According to my notes this week, I had a good idea for something to write here and I forgot it. "Jotting this in case it comes back...?" It did not. But for the record, it was "pretty good".
Holiday weekend, don't waste it!
Art
1/24/80 #2, color monoprint by Lynda Benglis. A 19th century grass basket from the Congo. A Lady, watercolor on ivory. Woman in flowered dress sitting with hands clasped in lap, platinum print of photograph by Herbert Greer French. 2,000 Turkeys, Albany, Ohio, gelatin silver print by Nancy Rexroth. Seminarians Playing Football, photo by Ramón Masats.
Books
As I wrap up Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors, I've been poking around for my next read. And striking out. Something will come along.
Total Recall by Piers Anthony. I had no idea this was a novelization. DNF, switched to watch the movie instead. Maybe I'll check out the original PKD story at some point.
The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Dangerous to spend too much time on the preface, foreword, translator's note, biography, introduction...
The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch. We'll see!
Running
Yesterday's long run wiped me out. But I think my fitness is finally back up where it was before I went to Japan and took a few weeks off. It's good when your ability can meet your desire.
Around the Web
"By 1872, a trade journal was running the first advertisements for books labeled specifically as "summer reading", a category that hadn't existed before."
"A perfect day is waking up knowing no one is mad at me. I'm not late on anything. I'm not procrastinating."
The Barbican Estate: What it's like to live in an architectural icon.
The hidden cassettes: Excerpts from calls my dad secretly recorded and Paul Brown's iPod.
Rediscovering the handcart. Beautiful website, too.
"Underneath the task of writing a particular piece is the general one of making a self who can make the work you are meant to."
"The right question is what habits of mind, what kinds of relationships, what capacity for judgment under uncertainty, what tolerance for slow understanding, will let a person remain economically and humanly viable across a working life in which the specific tasks they were trained for will be repeatedly absorbed into machines on a tempo no one can predict."
Quaker parents were ahead of their time. "Let your life speak."
We're still not done with Jesus.
What Wikipedia page was everyone looking at yesterday?
Enjoyed strolling the rooms in this gif gallery for a while.
Ideas for slash pages on your personal site.
Music
NFM Choir cond. Lionel Sow, Dialogue, featuring choral works by Penderecki, Daniel-Lesur, Marçot, Poulenc, Messiaen. Proud to have clocked Penderecki by ear on my first listen. Messiaen's "O sacrum convivium!" might be my favorite of the bunch.
The British Project, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra cond. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. "Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis" always hits.
Ellen Reid, Big Majestic. Great album. The title track has something of the Apollo: Atmospheres energy. "Alone on Mulholland", maybe dial this one up next time I'm in LA.
Angine de Poitrine, Vol. II. Erratic jazzy funky progressive rock stuff. Reminds me of Primus a little bit?
Tenebrio, Golden Boy, Miss Kittin, Rippin' Kittin.
Movies
Ideally movies do not look like the movies people watch in movies. Glad I've been choosing wisely of late.
Total Recall (1990). Good momentum throughout, and a good thinkpiece, too. I like when scifi futures so closely resemble our own world, just polished up a bit. Not everything ages well here but the practical effects still have visceral impact.
Too Late for Tears. Sturdy film noir. I love how our lead just instantly gets the greedy glimmer in her eyes – no mystery as to exactly when the trouble starts.
Married to the Mob. Loved this. So many oddball characters, "why not?" moments just to keep you on your toes. Movies don't feel weird like this anymore? Is it us?
Caddo Lake. Suspenseful and natureful science fiction, nicely done. I think one of the perks of an acting career would be picking up random skills like running a johnboat. Also, this movie helped me learn about the 160-mile long (!) Great Raft logjam that led to the lake's formation.
TV
The X-Files, s6e10 "Tithonus". So good! Appreciate the modern-day exploration of the new-to-me Greek myths. Top-tier acting. I like when Scully is uneasy and questioning, more engaging for me than Mulder's paranoid-obsessive questing.
Hannibal, s3e10.
Big Little Lies, s1e6–7. Great climax. I still wonder when the trivia part happens.