer - Écoute chérie (Clip officiel)

écoute chérieeeeee

youtu.be/OhqUMFj51X0?...

picked the southern book clubs guide to blah. it’s a horrorlit apparently. do not like.

SPACED works best on a cloudy afternoon . nighttime is here. so now?

anyway. i have decided to tell ppl i have no hobbies. esp to strangers. unless i know someone a bit more, then ill mention my hobbies.

any conversation with her becomes this book or that book and through the book she starts talking about (rather humble bragging) about her poor nri son who will never know indian culture. like mam, u actively chose to stay here?

i don’t know why hobbies have become a stand in for regular conversation.

and she’s been saying things like let’s create a bookclub and i feel like except for that one time 8 years ago, we don’t have books in common so im not sure why she’s after me.

book readers are a strange species now. i have a friend who used to discuss books with me which is ok once a while but now she’s a mom and she seems utterly busy and frazzled and whenever we meet, she dumps her latest book opinion on me and it’s like?? it’s boring as hell.

book clubs are boring. talking to other book readers is even worse. i don’t want to hear about what u read.

when i tell someone that i like reading, it is immediately assumed that i like book clubs. problem is i m a mood reader. i read what i want, when i want. i could not be bothered too. coz i like to watch tv. or jump around in my living room- whatever.

currently watching : SPACED on BritBox.

joined a discord group of one of my fave podcasts. it’s a weird place. i like the podcaster and pay her through patreon and i excitedly visit the discord to see if there’s anything interesting - all i get is weird vibes from the people there.

most of us just want a reliable bar of chocolate that tastes like chocolate

i see a lot of hipster brands in supermarkets in usa but they all seem focused on producing a chocolate bar that’s least enjoyable(low sugar, 90% cacao, monk fruit whatnot) .

someone said it’s due to butyric acid and hence the vomity after taste. but i don’t understand why this is sold as regular chocolate here.

there has been a noticeable uptick in supermarket european and british chocolates getting popular in the USA that now i see lot of chocolates being advertised as “imported from UK” or “Imported from Ireland” for the EU version. strange why american chocolates taste so bad

when i die, i want my books to be buried with me in a tomb.

i suppose i also enjoyed The Wedding People by Alison Epach. totally unbelievable plot but the writing was breezy and enjoyable.

not kindle, KOBO.

shutting off the lights in my room and being under covers with my kindle makes me feel safe and that’s how i do most of my reading (is it any surprise i wear glasses)

for the standalone ones, my favorites so far have been The Postcard by Anne Berest, Less by Andrew Greer, Girl Woman Other by Bernadine Evaristo

bryant and may series - urban mysteries set in london, also about ageism, purpose of life and work, and generally everything.

alan bradleys flavia de luce series . cozy mystery thriller of a precocious 11 year old set in post war british village.

i have been reading quite a bit since i got laid off last october. some of my favorite books have been agatha christie’s non-poirot/non-marple books(esp crooked house and the rose and the yew tree)

enjoyed the essay, thanks for sharing. i remember maria popovas blog as “brain pickings” back in the day. the yellow colored blog brought back memories.