#c: jules faulkner

[allbestnet]

The 5000 Best Books of All-Time

Book 251–499 (go to book 1 to 250)

251. All the King’s Men (1946) by Robert Penn Warren 252. The Maltese Falcon (1930) by Dashiell Hammett 253. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) by Mark Twain 254. Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori 255. Plague (1947) by Albert Camus 256. Jurassic Park (1990) by Michael Crichton 257. The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson 258. Shogun (1975) by James Clavell 259. A Town Like Alice (1950) by Nevil Shute 260. Ambassadors (1903) by Henry James 261. Blood Meridian (1985) by Cormac McCarthy 262. No Country for Old Men (2005) by Cormac McCarthy 263. The Castle (1926) by Franz Kafka 264. Phantom of the Opera (1910) by Gaston Leroux 265. Middlesex (2002) by Jeffrey Eugenides 266. The Book of the New Sun (1994) by Gene Wolfe 267. Vanity Fair (1848) by William Makepeace Thackeray 268. Heidi by Johanna Spyri 269. Bluest Eye (1970) by Toni Morrison 270. Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand 271. Pippi Longstocking (1945) by Astrid Lindgren 272. The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969) by John Fowles 273. North and South (1855) by Elizabeth Gaskell 274. Percy Jackson & the Olympians (2005) by Rick Riordan 275. Gilgamesh by 276. The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare 277. Millennium series by Stieg Larsson 278. Cat’s Cradle (1963) by Kurt Vonnegut 279. Northanger Abbey (1817) by Jane Austen 280. The Secret History (1992) by Donna Tartt 281. Screwtape Letters (1942) by C.S. Lewis 282. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare 283. The World According to Garp (1978) by John Irving 284. A Confederacy of Dunces (1980) by John Kennedy Toole 285. Birdsong (1993) by Sebastian Faulks 286. Dandelion Wine (1957) by Ray Bradbury 287. Light in August (1932) by William Faulkner 288. The Glass Castle (2005) by Jeannette Walls 289. People’s History of the United States (2010) by Howard Zinn 290. Lamb by Christopher Moore 291. Water for Elephants (2006) by Sara Gruen 292. Moneyball (2003) by Michael Lewis 293. Three Men in a Boat (1889) by Jerome K. Jerome 294. Jungle (1906) by Upton Sinclair 295. The Forever War (1974) by Joe Haldeman 296. Le Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac 297. Number the Stars (1989) by Lois Lowry 298. Siddhartha (1951) by Hermann Hesse 299. Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams 300. Misery (1987) by Stephen King 301. Calvin and Hobbes (1993) by Bill Watterson 302. I Am Legend (1954) by Richard Matheson 303. Tuesdays With Morrie (1997) by Mitch Albom 304. Medea by Euripides 305. The Witches (1983) by Roald Dahl 306. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer 307. Where the Red Fern Grows (1961) by Wilson Rawls 308. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) by Hunter S. Thompson 309. Robinson Crusoe (1719) by Daniel Defoe 310. Angela’s Ashes (1996) by Frank McCourt 311. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1963) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 312. Howl’s Moving Castle (1986) by Diana Wynne Jones 313. Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) by James Baldwin 314. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1974) by John le Carre 315. Silmarillion (1977) by J.R.R. Tolkien 316. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1958) by Truman Capote 317. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2006) by John Boyne 318. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou 319. High Fidelity (1995) by Nick Hornby 320. Parade’s End (1928) by Ford Madox Ford 321. Kim (1901) by Rudyard Kipling 322. Snow Crash (1992) by Neal Stephenson 323. Works by William Shakespeare 324. Song of Solomon (1977) by Toni Morrison 325. Satanic Verses (1988) by Salman Rushdie 326. Ready Player One (2011) by Ernest Cline 327. Starship Troopers (1959) by Robert A. Heinlein 328. Mahabharata by Vyasa 329. Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) by Jules Verne 330. The Day of the Locust (1939) by Nathanael West 331. The Day of the Triffids (1951) by John Wyndham 332. My Antonia (1918) by Willa Cather 333. Swiss Family Robinson (1812) by Johann Wyss 334. I Capture the Castle (1948) by Dodie Smith 335. