Wednesday Wonders 2

A round-up of diversions, distractions and something else beginning with D (it's early) that might spark a little bit of midweek joy.

Tate Britain

My daughter and I went to Tate Britain last week, for the first time in quite a while, and it really is a marvel of British art. The Turner collection in the Clore Gallery is worth the price of admission alone (especially as the price of admission is nothing). They also have some great Pre-Raphaelite pieces, including one of my favourite paintings of all time, "Christ In the House of his Parents." by John Everett Millais.

Kagi Search and the Orion Browser

A friend messaged me last week to ask if I had investigated Kagie. I had not heard of it, so dutifully lost half a day to checking it, and the accompanying browser out. In a nutshell, Kagi is a search engine you pay for (although I am currently on the free plan and have yet to reach the query limit). Why would you pay for search? Because when you pay for something, you are not the product. In this case, that means that there is no advertising anywhere within the results and Kagi make their money simply by being good at search, and not by monetising your attention. It doesn't sound like much of a trade-off, but using Kagi is a revelation and, even after a few days, I don't want to use anything else. The Orion browser is Mac (and iOS) only (it's built like Safari) and it is the fastest, leanest browser I have used on a Mac. Cleverly, it also lets you use extensions from the Chrome and Firefox stores.

Definitely worth trying both of these out. More info here: A Three Month Review of Kagi Search & The Orion Web Browser — FlatFootFox

RSS Feeds

I have banged on about RSS feeds here before, but never as usefully or eloquently as Molly White does in Curate your own newspaper with RSS. This is a great primer for anyone who would like to get their news from somewhere other than the shit-filled hose of social media.

Tim Key - LA Baby

The poet Tim Key had to go to LA for a few months for work, and wrote a whole book of poetry about the experience. The book is clever and silly and very funny, and acutely observed. Even better, it's printed with enormous care and attention by Utter and Press, and is therefore a gorgeous object to handle. Here's the link: L.A. BABY! – "Utter" & Press

Miami Vice

There's likely to be a lot of • Cinephilia & Beyond links in this series, because their pieces on cinema are always exceptional. This time around, I'm going to highlight the Michael Mann film that I have a real soft-spot for, despite a lot of people (including key cast members) really not liking it at all. If anything is worth reappraising though, it's Miami Vice: Take It to the Limit One More Time: Michael Mann’s ‘Miami Vice’ at 19 • Cinephilia & Beyond