Weeknotes 9

You can relax because I did in fact finish The Stone Sky this week. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the previous two books, largely because it had to be crammed with all the backstory and lore that those books had been mercifully light on, but it was still very inventive and thoughtful. It was particularly exciting to finally see more of the series’ world and the technology that supported it — at times I was reminded of the most thrilling bits of Rendezvous with Rama.

It’s satisfying to have made it all the way through to the end of a trilogy for the first time in ages. I don’t know what to read next but I’d like to try to keep it up and see if I can rebuild a fiction habit. The trick of using a supplementary audiobook to maintain momentum is working well, so I’ll probably dig into the Audible catalogue and see if anything appeals.

I realise that I’m either early or late to the party depending on what country you’re in, but The Mandalorian is amazingly good. I had virtually no expectations for it but, well, it’s so much better than it needs to be and that’s invigorating. It’s a simple show, which arguably prevents it from doing anything particularly groundbreaking with its story or characters, but every part of it is so well executed that it’s a joy to watch.

To pick one aspect of many: Ludwig Göransson has done an excellent job with the score. The main theme perfectly evokes cowboy movies while also paying tribute to (but not imitating) John Williams. I haven’t enjoyed a soundtrack this much since Gustavo Santaolalla’s work on The Last of Us.

The “virtual production” setup is pretty amazing too:

(Yes, I’ve paid for a year of Disney+.)

Point of order: Nat feels very strongly that The Child wouldn’t speak in object–subject–verb order. So if you’re going to make a meme or something, make sure you get it right.

I recovered from my baking tantrum and made some more sourdough this week. It’s not right yet but it does get slightly better every time so I think there’s hope.

This time I added a tiny bit (5g) less water and was more vigorous with the stretching & folding during bulk fermentation. I still ended up with super-sticky dough but liberally flouring every surface made shaping a bit less hopeless.

The main challenge, as ever, is to prevent myself from becoming too emotionally invested so I can relax and enjoy the process instead of getting all wound up and racked with anxiety about the outcome. That’s probably like writing a computer program or whatever isn’t it. Thanks for coming to my bread talk.

I am excited about the HBO adaptation of The Last of Us, of course. But at the moment I’m also trying not to think about infectious diseases and how they’re transmitted etc, so that’s a recipe for cognitive dissonance.