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“In my dreams, I was inventing literature,” he recalled. Month by month the typescript grew, presaging the weight that the great novel and the “solitude of fame,” as he would later put it, would inflict on him.
From 2016, this tale of the history & impact of a book that I (& clearly most of us…) found so meaningful.
By Paul Elie via Vanity Fair
I really enjoyed this episode of This Week in Machine Learning featuring the delightful Joanna Bryson (@j2bryson) … her take on the issues was fresh & added a perspective that is really lacking — & that we don’t always realize is missing — from the standard discussions about AGI & how AI is (& might be) used by companies, governments, or anyone else for that matter…
<(Also I’ve been on a kick lately learning more about AI & trying to wrap my head around some of the deeper conceptual methods used in machine learning, & have found the TWIML&AI podcast to be a pretty good one….)
The new FKA Twigs is really something. Wow.
** Best watched under the influence, on a big screen, really loudly. (as always, obvs. Lol. )
Previously: “Happy “xx day” [Update, 2018]”
I think it’s possible that The XX have held ‘favorite band’ status for me maybe longer (speaking in terms of consecutive years in the top spot) than any other band… & in a bit of goofiness a few years ago I tried to recognize that by tweeting & posting a bunch of links on the anniversary of the day I first heard their debut LP. Around that same time in 2012 I had started running (lost over 40lbs! w00t!) & during my very first half-marathon I srsly needed all the hype I could muster, so I pumped up the jams while lumbering around Eugene, OR. At the starting line, however, I made sure that as the mass of people raced out of the gate that I started with “Intro” blasting into my ears…
Now, 9 years later its admittedly silly to mark “xx day” on my calendar & to get all wistful & nostalgic of that time, but it seems like their songs are inextricably linked to how I felt then, who we were hanging with (all distant now, as everyone has moved on.), & the stark, lovely emotions that the band taps into. For me, at least… Maybe it was a passing fancy for some, but (to paraphrase ‘Our Song’, for the walls I hide behind, they just walk through…
Also, the band has been remarkably — consistently — great, & each release since that debut has been chock full of great songs. I’ve now seen each tour, & the live shows have been beautiful moments. They’ve got a few great covers of others’ songs, but maybe tops for me is this Beyonce tune:
Happy xx day, y’all.
xoxo, ~ m
