jenn schiffer's live laugh blog

this is the weekly retro content mine

the week before i turned 40 i started writing weekly retros, which has become a nice sunday writing and reflection ritual for me, as well as a fun link and recommendation dump that readers have expressed that they enjoyed. the following is the full dump of all those "things i enjoyed [that] week."

photo of a chalk sandwich board that said "we have eggs no limit" but i replaced "eggs" with "hyperlinks" in a purple text on light purple background box

weekly retro #33, 2025-09-21

weekly retro #32, 2025-09-15

weekly retro #31, 2025-09-08

  • two different people sent me different limp bizkit memes and now i have rollin' stuck in my head. i know i'm most of my friends' "nu-metal friend" but i was a latecomer to limp bizkit. they should make a coffee brand so i can have their mug alongside korn's and coheed's in my cabinet.
  • i've been using obsidian for about a month now, i think? and i've completely weaned myself off of apple notes and non-scheduled reminders. i am syncing through icloud and it works great. i use a kanban extension, and i have a lot more extensions to explore. on the topic of tech, i mentioned trying kagi search and when my trial was up i decided not to continue - just isn't for me.
  • i really liked this video about the impact of the sears catalog on the jim crow era (you should subscribe, it's a great account). sears is one of those stores that either don't exist or are on their last dying breath and in several years there will be grownups who don't remember them. similar store names for me include caldor's, the wiz, coconuts, and fye.
  • this interview with mona chalabi was so good. informative, emotional. chalabi is such a great storyteller and i find her struggle with being in a field with no accountability for its foundational principles (journalism) to be very devastating and there are parallels there with how i feel about tech. she also does a great job in centering the lies of media coverage of iraq in a discussion about how they are lying about gaza today. she once spoke at a tech conference my former employer held and i got to talk to her and...that's it, i just wanted to brag that i got to meet her.

weekly retro #30, 2025-09-01

weekly retro #29, 2025-08-24

weekly retro #28, 2025-08-24

  • my favorite rock band king gizzard and the lizard wizard (i should use "mfrbkglw" going forward, but i won't) played a 3-day festival in colorado and streamed it on their youtube. i really enjoyed their sets, as well as spellling (another one of my faves) and king stingray.
  • can you tell that 90% of the content i consume are videos of live concerts? anyway, doja cat's outside lands performance outfit was so good, so was her set.
  • i started using kagi as my default search engine. i'm not paying yet or using whatever their ai summary tool is, but in just the couple of days i've been using it i've had a much better experience than i have been having with duckduckgo. i'll let you know how this new search engine journey goes!
  • also in tech, i was able to help a friend who was doing json-like coding out by recommending notepad++ which was my go-to text/code editor when i used windows primarily about 20 years ago. it's open source, still around, and i miss it as an apple user!

weekly retro #27, 2025-08-10

  • secret base has a new podcast called 'big deal', starting with one of the funniest nights on nba twitter. whether you know what i'm talking about or not, watch the video, it's very good. i love secret base.
  • andy and i have been loving these youtube recycling bin videos by kvn aust. these are the oldest, least viewed videos that typically have device-given file names like "MOV00018". have you noticed that i keep the device-given file names of the photos i share on here?

weekly retro #26, 2025-08-04

  • this 20 minute doc about an artist enclave in brooklyn was really good. the ending will stab you right in the heart, so hold off until you're resilient enough for that.
  • king gizzard and the lizard wizard, my favorite rock band, is back on their us tour and live streaming a lot of the shows. they played in nyc over the weekend and we watched both shows from home and they were great! they're playing in maryland tonight and i hope the venue let's they stream it.
  • one of my favorite kinds of blogs on tumblr are transparent png bloggers, like pngblog and pnglove. i love the themes they pick (and are requested). i'm often reblogging paint and candle related ones on my own tumblr.

