RollAway is a new company offering rental of an e-Van with a 5-star makeover. They launched a few months ago in the San Francisco Bay area and, presumably, will offer more vehicles in more locations in the future.
I love travel and unorthodox approaches to entrenched systems so this struck a chord with me.
More on the RollAway website.
Just reading the collected short stories in Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte and they are brutally good. As the NYT says, "Tony Tulathimutte’s new stories center on the young, alienated, unloved people you can’t stop watching."
The first story, The Feminist, was published in N+1 and is free to read. It knocked me out, as I was friends with someone in the 90s who is pretty much this character through and through. He was my first encounter with Mens Rights Activists and thankfully I've managed to avoid in-depth conversations with others in the movement ever since.
I find 3D Printing fascinating — though I barely understand it. 3D Printing Adventures is a great introduction. I have not yet bit the bullet on a printer, but this takes me a step closer.
Someone has posted the entirety of Rupert Goold's version of Macbeth to Youtube. It is... something else, and well worth your time.
This is from the Youtube description:
Macbeth is a 2010 television film based on William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name. It was broadcast on BBC Four on 12 December 2010. In the United States, it aired on PBS' Great Performances. Rupert Goold directed it from his stage adaptation for the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2007. Patrick Stewart is featured in the title role, with Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth.
The film is a more modern re-imagining of William Shakespeare's Macbeth. It evokes the atmosphere of Romania in the 1960s, with parallels between Ceaușescu and Macbeth in their equally brutal quests for power. The Three Witches likewise receive an update in keeping with the 20th-century aesthetics, appearing as hospital nurses. Their presence is pervasive throughout the film, punctuating the horror of Macbeth's murderous reign.
Watch it here:
Via Metafilter.
The always hilarious ZeFrank is back with another video in his True Facts series, this one focusing on Rays — The Sombreros of the Sea.
More Ze on his channel. He's almost at the twenty year mark of posting videos.
In November, I received copies of two books by writer and walker Craig Mod. I've been a fan of his for many years, but these are the first of his books I've purchased. Shipping from Japan to Canada, on top of the cost of the books, was what had always stopped me in the past, but I do my best to support artists directly when I can so decided now was the time.
Kissy by Kissa and Things Become Other Things, hand-wrapped in specialty paper
If you're not familiar with Mod, he's mostly known for his work in the book world. He also has a wonderful podcast on bookmaking called On Margins, though he might have killed that as it's been a long time since he's put out an episode. It's well worth listening to if you're into creating things.
Since Craig is a walker and a writer, these books are about walking.
Craig describes Kissa by Kissa as "a book about walking 1,000+km of the countryside of Japan along the ancient Nakasendō highway, the culture of pizza toast (pizza toast!), and mid-twentieth century Japanese cafés called kissaten."
Craig's books are gorgeous. Cloth-bound with debossed covers. The paper is lovely to touch and the photos and essays are wonderful:
Things Become Other Things is Craig's latest book. He describes it as "a 30 day walk in Japan. A memoir. Fishermen, foul-mouthed kids, and terrible miserable wonderful coffee."
Things Become Other Things by Craig Mod
You can purchase the fifth edition of Kissa by Kissa here. The first edition of TBOT is here. Both titles are cheaper for members of Craig's Special Projects. Those memberships are how Craig makes his living.
If you'd like a better overview of Craig's work, you can find it here.
Anecdote Alert
These books are the kinds of things I used to bring in for customers of my shop, Volver — beautiful items that I personally own and can recommend — before I stopped carrying non-records. This was an effort to spread awareness and get better prices for my customers by eliminating the cost of shipping.
I did this most successfully, book-wise, with Wendy Erskine's Dance Move, a brilliant collection of short stories which still hasn't been published in Canada. I can't recall how many copies I brought in (20 or so), but they all sold out and still no other shop in the city took it upon themselves to import copies.
I have no idea if Craig would be into this (offering me bulk, wholesale pricing), but I'd consider approaching him if enough Bell Ringers wanted me to try.
Love these Rolling Pin Paintings by Daniel Eatock.
Looks like he also had an unusual Black Friday Sale where he offered up paintings via barter for items he would send you links to. I love unorthodox approaches to commerce. I missed out on them but am quite taken with this one from that series:
Many more on Eatock's site.
I've been listening to the music of Bill Callahan for more than 30 years and I'm always surprised how few people are familiar with this wonderful singer-songwriter. About 20 years back I made a double CD Best Of for a friend, which I called To Be Of Use.
I was recently chatting with that friend and he mentioned that he still had the collection and had converted it to FLAC. He sent me the track list and I've re-created it on a private Youtube link as a thank you to members of A Tiny Bell. I've also woven in some of my favorite tracks that were released since I first put it together.
In total, it's 34 tracks culled from music released under both his pseudonym, Smog, and his real name — fan favorites as well as lesser-known tracks / versions from b-sides and singles. It runs well over than two hours.
It's the first members-only content I've posted. I hope you like it.
If you're not a member, here's links to 3 tracks so you don't feel too left out (of course skip 'em if you're a member and go straight to the playlist). The first track also features Jim White, my favorite non-Jazz drummer. He's been on a few Callahan releases and his work thrills me.
Rewind is an Android and iOS app that allows you to explore music by year. You pick a year and it takes you to the year's highlights where you can sample tracks. At the bottom of each track are buttons to jump to music services where the track is available (Tidal, Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube Music). I don't subscribe to any of those services, but when I clicked the Youtube Music icon, it just took me to the track on Youtube, which I could then play in full without payment.
For instance, I chose 1968, and was presented with these tracks, among many, many others:
It'll also show you the top 100 songs of the year and you can click on them to preview and then jump to it in the apps.
Pretty neat.
Travel Lemming creates travel guides by locals and experts.
They've put together an easy-to-use list of the 50 Best Places to Travel In 2025. You can filter the list by parts of the globe, season you plan to travel, or both. They write:
For 2025, we’re encouraging travelers to reject the AI travel planners Silicon Valley wants to shove down our throats. Instead, get your travel suggestions from the same place humans have since the beginning of time: other humans.
Last year's list focused on Slow Travel.
