what3ver

[what3ver]

[what3ver]

“I marvel, as always, at Matthew Rhys as Philip Jennings. Has any actor on a major drama in the past 17 years been asked to be so flatly miserable for so long? Has any actor been able to pull it off this well, whether he’s eating McDonald’s with a fake son while remembering playing airplane with a father he’s recently learned was Stalinist executioner, or holding a gun to the head of a kindly old couple for an execution of his own? “I can’t just get this order from them and do whatever they say,” he tells Elizabeth, before getting this order from them and doing whatever they say. He’s thinking of his dad, and Gabriel, and every other person he knows who showed him great kindness while they weren’t busy murdering people. In them, he sees himself.”

[what3ver]

Titane (2021), dir. Julia Ducournau

[what3ver]

a good day even though my thoughts were truly out to get me today.

- early morning walk through windy & leafy side streets of my neighborhood to pick up pastries

- asked stupid questions at work which (despite what it may sound like) i’m proud of

- shared a tin of sardines, some truffle sheep cheese and toast for lunch

- the dress i snagged at a %60 discount arrived, looks great and is comfortable.

- yoga!! honestly the real mood changer

- braised miso-tahini cannellini beans with leeks and mushrooms a success

- jane eyre with a candle lit and bill evans in the background. as close to “reading by a fire” i can get in an apartment

[what3ver]

Zhiyong Jing aka Jing Zhiyong aka 景志勇 (Chinese, based Beijing, China) - High Beam, 2022, Paintings: Acrylic on Canvas

[what3ver]

Candyman (1992) dir. Bernard Rose

[what3ver]

Paul Evans

"Lavenham Light"

#art

[what3ver]

Last week was New York Climate Week, which happens alongside the UN General Assembly every year, or as I overheard one person describe it: the UNGA games. I've never participated in Climate Week, but those who are regulars told me it seemed even busier and griftier than usual this year. Some thought that was a function of the high stakes U.S. election, others figured it was because so many people are skipping the annual UN Conference of the Parties, or COP, this year in Azerbaijan. In any case, yes there were the expected corporate greenwashing showcases, but even the more legit climate events left me with the same feeling I've been having at most climate conferences in the past year or two, an unsettling disconnect between people noshing on passed hors d'oeuvres and sipping craft cocktails while talking about the need to "stay positive!" "tell the positive stories!" "give people hope!" and the reality crashing in all around us, which this week included Hurricane Helene, a deadly storm and landslides in Nepal, a climate activist being sentenced to 2 years in prison in the UK for throwing soup on a painting, and, as always, more news of expanding fossil fuel development.

An article that got a lot of attention on climate twitter recently accused the climate movement of having an elitist obsession with disinformation when really it should be focused on deep community outreach to ensure a just energy transition. I don't think those two things are mutually exclusive—they're both needed! And the author got quite a few things wrong about both disinformation itself and how research on it is being used, but she made a couple of very valid points too: First, that the climate movement tends to be out of touch with marginalized and working class communities, and second, that funder interests have far too much influence over what the movement is pursuing at any given time. If NY Climate Week is any indication, the new flavor of the month is positivity and solutions. Over and over again I heard people emphasize how important it was to tell positive stories; one colleague—himself a very positive guy in general!—described it as "a zombie-like repetition of 'we have to stay positive!'"

This insistence that everything is normal and fine when it is so clearly not is something of a hallmark of the climate movement in my experience, particularly amongst those with power and money.

At an event about climate journalism, funders talked about how, because this is the "most important story of our time," they don't tell journalists what to do, but then immediately noted that they only fund reporting on water, or positive, uplifting stories that are solutions-focused...which is in fact telling journalists where to focus. I heard a UN official talk about how the only thing that will motivate people is positive stories...while also stressing the importance of tackling disinformation.

Then I started to see reactions to the news that UK climate activist Phoebe Plummer had been sentenced to 2 years in prison for throwing soup at the glass case around Van Gogh's Sunflowers (her co-activist Anna Holland received slightly less—20 months—because she wasn't the one who threw the soup). They mostly boiled down to admonishing the activists for being unlikable and a general "well that's what happens when you break the law" attitude. A day later, Asheville, NC, a cherished artists' haven, was being wiped off the map by a climate change-fueled hurricane on steroids (Helene). It was such a bizarre chain of events, the civility and forced positivity of all those climate gatherings followed by the lecturing of activists engaging in direct action, topped off by a preview of what's to come as world leaders dither around being very civil, nibbling chilled shrimp at the edges of this crisis.

[what3ver]

[what3ver]

“euuuh i’m james from twin peaks and i’m sad because my bike won’t fuck me and i’m here to make the next five minutes feel like an hour”

[what3ver]

german tourists will come up to you and say some shit like entschuldigung ist there a Nationallostundgefundenbüronummer i can call weil i have mein handytelefon gelosten :( and you have to look at them like they’re a dog that is about to be put down and go Herr wir sind in Südeuropa be so so ernst rn

[what3ver]

I've been thinking of nothing but the harris campaign for days and I still can't fully comprehend that it was real

[what3ver]

**Slow campaign in need of boost**

I'm reaching out to ask for your help in spreading this campaign for Ghadar from Gaza. Ghadar is facing severe challenges, and any support can make a big difference in providing essentials like food, medical care, and shelter.

Please consider donating if you can, and help by sharing the link with others to spread the word.

Every share and donation counts, and your support means a lot. Thank you!

Vetted by @gazavetters here line 6

[what3ver]

ahmed's campaign is slowing badly. he gets only a few donations a day—as i write this, the last one came in 14 hours ago.

ahmed's family are trapped in gaza, and he's desperately trying to raise enough money to get them to safety. just keeping up with daily food expenses is already next to impossible, and they've been suffering from malnutrition and acute illness due to the contaminated water. ahmed's children are now missing their second year in a row of school, spending their days waiting in line for food and water instead. imagine knowing that the people dearest to you in the world are being bombed, starved, and shot at every single day.

ahmed is vetted and you can keep up with him at @ahmedpalestine

€11,536 / €55,000

[what3ver]

due to panopticon budget cuts everyone is advised to regulate their actions under threat of their own scrutiny. this is forever btw

[what3ver]

I really do like how he’s doing this for an audience of mostly men

[what3ver]