A Walk to Remember
A Walk to Remember
What questions would you ask a shiba dog?
Another Sunday, Another Naive Weekly — Observations From The Internet Wilderness.
I have spent the last week sleeping, walking, talking, and playing with Ana and Uno. An entire week without work. Our plan was to celebrate Christmas and New Year in Austria and Slovenia, but given the state of the world, we stayed home.
Here in our new home things are starting to find their own places. On the first day of 2021, we drilled holes in the brick wall to mount our bookshelves. We only got halfway. Everything requires more stages when Uno is around. But a calmness settled in my body as we moved the first batch of books from the floor to the shelves.
Because it is a new year. Or because I start to feel settled in our new home I sense it is time to change the questions for the reader interview. So please share any suggestions you have.
With care,
Kristoffer
VISUALLY PLEASING
The Official Naive Weekly Print.
READER INTERVIEW
Luka Santl’s dream would be to live in Italy next to a tennis court. Here he would start his day with an espresso, before spending the day illustrating stories, getting lost in old books and cooking pasta al dente for friends and family. Luka is a graphic designer and the artist behind the Naive Weekly Riso Print.
K: Who are your spiritual mothers and fathers?
Luka: Mostly writers from bygone eras. I feel most at home experiencing the world through the prism of sharp-witted, irreverent and all encompassingly passionate works of writers such as James Joyce, Frierdrich Nietzsche and William Faulkner. Their projects amount to a certain attempt to categorize and scrutinize all the phenomena and mold them to a certain, coherent world-view. I find myself gravitated towards the tireless energy, confidence and even certain type of arrogance it takes to undertake an impossible task like that.
K: What emotion is lost online?
Luka: I find real time communication too fast, awkward and burdened by social conventions and cliches. Important matters get drowned out by the noise of the chatter. I like how online communication can be carried out at my own pace and gives me time to think things over. It reminds me how as a child, writing letters would be imbued with a special aura, whereas real life communication could end up being disappointing in contrast.
K: What is covered in your shadow?
Luka: A decent chunk of my childhood seems to be shrouded in a sort of willful forgetfulness, so this is where I would start looking. I also find nature somewhat terrifying and uncompromisingly lonely. I prefer the company of people and human-made structures.
K: What was one rabbit hole you recently fell into?
Luka: A few times a day I turn on videos of tennis players exchanging the ball at a leisurely pace. It can be anyone. From pros, to recreational players, anyone uploading their game online. Sometimes I put the video in the background and just listen to the satisfying sound of the ball colliding with the racket.
I also enjoy videos on the exploration of the story and lore by Japanese video game developer From Software. Their games generally state the story in the vaguest of terms so the player has to discover most of it through environmental clues and item descriptions. Even years after release people are still piecing the stories together and coming up with different interpretations. I often think about how to translate this form of storytelling to other media.
K: What would be your fictional dream job title?
Luka: Something to do with playing tennis as much as possible, really. Perhaps a hitting partner helping pros practice. I really like the contrast of this sort of mostly physical activity, compared to the more cerebral, consistent flow of academia and design. Kind of how Yukio Mishima found a person of thought cold and dull and a person of blind action endlessly interesting and beautiful. I find myself as the tennis ball, fluctuating from one end to another.
K: What question would you ask a tree?
Luka: I would ask it about it’s experience of time and the view from its high vantage point. I imagine trees as very patient, with a calm temperament and a non-judgemental disposition. Trees would make great listeners as well.
K: How do you prepare for death?
Luka: I think that intersubjectively we are never really ready to just let go and accept death. Maybe by planning ahead and making peace with the thought, that when the time comes we will inevitably not feel prepared. Shakespeare’s interrogation of morality is where I find him as his best. Experiencing life in all it’s preciousness and vanity, and the ultimate acknowledgement of the unfinishedness of our projects in the face of death.
K: Who would you like to give a gift? And what would it be?
Luka: Perhaps some grand gesture towards my mother, though I am not entirely sure what.
ROADSIDE FLOWERS
Unsent Letters. (See corresponding subreddit)
INTERNET STORIES
How Flash Games Shaped the Video Games Industry
As we said goodbye to 2020, we also said goodbye to Flash. It feels nostalgic to say the final goodbye to the software behind many of the browser games I played in the 00s. But the days where you’d corrupt politicians and destroy the rainforest to make fast food seem to be gone…
Ryan Broderick writes Garbage Day, the best newsletter on internet culture. In a recent edition he made an introduction to Tumblr, yes that Tumblr. Ryan’s intro is worth reading if you like to think about how social media could be better.
Tasting Notes with Robin Sloan
My notebooks are piling up. It is amazing when I want to write posts like last week’s thought patterns, but it is becoming a problem when I search for something specific. Robin Sloan’s note system sounds tedious and luring. Almost like his brain.
UNDERSTORY
“Founded in 2011, The Public Domain Review is an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration of curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature, and ideas. In particular, as our name suggests, the focus is on works which have now fallen into the public domain, that vast commons of out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restriction” — The Public Domain Review
Hi, I’m Kristoffer and you have just read Naive Weekly — Observations from the Internet Wilderness.
Last week this newsletter was sent to 705 people. Thirtytwo are crazy enough to chip in every month/year to support me making time to write this newsletter: Nikolaj, Lars, Ditte, Jakob, Antal, Anders, Sascha, Cecilie, Søren, Dries, Tina, Gautier, Sarper, Maarten, Mystery x2, Joshua, Thomas, Mikkel, Aydo, Lukas, Hans, Vibe Johanne, Csongor, Dad, Yinka, Stine, Troels, William, Mom, Bertel & Angela!
Photograph by Ana Santl.
<3
Kristoffer