{"id":655,"date":"2021-03-07T23:05:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-07T23:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/?page_id=655"},"modified":"2021-03-08T01:09:56","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T01:09:56","slug":"digestable","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/digestable\/","title":{"rendered":"digestable"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list alignfull is-style-twentytwentyone-latest-posts-borders wp-block-latest-posts is-layout-flow wp-block-latest-posts-is-layout-flow\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-faux-op\/\">The Faux-Op<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Impulse Buy There\u2019s a shop down the block from my house that I\u2019m in an interesting relationship with. It&#8217;s called The Source Bulk Foods, a franchise of a zero-waste food store in the UK and Ireland. I go there often for staples and dry goods: oat milk, muesli, rice, lentils, oil, vinegar, etc. It serves&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-faux-op\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Faux-Op<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/when-chad-met-that-girl\/\">When Chad Met That Girl<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">The Once-Over Love is in the air so let\u2019s talk about a match made in the internet\u2019s hetero-hellscape: Chad and That Girl. Content warning that this column talks about sexual relations and sexism so if you\u2019re not up for that please scroll-on-by! According to fashion youtuber moderngurlz \u201cThat Girl\u201d is a TikTok aesthetic like cottagecore&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/when-chad-met-that-girl\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">When Chad Met That Girl<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/neon-bible\/\">Neon Bible<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">\u201cSee that silver shine\u201d Arcade Fire\u2019s debut album Funeral ends with the soothing image of a backseat nap. \u201cI like the peace in the backseat \/ I don\u2019t have to drive, I don\u2019t have to speak \/ I can watch the countryside, I can fall asleep.\u201d But where Funeral is driven by the urge to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/neon-bible\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Neon Bible<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/green-marshall-plan\/\">Green Marshall Plan<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">At a Glance Some of the most well respected names in American climate policy (Bill McKibben, Elizabeth Warren, Jamie Henn, and Data for Progress) have been calling for a Green Marshall Plan: an expansion upon the postwar program of United States financial aid to countries in Europe. The&nbsp; context for the recent calls is the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/green-marshall-plan\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Green Marshall Plan<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/milk-hacks\/\">Milk Hacks<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First Glance A consistent source of entertainment for me is seeing what videos YouTube decides to slap on my homepage. I do my best to lock down my data online and preventing Google from keeping my search history or any of my cookies has completely bamboozled YouTube\u2019s already shitty algorithm. Alongside off-the-wall recommendations like \u201cDoctor&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/milk-hacks\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Milk Hacks<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/imagined-academia\/\">Imagined Academia<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First Glance I had a big chunk of thesis to get to my advisor last week and by Friday I had fully fallen into the paper-writing fugue state that continues to dominate my academic writing process. Sometimes these panic\/focused sessions are aided by a white noise generator or a pomodoro timer but this time it&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/imagined-academia\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Imagined Academia<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/egress\/\">Egress<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First Glance My desk is on the top floor of one of those sprawling 1970s university buildings. A big brutalist block with offices, classrooms, lecture halls, and two museums. Buildings like this are pretty universally reviled, everyone at my college talks about how my building was supposed to emulate the hanging gardens of Babylon, but&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/egress\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Egress<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/escaping-the-silo\/\">Escaping the Silo<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First GlanceWhen I graduated from college in 2017 I made a promise to myself that I wouldn\u2019t let myself do the same thing for more than 4 years. As this column demonstrates, I have some wide ranging interests and the idea of devoting myself to one thing to the extent that I can\u2019t also explore&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/escaping-the-silo\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Escaping the Silo<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/commodity-vs-reality\/\">Commodity vs Reality<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First GlanceLast week BBC Radio 4\u2019s podcast Farming Today ran a story on the rising price of cooking oil, triggered by the abandonment of Ukrainian sunflower crops and wartime trade disruption. In the piece, agricultural commodity expert Dr. James Fry explains that pressures on Ukraine are only one factor in a network of events that&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/commodity-vs-reality\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Commodity vs Reality<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/shaping-our-city\/\">Shaping Our City<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First GlanceIPUT, the Irish Property Unit Trust, is the largest owner of office space in Dublin and one of the wealthiest real estate developers in the nation. Walking around the south side of the city where I live, you see the name everywhere on new high-rise office buildings and construction sites for future offices. Dublin&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/shaping-our-city\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Shaping Our City<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/bots\/\">BOTS?!