A reminder to myself: It’s nice to call my family. They’ve known me longer than anyone else, and there’s no replacement. Lucky.
Art
Golden Pheasants in Snow, painting by Itō Jakuchū. Love how detailed and crowded this is, like an expensive wallpaper. A Musical Company in an Interior, oil painting by Pieter Symonsz Potter.
Books
After spending most of the year with Middlemarch, it’s been a challenge to settle into another one. The Modern Myths: Adventures in the Machinery of the Popular Imagination has been pretty good so far. The Faerie Queene was a DNF.
Articles & Episodes & Twoots
“As an adult with any degree of complexity to your life: if you want your life full of more of the things you want, you should be willing to do those things imperfectly but frequently.”
Leaning into my discomfort era.
“Progressivism should not be a ritual to be followed; it should be a tool to getting real stuff that makes life better.”
“All innovation (particularly social innovation) should be presented as a return to tradition.”
“One of the most common megaproject failure modes is to not freak out soon enough, and having a concrete plan is the best antidote.”
“Outside of Manhattan, 63% of all properties within one kilometer (1KM) of a subway have two stories or less, while 92% are three stories or less.” Kinda crazy. So many easy wins just lying around.
Movies
Conclave. Modest gossipy drama that evaporated as soon as I turned the TV off. It sets the stage, puts the pieces in motion, and we see who is left standing. I see what they did there, with the ending, and with the way women step into and out of the action througout, but… it felt a little cheap, after so much petty personal conflict and politicking, it suddenly wanted us to care about ideas?
Drive-Away Dolls. Horny and juvenile, but I appreciate how they play with the transitions, soundtrack, and moments of heightened acting. The bit parts were the best parts.
Speak No Evil (2022). A vacation from hell (see: The Rental). Like many good horror movies, we build unsettling dread and discomfort from the small ways that people fail to trust their instincts around other people who constantly push the boundaries. “Because you let me.” An incredibly uncomfortable climax, sickening. Not sure I could watch that again – I immediately swore it off – but the lead-up was great.
Red Riding: 1974. A journalist gets hooked on a case, pays the price. It’s good.
Speak No Evil (2024). After I cooled down from watching the original, curiosity about the remake won me over. More straightforwardly dramatic, less tense. More of a character piece, with much more focus on our main villain.
Heretic. I really appreciate late-career Hugh Grant. Seems like he’s having fun. Mounting stress, a rich conflict, and heroines that surprise you.
Music
Thomas Tallis, Lamentations of Jeremiah perf. The Tallis Scholars.
A couple more from Luther Vandross this week…
- Give Me The Reason. “There’s Nothing Better Than Love“.
- Songs. Much more church-y, right from the start.
Jon Hopkins, Ritual. The opening few seconds of the album are so good, like a breath and a meditation chime. Draws you right in. “part v – evocation” made me think of the Gone Girl soundtrack (complimentary!).
Bill Evans, From Left to Right. Jazz with piano and Rhodes piano and orchestra and it’s all good.
TV
The X-Files, s4e11 “El Mundo Gira“. Back from a little break, and the show is back on track. I loved this episode. In style, like a telenovela, heightened soap opera desperation, but with a chupacabra.
Black Doves, s1e1. Something’s missing…
Mark Larson 