Wolmania - Friday, May 21, 2021

Hello again. You'll probably get halfway through the issue and think there's a theme this week but no. There's no theme this week. But is "no theme" a theme? Also no.

Item 1: a link

Interview - How Gerald Stratford Became the Twitter King of ‘Big Veg’ Gardening

The 72-year-old British retiree started a Twitter account to share his vegetables. Hundreds of thousands of followers later, he has a book deal and appears in a Gucci campaign.

[What a nice fellow. - ed]

Item 2: a list

Brassica oleracea cultivars, ranked

1. Acephala group – kale
2. Gemmifera group – Brussels sprouts
3. Alboglabra group – kai-lan (Chinese broccoli)
4. Italica group – broccoli
5. Viridis group – collard greens
6. Botrytis group – cauliflower, Romanesco broccoli, and broccoflower
7. Capitata group – cabbage
8. Gongylodes group – kohlrabi

Item 3: a media recommendation

For All Mankind is an alternate history of the US-Russia space race starting in the late '60s, with the premise that Russia got to the Moon first and it made America so mad that we committed to out-spacing the commies into submission.

I didn't bother watching the Apple TV show when it came out in 2019 based on middling reviews like the one linked here and the fact that Ronald D. Moore, the showrunner, made the Battlestar Galactica reboot in the mid 2000s (that show started out okay but descended into terribleness as it barreled towards one of the worst finales in the history of narrative drama).

But season 2, which came out recently, got much better reviews so I decided to give the show a shot, and other than one notably bad subplot in the most recent season I really enjoyed it. It's definitely a bit slow-moving on a scene-by-scene basis, but it actually moves at quite a clip in terms of plot (and alt-historical chronology). It's Mad Men, but cheesier, with astronauts - but better than that makes it sound.

Item 4: a photograph

Thanks for reading. I wish you the biggest of veg.

PS: it has come to my attention that Gmail, in its infinite wisdom, is placing this newsletter in the "Promotions" category for some subscribers. As you know, this is a not-for-profit enterprise, so I'm a bit perturbed to be lumped in with sketchy drop-shipped Instagram pajamas and the like. Please consider dragging this from the "Promotions" tab to "Updates" or even, dare I say it, "Primary".