♟ A new chess craze, the Goop cruise, and the guns of John Wick
I know what the King's Pawn opening is now. Please clap.
Hello, hello!
The app’s gambit
“The Stealth Campaign That’s Getting Your Kids Hooked on Chess” | Matt Richtel, The New York Times
Are all the kids these days doing chess? Doubt. (But OK, fine, I did download the app after reading this article, having skipped out on The Queen’s Gambit chess mania of 2020.)
Whether chess offers anything more valuable than other online games do is unclear, said Dr. Michael Rich, an associate professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the founder of the Digital Wellness Lab, which studies the health aspects of technology use. It all depends, he said, on whether someone is playing with patience, and to learn, or just for quick digital thrills.
Some teachers complain that chess is more of a distraction than a learning tool. “They play it constantly, schoolwide, and it’s gotten to the point where they aren’t turning anything in and are exclusively playing chess,” an anonymous high school teacher said of students in a post on Reddit, where several threads have emerged on the subject. Mastery appeared to be an afterthought, the teacher wrote: “The only thing is … they’re all really, really bad at it? They’re absolutely awful.”
(I, too, am really, really bad at it.)
Yeah.
“‘We Give a Sh*t’: Gun Safety Defines the John Wick Franchise as Much as the Weapons Do” | Tom Roston, IndieWire
I loved this piece on the stunts — especially the gun-related stunts — of the John Wick franchise. (I guess details of action sequences are kind of spoilers for John Wick: Chapter 4, which, like all John Wick movies, is mostly action sequences. Proceed with caution.)
While most productions bring their stunt crews in four to eight weeks before production, [director Chad] Stahelski brings in his six months out. Most actors train for six to eight weeks; Reeves trains for six to eight months. The extra effort and diligence are expected of the camera crew and everyone on the set.
“They train for months and months not to master one sequence but to master the movement and the flow,” said “Wick” weapons master Rock Galotti, who worked on “The Matrix Reloaded” with Stahelski, who was then the stunt coordinator. “So that when you put the weapon in the hand, and something happens in the moment, they can change, and the action develops.”
Nothing exemplifies this better than when Reeves’ gun occasionally jams during a take, such as when the bullet casing gets caught in the slide. On most productions, the actor will stop and wait for a replacement or for the gun to be fixed. But not the man who plays John Wick. “Keanu’s weapon manipulation is such that he will see what’s wrong and release the slide, or he will change magazines on camera,” said “Wick” stunt coordinator Stephen Dunlevy. “So, some of the magazine changes aren’t scripted. It’s how John Wick would actually handle a weapon malfunction.”
Show boat
“I Really Didn’t Want to Go” | Lauren Oyler, Harper’s
Look, I’m a sucker for “writer goes on a cruise,” even when (especially when?) said writer flirts with becoming insufferable.
“You guys wanna go get smoothies?” the small, good-looking man said. “We get a Goop smoothie.” We all wanted this; there is no other way to follow a Goop exercise class except with a Goop smoothie. The man, Eugene, told me unprompted that the pendant on his necklace was a ketamine molecule; he organizes ketamine retreats in upstate New York. I said I sort of did ketamine retreats on the weekends in Berlin, a joke I then had to explain. With the artificial patience of the often drugged he responded in earnest: the ketamine retreats are in a controlled setting, involving blankets and eye masks. He used the phrase “on point” repeatedly. We hugged and he gave me his card: psychedelic medicine retreat/ketamine-assisted therapy. He was not wearing a shirt. En route to the Spa Café he pointed out a crew member polishing a large golden egg with a Swiffer.
The Goop detox smoothie contains coconut water, kale, mango, mint, celery, parsley, chia seeds, and spirulina, ranges in color from spirulina to kale, and tastes like a smoothie.
Voice chat
“A Chat with Dionne Osborne, the Vocal Coach Who Changed Drake's Style” | Jia Tolentino with Dionne Osborne, Jezebel
I really enjoyed reading this 2014 interview with Drake’s vocal coach — there’s some interesting musical info in it, but on top of that, it’s just kinda … wholesome? Thanks to the Twitter hero who resurfaced it this week.
What about after the show, when it's the after party?
The tour itself is already so intense, you know: that first tour, Drake was doing a 60-minute set, we didn't even have an opener, he's sleeping on a tour bus, eating crappy food, and he was recording his album. But he's still got to go to the after parties. So, I went out with him the first two nights on tour to help him learn how to manage that on the road. These club owners were sending out thousand-dollar bottles of champagne. Drake's the biggest sweetheart, and he's cool with me just standing in the VIP area with him. Unfortunately, everyone thinks I'm his mom, not someone there as a professional.
Hahaha. Oh my god.
The first three years, everyone thought I was his mom. Sandy is a cute Jewish woman who looks nothing like me, but you've been in the club, you know—if I'm older than everybody, and I'm in the VIP, I must be Drake's mom!
So he's standing there, his hand wrapped around the neck of this thousand-dollar champagne bottle. I pull it to me. I'm not a big drinker, I'm a total lightweight—I'm a daiquiri drinker, or margaritas, but champagne just knocks me out. So I don't know anything about it, don't know this one's so expensive. I'm like, "You don't think you're gonna drink this whole thing, do you honey? You can have a GLASS." He looks at me like I'm crazy! So I call over the management and tell them Drake needs water, and they bring me a whole case! There are more and more people crowding in here, I'm getting crowded to the back, so I start passing a bottle of water through the crowd. His bodyguards are all looking back at each other, like, "What is this?" And I'm just mouthing, "GIVE IT TO DRAKE."
Finally it gets to Drake, and the bodyguard just points right at me. Literally, Drake's shoulders go down six inches. Totally resigned. But, he drank the water. He got it!
Until next week, here’s Arthur.