weekly retro #25, 2025-07-28

  • isopods eat dill.
  • the song "who let the dogs out" turned 25 last week and artist ben sisto (who is an expert on the song and i've talked about before) is exhibiting his collection of memorabilia in providence. that page has links to where you can watch his documentary, which i saw a screening of when it came out and it was very good.
  • i finally found affordable sweatpants that actually come with the long inseam that is advertised. so among my too-short sweats and leggings, i now have normal looking pants from american tall. this isn't sponsored, i'm just sharing a personal win after years of people thinking i dress like THIS on purpose:

photo of my legs in front of a fountain and my jeans are about 4 inches too short, they look like long capris

weekly retro #24, 2025-07-20

  • i don't use amazon or walmart, so often end up buying things from all different kinds of smaller retailers like battery mart, which i got my watch batteries from at a better price than if i released the ones at duane reade from battery jail.
  • i made a rubber band ball from the bands i didn't use while tie-dyeing those shirts. i never made one before and now i have one, yee-haw.
  • i've been using pl@ntnet for identifying the local flowers. it's been pretty reliable so far!

weekly retro #23, 2025-07-13

  • two great tiny desk concerts dropped this week: wet leg and then, just two days later, clipse. as far as brothers on stage this week after a hiatus, i think pusha t and malice are far more interesting than liam and noel, respectfully! when they sampled their late mom talking, of course i cried.
  • i had a great time at our private robot karaoke event. and you can have a great time with us too at wonderville on monday night and then aux karaoke box on thursday night - both in brooklyn, both from 7-9pm.

weekly retro #22, 2025-07-07

  • i cannot for the life of me find a link to it, but in the latest issue of bon apetit there's a cheesy poblano and jalapeno pepper fajita that i made last night and it was a hit EXCEPT it would have been garbagino if i didn't add shredded and cumin-seasoned plant-based fillet to them.
  • i enjoy both joel haver's animations as well as his personal system of values that continues to sustain his artistic expression. i just find it super admirable.

weekly retro #21, 2025-06-30

weekly retro #20, 2025-06-23

  • this "learn css grid" tutorial came in very handy as i started studying the foundations of css grid, vs struggling with it live on stream lol. browsers fully supported it in, like, 2017, which was around the time i stopped paying as much attention to css updates because i had been busy with glitch. there's so much that's changed, which is great even though "fr" as a unit is diabolical.
  • i've been following pbs newshour for news and i feel it will be the most useful in keeping us informed on what's going on as we are now at war. i'm already seeing tons of misinformation being spread on tiktok and bluesky, so this is just a friendly reminder that you can - and perhaps should - assume everything you see is untrue until you've done your research. if you get something wrong and share it, don't take it personally when you're corrected, and remove it promptly and share the correct info.
  • okay here's a different one: last year i had to spend my fsa money before i quit or else i'd lose it and got a bunch of stuff from the fsa store - one of those things was this foot roller. i've finally started really using it regularly and i've found that releasing those foot muscles have made me more flexible in my forward bend stretches. this isn't sponsored, i'm just saying you should try rolling your feet!

weekly retro #19, 2025-06-16

weekly retro #18, 2025-06-09

  • i don't know if i could stand being mere feet away from amerie performing 1 thing live on tiny desk, i started to respectfully sweat when it started playing just in the video.
  • the internet phonebook has a dial-a-site in case you can't find a copy. dial 122 for a good time!
  • i've been using nova as my editor during my livestreams and i may be biased because i've been a Panic girlie since the early coda days (almost 20 years ago wowowow) but i'm really enjoying it (i'm using it right now to write this retro) and have the peace of mind to not be supporting microsoft.

weekly retro #17, 2025-06-02

weekly retro #16, 2025-05-26

  • not going to the gym
  • not drinking enough water
  • ibuprofen
  • doing drugs (legal)

weekly retro #15, 2025-05-19

  • the first issue of the internet phonebook is out. it's sold out online but there are some stores around earth where you may be able to get a copy. i'm a huge fan of this project and was stoked to be included inside.
  • prisonculture's latest newsletter on public libraries is a must-read whether you already believe in the importance of public libraries or not. the call to action for leftists to truly use and involve the library in organizing is a good one.
  • my main takeaway from this clip of the last njtransit strike in 1983 was that our buses were once ahead of their time as far as looks go - but then they just...never changed lol?

