Letters, Devil in a Blue Dress and Hogwarts Legacy
At this point, I’ve seen my last letter in New York, Massachusetts and South Dakota newspapers. My next one will focus on supportive comments made by Iceland’s prime minister about cultivated meat. If you’d like to send out your own letters, check this out: https://slaughterfreeamerica.substack.com/p/how-to-write-letters-to-newspapers-6eb
A couple of my email addresses were disabled. I need to work on that. I’d been having some luck with sending out my letters over two days, but apparently that wasn’t enough. If worst comes to worst, I could send them out over seven days. However, in that case, reporting on how they did after a week wouldn’t mean much.
Anyway, let’s do (Cell) Culture Talk. Here’s what I’ve been reading, playing and watching lately.
Book — Racecraft by Karen E. Fields and Barbara J. Fields. This is an academic text I’ve been meaning to read for a while. It’s a little over my head at various points. The central message is race is a social construct, not a real category. I recall Ta-Nehisi Coates saying it was an important book in his ideological development.
Book — Tolstoy and his Disciples by Charlotte Alston. The Tolstoyans had a lot of good ideas. Unfortunately, they also seem to have been largely apolitical, focused on building prefigurative communities, among other things. I’d recommend the title to those interested in the history of vegetarianism.
Movie — Devil in a Blue Dress. Denzel Washington plays an unemployed World War II veteran who is hired to find a missing person. I really enjoyed the neo-noir film. It reminded me a little bit of L.A. Confidential, which shares the same genre and setting. Rose from Lost has a small role!
Game — Hogwarts Legacy. Apparently, the graphics were downgraded to make this title fit on the Nintendo Switch. It doesn’t bother me. I’ve been impressed with how well the game recreates the wizarding world. It feels bustling and alive. I just finished Percival Rackham’s Trial, which I believe puts me about halfway through.
Sports — Knicks lose to Hawks, 116-100. In the third quarter, it looked like New York might steal a win, despite being down four starters. However, Atlanta ultimately managed to hold them off. Donte DiVincenzo led the Knicks with an inefficient 21 points.
Sports — Knicks beat Magic, 98-74. Jalen Brunson was back, scoring 26 points. New York took care of business without too much struggle. It was nice. I feel like we haven’t had a game like that in a while.
Sports — Knicks lose to 76ers, 79-73. Both teams were missing important players and both teams had trouble getting the basket in the hoop. New York, however, was held to the lowest point total put up by any squad this season. It was an ugly game.