Tiny Tea Dispatch #005

Grab yourself a cup of tea or cocoa (or coffee, you barbarian),
we’re nearing the end of the year, so I’m inviting myself over
to say ‘hi’ and talk about how things are going.

~~ Watches ~~

Over the last month, I developed a sliiiiight obsession with mechanical watches, most notably Seiko divers. (The image above is from the movie ‘All is lost’*, featuring a Seiko on Robert Redford’s wrist.)

My Pebble smartwatch probably won’t last much longer, since Fitbit bought the company and stopped all development, so I went looking for a replacement. Quickly realising there is no good alternative for my wants**, I quickly gave up. Unfortunately, all current smartwatches are a combination of: ugly, terrible battery life, unnecessary features and scheduled obsolescence.

But when you take a step back from the ’smart’ aspect and get into what makes up a mechanical watch, you realise these oldschool devices are astonishingly clever.  Reading about the technology and history of (mechanical) watchmaking opens up a fascinating world filled with automata and miniaturisation. And cool wristwatches.

Anyhow, what else have I been up to lately?

~~ Seen ~~

Movies

Haven’t seen that many movies this year, so not much to comment on. You’ll recognize the main comicbook blockbusters. I go see those with my regular comicmovieloving crew, which greatly adds to the fun. 

• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi
• Blade Runner 2049
• Thor Ragnarok
• The Beguiled
• Justice League

I enjoyed ‘Thor’ the most, ‘Justice League’ was (fortunately) very forgettable.
‘Blade Runner’ had the best atmosphere and was an excellent continuation of what was set up in the first movie.
‘The Beguiled’ is Sofia Coppola’s latest and probably the last of her films I’ll go see. It’s not bad, it’s just that I’m tired of being bored for half of the movie. My favorite of hers is still ‘Lost in Translation’ (even with the problematic stereotypes).

YouTube

• Whiskey Vault: A channel about whisk(e)y. A great intro for beginners and informative for more knowledgable folks. Doesn’t take itself too seriously
• Facts: Irish people see/do/experience things. It’s the best of fun.
• Spencer Klein: A watchmaking reviewing the pieces that come in for maintenance or restoration. I find it very calming to see and hear about how these things tick.

~~ Listening ~~

Desert Oracle Radio

A soothing voice bringing you news from The Mojave desert. Intro by some coyotes, contains occasional UFO’s. 

Bob

(In Dutch) 6-part podcast about an 84-year old woman recalling her past through dementia, including a secret child and an old love named Bob. Kind of like Serial but less exploitation of personal tragedy.

~~ Games ~~

Booo (who is the gamer here) got us a PS4 VR experience from Belgian vlogger Syroop. We’re in that video for about 2 seconds. It was quite impressive playing Batman in VR, although quite weird seeing your own detached hands floating in space. Extra points for being able to throw batarangs at Alfred.
Now, I only really buy and play one game a year and turns out that this year, it’s the sequel to what I was playing last year: Steamworld Dig 2
I’m enjoying it immensely. Just destroying blocks of stone and dirt in a mine, and hitting weird creatures that lurk in the depths. Great fun. The story has something to do with steampowered robots and mines and earthquakes. A worthy successor to Dig.

This past year has, in a lot of aspects, been a ‘back to basics’ approach. It makes rather perfect sense that I ended it on something durable and mechanical like watch.

Things that changed this year:
I continued the trend of staying away from Fb and Twitter (kept Instagram for sharing drawings & Messenger for planning meetups), started basic bullet journaling (no frills) to clear the mental clutter, explored pens and mechanical pencils to find the simplest and most effective tools to put ideas down, haven’t touched my drawing tablets all year, tried out some psychologists, tended a small garden in the backyard, drew 31 vegetables, and spent 7 months tending to the consequences of my sister’s life as well as her mind breaking apart (everything is building back up, don’t worry).

If I had to find some lessons in there somewhere, it’s that you can’t fix everything but that doesn’t mean you have to be complacent or accept what comes your way.
Be resourceful, ask for help, accept it when it comes (even if it’s from unexpected places). You’ll never feel you’ve done enough or you may feel you’re late getting into it. You’ll have to learn to let that go. Hell, you’ll have to let go of a lot of things.
Focus on what is important and on what does help. Don’t forget to take care of yourself.

That’s about all there is to say about my year. How was yours?
I hope you can look forward to something new. 

Keep going forwards and I will see you next year.

~~ Links ~~

• Simple solutions: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-old-days
• Baby boomers: https://www.vox.com/2017/12/20/16772670/baby-boomers-millennials-congress-debt
• 17th century robotics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irdTng8MbIE
• Heavy metal watchmaker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsPohFbrHLY
• The Writer automaton: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY_wfKVjuJM
• Desert Oracle Radio: http://www.desertoracle.com/radio/
• Whiskey Vault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoeIPrIXUOw
• Bob: https://www.vpro.nl/dorst/programma/bob.html
• Syroop in our home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSdYBrV68aI
• Vegetable villains: https://www.instagram.com/p/BZs_jamgdom

* Honestly, I just picked the image because of the watch. It’s not my fault the reference is fitting for 2017.
** The Vector is too expensive and not to my taste, the Matrix Powerwatch is just out and remains unproven.