Little Ghosts of Grocery Stores
Little Ghosts of Grocery Stores
Airborne anemones, empty on the inside. Shopping bags have already conquered all continents and ecological niches, an aggressive form of being.
Another Sunday, Another Naive Weekly - Observations From The Internet Wilderness.
It is dark in Copenhagen. The sun sets at 4.31 pm. Spring and summer feel far away. The once green leaves are now falling, casting colourful shadows beneath the trees, leaving the branches naked, one by one, ready for winter.
Walking in the evening, flickering lights break the darkness. Lights from passing cars, street lamps, advertisements, shops, and homes. When I walk Uno in the late afternoon, I now have to shadow his eyes, otherwise, he won’t fall asleep.
Above us is the Milky Way, but we can’t see it, because a curtain of light hides it from us. The very same light that shows us where to walk, what to buy, lets us stay up late, and tell others to look out for us.
Today it is All Saints’ Day. Many have been lighting candles in the stomach of pumpkins over the weekend. And others will be lighting candles on the grave of the dead. Being with the ghosts among us and observing the shadows of the past, what wrinkles from today will haunt tomorrow?
And here is a lollipop.
VISUALLY PLEASING
READER INTERVIEW
Cecilia Frankel creates space for listening, questioning and understanding complexity. She is the program director of The Conference, one of the warmest, consistent and relevant gatherings. Cecilia breathes her values; being supportive, kind and really good company.
K: What is the size of your internet?
Cecilia: Endless and probably way too narrow. I’m a lurker. And a hoarder. I consume and collect a lot more than I interact or create. Current obsessions include: videos of people knotting the most amazing rugs (like IG @wissa.wassef.artcenter), road trips on google street view (currently outside of Bucharest), amateur carpenter forums and travel restrictions on swedenabroad.se. The latter is a reoccurring favorite that I use like an index page to learn about places far far away. Last Christmas it led me to map out all wars during the 20th century. They were many more, and often way longer than I knew. The upcoming holidays will probably be spent drawing some kind of map of colonization.
K: Where do you go fishing for different feeds?
Cecilia: Newsletters, Twitter and Feedly. My morning routine is coffee + 20 minutes skimming the latest shed of curated newsletters. A click fest for sure. When I look for something in particular I often head for experts on Twitter to screen their feeds and then rabbit hole into who they are following. I use Feedly for news and analyzes.
K: How do you think about time?
Cecilia: I don’t. Or I do, but I prefer to think about energy. The same amount of time can give or take. I’m not obsessing over always making the most of it, but I strive for some kind of balance and I enjoy wasting it every now and then. Sometimes I fear that I will look back on my life and regret the things I didn’t do but I also know that if I jam-pack my calendar I won’t have the energy to enjoy what’s in front of me. I think time is a tricky balance act of being active and passive. To choose but not control. Does this make sense?
K: How do you prepare for death?
Cecilia: Death is dramatic, even when it’s not, and how do you prepare for drama? I really don’t like the idea of death as the judgement day. Have I accomplished enough? It’s like death is the worst end goal ever. Live life, not to be remembered. Spend time with the ones you love. (Notes to self)
K: Where do you go to get lost?
Cecilia: I get lost all the time. Walking is a safe bet. And trains. And traveling alone. Where do I go to find a sense of direction?
K: What would you be doing if given financial stability and three months space?
Cecilia: Use my hands. I’d probably take a class in sculpting or volunteer as an intern in a kitchen.
K: What question would you ask a tree?
Cecilia: This summer I read Max Porter’s novel ”Lanny” about a little boy talking to trees and ever since I’ve thought a lot about the wisdom of trees. Trees hold so many memories. They store fragments and molecules from every single year inside. Although I think the tree would be the better therapist, I’d like to ask it how it feels, ask about its sorrows and joys.
ROADSIDE FLOWERS
When were what words first used in print.
Not sure what this is. That’s why I share it.
INTERNET STORIES
Niche communities and subscription-based businesses are on the rise online. Venture capitalists love it. Instead of paying a one-time fee, consumers now have to pay every single month. In this stellar post, David A. Banks shows how the walls of the virtual world extend to our physical cities. Unfortunately, not everyone has the key for the locks. Fyi, you can find the audio version in our podcast app.
The Museum of the Fossilized Internet
Our online behaviour is bad for the environment. Endless scrolling, autoplaying videos and a vast amount of unnecessary code, these are three of today’s internet behaviours at display at The Museum of the Fossilized Internet. If you visit the fictional future museum you’ll learn that Despacito's five billion YouTube plays have consumed the energy equivalent of 850,000 barrels of oil.
INTERNETMEZZO
The evolution of the scrollbar.
Hi, I’m Kristoffer and you have just read Naive Weekly - Observations from the Internet Wilderness.
Thanks for the shout-out Ondřej.
Last week this newsletter was sent to 687 people. Thirty-one 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, Ida Marie, Yinka, Stine, Troels, William & Angela!
Photograph by Ana Santl.
<3
Kristoffer