<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First GlanceI\u2019ve written here before about how terrible my YouTube recommendations are. It&#8217;s a point of pride how little the algorithm seems to know about me. But things have gotten much worse in my feed, namely all the Kitchen Nightmares clips and Doctor Mike reaction videos have been replaced with nonstop coverage of how terrible&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/bots\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">BOTS?!<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-capitalist-impulse\/\">The Capitalist Impulse<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">I held a little party last Friday in our garage. The weather was nice and a couple of friends ended up in town at the same time so we decided to make a thing of it. I love going into Mrs. Dalloway mode, putting a bunch of energy into a night and then getting to&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-capitalist-impulse\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Capitalist Impulse<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/built-to-rent\/\">Built to Rent<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First GlanceWhen I first moved to Dublin almost two years ago I was hopeful about housing. Sure, I had to take out a student loan to afford living abroad while I got my masters degree, but I was certain that Dublin rent would be a little more affordable than New York. I was wrong. Though&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/built-to-rent\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Built to Rent<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/what-the-constitution-means-to-me\/\">What the Constitution Means to ME<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Rough Draft I\u2019ve been trying to find a way to write about democracy in the United States for a while, especially the way we Americans think of our own nation and ideas of democratic freedom. The general myth most of us have come to accept is that America was the first country to reject monarchy&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/what-the-constitution-means-to-me\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">What the Constitution Means to ME<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/things\/\">Things<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">I bought a little keep-cup last week, one of those 8 oz glass to-go cups that are perfect for a latte or a flat white. Walking home sipping a hot chocolate out of my new item, any drop of retail-therapy satisfaction I felt was drowned out by guilt. This is just how I feel when&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/things\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Things<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/history-is-only-a-tool\/\">History is Only a Tool<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First Glance As I go about my PhD research into postwar Irish agricultural pollution, one of my favorite resources to explore is the archives of Ireland\u2019s national broadcaster RT\u00c9. I love the grainy feel of 1980s television reporting, the starched collars of reporters and the fuzziness of analog microphones. I strongly believe that history is&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/history-is-only-a-tool\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">History is Only a Tool<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/janelle-monae-retrospective\/\">Janelle Mon\u00e1e Retrospective<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First ListenI recently read Janelle Mon\u00e1e\u2019s book The Memory Librarian. It\u2019s a collection of short stories building upon the dystopian society the self described singer\/songwriter, actress, producer, fashion icon, and futurist built through their album Dirty Computer and its accompanying \u201cemotion picture.\u201d I\u2019ve been a fandroid since 89.3 The Current broadcast Tightrope into the truck\u2019s&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/janelle-monae-retrospective\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Janelle Mon\u00e1e Retrospective<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/edit-edit\/\">Edit Edit<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Initial Sketch Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s album Renaissance came out a couple weeks ago and I\u2019ve been listening to it for the past few days. The spectacular work deserves a whole volume of analysis but I want to focus on one particular aspect of Renaissance: its string of rebirths and their implications for streamed media. Beyonc\u00e9 and Lizzo&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/edit-edit\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Edit Edit<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/767\/\">Beyond the Sea<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">At first glance, Google Maps\u2019 bathymetric imagery is pretty fantastic. Unlike the satellite images that Google uses for overland maps, the world\u2019s oceans are shown by their depth. The black spot where the Pacific Plate subducts beneath Asia looks almost like it could be the shadow cast by the Filipino Plate on the ocean floor&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/767\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Beyond the Sea<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/nope\/\">NOPE<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First ContactI saw Jordan Peele\u2019s latest film NOPE this weekend and absolutely loved it. It\u2019s one of these movies that stuck so deep in my head that I just want to talk about it with everyone and read every review and piece of analysis I can find. Unfortunately, the first thing most people have said&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/nope\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">NOPE<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-edges-of-extraction\/\">The Edges of Extraction<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First GlanceGreetings from the weird part of Dublin Airport that is actually America. The path to the pre-clearance line is marked by a long series of American flags, and the security line is all faux-fancy wood paneling. It\u2019s 10:00 AM here and the person behind me in line ordered a croissant and a last pint&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-edges-of-extraction\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Edges of