weekly retro #14, 2025-05-13

  • this week i started reading casey johnston's a physical education. her original column was in my 2020 gratitude thread and i continue to subscribe to her. i'm 1/3 of the way into the book and i highly recommend it to anyone interested in how strength training works, how to decenter diet culture from your life, or just learn about how casey did just that and made an awesome career out of sharing her journey and knowledge so generously with so many people.
  • these vegan lemon poppy cookies mike and i made over the weekend. i love lemony baked things!!
  • whatever this freak of a flower we saw at a grocery store in quincy is, it's like seeing AI in real life and really bugs me out but i'm glad i saw it:

some kind of weird rainbow colored orchid that i'm sure is some proprietary breed

weekly retro #13, 2025-05-05

  • as i've been writing this retro, i've got lady gaga's record breaking show in brazil playing. i already watched her coachella performance - it's probably a show i'll watch many times more and you can't beat the energy of millions of brazillians in the audience. i couldn't imagine how thrilling this was for gaga. i also love her wardrobe in this one.
  • you'll learn a lot about nuclear energy and tiktok brigading in this video by 'a brush with bekah'. how many art historians and nuclear physicists do we think it'll take to get young people to become more media literate?
  • i liked this color palette video, great for learning about the color wheel and/or getting a refresher on how to use the wheel to make color palettes that look good.
  • support libraries and support public broadcasting! you can watch 'free for all' - the documentary i mentioned earlier - online and for free. while you're at it you should donate to your local library and pbs. there's a lot to learn about the history of libraries and the revolutionaries who built and advocated for them.

weekly retro #12, 2025-04-28

weekly retro #11, 2025-04-21

  • i replaced my plain desk mat with a self-healing cutting mat (they're often on sale on blick and it has been such a convenience to have rulers just there. it's such a simple and affordable change, but also a great "lifehack" for me.
  • going outside. that's it, i've really enjoyed it. if you haven't done it much, give it a try, i know some of us need the reminder.
  • but also staying inside. i've really been enjoying playing blue prince every night with andy. i can't say anything more because everything is a spoiler no matter how far or not into the game you are, but i can say that playing puzzlers with a partner is great and it's been something we've both been looking forward to everyday.

weekly retro #10, 2025-04-14

  • if your favorite luxury store or tradwife (derogatory) tiktoker sells adorable beeswax fruit and veggie candles, they're probably from happy organics. i found them through my market research and have not yet bought from them, but will very soon after i recover from post-doing-and-paying-taxes anxiety. the berry birthday candles are genius.
  • i heard a rumor that lorde will be releasing an album this summer. i love lorde and discovered her on tumblr when royals first came out. unfortunately for her and i, i am unable to stop thinking about this "cover" (yes, i still actively use tumblr).
  • it's not that i enjoyed the (semi-failed) process of migrating my mastodon account, but i do enjoy that i had the opportunity to migrate to a good instance - run by my friend stefan, so i wanted to give him a shout-out. the failure is on the part of mastodon the software, not the instance, and i'll be writing about the entire experience soon.

weekly retro #9, 2025-04-07

weekly retro #8, 2025-03-31

  • the 4th edition of html review is out!
  • the vodka rigatoni at the new just friends in jersey city is so good. so was the burrata. i wish they were located somewhere that got more foot traffic for their own sake, but i'm happy they're here nonetheless.
  • spellling's new album is out! i listened to it on the treadmill today and really loved it - you will too if you enjoy kate bush, deftones, and/or lighting candles in the dark and thinking about how even though you have the power to manifest ill upon your enemies, you choose not to because you're even more powerful than anyone could imagine.

weekly retro #7, 2025-03-24

  • look what @yomimono made in celebration of the (iirc) ten year anniversary of me once tweeting that i just keep getting hotter and smarter. no one can say that me saying that was any short of iconic - there's MULTIPLE pieces of fan art about it. i like that.
  • i recently got a nice email from an old glitch colleague - it's co-creator, pirijan, who has a great blog. if you've not checked out his latest project kinopio, it's worth a look and try. i never talked about this with him, but pirijan once had his own office and then one day i was hired and he was told to share it with me and he never gave me any shit about it. i have given my office up to people twice in my career and they each still gave me shit. sharing truly is caring is what i'm saying.
  • tom macwright has been sharing a sketch a day and i really enjoy them. i fear that i may need the accountability of getting kicked out of a club if i miss a sketch.

