On Saturday, I took the train up to Harlem and walked through a few parks (St. Nicholas, Morningside, Cenral), looking at flowers (tulips everywhere), art, and New Yorkers out for fresh air. Lovely day, also got to work on my black coffee no-sugar crossover into step-back fadeaway from mid-court.
Books
The Emigrants. I appreciate the shifting characters from section to section, and the detailed look at each, wandering down biographical rabbitholes as much as our narrator’s curiosity or attention allows.
To Hold Up the Sky, cont.
Household Upgrade PSA
These SinkShroom sink strainers have the best draining power of any I’ve used. The hollow handle and high-level hole seem to make a real difference. (Lesson: There is still so much room to improve every life!)
Music
Sault is “a British music collective that make a mixture of R&B, urban contemporary gospel, house and disco”. Sign me up. I loved Earth this week. The combo of drums, harmonies, chant, and dub-like echo/reverb on “The Lords With Me” gets me HYPED.* Love the polyrhythms and groaning (lol) on “Power” and “Soul Inside My Beautiful Imagination“, and the steady march of “Fields” transforming into Hendrix-y blues-rock stadium riffs. * (Realizing I have a thing for chanting: see also the end of “Acknowledgement“, “Khawaja Tum Hi Ho“, “Love Is Everywhere“, etc.!)
The Past Lives soundtrack turns the dreaminess dial a little tooooo high sometimes, but it’s great when you need it.
From Maze and Frankie Beverly “Silky Soul” delights with heavy Marvin Gaye influence/homage. In “Change On Our Ways” couldn’t help but hear Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgettin’“
The NID Tapes: Electronic Music from India 1969-1972. An hour of perfect weird computer noises. A+.
I listened to a few Kiasmos albums – self-titled, Blurred (my favorite), Flown. Solid upbeat head trip/working music. I like the high suspension/pedal point in “Paused“.
Yat-Kha’s Yenisei-Punk is worth a sample, if only to remind yourself of the variety the planet has to offer. Don’t get stuck!
Running
Feeling plateau-ish lately. I’ve been running-by-ear for the last few weeks, taking the pressure off. I need to turn the screws again.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
ArborVille is such a cool mix of ASCII maps and memories. (Via Naïve Weekly, a great newsletter with consistent pointers to the more adventurous web of yesteryear, today.)
An interview with Giancarlo Esposito. “I mention my children because I learned a lot from them, now that I’m able to hear them. Hearing with your heart is different than hearing just with your ears.”
“Harlem is a vision as much as a place, in all of its incarnations; and in all of its incarnations, there is always, somehow, a catch.”
Repairing undersea cables is one of those quiet labors that keeps the planet stitched together. Jealous of journalists who get to do reporting like that.
Movies
The Listener. Tessa Thompson takes phone calls. It’s like a gentle tour through society’s various illnesses and hang-ups, so to speak. A few other mostly-one-person films I’d easily recommend: All Is Lost, The Shallows, Locke, The Guilty and its remake.
The Beekeeper. A man with a secret past, etc.. I like the variety of killings, but perhaps he’s a bit too invincible? Maybe they’re playing into the mythical angle, “when society needs a hero”. Our heroine side character is a bit of a waste, doesn’t add enough. Have to say, it’s very refreshing when action heroes – like Statham here, and Keanu – have some credible martial arts background from their younger years, and aren’t just sluggers. There’s an ease and a precision to it, not easy to fake.
Picnic at Hanging Rock. I love how nebulous and haunting this is. A perfectly lovely sunny day ruined, sickening because you have no idea what happened, and you’re just left to stew in your own imagination and distraught gasping into a kerchief. Can definitely see the influence on The Virgin Suicides.
TV
3 Body Problem, s1e1. It was cool to recognize/remember parts of the book, but just couldn’t get into it.
X-Files, s2e8 “One Breath“. Scully’s back! Appreciated the “strength of your beliefs” call-back. 🥲
Bodies, s1e1–2. Decent little detective drama, told in parallel scenes in vastly different eras. Not all of the period stories are hitting the same way, but their relative rankings shifted from first to the second. We’ll see what develops.
Abbott Elementary, s3e10. This show does so well at balancing the goofy and the sentimental. I’ve seen collectively maybe ~64 minutes across all the seasons, and it still had me choking up a bit.
Shōgun, s1e6. Ochiba is on the rampage.
Words of Wisdom
“I put time and love and too much energy into this finished project just to put it on Instagram and forget it about it. Like, no, promote your shit, let people know, be proud of the shit that you made.”
Mark Larson 