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! (1990) by Dr. Seuss 336. Sirens of Titan (1959) by Kurt Vonnegut 337. The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King 338. The Golden Notebook (1962) by Doris Lessing 339. Tempest by William Shakespeare 340. Prophet (1923) by Kahlil Gibran 341. Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers 342. Everything is Illuminated (2002) by Jonathon Safran Foer 343. The New York Trilogy (1987) by Paul Auster 344. The Host (2010) by Stephenie Meyer 345. How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) by Dale Carnegie 346. Brief History of Time (1988) by S.W. Hawking 347. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005) by Jonathan Safran Foer 348. One Thousand and One Nights by 349. Winesburg, Ohio (1919) by Sherwood Anderson 350. Ivanhoe (1820) by Sir Walter Scott 351. Farewell to Arms (1929) by Ernest Hemingway 352. Awakening by Kate Chopin 353. Little House by Laura Ingalls Wilder 354. Fun Home (2006) by Alison Bechdel 355. USA by John Dos Passos 356. The Shadow of the Wind (2001) by Carlos Ruiz Zafon 357. Ramayana by Valmiki 358. Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) by Malcolm X 359. The Alchemist (1986) by Paulo Coelho 360. The Power of One (1989) by Bryce Courtenay 361. Aesop’s Fables by Aesop 362. The Virgin Suicides (1993) by Jeffrey Eugenides 363. Darkness at Noon (1940) by Arthur Koestler 364. Love You Forever (1986) by Robert Munsch 365. Batman by 366. Story of Ferdinand (1936) by Munro Leaf 367. Scott Pilgrim (2010) by 368. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989) by Stephen R. Covey 369. Divergent (2011) by Veronica Roth 370. Outliers (2008) by Malcolm Gladwell 371. Childhood’s End (1953) by Arthur C. Clarke 372. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen 373. Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) by Victor Hugo 374. Thirteen Reasons Why (2007) by Jay Asher 375. Polar Express (1985) by Chris Van Allsburg 376. The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio 377. The Neverending Story (1979) by Michael Ende 378. Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway 379. Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling 380. Shantaram (2003) by Gregory David Roberts 381. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst 382. Light in the Attic (1981) by Shel Silverstein 383. The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007) by Brian Selznick 384. Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne 385. Jude the Obscure (1895) by Thomas Hardy 386. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O’Brien 387. Ringworld (1970) by Larry Niven 388. The Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett 389. Redeeming Love (1991) by Francine Rivers 390. The Shipping News (1993) by E. Annie Proulx 391. Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel 392. Thus Spake Zarathustra (1885) by Friedrich Nietzsche 393. Tale of Peter Rabbit (1902) by Beatrix Potter 394. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi 395. The Once and Future King (1958) by T.H. White 396. Little Dorrit (1857) by Charles Dickens 397. Mythology by Edith Hamilton 398. Gulag Archipelago (1973) by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn 399. Invisible Cities (1972) by Italo Calvino 400. The Walking Dead (2003) by Robert Kirkman 401. Hush, Hush (2009) by Becca Fitzpatrick 402. Bridge to Terabithia (1977) by Katherine Paterson 403. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (1967) by E.L. Konigsburg 404. Paradise Lost (1667) by John Milton 405. Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins 406. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 407. Lovely Bones (2002) by Alice Seybold 408. Paper Towns (2008) by John Green 409. The Book of Mormon by Joseph Smith Jr. 410. Underworld (1997) by Don DeLillo 411. Where the Sidewalk Ends (1974) by Shel Silverstein 412. Battle Royale (1999) by Koushun Takami 413. The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson 414. Cry, the Beloved Country (1948) by Alan Paton 415. Flowers of Evil by Charles Baudelaire 416. