I know that it’s only in its second week, but today’s planned blog has been cancelled.
My best friend from childhood texted me this morning that a friend of ours from “back in the day” had died. I don’t know when it happened. We’ve asked around but don’t have any other information. Based on everything we do know about him, we feel that it was likely a voluntary exit.
He was one of the smartest kids I’d known. He read encyclopedias, loved (what always felt like) trivia, history, languages. His family was well-off, and he always had the latest video games. I remember hanging out with him when Street Fighter hit theaters, wanting to see it. He’d already seen it, told me it was bad, and suggested that we play the game instead, which we did. (And not to harp on the video games, but he is the only person I know to have owned a Virtual Boy.) A few years later, he was really into music – he’d sold off the video game collection and had tons of CDs. We’d both been upset by the latest release from The Offspring.
Puberty hit him early and hard. He got swarthy and awkward. He was smarter than just about anyone else. I don’t know him to have been bullied, but he was an outsider. We still spent time together, but he was smart and academically ambitious. Our lives diverged; we went to different schools. Eventually he wound up at Harvard. He got his PhD (something history-philosophy-Judaica-language adjacent). I don’t know if he married. We were out of touch.
I did a Google search this morning when I heard, to see if I could find any information. I didn’t, but I did find a photo of him from 2017. At an immigration rally in January 2017. A checkered winter coat, blue fedora to match the blue vest. A pale yellow shirt with brown tie and khakis. Leather gloves holding a sign that said, in Arabic, “The people want to bring down the regime” (the uploader notes that this was a popular slogan during the Arab Spring). A greying goatee and a serious look on his face. I recognized that look.
I hope he didn’t suffer.
WATCHED
Struggle (d. Irek Dobrowolski)
Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Terrible Things (d. Thomas Casey)
Ocean’s 13 (d. Steven Soderbergh)
Killing Eve Season 1 Episodes 5-8
Lodge 49 Season 1
LISTENED
Deafheaven - Sunbather
Dødsferd - Diseased Remnants of a Dying World
Fennesz - Bécs
Fennesz - Endless Summer
Hayaino Daisuki - Headbanger's Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire
Hayaino Daisuki - Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell...
Hummingbird of Death - Forbidden Technique
Krallice - Diotima
Krallice - Hyperion
Krallice - Wolf EP
READ
How I Conquered Your Planet – John Swartzwelder
Plastic Man #1–5 - Kyle Baker
Deadly Class # 1–5 - Rick Remender, Wes Craig
PLAYED
Chrono Trigger
864.85 GB Available