Extraction<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/brooklyn-renaissance\/\">Brooklyn Renaissance<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First Listen I really enjoy the new Beyonc\u00e9 album. No work is perfect and neither is Renaissance but it&#8217;s beautifully crafted, infinitely danceable, and effortlessly fun. But until this week I\u2019ve been enjoying it primarily solo, putting it in my headphones while I walk to the office or clean my room. The one exception has&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/brooklyn-renaissance\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Brooklyn Renaissance<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/opportunities\/\">Opportunities<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First GlanceLast month I got the opportunity to participate in a music residency at the Gaudeamus festival in Utrecht. I want to spend this column unpacking that sentence, particularly the words opportunity and residency. But first, the bare-bones details about what this opportunity entailed: I was given \u20ac800 to make a piece of music with&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/opportunities\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Opportunities<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/deep-state\/\">DeEp StAtE<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">This piece discusses antisemitic remarks and acts of violent extremism. I\u2019ll stylize any hate speech in sPoNgEbOb MeMe StYlE to try to lessen its impact but it&#8217;s still in there. First LookThis week Adidas, following Balenciaga and JP Morgan, dropped its partnership with Kanye West after West published a series antisemitic tweets. Reading some of&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/deep-state\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">DeEp StAtE<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/nibbling-the-edge\/\">Nibbling the Edge<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First BitesYears ago Lena let me in on a secret: a certain bagel shop in Brooklyn that puts all its leftover bagels in a single trash bag on the street. We biked up to the bag and Lena showed me how to feel each of the black trash bags for the telltale bagel-y lumps of&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/nibbling-the-edge\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Nibbling the Edge<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/jenny-inventory\/\">Jenny Inventory<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">IntroFor better or worse, I consume a lot of YouTube content. The past months I\u2019ve strayed towards longer-form video essays, ranging from 45 minutes to almost three hours. I\u2019m not exactly comfortable with this kind or volume of media consumption, but I do it anyway. Jenny Nicholson is a regular in my watch-habits, a YouTuber&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/jenny-inventory\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Jenny Inventory<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-climate-catastrophe-waiting-room\/\">The Climate Catastrophe Waiting Room<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">I.This weekend I had the opportunity to go see the Crash Ensemble, Ireland\u2019s premiere new-music ensemble, perform the climate catastrophe inspired piece Extinction Events and Dawn Chorus, composed by Liza Lim. The piece contains some incredibly evocative musical tableaus: In the first movement, Anthropogenic Debris, the ensemble spins around a series of buzzing cicada-like instruments&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-climate-catastrophe-waiting-room\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Climate Catastrophe Waiting Room<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/ecological-sci-fi\/\">Ecological Sci-Fi<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">I&#8217;ve been audiobooking my way through Dune (spoilers by the way) and I&#8217;m struck by the importance of ecology to its plot. I already knew about Frank Herbert&#8217;s history before starting the book, that his research into restoration attempts of the Oregon Dunes inspired the novel. But Dune goes far beyond the ecological roots I&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/ecological-sci-fi\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Ecological Sci-Fi<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/attacking-the-state\/\">Attacking the State<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Let\u2019s play compare and contrast. Before we do, I\u2019m talking this week about all sorts of horrible things: police violence, xenophobia, racism, etc. so if you\u2019re not feeling up for that feel free to sit this one out. Last week there was a lot of \u201curging\u201d going on in the United States. Biden \u201curged nonviolence\u201d&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/attacking-the-state\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Attacking the State<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/domestic-energy\/\">Domestic Energy<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">I was at a social science history conference last week in Gothenburg, where one of the talks was about women as mediators of energy transitions. For example: from gas heat to electric refrigeration or from telephone switchboard operators to rotary dials. The importance of this history, as explained by panelist Ruth Sandwell, is that stories&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/domestic-energy\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Domestic Energy<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/eurovision-statecraft\/\">Eurovision Statecraft<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Television personalities Graham Norton and Hannah Waddingham stand behind a desk on a stage in their glittery outfits. They are listening to the representative from the Lithuanian broadcasting jury who announces via satellite that they are giving twelve points to Sweden. A chant starts up from the crowd, \u201ccha cha cha! cha cha cha! CHA&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/eurovision-statecraft\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Eurovision Statecraft<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-florida-project\/\">The Florida Project<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Disney\u2019s business isn\u2019t looking very good these days. They\u2019ve laid off 7000 staff; announced the closure of their expensive and ambitious Star Wars LARPing hotel after it being open for only a year; their recently announced projects are