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980) by J.M. Coeztee 417. The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) by Ursula Le Guin 418. Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1782) by Pierre-Ambroise-Francois Choderlos de Laclos 419. Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) by Helen Fielding 420. Kane and Abel (1979) by Jeffrey Archer 421. Martian Chronicles (1950) by Ray Bradbury 422. Delirium (2011) by Lauren Oliver 423. Borrowers (1952) by Mary Norton 424. Origin of Species (1977) by Charles Darwin 425. Steve Jobs (2011) by Walter Isaacson 426. The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886) by Thomas Hardy 427. Killer Angels (1974) by Michael Shaara 428. The Poisonwood Bible (1998) by Barbara Kingsolver 429. Guns, Germs, and Steel (1997) by Jared Diamond 430. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (1970) by Dee Alexander Brown 431. Book of Job by God 432. The Dark Tower by Stephen King 433. Under the Dome (2009) by Stephen King 434. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress (1966) by Robert A. Heinlein 435. Stories (1971) by Franz Kafka 436. Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) by Mark Twain 437. Joy Luck Club (1989) by Amy Tan 438. The Sneetches and Other Stories (1989) by Dr. Seuss 439. The Blind Assassin (2000) by Margaret Atwood 440. The Graveyard Book (2008) by Neil Gaiman 441. A Suitable Boy (1993) by Vikram Seth 442. Sister Carrie (1900) by Theodore Dreiser 443. Constitution by United States 444. Notebook (1996) by Nicholas Sparks 445. Silas Marner by George Eliot 446. The Omnivore’s Dilemma (2006) by Michael Pollan 447. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (1987) by Fannie Flagg 448. Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba 449. The Last Song (2009) by Nicholas Sparks 450. The Big Sleep (1939) by Raymond Chandler 451. Unwind (2007) by Neal Shusterman 452. A Walk to Remember (1999) by Nicholas Sparks 453. Republic by Plato 454. Little House in the Big Woods (1932) by Laura Ingalls Wilder 455. The Sandman (1996) by Neil Gaiman 456. Speak (1999) by Laurie Halse Anderson 457. The Selfish Gene (1976) by Richard Dawkins 458. Lorna Doone (1869) by R.D. Blackmore 459. The Far Pavilions (1978) by M.M. Kaye 460. Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francois Rabelais 461. The Maze Runner (2009) by James Dashner 462. Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) by Tom Wolfe 463. Glass by 464. House at Pooh Corner (1928) by A.A. Milne 465. Tawny Man by Robin Hobb 466. Kafka on the Shore (2002) by Haruki Murakami 467. Portrait of a Lady (1881) by Henry James 468. Good Earth (1931) by Pearl S. Buck 469. Tuck Everlasting (1975) by Natalie Babbitt 470. Make Way for Ducklings (1941) by Robert McCloskey 471. Red Harvest (1929) by Dashiell Hammett 472. The Andromeda Strain (1969) by Michael Crichton 473. Naked Lunch (1959) by William Burroughs 474. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985) by Laura Joffe Numeroff 475. The Other Boleyn Girl (2001) by Philippa Gregory 476. Angle of Repose (1971) by Wallace Stegner 477. Hunger (1890) by Knut Hamsun 478. The Beach (1996) by Alex Garland 479. Hansel and Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck 480. The Last Lecture (2008) by Randy Pausch 481. Power and the Glory (1940) by Graham Greene 482. Pygmalion (1912) by George Bernard Shaw 483. My Name Is Asher Lev (1972) by Chaim Potok 484. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian (2007) by Sherman Alexie 485. Cold Mountain (1997) by Charles Frazier 486. Horton Hears a Who! (1982) by Dr. Seuss 487. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926) by Agatha Christie 488. Berlin Alexanderplatz (1929) by Alfred Doblin 489. Cider House Rules (1985) by John Irving 490. Goedel, Escher, Bach (1979) by Douglas Hofstadter 491. The Stars My Destination (1956) by Alfred Bester 492. Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) by Jules Verne 493. The English Patient (1992) by Michael Ondaatje 494. Outlander (1991) by Diana Gabaldon 495. Sentimental Education (1869) by Gustave Flaubert 496. Marley & Me (2005) by John Grogan 497. Oedipus Rex by Sophocles 498. Possession: A Romance (1990) by A.S. Byatt 499. As You Like It by William Shakespeare

