MDM Broadcast - 2026

Heard a verified human on a podcast (a pro-podcaster!) pronounce “ratatouille” with a hard-L (two hard Ls!) this morning, which was tasty.

Some kind of synchronicity with how I started a rewatch of "Werckmeister Harmonies" last night for the first time in 20 years... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werckmeister_Harmonies

Always surprised (or never surprised?) by A-list influencers drawn to vintage film cameras like the Contax T2, in search of the sheen of analogue authenticity.

I wondered what it would look like if I could listen and browse through a recent (and growing) catalog of performances in a way that felt intuitive and maybe a little bit elegant, so I built this for Cameron Winter's solo shows, mostly in churches.

If prestige is your thing, try Carnegie Hall: https://cameron-winter-solo.vercel.app/?date=20251211

If sound quality's important, 1st Unitarian in Philly sounds great: https://cameron-winter-solo.vercel.app/?date=20250307

(Made on a desktop for other desktops, though mobile works ok. Github public repo here.)

"Since 1999, the castle's stables have housed the National Museum of Brewing (Musée National d'Art Brassicole)."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiltz_Castle

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/01/19/how-whatsapp-took-over-the-global-conversation

Quickly publish formatted markdown to telegra.ph

Markdown -> Telegraph Pipeline

Rewatched “The Conversation” for 1st time in a few decades and had forgotten it includes a pre-Star Wars Harrison Ford amid other amazements.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Conversation

Alec Wilkinson has a finely-wrought remembrance of his buddy Bob Weir, and in doing so, pinpoints his edgy obtuseness and difficult to describe brilliance.

Hearing Weir navigate the changes of his early solo-acoustic Weather Report Suite is as astonishing as when I first heard it years ago. Proggy, technically tangled, it's nothing if not impressive - it sure as heck isn't a Saturday Night sing-a-long.

Fun that a guy could have such a well-lived life, especially through 60+ years under the suffering glare of spotlights and fan adulation. Would be tough for anyone to survive that with their soul intact and a smile on their face.

If you rightfully think today's news items are totally insane or probably AI, happy 3-year anniversary of this on-the-air meltdown.

Nice clutch of sentences here from Margaret Talbot:

"One breezy morning in Copenhagen, I met with Mikkel Hørlyck, a thirty-five-year-old who served in the Danish military and has since become a photojournalist chronicling wars, famines, and refugee crises in such places as Somalia and Ukraine. We talked in a lakeside café filled with spectators taking a break from cheering on runners at the annual Copenhagen Marathon. En route, I’d passed a troupe of blond Danes playing Japanese taiko drums and a couple of cafés where—startlingly, for an American—babies slept in carriages parked outside while their parents ate inside. (Danes are big believers in the benefits of fresh air, and the city is quite safe.)"

Hilton Als tries to connect a '72 image of Eggleston's being inspired/influenced by Winogrand's book, published three years *later* in '75.

That math don't math.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/william-egglestons-lonely-south

Uh oh. The celebs are now on my "the only way out is through a general strike" angle... Next, they'll be singing "Imagine" again.

Appreciated finally getting to see "Peter Hujar's Day" which is a good film even before being a really good film about a photographer living the photographic life.

It plumbs the currency of chattiness, chummyness, and the competitive climate of the 70s NYC art scene in a way that a few dozen docs might miss, all of which feels ancient when compared to our tech-turbocharged world.

Two solid performances, a script based on a transcript (always a personal favorite creative limitation) and a smart presentation from director Ira Sachs.

The film gets at Hujar's obsession with photographic detail and excellence, as much as his push-and-pull with art world success (and smoking).

Such a small, quiet movie, bite-sized and authentic. Great backstory as to how the film was made, too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Hujar%27s_Day

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rzp8uw-t-eA

Dario Amodei's latest is nearly 25,000 words, was published last weekend, and I'm still somewhere near halfway through and can't believe what I've read so far.

In our ahistorical present, where the majority of current information is pushed at individual consumers rather than personally retrieved (or curated, or vetted as real, even) it's unremarkable when a billionaire-on-paper tries to warn the world about what may happen from the technology his company is quickly developing.

Had this been published 20 years ago, it would have been a lauded and much discussed piece of science fiction. Now, it's an overlooked warning from a sober, credentialed voice, who argues against his own company making as much profit as possible, and it's making zero headlines.

Not looking for a medal, but I've tried to pay attention to what people who are building our future (like Hassabis, LeCun, Hinton and the Amodeis) are saying about our future, rather than hiding inside whatever timeline makes me feel good and confirms my world view.

I'm not close enough to the tech to know how accurate Amodei's concerns are, but if you want to understand what the next 16-24 months may look like, you might appreciate a preview, too.

https://www.darioamodei.com/essay/the-adolescence-of-technology