I got my flu shot last week. Did you get yours? I truly don't remember much else. What a blur.

NYC Marathon and Halloween falling on the same weekend is so nice. Crisp air, excited runners everywhere, wake up to clowns and giant rats and princesses out and about on a Saturday morning like the most normal thing in the world.

Halloween decorations on a bench outside an apartment building featuring three fabric ghost family – two big ones and a small one seated in between

Books

Black Wings Has My Angel. Finished this one. Really appreciated the colorful language, turns of phrase. There's something about this pulp writing that leaves room for imagination but assumes some agreement? A sort of elbow-in-the-ribs, with a wink at a shared understanding. Tons of great lines...

  • "a slender poised thing with skin the color of pearls melted in honey"
  • "she practically dunked herself in the mirrors"
  • "the evening breeze cool and dry with a fresh spank to it."
  • "the worst that could happen for me would be a good long sleep, this on the heels of a blaring final scene, replete with smell of cordite and criminal courage."
  • "I kept comparing the rocks and the sky with what we have down South and kind of gloating to think that the South, though lacking in chamber-of-commerce promotion, has the subtlest colors and teasingest smells a man could want. Out West all the smells are sucked up out of the baked land by the sun. And it’s as if all the colors in the ground are gobbled up by their sunsets, and so is the blue of the sky. The sky is high and pale and impersonal and you get the feeling it doesn’t belong to you at all, but that it is the property of the chamber of commerce. In the South the sky is humid and low and rich and it’s yours to smell and feel. In the West you’re only an observer. In the West someone sees a flower growing on a mountain and he writes a whole damned pamphlet about it. In the South the roses explode out of the weeds in the yards of the poorest shanties."
  • "I worried harder, because all my life I’d wanted to live lazily and glossily, and now I had it and didn’t want it taken away from me."
  • "You’ve never heard a siren until you’ve heard one looking for you and you alone."

...and plenty more. Ended in despairing ruins, which leaves a gross film on the experience, but still glad I read it.

Dakota: A Spiritual Geography. Just started, let's see what happens.

Running

Squeezed in a coupld runs this weekend, included a cameo at my run club. The way I can feel dormant circuits light up again... We're so back.

Around the Web

Steve Reich at 90: Still Composing and Thinking ‘Well, This Is New!’. "When you actually get down to writing, if the piece draws you in, you’re fine; and if it doesn’t, start another piece. I don’t care where you are."

"I just need someone to acknowledge that grapes are candy. They are literally candy that grows on a vine and somehow we all just agreed that they’re a health food."

Seasoning a Kid. "What's a season if you’ve only circled the sun a few times? And can’t really remember what it was like at this time last year?"

"Early sunset isn’t a burden to be endured. It’s an opportunity to rest and recharge in maximum coziness."

The Cult of New York. "The real question has always been which city remains fascinating in the winter, when everyone’s mood plummets and the sun disappears at 4:30 PM. That is when you learn something. People start questioning their lives in the winter because that is when the city stops being fun long enough for them to notice what it actually costs."

The Art of the City Teen Side Hustle.

"What exactly is the signaling value of a $30,000 car over a $10,000 car? 'Hey look at me, I'm not just middle class, I'm UPPER middle class.' Is that really so important for you to get across?"

After 28 Years Walking the Globe, Karl Bushby Is Almost Home.

Music

A couple from Ashe...

Bach!

DjRUM, DJ-Kicks: Djrum.

Lucio Battisti, Una giornata uggiosa. '80s Italian pop.

Jessie Ware, Superbloom. Fun album, lots of dramatic disco, fits right in with her other great work. "I Could Get Used to This".

Drexciya Journey of the Deep Sea Dweller I. Old Detroit techno, I'm into "Wavejumper" and "Aquarazorda"

a view of the lawn in Prospect Park in Brooklyn with a clear autumn sky above trees in green and gold and red

TV

WandaVision, s1e9. Really good show. Definitely preferred the earlier episodes, which had more playfulness (and creepiness!). The last episode spent too much time in standard superhero battle mode, but still a tender emotional payoff.

East of Eden, s1e2. Cathy is trouble!