[pangeanews]

“Ma tu sei uno scrittore?”. William Faulkner a Hollywood. L’amico di Humphrey Bogart che vinse il Nobel

Gli anni epici di William Faulkner sono questi. 1931-1936. Dalla pubblicazione di Santuario, patto illecito – e licenziosamente memorabile – con il ‘genere’ noir per tirar su un po’ di soldi – che non arrivano – a Assalonne, Assalonne!, il capolavoro, pubblicato nel 1936, in 6mila copie di tiratura iniziale, emblema – all’epoca – dello scrittore scriteriato, involuto, biblico, tremendo, fallito. In questi anni, succede di tutto. L’11 gennaio nasce, dall’unione con Estelle, la figlia Alabama. “L’ospedale di Oxford non dispone di una incubatrice, e Faulkner è costretto a riportare a casa la bambina, che muore all’alba del 20 gennaio. Annientato dal dolore, porta con le braccia la piccola bara al cimitero, e al ritorno avverte l’ignara Estelle dell’accaduto” (Fernanda Pivano nella Cronologia al ‘Meridiano’ Mondadori che raduna i Romanzi di WF, nel 1995). Questo sarà lo start di una serie di tragedie. Nel 1932 muore il padre, Murry Cuthbert Falkner – la u fu aggiunta come vezzo dallo scrittore, speranza per un alato futuro. Due anni dopo muore il fratello Dean, guidava un biplano. Dean era del 1907, dieci anni più giovane di William – era stato lui a indurlo a praticare il volo – il senso di colpa lo devasta.

*

Quando pubblica Luce d’agosto (1932; traduzione pionieristica di Elio Vittorini, per Mondadori, nel 1939) Faulkner inala la certezza del fallimento. Con i libri non campa, perciò accetta di varcare l’Eden degli scrittori in cerca di fama. Hollywood. La Metro gli offre un contratto da 500 dollari a settimana; lavorare sui testi altrui, barattare qualche brandello di dialogo, corrompere la sua visione dell’arte, manichea, monastica, lo devasta. Ma accetta. Lisa C. Hickman, docente di “Southern literature” alla University of Mississippi, racconta gli anni hollywoodiani di Faulkner in un saggio pubblicato sulla “Los Angeles Review of Books”, The Road to Glory: Faulkner’s Hollywood Years, 1932-1936. L’inizio fu un disastro. “Faulkner arrivò agli studios il 7 maggio del 1932: in ritardo, spettinato, ubriaco, con la testa che sanguinava. Non riuscì a sistemarsi, scomparve per nove giorni. In seguito, dirà di aver vagato per la Death Valley. Come ci era arrivato se distava almeno 150 miglia da Hollywood?”. Faulkner che vaga nel deserto è una immagine di lungimirante potenza. Forse lì ha coscienza di essere un genio, gli scorpioni gli sussurrano che chi ha un compito può accettare tutto, che gli uomini non scalfiscono la voce del profeta, la necessità del santo.

*

Altra scena. “Poco prima di lasciare Oxford, Faulkner termina Luce d’agosto. Il manoscritto conta 527 pagine che Estelle, rosa di rabbia, un giorno, getta fuori dal finestrino della macchina. Faulkner fu costretto a raccattare i fogli del suo romanzo tra i fossati, i cespugli, la terra”. Il segno è doppio, qui. Primo: lo scrittore è ostile a chi ama, vampirizza le relazioni, i suoi scritti sono autenticati dalla rabbia altrui. Secondo: un grande libro è sigillato dall’abbandono, va cercato frugando i boschi. Che strana la vita di Faulkner: tra isolamento e palco, tra deserto e Nobel, tra il desueto e lo sgargiante, il lacero e il bacio.

