Friday Night Lights, Beautyland, Code Dependent, and Blueberries
Summer is for berries, Texas, and aliens.
I wish I could stop saying, wow this week really flew by, but that is just what becoming an adult is I think--saying it over and over. But I mean it in a good way this time! My regular job kept me busy as we approach an event we’ve been working on. I started back up my piano lessons after a two-week break. And I’ve been trying hard to get in three runs every week. All these things just really add up. Still, its a beautiful summer and I think my favorite season just flys by because I could never have enough time with it anyway.
Watching
Friday Night Lights - Season 1
I’ve been really into Texas-media, for some reason, with watching Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders (which I have a lot more to say on later) and re-watching Reba (which I have less to say on, but was ok background noise). Now, I’ve decided to watch Friday Night Lights, the series.
I seemed to have missed the mid-2000s hype on this one, but I actually think I would have eaten this up as a high schooler. As an adult, it’s not a bad watch. I wonder constantly how they get way with having a cast of mid-20s play teenagers, but I guess that’s show biz. Otherwise, it is dripping in drama. Scandals and struggles and I guess there’s football though, I sometimes zone out those scenes (I am here for the drama and characters).
Truthfully, I picked this show up because there was nothing else interesting to me and I like to have some background while I do other things. Season 1 is the longest, and I’ll be curious about the upcoming changes in cast members for the later seasons, but it’s been a fun, low-stakes watch.
Reading
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
I happened to see the book club on Cherry Bomb start Beautyland and was immediately intrigued by this selection. In short, Adina is an alien experiencing human life, from childhood to adulthood. She writes down her observations and faxes them to her superiors who are looking for a new home, possibly on earth. Admittedly, it took me a minute to get into the rhythm of the way this is written. It came across dry and almost too observational, but it really grew on me. I think in the end that contributed to the humor throughout, as well as making the melancholic vibe permeate throughout more troubled times. Expressing disconnectedness and grief in the way that we feel it, perfectly. I highlighted some particularly special passages below.
Overall, it was a great read. I really got into it, and was in love with the humanity and realness of it all, as told by a little alien.
Code Dependent: Living in the Shadow of AI by Madhumita Murgia
I have been really into books on AI lately. I am trying to grasp what it is and how it’s going to continue to shape our future. No surprise to anyone, but AI is not all great and helpful. There was a quote in this book that went something like all industrial revolutions are built on the backs of slaves, and that hit hard. But the thing with technology and being removed from it, as many of us are in terms of its development, is that seeing the problems with it can be hard to do without serious investigation. Thankfully, Madhumita Murgia has labored intensely and all over for this spectacular book of the ground work happening for AI.
Her book explores how AI exploits foreign laborers (because you have to teach AI how to be AI), the major issues for women and generative AI (we’ve already heard about celebrities being turned into AI, but this is disgusting), and algorithms ruining the already troublesome world of gig work. I felt pretty sick reading a lot of this. And then I was pretty angry with tech companies continuing this work without addressing serious issues.
It’s a surprisingly moving book for the topic of AI. I think it's a necessary read and can have a great impact, if people care enough. It was an amazing read, and the journalism is incredible. I listened to the audiobook, which was read by the author, and it was a great experience. Highly recommend it!
Doing
Only a few weeks ago we were picking strawberries and now we’re in July and it’s time for blueberry picking. Saturday morning we woke up and went to our favorite little garden and u-pick store to stock up for the next indeterminable time because I have been inhaling them since we brought them home and now I don’t know how long it will actually last us. We managed to beat most of the heat, and ended up with about 15 pounds of blueberries. Most of these we freeze to put in smoothies, but I also ended up making a batch of muffins with this new recipe that was really quite good. Another perfect summer activity!