all live-action remakes no one asked for; and a planned expansion to their Orlando campus has been&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2023\/08\/25\/the-florida-project\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Florida Project<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/10\/21\/709\/\">Utopian Scholastic<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Aesthetic PlanetOne of the things that I\u2019ve appreciated about living in Ireland for the past 3 years is being able to escape the political bubble of the United States. Not in the sense that Ireland\u2019s government sometimes actually functions like a democracy, though that is refreshing, but that US perspectives on politics and culture are&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/10\/21\/709\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Utopian Scholastic<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/04\/16\/quarantine-islands\/\">Island Life<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter: &#8220;Long time long time,&#8221; sings a fish in a striped shirt and tie in the opening of Niki Lindroth Von Bahr&#8217;s short film Min B\u00f6rda (2017), &#8220;This is where you come if you want to stay a long time.&#8221; The stop-motion film follows four groups of anthropomorphic&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/04\/16\/quarantine-islands\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Island Life<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/04\/16\/the-people-mover\/\">The People Mover<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">First published as part of the Digestable newsletter Content Warning: This piece focuses exclusively on wealthy eccentric white men. Last week, Elon Musk\u2019s company The Boring Company unveiled their most recent project, the Las Vegas Convention Center Loop. This grandchild of the fantastical hyperloop, the most stripped down and boring version of the concept anyone&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/04\/16\/the-people-mover\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The People Mover<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/04\/05\/disco-is-dead-long-live-disco\/\">Disco Is Dead, Long Live Disco<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter: 2020 seemed like the crest of a long 70s\/80s disco nostalgia wave that\u2019s been hitting music since the middle of last decade. I would mark the start of the nu-disco trend with the iconic, and now final (RIP) Daft Punk album Random Access Memories. The trend was&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/04\/05\/disco-is-dead-long-live-disco\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Disco Is Dead, Long Live Disco<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/03\/08\/thanos\/\">Thanos<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter: I\u2019ve been diving into the Marvel Cinematic Universe the past couple of weeks, out of lack of stimulation and procrastination. My friend Richard describes the films as a \u201cconcentrated sugar high:\u201d attractive people in body-hugging outfits and an emotional whiplash of tragedy and comedy all strung together&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/03\/08\/thanos\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Thanos<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/02\/01\/immaterial-girl\/\">Immaterial Girl<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter The world lost a beautiful human and a visionary queer voice this weekend when 34 year old musician and producer Sophie Xeon died in Athens. SOPHIE\u2019s uncanny hyperpop has been associated with the London experimental pop label PC Music, but her notoriety and the depth of her&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/02\/01\/immaterial-girl\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Immaterial Girl<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/01\/25\/the-nitrogen-cycle\/\">The Nitrogen Cycle<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">This is a collection of three pieces on nitrogen, legumes, and soy originally written for the Digestable newsletter: Nitrogen Last Tuesday, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate in a waterfront warehouse in\u00a0Beirut exploded, killing over 160 people, injuring thousands more, and leaving 300,000 people without homes.\u00a0 There\u2019s been some great reporting tying this explosion to previous&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/01\/25\/the-nitrogen-cycle\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Nitrogen Cycle<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/01\/18\/the-kensington-runestone\/\">The Kensington Runestone<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter I listened to the radio play Saber, MN, recommended by the lovely Molly Rose, and it got me thinking about one of Minnesota\u2019s foundational myths. The fictional town of Saber, MN was founded because of the discovery of a sabertooth tiger skull fossil by a farmer plowing&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/01\/18\/the-kensington-runestone\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Kensington Runestone<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/01\/06\/take-it-up\/\">Take it UP!<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter. Okay nothing hard hitting from me this week, just a little bit of corny fun to finish out the year. I don\u2019t really have any desire to engage with Dirty Projectors beyond the album they made with Bj\u00f6rk but the song Up In Hudson from their last&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/01\/06\/take-it-up\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Take it UP!<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/01\/04\/free-lunch\/\">Free Lunch<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter. Oh\u2014 my twitchy witchy girlI think you are so nice,I give you bowls of porridgeAnd I give you bowls of iceCream.I Give you lots of kisses,And I give you lots of hugs,But I never give youSandwichesWith bugsIn. This poem appears in Neil Gaimen\u2019s book Coraline and its&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2021\/01\/04\/free-lunch\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Free Lunch<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/12\/07\/auto-tune-the-news-a-retrospective\/\">Auto-Tune the News: A Retrospective<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the\u00a0Digestable\u00a0newsletter Let\u2019s take a little trip back to the year 2009. I was in high school, iPhones were still all curvy looking, and T-Pain\u2019s auto-tune was revolutionizing music and pop culture. Enter Auto-Tune the News, a video series by The Gregory Brothers that edits C-SPAN, Katie Couric, and other TV&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/12\/07\/auto-tune-the-news-a-retrospective\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Auto-Tune the News: A Retrospective<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/12\/05\/the-moose-way-home\/\">The Moose Way Home<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the\u00a0Digestable\u00a0newsletter Fellas, is it gay to miss home? This question may have been playing in the mind of\u00a0Numa Barned, a Union soldier in the U.S. Civil War who reported that listening to other soldiers play the song\u00a0Home! Sweet Home!