What I’m Reading, Listening To, And Consuming to Get By

Date: May 23, 2021

Friends, it’s been way too long since I updated the website. But it’s because I’ve been in transition from part-time freelance to full-time staff writer at Gizmodo. If you are looking to pitch me, please use my work email instead of the contact form featured here. And now that I have a few minutes, I’m updating the site to reflect all these changes.

As a sincere thank you for bearing with me through this transition, I wanted to update you on what’s keeping me busy in my off-hours. Anyway, this is all I have time for while caring for and raising my child.

Andy and I Started a Book Club

I swear to God, I am going to start reading Your Computer Is on Fire. Here’s the description:

This book sounds an alarm: after decades of being lulled into complacency by narratives of technological utopianism and neutrality, people are waking up to the large-scale consequences of Silicon Valley–led technophilia. This book trains a spotlight on the inequality, marginalization, and biases in our technological systems, showing how they are not just minor bugs to be patched, but part and parcel of ideas that assume technology can fix—and control—society.

The essays in Your Computer Is on Fire interrogate how our human and computational infrastructures overlap, showing why technologies that centralize power tend to weaken democracy. These practices are often kept out of sight until it is too late to question the costs of how they shape society. From energy-hungry server farms to racist and sexist algorithms, the digital is always IRL, with everything that happens algorithmically or online influencing our offline lives as well. Each essay proposes paths for action to understand and solve technological problems that are often ignored or misunderstood.

We’re covering this book next month on the second episode of Material Studies, our several-times-in-a-while Book Club show for Relay FM members. You’ll have to subscribe to the podcast network to get the goods!

🔗 Your Computer Is on Fire by MIT Press

Podcasts Help Me Sleep

I don’t know what it is about recap podcasts, but I love to get a little analysis of the latest reality TV going on in my ear before I doze off to sleep for the night. I’ve been particularly digging Liz Explains It All, which is a Patreon-only podcast.

I’m also really digging Everybody’s Business But Mine. The host covers tons of Bravo and TLC shows that I watch, plus any drama between seasons. Worth a listen if you’re into keeping your mind preoccupied with other people’s mess.

🔗 Lix Explains It All
🔗 Everybody’s Business But Mine

Brought to You By Re-ment Gum

It’s true: I chew the little gum packets that come with the Re-ment miniature boxes I buy overseas. I’m not sure how old the gum is, but it’s good enough that there are no more left.

What is Re-Ment? Oh, God. They’re collectible miniature plastic toys from Japan. The company started in 1998 with Japanese meals and food products. Over the decades, it evolved to include IP from Sanrio and The Pokemon Company, which I’m into because I’m forever the 13-year-old girl that found solace in the nerdy and kawaii. Thank you to all parties involved for making that happen.

The picture featured below is of my Re-ment collection. I bought a complete set of Sanrio Mune Kyun Days from eBay. And now I’m working on constructing a whole dollhouse based around the room of my dreams. I promise this dollhouse won’t turn into some weird horror story wherein I relive my childhood to avenge those who hurt me. I swear it.

🔗 Re-Ment Sanrio Mune Kyun Days