Finally got the internet back up and just in time – My roommate came back and she wouldn’t be happy if there wasn’t any way to get online back at home. Also download a ton of books from an open directory.

Woke up earlier than usual (2pm) today, so feeling good. Eating my chicken feet, drinking some baijiu+sprite, ready to look at a couple books and a movie, and write a blog post.

Job Search

Getting ready for that interview on Tuesday night by going through the job qualifications on their job ad bullet by bullet, technology by technology, and writing a couple lines of notes for each. So far, it’s about understanding the Java-Spring stack more than anything. I spent a while on it today, and by Monday night it should be complete.

Books

Downloaded 100+ books with topics ranging from anatomy to growing mushrooms. Here’s a subset of what I’ve been glancing through:

• Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat! (ISBN 9781932907001) which is about effective screenwriting
• Docker and Kubernetes for Java Developers: Let’s bring Java into the 21st century?
• Introductory Plant Biology 9th Edition
• Food in Medieval Times

Movies

Do the Right Thing (1989) 🔗

Trouble’s brewing on a hot day on a Brooklyn block. There’s a huge cast of characters and you get to know their distinct personalities and distinguishing features over the almost two hours of the movie. It’s a good time with a style that feels like the logical middle ground between the 80s and 90s. The climax is unique and the motivations of the characters are more deep than you might expect from such a fun movie.

These kind of movies make me wonder if interpersonal neighborhood relationships were any different before cell phones were common. It’s obviously a fictionalized and exaggerated setting but nowadays it feels like people are inside watching something rather than hanging around outside on weekends. In my old neighborhood in Milwaukee’s East Side I would sometimes bring some beers and chat with people smoking or drinking on their porch, but it was a rare occasion.

I first heard about this film from a movie poster in the Milwaukee East Side Sal’s Pizza.

The Piano Teacher (2001) 🔗

Explores a relationship between a piano teacher and her student. Watch it if you’re interested in a unique look at romance and sexuality.

Things I’m Liking

• Bitdownload.ir: Iranian open directory website. Their ebook collection is fantastic and I spent the afternoon downloading a bunch of stuff. In particular, there’s a 7-volume collection of How Products are Made which describes the manufacturing process of everyday items, like asbestos, aluminum foil, baby strollers, or salsa. There’s even recommended reading for how to learn more about each item.
• Wilde Life by Pascalle Lepas: Midwestern supernatural narrative webcomic.
• Kill Six Billion Demons: Surreal violent grotesque fantasy angels-demons heaven-hell webcomic with art much much better than its plot. But seriously, this art is fantastic.
• Drugs and Wires: Cyberpunk (floppy-disk drug VR megacorp 1995 cyberpunk) webcomic. Mary Safro and Io Black make an endearing setting and characters. It’s a continuation of the cyberdelic Dreamspace.

Misc

As I was writing this, a loud argument broke out next door. Craning my head out the window, it looked like there was a squabble between patrons and employees right outside the nearby brothel foot massage parlor. Surprised they haven’t been busted by the police yet.

Things just feel off in Nanjing now with the approach of New Years. Our local Halal restaurant is closed for the holidays, as well as nearly every print shop. The streets are slowly getting quieter and quieter. New Years is the new conversation starter, superseding “isn’t it cold?” It’s much more influential on the Chinese than any holiday on Americans.