Flying Cat 5
Flying Cat 5
Hydra, Robin Sloan, Chia Amisola, Windows, Intersections and Donkeys
Another Week, Another Newsletter — Observations From The Internet Wilderness.
Dear reader
We escaped our newly established home in Athens to sleep into the new year in peace on a tiny Greek island. In hindsight, the name of the boat was prophetic, Flying Cat 5, because when we arrived, the local cats roamed the streets: it was low season, and in the absence of tourists, the local inhabitants were finding each other.
Hydra is known as the second home of Leonard Cohen and the inspiration for his song ‘Bird on the wire’. It is easy to understand why he kept returning to the island: with no cars, donkeys carry the load up the narrow alleyways, it is a parallel world and made me pick up Murakami again. I’m happy to be reunited.
With care
Kristoffer
Roadside Flowers
Gazing is waiting for the lights to turn on.
Intersections is an oddly satisfying contribution to Genuary.
Wall of Windows is a portal to Spencer’s life (and a glimpse into mine).
Secret is a riddle for next Sunday.
Field Notes
There is an internet that is mine
I wish to develop a language for the internet that can become its own, exempt from physical metaphors and technical components. A language where conflict, desire, and poetry can flourish together and alone: where the commercial interest can co-exist with generosity. That’s the internet that is mine. Here Chia Amisola describes an internet that is theirs, it is a beautiful post, and I kept copying quotes into my notes app while reading it.
“When I had my first kiss, I wondered why it didn’t feel as special as working your way through someone in Skype—knowing them slowly, piece-by-piece, knowing them wholly to whatever wholes we could give then.” — Chia Amisola
New Avenues
In 2023, I’ll host a one-day conference as an extension of this newsletter. I promise you’ll learn more soon enough. But until then, I recommend Robin Sloan’s call for a year of experimentation because it embodies a similar desire I have for gathering people around the quiet, odd and poetic web.
“It’s been a decade of products, smooth and sleek; apps with chamfered edges. I am interested now in experiments, visions, compulsions, provocations.” — Robin Sloan
Collections
Hi, I’m Kristoffer and you have just read Naive Weekly — Observations from the Internet Wilderness.
Last week this letter was sent to 1362 inboxes. It will always be free for everyone, so I’m keeping it donation-based. Currently, twenty-six1 people support me with a paid subscription. Logo by Studio Hollywood. Photograph by Ana Santl.
Thank you Alexander and Guillermo for upgrading to paid subscribers. I purchased an extra excavator coloured (read:yellow) ice-cream for Uno to celebrate your donations.