\u00a0made him \u201cfeel queer.\u201d Of course Barned\u2019s use of\u00a0queer\u00a0is a few iterations&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/12\/05\/the-moose-way-home\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Moose Way Home<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/24\/suggestions-for-stolen-squash\/\">Suggestions for Stolen Squash<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter I want to start by saying that it was so unreal to have watched videos of friends back home literally popping champagne in the streets this weekend and then to wake up this morning to the Irish news obsessing over&nbsp;Biden\u2019s Irish heritage.&nbsp;&nbsp;Did you know that Obama has&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/24\/suggestions-for-stolen-squash\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Suggestions for Stolen Squash<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/22\/an-afterlife-for-the-anthropocene\/\">An Afterlife for the Anthropocene<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter I want to talk about the Netflix series\u00a0The Good Place.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s a brightly colored entertaining series about quirky dead people navigating an even quirkier afterlife.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s easy to dismiss this show as another piece of streamable fluff, but the way ideas of environment and environmentalism are woven into\u00a0The Good&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/22\/an-afterlife-for-the-anthropocene\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">An Afterlife for the Anthropocene<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/21\/on-environmental-art-making\/\">On Environmental Art Making<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published in two parts as part of the Digestable newsletter As the smoke from unprecedented wildfires pollutes skies in east coast cities and hurricane season surges past the alphabet into Greek letters despite only being half over my mind turns as it often does to Grimes.\u00a0\u00a0I know, the Canadian musician\u2019s much anticipated\u00a0album\u00a0Miss Anthropocene came&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/21\/on-environmental-art-making\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">On Environmental Art Making<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/20\/i-love-you-no-edit\/\">I Love You No Edit<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter A couple of weeks ago\u00a0Lee Dawson\u00a0came out with the newest edition of his RuCaps series. These videos, hosted on Dailymotion like all quality content, are at their essence a remixed retelling of episodes of RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race.\u00a0\u00a0Drag Race, as many of you know, is a competition reality&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/20\/i-love-you-no-edit\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">I Love You No Edit<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/19\/satellites-over-the-sundarbans\/\">Satellites over the Sundarbans<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter Last week after playing trivia with some friends (shoutout to&nbsp;Trivia Mafia&nbsp;in Minneapolis which is doing free trivia games online pretty much every night during the pandemic) we were trying to find the Ganges delta on a map \u2013 this was after the game of course, no cheating&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/19\/satellites-over-the-sundarbans\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Satellites over the Sundarbans<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/18\/doctor-who\/\">Doctor Who<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter If you told me a year ago that I\u2019d be writing this column from day 11 of quarantining in a Dublin apartment I would not have believed you.\u00a0\u00a0Of course everything that happens these days is pretty unbelievable \u2013 so much so that unbelievability has become pretty\u2026 unremarkable.\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019m&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/18\/doctor-who\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Doctor Who<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/17\/director-dudes\/\">Director Dudes<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Originally published as part of the Digestable newsletter Last week I went on an accidental Charlie Kaufman binge.\u00a0\u00a0Accidental because it wasn\u2019t until watching\u00a0Synecdoche, New York\u00a0and\u00a0Being John Malkovich\u00a0back to back that I realized they were directed by the same person.\u00a0\u00a0At that point I was on a roll so I went ahead and continued with Kaufman\u2019s newest&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/11\/17\/director-dudes\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Director Dudes<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/coronamatica\/\">Coronamatica<\/a><div class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-excerpt\">Wrote this little piece for my friend Lena\u2019s weekly newsletter Digestible. I describe myself as a critical fan of Lady Gaga which basically means that I really like her but I talk about her like I don\u2019t. One of the things that frustrates me is that her albums (ARTPOP, Born This Way, even Joanne) start&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/2020\/05\/30\/coronamatica\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Coronamatica<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-655","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":679,"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/655\/revisions\/679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gabriel.town\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}