Archiving The Witches Cycle
I recently learned about The Witches Cycle, a French manga by Tony Concrete, thanks to a post by the author on /r/xbiking. It has similar vibes to Kiki’s Delivery Service – one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films – with the addition of sweet bikes. I’m not completely hooked on the story yet, but the art is great.
Thus far the English translations have only been published on The Radavist. Their Javascript gallery viewer leaves something to be desired in this application. If the English translations are ever published as a book, I’ll buy it. In the meantime, the manga is easy to liberate.
A quick inspection of The Radavist’s pages for chapter 1, chapter 2, chapter 3, and chapter 4 shows that the chapters consist of sequentially numbered JPGs (though they are not consistent in their naming scheme, for shame). I’m a big fan of downloading JPGs.
$ mkdir witches-chapter-0{1..4}
$ wget https://media.theradavist.com/uploads/2023/11/Witches-Cycle-{1..76}.jpg --directory-prefix witches-chapter-01/
$ wget https://media.theradavist.com/uploads/2024/02/2024_Witches_Cycle_Chapter_2-{1..30}.jpg --directory-prefix witches-chapter-02/
$ wget https://media.theradavist.com/uploads/2024/03/2024_Witches_Cycle_Chp3-{1..38}.jpg --directory-prefix witches-chapter-03/
$ wget https://media.theradavist.com/uploads/2024/06/chap4{05..49}.jpg --directory-prefix witches-chapter-04/
The previously mentioned Kindle Comic Converter is happy to operate on a directory of images.
$ for i in {01..04}; do kcc-c2e --profile KoL --upscale --cropping 2 --splitter 2 --author "Tony Concrete" --title "The Witches Cycle, Chapter $i" witches-chapter-$i/; done
This results in 3 well-formatted EPUB files I can archive in my Calibre library and read on my e-reader.
Recent Cinema
On Friday night I went to a screening of Chungking Express. On Sunday I went to a different theatre to see the new restoration of Seven Samurai. That’s a pretty good weekend for film. It made me curious to see a list of the films I had watched in theatres over the past 12 months. I queried the Expenses:Entertainment:Film
register of my ledger to put one together.
Newly released blockbusters:
Newly released arthouse films:
Classiques du cinéma:
- All About Eve
- Apocalypse Now (Final Cut)
- Blade Runner (Final Cut)
- Chungking Express (with pineapple cake by Fear the Feast)
- Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
- Le Samouraï
- Night of the Living Dead (with live score by Sleepbomb)
- RoboCop (Director’s Cut)
- Seven Samurai
- Sunset Boulevard
- The Abyss
This is a pretty decent collection, and these past 12 months have not been unusual in that regard. I had the sense that I saw fewer new films in theatres, but that appears not to be the case. I think going to a revival screening of a film I already know is just more memorable as a theatrical experience. I enjoy living in a place with a robust culture of cinema, where I can go see some IMAX spectacle one weekend and a 35MM noir the next.
In Which Graphic Novels Are Optimized for Portability
Kindle Comic Converter is a program that optimizes comic book files for e-readers. I have not read many graphic novels in the past, but I think that is likely to change now that I have found a good workflow for consuming them digitally. The portability of my Kobo Libra 2 makes it more convenient than reading on my laptop. Its 7” screen is large enough for me to enjoy comics when properly formatted, unlike the 6” screen of my old Kindle Paperwhite. (8” would probably be the best screen size for this type of content, but I am not sure that I would be pleased with the decrease in the packability of the device.)
I am using the command line version of KCC (surprising no one), typically as such:
$ kcc-c2e --profile KoL --upscale --cropping 2 --splitter 2 input-file.cbr
--profile KoL
specifies that the target device is my Kobo Libra 2. The program will optimize the output file for the resolution and color profile of this device.--upscale
instructs the program to enhance images smaller than the device’s resolution.--cropping 2
will attempt to crop out margins and page numbers.--splitter 2
instructs the program to duplicate double page spreads. The spread will first be displayed as a single rotated page (so that I can see the whole image at once, as the illustrator intended), and then split into two pages (so that I can see details and read text without zooming). This sometimes makes poor decisions on filler pages – pages of credits, praise blurbs, etc – but it seems to always do the right thing when you’re in the pages of the comic itself.
