Month: March 2018

They knocked a water bottle off the coffee table and played with it for about ten minutes before moving on to the next thing to destroy. Kittens are cute not so we’ll love them, but so that we won’t kill them.

They were shooting on Perry Street the other night. It was so lit up I had to go out and take a look. I watched them shoot a scene of a girl leaving the building via the fire escape. The production is called “Village,” and the actress’s name is Grace, that’s all I caught. I googled it but couldn’t find out anything. That’s Grace making her way down.

Walking towards the block.

I went to my roof first and saw these lights pointing towards the next block. (My building is five stories high, to give you an idea of how tall this stand of lights was.)

Holy shit. My friend across the street just tweeted that they broke some branches off a tree on our block. Jerks. I should call 311 or something and report them.

I was on Science Friday yesterday with Claire Evans, author Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet. As usual, I am so much more comfortable talking about anything but myself. Afterwards I was cringing for hours, thinking about all the things I should have said. It’s hard to be articulate on the spot. For me anyway. Claire was amazing.

Walking home I thought of how I should have answered Ira’s last question about anonymity. The fact that not having anonymity on Echo worked, while it’s not working as well on Facebook is a reflection of a broader (and ugly) cultural change in this country, and how we talk to each other in general now. But it’s also because we managed a greater level of intimacy on Echo. Not just because we are smaller, although that certainly helped. The fact that most users were and are local made it possible for people go together in person, so we were and are even less anonymous. But I think it was mostly because of the hosts/moderators, the presence of so many women, and luck. Conversations were exciting, moving, funny, and everyone wanted to preserve that. It was in our own best interest to be a little less asshole-ish.

You can listen to the interview here.

The charming and gracious Ira Flatow. My picture of Claire came out slightly out of focus, alas.

Science Friday airs from 2 – 4, and the segment I’m going to be on starts a little after 3pm. They are interviewing Claire Evans about her new book Broad Band: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the Internet and I’m going to be making an appearance toward the end of her segment. You can listen here.

The boys. Who will not be listening. Instead, they will knock over things, rip up my comforter even more, annoy Bleecker, spill water, puncture holes in the shower curtain, shred all the other curtains, spend an hour trying to reach the plants, eat books, spread kitty litter, and sleep.

I just binge-watched Mindhunter, and while I worked my way through the episodes I went back and forth to YouTube to learn about the serial killers who appear in the series. So now when I go to YouTube, in addition to the usual videos they recommend to me I get this.

Next to “Teddy being a bit stubborn tonight,” I’ve got a Jeffrey Dahmer documentary. And alongside “Funny Cats Hate Bad Singing Compilation II” there’s a documentary about the Butcher of Rostov. (Yes, I watch The Bachelor. Religiously.)