*

La vita hollywoodiana di Faulkner è stata sotterrata per anni in una sorta di ferreo pudore. Dai romanzi del più grande scrittore americano del secolo avrebbero estratto dei film di vago successo – da Intruder in the Dust del 1949 a The Sound and the Fury, del 1959, con Yul Brinner e Joanne Woodward, fino a As I Lay Dying, di James Franco, del 2013. Il contrario – che il grande scrittore si piegasse a maneggiare sceneggiature altrui – suonava male. Le cose cambiano quando, nel 1987, Louis D. Brodsky pubblica, per la University Press of Mississippi, Country Lawyer and Other Stories for the Screen by William Faulkner. Fu una piccola sorpresa. Così Herbert Mitgang sul “New York Times”, il 28 luglio 1987, riassume il clamore: “Faulkner ha lavorato a 17 sceneggiature tra gli anni Trenta e Quaranta, tra adattamenti, collaborazioni con sceneggiatori più esperti e testi originali. La sua produzione per Hollywood, finora sconosciuta, ha toccato le 2500 pagine dattiloscritte – sostanzialmente, un romanzo oceanico, mai pubblicato”.

*

Gli aneddoti hollywwodiani di Faulkner – per lo più annaffiati di alcolici di ogni sorta, garanti di grandiose ubriacature – si sprecano. Questa è curiosa. Ottobre 1932. Los Angeles. Howard Hawks ha affittato una casa in collina. Gira tanto alcol e un bel fiotto di fanciulle. Clark Gable attacca Faulkner, sotto contratto per la Metro, che all’epoca “stipendia sessantadue scrittori alla settimana”. Chi sono i migliori scrittori viventi?, chiede l’attore. “Ernest Hemingway, Willa Cather, John Dos Passos, Thomas Mann e William Faulkner”, dice Faulkner. Gable gli fa, “Ma tu sei uno scrittore?”. Risposta laconica di Faulkner: “Certo, Mr. Gable. E tu, che mestiere fai?”. Faulkner “è stato lo scrittore che con più costanza ha lavorato per il ‘sistema Hollywood’, scrivendo o trattando soggetti e sceneggiature per cinque tra le maggiori case cinematografiche, la Metro, la Universal, la Rko, la Fox e la Warner Brothers”, scrive Stefan Solomon in William Faulkner in Hollywood: Screenwriting for the Studios (University of Georgia Press, 2017). A Faulkner, Hollywood faceva schifo. “Non mi piace il clima, la gente, la vita”, dice in un’intervista, nel 1951. “Sto male, sono depresso, ho la terribile certezza di perdere tempo”, scrive in una lettera, dagli studi della Metro.

*

Hollywood divora Faulkner. Lo scrittore lascia nel 1945; due anni dopo la Warner impugna il contratto e lo rimette al lavoro. Faulkner, che ha canonici problemi di soldi, si piega. Di tutto questo lavoro, immane, resta la firma di Faulkner in cinque film:

Today We Live (1933), di Howard Hawks, con Joan Crawford e Gary Cooper, basato su un racconto di Faulkner, Turnabout, pubblicato nel 1932 sul “Saturday Evening Post”;

The Road to Glory (1936) di Howard Hawks, con Fredric March e Warner Baxter, scritto da Faulkner con Joel Sayre, ambientato nella Prima guerra, in Francia;

Slave Ship (1937), di Tay Garnett, con Warner Baxter e Mickey Rooney, basato su un romanzo di George S. King, da cui Faulkner ha tratto il soggetto, trattato da altri in sceneggiatura;

To Have and Have Not (1944), di Howard Hawks, con Humphrey Bogart e Lauren Bacall, tratto da Avere e non avere dell’amico-odiato Ernest Hemingway. Faulkner scrive la sceneggiatura con Jules Furthman. Ridurre Hemingway in forma di film lo deprime; l’amicizia con Bogart lo rincuora;

The Big Sleep (1946), di Howard Hawks, con Humphrey Bogart e Lauren Bacall, tratto dal romanzo di Raymond Chandler, è effettivamente il grande ‘successo’ da sceneggiatore di Faulkner. Proprio quell’anno, l’uscita del Portable Faulkner, una antologia di scritti faulkneriani, “provoca una popolarità mondiale favorendo la ristampa dei titoli esauriti” (Pivano) e lanciando WF verso il Nobel, che casca tre anni dopo.