I import the original source file into my Calibre library, and then add the KCC-generated EPUB as an additional file to the same book record. When loading the book onto my reader, I explicitly tell Calibre to send the EPUB. I do not allow Calibre to do any further conversion to this file.
The resulting files do not look great when viewed on my computer. The lack of margins from the --cropping 2
flag is annoying, and the images look dark and jagged. But on the E Ink screen they look great.
I used this process to read Craig Thompson’s Blankets, which I learned about thanks to Utah’s attempt to ban it. This book was fantastic. For maximum teenage angst, I recommend reading it while listening to The Cure. (I don’t even especially like The Cure, but when I finished Blankets I was struck with the strange desire to spend the next day repeatedly listening to the few albums of The Cure that I do own – so I did.) The minimalist, black-and-white art style of Blankets lends itself perfectly to a grayscale E Ink screen. I was impressed at how much emotion he can communicate with so few lines.
I have recently begun to read Monstress by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. This one is weird. (Utahns are going to lose their shit when they learn about it.) Unlike Blankets, Monstress is drawn with lush, full-color artwork. It also has a lot more text, whereas Blankets was much more about emotion than exposition. I read the first issue on the Libra 2, and then borrowed the dead-tree version from the library and reread it to compare. I think it still looks great on the grayscale E Ink screen – it gives the impression of being extremely detailed graphite pencil work – but the color does add a little something extra (gore, mostly). The text is legible without zooming, but on the small side. I am jumping back and forth between reading further issues on the Libra 2 and on color paper. The portability of the Libra 2 counts for a lot – I carry it with me every day – but I think Monstress is probably better consumed on paper – or digitally on a larger color screen.
Beauvoir on Social Media
To be no one, all things considered, is something of a privilege… How can anyone be so arrogant or so rash as to serve himself up as prey to a pack of strangers? Their names are dirtied in thousands of mouths; the curious rob them of their thoughts, their hearts, their lives. If I too were subjected to the cupidity of that ferocious mob of ragpickers, I would certainly end up by considering myself nothing but a pile of garbage. I congratulated myself for not being someone.
Simone de Beauvoir, The Mandarins
The Forever Mop
I like to spend time on my floor. This requires cleaning the floor. A good vacuum is part of the solution, but the floor must also be washed. This necessitates a mop.
I was not good about mopping for a long time. I could never find a mop that was both effective and pleasant to use. That changed 2 years ago when I bought the Quick Loop. I think it’s great. It has turned me into a regular mopper.
The Quick Loop is based on the same idea as a Cuban mop, but with the addition of a coiled steel spring that has two loops. The loops allow a towel to be quickly secured to the head, rather than just having the towel folded over a dowel, as in the Cuban option.
My floors are all either ceramic tile or Redwood. I primarily load the Quick Loop with automotive microfiber towels that measure 16” x 24”. Any towel of roughly those dimensions works fine. I use the microfiber towel dry, but spray the floor with diluted Bronner’s Sal Suds and then mop that up.
I have yet to tango with it.
Further Developments in Bondage
Back when I began using ROK Straps, I added ITW Web Dominators to control the tail-end of the strap. This tail-end has a sewn-in loop, just like the loops that are used to connect the strap to the mounting platform. Years later somebody told me that you are meant to run this tail-end loop through the male side of the buckle, thus securing the excess without any need for Web Dominators or Velcro OneWrap or any such tomfoolery. This is obvious in retrospect, but I didn’t realize it until it was pointed out to me.
I removed my Web Dominators and have not looked back. Looping the Rok Strap through itself in this matter allows you to more quickly adjust the length of the strap, as you do not need to take the time to roll or unroll and secure the tail-end. It works great both when the straps are not in use and stowed flat on the rack, and when they are expanded out to secure a large load.