Lifenotes #43: June 2024

EMF Camp, Parklife, and maybe a new house 🏡

· 4 min read ⏱️

✨ Highlights

  • EMF Camp: I finally made it to EMF this year and I had the best time 💛
    • Some highlights:
      • I solved Clippy’s murder with some friends, through several puzzles scattered across the site.
      • On the first evening I went to see Dune at the film tent, and before the film started a video of an owl flying towards the screen played and a 5 digit number flashed on. The owl reminded me of Twin Peaks so I wrote the number down, and then I found a black lodge themed table with a phone, and that set me off looking for owls like a lunatic 🦉
      • I met a bunch of lovely people, hung out with old and new friends, learnt a bit about how synthesizers work, and even helped solder someone’s eyelashes! (⚠️ not near their face)
  • Went down to London for this year’s Monzo Mela, a summer festival thing work do every year. It was pretty good fun to hang out with my work pals, and to see some of them bop around on the world’s smallest space hopper 😂
  • Went to Parklife festival in Manchester with my friend Hayden. It was really good fun, and I’m pleased I got to see Mahalia and Doja Cat live. It also made me more enthusiastic about electronic music, so I might need to find a nearby rave soon.
  • Got my offer accepted to buy a new house 🎉
  • Finally got some exercise back into my routine, found a yoga studio nearby and I’m hoping I can go every week.

🎮 Played/Read/Watched

  • Dune: This was screened on the first night at EMF Camp, and it was, as always, an enjoyable watch.
  • Hackers: This was screened on night two of EMF Camp, and it included a Q&A with the director and the visual effects lead. It was really fun to watch this with an enthusiastic crowd of nerds.
  • Writing for Busy Readers by Todd Rogers and Jessica Lasky-Fink: This is a short and sweet book with lots of good tips on how to communicate better at work. I found it good, but I also think I already do most if not all that they suggest, so I don’t think I learnt much. I’d still recommend it though.
  • Finished Succession: This was very very entertaining TV, the writing is just excellent. Defo writing some quotes down for when I’m feeling particularly mean.
  • Abbott Elementary Series 3: Another great series, not much else to say to be honest.
  • Hacks Series 3: Same here, really enjoying this show.
  • Civil War: I only watched this cause I like Wagner Moura. It was fine.
  • Colossus: The Forbin Project: I missed this at EMF cause it was screened quite late, so I watched it at home and it’s such a fun film. It’s unintentionally funny and silly, would recommend a watch if you like sassy robots.
  • Bridgerton: as always, a very fun watch.
  • Fast Crimes at Lambda School by Benjamin Sandofsky: I remember following the drama when it unravelled, and being shocked by how overtly awful the founder was. This story lays it all out in one place and, whew.
  • On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, by Ocean Vuong: this is a beautiful, emotional story. I liked it a lot.
  • Catching the Big Fish: Meditation, Consciousness, and Creativity, by David Lynch: this was heavy on the benefits of transcendental mediation, but it was an interesting overview of how David Lynch got into art and how he sees ideas / film making, it was a short and fun listen
  • The Thick of it: This was a really fun watch. I have seen and loved Veep, so no surprises that I enjoyed the OG.
  • Peep Show: I’ve been recommended this sooo many times by the britishes, and I did give it a go, but it was too cringe for me.
  • Do the Right Thing: this was an excellent watch, would highly recommend it.

📸 Pics

Collage of pictures from June: A traffic warning sign with a drawing of a spider on it; me holding my laptop showing off all the stickers on it; my EMF Camp bage, a hexagonal electronic badge with a circular screen in the middle; a small side table on the grass next to a tree, it has a black and white chevron table cloth, a red lamp and a red rotary phone, there's also a small owl statue on the table; my friend David, a white man with long blonde / red dreadlocks, tweaking patch cables on a synthesizer; a black and white picture of some clouds over the treeline; my friend Mark and his daughter Lu at EMF Camp, Lu is smiling and holding Mark's nose; an installation at Nottingham Contemporary, there's a big pile of dirt on the floor and there's a big silver fish swimming out of it; the facade of Nottingham Contemporary, a ridged concrete building with a big window, and you can see a cloudy blue sky above; the EMF 2024 sign, lit up at night, with the bar tent in the background; my dog Juno, a fluffy black german shepherd, giving me a sassy look; my friend Chris, wearing a black t-shirt and a green cap, posing with his pizza and pouty lips; the sunset at Parklife festival, the sky is orange and blue, and you can see a ferris wheel and a large crowd of people; my friend Hayden and I, smiling at the camera, we're both wearing sunglasses and have the sun behind us; Doja Cat singing on stage in the rain at Parklife festival, she's wearing a white crop top and white legwarmer things, and she's holding a microphone.

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