*

Hollywood non entra nella narrativa di Faulkner, se non per squarci. In Palme selvagge s’intuisce la morte della figlia Alabama, il Sud che marcisce come l’anima di Faulkner, i tradimenti. Palme selvagge è scritto sotto l’infatuazione per Meta Carpenter, la bella segretaria di Howard Howks, che WF frequenta da quando è entrato a Hollywood – a dire il vero, docile alle tentazioni, ha pure una cotta per Claudette Colbert, Oscar nel 1935 per Accadde una notte, di Frank Capra. Il regno fittizio di Hollywood, la devastazione del Sud. “Sembra che Faulkner voglia mettere in scena la vita come Caduta”, scrive Emilio Tadini in un bel saggio per L’urlo e il furore. “Il poeta, lo scrittore, sacrifica se stesso – fa letteralmente sacrificio di se stesso sull’altare del mondo. Si fa strumento rituale – tramite, raccordo, conduttore. Auto-umiliazione? Orgoglio? Ma di chi?”. Palme selvagge, tradotto in latinoamerica da Leonor Acevedo Suárez e suo figlio, Jorge Luis Borges, s’intitolava in origine If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem. Il Salmo 137 della Bibbia. Il più cupo, l’inaudito, l’inudibile. Che chiude con quel grido al massacro: “Figlia di Babilonia che ammazza/ beato chi ti renderà quanto hai fatto/ beato chi afferra i tuoi figli/ e li sfracella contro le rocce”. Qui, chi si massacra contro la petraia del mondo, usando parole che lapidano, eco del deserto e dello sconfinato, è lo scrittore. (d.b.)

L'articolo “Ma tu sei uno scrittore?”. William Faulkner a Hollywood. L’amico di Humphrey Bogart che vinse il Nobel proviene da Pangea.

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[thesnhuup]

Pop Picks — May 19, 2019

May 19, 2019

What I’m listening to: 

I usually go to music here, but I was really moved by this podcast of a Davis Brooks talk at the Commonwealth Club in Silicon Valley: https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/podcast/david-brooks-quest-moral-life.  While I have long found myself distant from his political stance, he has come through a dark night of the soul and emerged with a wonderful clarity about calling, community, and not happiness (that most superficial of goals), but fulfillment and meaning, found in community and human kinship of many kinds. I immediately sent it to my kids.

What I’m reading: 

Susan Orlean’s wonderful The Library Book, a love song to libraries told through the story of the LA Central Library.  It brought back cherished memories of my many hours in beloved libraries — as a kid in the Waltham Public Library, a high schooler in the Farber Library at Brandeis (Lil Farber years later became a mentor of mine), and the cathedral-like Bapst Library at BC when I was a graduate student. Yes, I was a nerd. This is a love song to books certainly, but a reminder that libraries are so, so much more.  It is a reminder that libraries are less about a place or being a repository of information and, like America at its best, an idea and ideal. By the way, oh to write like her.

What I’m watching: 

What else? Game of Thrones, like any sensible human being. This last season is disappointing in many ways and the drop off in the writing post George R.R. Martin is as clear as was the drop off in the post-Sorkin West Wing. I would be willing to bet that if Martin has been writing the last season, Sansa and Tyrion would have committed suicide in the crypt. That said, we fans are deeply invested and even the flaws are giving us so much to discuss and debate. In that sense, the real gift of this last season is the enjoyment between episodes, like the old pre-streaming days when we all arrived at work after the latest episode of the Sopranos to discuss what we had all seen the night before. I will say this, the last two episodes — full of battle and gore – have been visually stunning. Whether the torches of the Dothraki being extinguished in the distance or Arya riding through rubble and flame on a white horse, rarely has the series ascended to such visual grandeur.

