65. Already my favourite gadget of the year
I.
One of the weapons in my battle against social media addiction and doomscrolling is the Boox Palma. Itās an Android device with a 6.1-inch black-and-white e-ink screen. A phone without a SIM card. In theory, it offers access to every form of temptation via Wi-Fi. It runs TikTok, Instagram and even YouTube (yes, videos on e-ink!), but: why would you install those apps on it in the first place?
However good the screen is, itās still e-ink. Without colour. So a lot of information and visual stimuli are lost right there. The display responds more slowly to your fingers than your attention-grabbing device of the same size, so be prepared for resistance if you want to scroll for hours on end.
The Boox Palma is a phone you donāt use as a phone. And thatās brilliant. Itās more compact than an e-reader, but not so small that itās a pain to read a book on it. In fact, Iāve read (much) more in the past few months than I did before. At the coffee machine, whilst waiting for the train, on the train, in the loo, queuing for the Mario Kart ride at Super Nintendo World. It fits in your pocket; itās ideal.Ā I always have it with me. The size helps you keep reading. You fly through a page so quickly that you end up reading the next one too. And the next. And the next.
For me, itās the ultimate distraction-free reading device. Another plus: youāre not tied to a specific ecosystem or app, as you can install any book app on Android. Kindle, Kobo, you name it. You turn the pages using the volume buttons (brilliant) and the screen is easy on the eyes, so you can not only read comfortably in bed, but also get to sleep afterwards.
Iām rambling. Am I rambling? Iām enthusiastic. There are hardly any cons on my list of pros and cons. Well, you canāt turn pages in every app using the physical buttons. And it runs on an old version of Android, so Iād advise against using it for online banking. Oh, and itās not cheap (299 euros). Otherwise: top-notch.
If you donāt take my word for it, then certainly that of the incomparable Craig Mod. What do you use it for, I asked him. Answer: āReading, reading, reading, and buying books to read, and copying URLs of long-form articles to readā.
II.
The Disney documentary Jim Henson Idea Man naturally touches on the beginnings and success of Sesame Street. Who didnāt learn to count and recognise the alphabet through it? Who didnāt grow up with it?
Television had been around for a while, and back then there were children who watched it for up to fifty hours a week. Henson thought they might as well learn something from it. And in an experimental way, too. In that way, he proved that creativity, art and metaphors can be used as a force for good, says his son Brian in the film.
Nowadays, children watch videos on TikTok for fifty hours a week. Jim Henson sadly passed away long before the rise of social media, but Iām still curious: could his Muppets have beaten Big Tech too?
In any case, there isnāt a single child who would declare their love for an app, as a girl does to Kermit in a famous clip. After laughingly disrupting an ABC lesson, she says from the bottom of her heart, āI love youā, to the frog who has just walked out of shot. He returns to respond to her heart-warming declaration of love.
(Incidentally, thereās nothing funnier than Kermit with a crumpled face; for that alone, Iām grateful to Henson.)PS.
The New York Times has brought together a number of photographers and asked them to select 25 photographs that collectively shape the modern world (since 1955). They are all gems, accompanied by context and explanations from the panellists. Including a print showing Emmett Tillās great-uncle pointing out his nephewās murderers, a portrait of Che Guevara and a stunning image from SebastiĆ£o Salgadoās famous photo series on the worldās largest open-cast gold mine. Definitely worth a look.
Bobby Fingers doesnāt often release a new video, but when one does appear, youād better drop everything to see what madness heās come up with this time. This time, the artist built a diorama about that time in 1999 when a goose flew into model Fabio Lanzoniās face, whilst he was on a rollercoaster. The video soon becomes about much more than that. Hilarious once again, and hats off to this man who goes far beyond what is necessary for his videos.
---Iāve been a fan of Jenny Nicholson ever since her video about a Canadian church that tells the Easter story every year in musical form, based on a well-known film. The Church Play Cinematic Universe. Nicholson doesnāt release anything new very often either, but after a year sheās back with a four-hour (!) video about a massive flop: the Star Wars hotel at Walt Disney World that opened in 2022 and went under after a year and a half. This is exactly why I love YouTube (I mean: of all the platforms, Iām most addicted to YouTube).
---While catching up after the holidays, I came across some bad news. On the day Bob Dylan turned 83, Tom Willems announced he was stopping his blog the Bob Dylan notes. That website and its predecessor Bob Dylan in (the) Netherlands were part of my regular round of website visits for years. According to him, the main reason is that he is no longer able to deliver quality content. There has been little sign of that recently, but if that is how he feels, this is a brave decision after 16 years of blogging about Bob. Iām going to miss the posts!
The creators of the best camera app on iOS (Halide) have released a video app. Itās called Kino. You can film in various aspect ratios and apply colour correction straight away to give your video a professional look. Once again, itās simple to use and the design is absolutely stunning.
Amazon has announced a series based on SEGAās Yakuza games. Like A Dragon: Yakuza, comprising six episodes, will be released on Prime Video in October. The story centres on one of the main characters from the game series, Kazuma Kiryu, and is set in 1995 and 2005.
Upon returning from Japan (my three-part report is compiled here), I started playing Yakuza 0 so I could relive the trip for a while. The game is set in alternate versions of Osaka and Tokyo and itās a real treat. As well as a gripping, melodramatic story, the game also features countless bizarre side stories, which I hope will make it into the series.
After seeing the exhibition on Osamu Tezukaās Black Jack, I decided to look up at home how I could get hold of the manga series. It turns out thatās quite a complicated business. Meanwhile, via Waxy.org, I was directed to this short film by Tezuka, about a boy who walks through the streets and starts jumping until heās leaping over cities and oceans. Eventually, he comes across a country at war. (This is the making-of.)
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