Weeknotes – 1747 of 4175

Hi all 👋 Hope you had a good week.

I’m still getting into the swing of writing these weeknotes, so I’ve missed the past two weeks. I’m realising that I shouldn’t wait until the end of the week to write it. I should just add to it each day.

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been thinking, learning and writing these part three weeks.

🏡 Life Update

My biggest highlight recently was getting to feed baby lambs at Herrings Green Activity Farm. Delightful. Aside from having some farm animals, it’s also a cracking owl sanctuary. My main takeaway is that eagles are scary and owls are spooky.

Like everyone else on the internet I’ve been using OpenAI’s new 4o Image Generation to convert photos into Studio Ghibli images.

This new image generator is a big, big leap forward. I am very scared of image/video AI.¹ There needs to be regulation or protection against it – and quickly. Of course, it’s not only very difficult to do (the horse has left the stable), but also just unlikely to happen.

There’s plenty of inventions that create a clear before and after in the history of the world. AI is one. It’s a printing press moment.

House purchase update. We didn’t get the cottage I fell in love with. Devastating :( Though oddly, I was less sad than I expected. Once I knew it was not possible I just accepted it. One day I will own a cottage. But by the looks of it, it won’t be this decade.

Me and my girlfriend stayed in a spa hotel. It’s an obvious thing to say, but it was relaxing. I’ve never done a spa weekend before, so wasn’t sure what to expect. But it was lovely. I like anywhere that has a sauna. On my final day I had two baths and spent time in the pool, jacuzzi, and sauna.

Went to see the Basement Yard podcast live. It was more for my girlfriend than me, but I had fun. Though quite a few members of the crowd were awful and shouted throughout.

But the for me, the highlight was Peter Serafinowicz sitting right behind me. Within seconds of hearing him talk I suspected it was him – he has a wonderful, velvety voice. The only thing that threw me off was his Liverpool accent. I didn’t realise he was from there, and I guess he tends to not use his original accent in most projects. He seemed like a very pleasant guy from what I could overhear.

🧠 Things I Learnt

The Karaites are an ancient Jewish religious sect “beyond the acceptable fringes of mainstream rabbinic Judaism, recognising only the Torah as Devine law.” They survived the holocaust by arguing they were not really Jewish at all.

💭 Short Thoughts and Notes

I really need to eat more tuna and cucumber sandwiches. I kind of feel that a sandwich for lunch is a defeat. The depressing, boring choice. But tuna and cucumber is divine. It’s Mother’s Day today and me and my sister are taking Mum to the Savoy Hotel for afternoon tea. I’m hoping those sandwiches won’t feel like defeat.

🎬 Films

The Book of Eli

I remember this being a very solid dystopian disaster film, with great action scenes and a stylish look.

Watching it again 15 years on, it’s actually rather crap.

Gary Oldman and Denzel Washington do their thing. But this is quite dull and uninspired. And I didn’t realise how bad Mila Kunis is in it.

I do still like the ending though. 38% (Stream it)

Taxi (2004)

This is objectively bad. But I have a soft spot for it. It’s fun, harmless and keeps you perfectly entertained for 90 minutes. 60% (Stream it)

📺 TV

Game of Thrones

One of my top five TV shows of all time, this is my fifth or sixth rewatch. The main difference this time around is that I was sober. When the show was being aired one of the highlights of my week was getting drunk and watching the latest episode. I have fond memories of it. And when the show finished it entered the pantheon of films/TV that I enjoyed watching drunk. But I don’t drink much these days, so this was a sober experience. But no less of a great one.

Sure, the last season is pretty naff (though better than I remembered). But Game of Thrones continues to be tremendous TV, with many exceptional characters and jaw dropping moments.

The world hasn’t forgotten or forgiven the awful ending and it feels like the show has almost disappeared from the cultural map. It just kind of forgot that it was one of the most dominant forces in TV for many years. Each and every episode was an event, with people going to bars to watch episodes as a group (link contains major spoilers). But I haven’t forgotten. It’s still exceptional. If you’ve never seen it before or haven’t rewatched for a long time, I encourage you to give it a go. (Stream it)

A Thousand Blows

A show about crime and bareknuckle boxing set in 1880s London should be right up my street. But this felt a bit Disneyified and I just couldn’t get into it. The world or characters just didn’t feel real or interesting. (Stream it)

🎵 Music

Worked my way through the first few albums of Mac DeMarco, for the first time. A tad disappointed. It seems like his best songs were the couple that I was already aware of and had listened to.

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