This week I celebrated my anniversary (until the new one!) with the aforementioned gumbo and a big ol’ cake that lasted a few days. Recommended!
Another highlight of this week: I printed my old iPhone journals into hefty hardbacks. One of the most satisfying little projects I’ve done. Five or six years of material in a form I can hold. The cloud is vapor; paper is forever. What’s a body of work without a body?
And another: a weekend stroll on the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail, rambling 11-12 miles from Tarrytown to Yonkers through backyards and local parks, much of it with the Hudson River in sight. I need to go back and run it.
Books
Still Life. I loved the Three Pines TV show, and this is the book that started the Inspector Gamache franchise (and inspired the awful movie :\ ). Enjoyed going back to the source, comparing the characterizations in the book with the two acted versions. Like the hero, the plot gently takes its time to observe and absorb.
School
Structure makes a big difference!
Running
My highest-mileage week in the last year or so, I think. Mostly from mixing in more frequent, shorter weekday runs. Feeling more tired, but looser? I registered for a couple more races in the fall, so there’s lots to look forward to in the back half of the year.
Music
Amanda Whiting, “The Liminality of Her“. Spacious lounge harp! “Facing the Sun” makes me think of… lazy days in Central America. I like how forward the rhythm section is throughout the album.
Shaboozey, “Cowboys Live Forever, Outlaws Never Die“. Can’t say I like it, but it’s interesting.
In the barely-30-minutes-long category: Juaneco y Su Combo, El Gran Cacique. Peruvian rock & roll x cumbia x psychedelia.
In the barely-16-minutes-long category: Benedikt, Jag är sen igen. I like the insistent heartbeat in “Til fordel for ny“.
In the 18.5 hours long category, a compilation of Keith Haring’s mixtapes. It’s a cool capsule of a certain slice of radio and subcultures. Also, listening to stuff like Good Life, it’s obvious why the Streets of Rage II soundtrack hits so hard.
The Beloved, Happiness unlocked a memory I didn’t expect – one of my roommates in college had an EDM mix that featured “The Sun Rising” on it. Hadn’t heard that in a couple decades (!). In its gentle, direct vocals, “Don’t You Worry” made me imagine a Arthur Russell x Depeche Mode crossover.
I listened to Fauré’s Requiem three times on Friday (and a few more times in my head). It’s the perfect way to start your weekend.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
“Bureaucratic hell is always about one person’s ease coming at the cost of someone else’s frustration, time wasted, and busy work.”
How a migrant farmworker built generational wealth, penny by penny. Beautiful story.
Movies
Air Force One. Incredible watch, lovely momentum. It holds up so well. And there’s something comforting and reassuring about films of the 1990s. They just look right. Special effects can be “good enough” if you care about what’s going on!
Scream 4. It’s been really fun to catch up on this franchise. “All through the movie, ‘Scre4m’ lets us know that it knows exactly what it’s up to — and then goes right ahead and gets up to it.”
TV
X-Files, s2e11, “Excelsius Dei”. When elder care goes bad, toxic mushroom edition.
Bodies, s1e6–8. I’d give the series a solid B. Unlikely to rewatch or think about it much, but I don’t regret any of it. That’s something!
Shōgun, s1e9. Mariko’s persistent death wish is heartbreaking. Curious how they’re gonna wrap this up. (I hear rumors of season 2, but kinda don’t want it?)
Mark Larson 