weekly retro #6, 2025-03-17

  • i'm a make-doom-run-on-a-weird-thing hater, but i did enjoy this art gallery parody of doom. hard to believe i'd be posting a newgrounds link in 2025 lol
  • i mentioned i watched a lot of tiktok this weekend while out sick. two accounts i fell in love with were mew builds, who makes the most unhinged and incredible sims houses, and shop cats show, which is a show where their outstanding host interviews bodega cats around the city.
  • codedex posted a podcast version of my q&a with them the week prior. it was a fun conversation, so check it out!
  • not a thing, but i have to give andy a huge shout out for taking care of me while i was sick. i used to be the kind of person who not only never asked for help, but would reject help when offered. it's nice to have a partner i can just let take over when i have no energy to spend.

weekly retro #5, 2025-03-09

  • those familiar with my work know i really enjoy p5.js and creative coding in general. on saturday, 3/15 is ccfest which is a free, virtual event bringing together lots of folks in the creative coding community.
  • wehaverights.us has rich video content in multiple languages to help us all know and understand our rights when we see or are approached by ICE.
  • this vocal tract simulator/synth is so funny, but also a helpful diagram for a part of our body we use so much
  • i have been waiting very patiently ever since descartes a kant said they did a kexp performance last year, and it finally went up. i love their look and sound!
  • speaking of cool music, spellling has a new video and record coming out later in the month!

weekly retro #4, 2025-03-02

  • not the latest mac os update, that's for fucking sure
  • but i do love a map, and this one visualizes USAID impact by state in case you were curious
  • dan tells some important history and, unintendedly and unrelatedly, inspires me to set up a blog-post-to-email integration for this blog. i have to have a talk with jenn nation™ about this first.
  • someone who i've recently come to know and enjoy the company of is brett bonfield, who reached out after i had announced my leaving fastly. we had a very inspiring, affirming conversation over coffee this week and it was another reminder that i need to write and share more (i know, everyone tells me this!).
  • my dear friend mike, who i once worked with at bocoup has helped transition the company into a worker coop. during my time there, 2014-2017, there was often aspirations from leadership to make it worker owned and it kind of became a meme for a couple of us, but mike and the folks still there finally made it happen and i couldn't be more excited. it's just a good, nice story among all the sad, aggravating news we hear out of tech these days.

weekly retro #3, 2025-02-24

weekly retro #2, 2025-02-16

  • howmanycigarettes.com tracks the number of cigarettes in films. i've never smoked a cigarette in my life as my grandma made me promise to never - and after watching her slow and painful death from emphysema i could never - but i've always been fascinated about its role in art and film, mostly from a conscious yet worried point of view. frustratingly to me, cigarettes are making a comeback in pop music - and i wrote that even before sabrina carpenter lit one up with dolly a couple days ago.
  • isopods! i love them every week, but this week i discovered meltknuckles' work on tumblr. their site is super cool and they raise isopods. this kind of art rules. bonus isopods content: isopods eat snowman
  • the pricemaster also had a birthday this week - 24 years! whenever i say something cost me 500,000 dollars, i'm referencing them.

weekly retro #1, 2025-02-09

  • colin's explainer on the google ai ad flop is really good because it isn't just "google bad, ai good", it is centered on how the web being consumed by ai is already pretty poisoned. that's not to say we should forgive google for making mistakes like this, though, because 1. they're the reason the web is poisoned (ads, seo) and 2. letting that cheese fact through was such a bonehead move and companies keep doing this!
  • casey's fosdem talk includes not just fun history, but questions and uncertainty, which i feel is often missing during conversations about creating any new technology, especially decentralized social media. the more unanswered questions we allow in conversation, the more thoughtful and careful we are about innovating human interaction. casey, i miss working with you!
  • nora has a new newsletter sharing progress and updates on their glass kiln adventures. if you like glass and pretty things, subscribe and even check out their wares.
  • i got some cool patches from jim in the mail. he's always been prolific and generous with his art, which is what i am trying to be in my candle practice.
  • jerseyscript is back on tuesday, february 11th aka my birthday, and yes i will be there because you all are my people!
  • i watch about 500 hours of youtube a day, especially of creators who talk about their process through creation and creative blocks - so i've been a fan of doechii forever. she's been so generous through her earlier years in sharing her progress through creative recovery. this video is one of my favorites of her earlier ones because core values are such an underestimated superpower in art, and life in general. i actually cried when she won a grammy last week. she's such a talented and special young artist who i'm so excited to keep following long into the future.