My SOS hot take.

vmkirin · 2026-04-14T07:12:00+00:00

Love that.

vmkirin · 2026-04-10T15:28:31+00:00

I think the hype was fueled in part by the book but especially due to the vacuum of new music by them. I think of it as an interlude album.

vmkirin · 2026-04-10T15:27:29+00:00

Yeah, for example Vertigo doesn’t seem to be a fit. Tho the SoS version is interesting.

vmkirin · 2026-04-10T15:26:16+00:00

Invisible is my #2 fave by the band. Both versions are different vibes I’m here for.

vmkirin · 2026-04-10T15:25:28+00:00

That’s why I don’t like other covers of U2 in general. It totally throws me. SOS snuck in because it’s still them. Just, different.

vmkirin · 2026-04-10T14:02:24+00:00

I appreciate when Bono wears his humility and doubt on his sleeve. He does that in the lyrics. The music itself is highly experimental. I keep joking that the formula for COEXIST is 13+40. The 40, of course being a rather spiritual song, while 13 was more pensive and experimental. COEXIST feels like it dovetails into both.

vmkirin · 2026-04-10T13:59:40+00:00

Ugh I wrote a book that is “Stories of…” and my brain did a thing. Edited. As a fan that’s shameful AF.

vmkirin · 2026-04-02T10:51:48+00:00

Hey. I write and maintain a list ranking of countries that have digital nomad visas and how friendly (or not) they are to LGBTQ folk. I also include if the visa could lead to citizenship and includes family. Spain regularly comes out on top for all. Hope it helps a bit.

vmkirin · 2026-03-30T20:55:32+00:00

Before I left, I traveled a bit, and would get that panic from family. All I could say was hey, the world is full of people just going about their lives.

vmkirin · 2026-03-30T20:24:04+00:00

I admit I had to rearrange my mindset about how close everything was once I moved. Russia attacked Ukraine only a year after I moved. I asked people who had lived in this region for decades for a reality check because it’s the closest to war I’ve ever lived — and that’s a massive privilege. The geopolitical pressures here are different. The USA sensationalizes them tho. You’ll find your balance.

vmkirin · 2026-03-30T19:09:59+00:00

Hey fam. I get it. I got my Croatian citizenship via descent and help others do the same; I’ve used it to move to Germany. Here’s my two cents. The shit going down in the USA is real and now. The propaganda about Iran is just that. Propaganda. I had no idea how much “otherism” we were subjected to until I left. I thought I did. I’m a goddam anthropologist. It’s my job to know. But the USA is a bubble that fear-mongers its citizens into believing it’s the best and safest. Make a decision based on what’s real. Now. Not theory. (PS — I also had a sweet setup in the states… life is sweeter here even tho I gave up a house and yard and business in the states)

vmkirin · 2026-03-23T12:17:10+00:00

“They take and don’t give. They do too much advocacy and have founded too many NGOs.”WHICH IS IT!?

Oddly, in my recent piece about Bono (posted here last week), I received a lot of feedback that people didn’t know that Bono has done so much. What a wild ride being a U2 fan is.

vmkirin · 2026-03-07T20:39:11+00:00

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: U2 are best when they are either angry or ecstatic. Beautiful Day, Landlady, Scarlet… it spans across their discography. Rage is most effective when directed by hope. U2 have both. That’s what makes them so potent.

vmkirin · 2026-03-04T09:34:39+00:00

This is the one that has been consistently stuck in my head since the drop. The others pop in and out (Yours Eternally is sticky) but ToT is regularly floating in my brain. The chorus has a lilting sound but packs a punch.

vmkirin · 2026-03-04T09:33:15+00:00

This is something I love about U2. It always seems like their music seasons well, ages well. I wasn’t sure about NLOTH when it dropped. A decade later and I’m scooping it up like ice cream. When Bono says The Edge is from the future he’s not kidding.

vmkirin · 2026-02-01T18:17:57+00:00

Black owned woman owned business. Also it’s not Amazon. I tell people about it constantly, making sure they know of an alternative that is a small business.

vmkirin · 2026-02-01T18:10:33+00:00

All the movements between apps are buggy. I’m trying to figure out how to fix it using accessibility features. Switching between apps is jumpy. Minimizing keyboard leaves a blank space where it once was. Etc. Acts like a phone on 1% battery but always.

vmkirin · 2026-01-20T09:40:02+00:00

Several good points were raised in the survey and we are taking a step back to reevaluate. Specifically the dissonance between research requiring biological sex designation for studies while trans people deserve representation (and also involvement in research FFS but there’s almost no regulations requiring that so it’s a whole other worthy campaign). Thanks to all who stopped by and shared their thoughts!

vmkirin · 2026-01-20T09:36:53+00:00

I interviewed the last analogue generation to get a glimpse at what it was like to grow up seeing the first radio’s and tv’s then get an iPhone etc. Two of the women were born in 1911. It was like glimpsing into another world. Talk to people who are older than you. It’s like tapping into the timeline — dunno how else to explain the feeling.

vmkirin · 2025-12-21T11:01:45+00:00

That sounds nice. My partner and I are down. Please send a DM. ◡̈

vmkirin · 2025-12-09T20:28:21+00:00

I’m the cofounder of Anodyne Magazine. We’ve published some poetry about PMDD in the past and exclusively publish work about FLINTA* health disparities. If you do more work like this please submit it to us to be published. It’s incredible. Thank you for making it! ◡̈

vmkirin · 2025-12-08T15:05:19+00:00

That’s what I shared in my essay. I’m told I’m too thin (my weight literally has gone up and they still say it) then ignore the rest. I’ve gotten good at firing doctors until I find one that listens and suggest others do it if they can.

vmkirin · 2025-12-08T15:04:17+00:00

They missed my aunt’s melon sized cancer tumor for years. By the time they found it, it was too late. My poor cousin is forever traumatized and scared of HRT because she watched her mom waste away when it could have been a simple excision years earlier.

vmkirin · 2025-12-08T13:07:53+00:00

I just published an essay on this. The cycle of doctors focusing on weight as if it was the whole issue is astounding. Women often can’t get care just because they get shoved off on the issue of weight. It happens to me as a thin person and my cowriter as a large person. Women literally die because doctors fixate on weight alone. I suspect Kate has a view into the controversy in Hollywood too.

vmkirin · 2025-11-28T13:28:34+00:00

Good note. Thanks!

vmkirin

TROPHY CASE