Archive 

March 28, 2019

What I’m listening to: 

There is a lovely piece played in a scene from A Place Called Home that I tracked down. It’s Erik Satie’s 3 Gymnopédies: Gymnopédie No. 1, played by the wonderful pianist Klára Körmendi. Satie composed this piece in 1888 and it was considered avant-garde and anti-Romantic. It’s minimalism and bit of dissonance sound fresh and contemporary to my ears and while not a huge Classical music fan, I’ve fallen in love with the Körmendi playlist on Spotify. When you need an alternative to hours of Cardi B.

What I’m reading: 

Just finished Esi Edugyan’s 2018 novel Washington Black. Starting on a slave plantation in Barbados, it is a picaresque novel that has elements of Jules Verne, Moby Dick, Frankenstein, and Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad. Yes, it strains credulity and there are moments of “huh?”, but I loved it (disclosure: I was in the minority among my fellow book club members) and the first third is a searing depiction of slavery. It’s audacious, sprawling (from Barbados to the Arctic to London to Africa), and the writing, especially about nature, luminous. 

What I’m watching: 

A soap opera. Yes, I’d like to pretend it’s something else, but we are 31 episodes into the Australian drama A Place Called Home and we are so, so addicted. Like “It’s  AM, but can’t we watch just one more episode?” addicted. Despite all the secrets, cliff hangers, intrigue, and “did that just happen?” moments, the core ingredients of any good soap opera, APCH has superb acting, real heft in terms of subject matter (including homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexual assault, and class), touches of our beloved Downton Abbey, and great cars. Beware. If you start, you won’t stop.

February 11, 2019

What I’m listening to:

Raphael Saadiq has been around for quite a while, as a musician, writer, and producer. He’s new to me and I love his old school R&B sound. Like Leon Bridges, he brings a contemporary freshness to the genre, sounding like a young Stevie Wonder (listen to “You’re The One That I Like”). Rock and Roll may be largely dead, but R&B persists – maybe because the former was derivative of the latter and never as good (and I say that as a Rock and Roll fan). I’m embarrassed to only have discovered Saadiq so late in his career, but it’s a delight to have done so.

What I’m reading:

Just finished Marilynne Robinson’s Home, part of her trilogy that includes the Pulitzer Prize winning first novel, Gilead, and the book after Home, Lila. Robinson is often described as a Christian writer, but not in a conventional sense. In this case, she gives us a modern version of the prodigal son and tells the story of what comes after he is welcomed back home. It’s not pretty. Robinson is a self-described Calvinist, thus character begets fate in Robinson’s world view and redemption is at best a question. There is something of Faulkner in her work (I am much taken with his famous “The past is never past” quote after a week in the deep South), her style is masterful, and like Faulkner, she builds with these three novels a whole universe in the small town of Gilead. Start with Gilead to better enjoy Home.

What I’m watching:

Sex Education was the most fun series we’ve seen in ages and we binged watched it on Netflix. A British homage to John Hughes films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty in Pink, it feels like a mash up of American and British high schools. Focusing on the relationship of Maeve, the smart bad girl, and Otis, the virginal and awkward son of a sex therapist (played with brilliance by Gillian Anderson), it is laugh aloud funny and also evolves into more substance and depth (the abortion episode is genius). The sex scenes are somehow raunchy and charming and inoffensive at the same time and while ostensibly about teenagers (it feels like it is explaining contemporary teens to adults in many ways), the adults are compelling in their good and bad ways. It has been renewed for a second season, which is a gift.

January 3, 2019

What I’m listening to:

My listening choices usually refer to music, but this time I’m going with Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast on genius and the song Hallelujah. It tells the story of Leonard Cohen’s much-covered song Hallelujah and uses it as a lens on kinds of genius and creativity. Along the way, he brings in Picasso and Cézanne, Elvis Costello, and more. Gladwell is a good storyteller and if you love pop music, as I do, and Hallelujah, as I do (and you should), you’ll enjoy this podcast. We tend to celebrate the genius who seems inspired in the moment, creating new work like lightning strikes, but this podcast has me appreciating incremental creativity in a new way. It’s compelling and fun at the same time.

What I’m reading:

Just read Clay Christensen’s new book, The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty. This was an advance copy, so soon available. Clay is an old friend and a huge influence on how we have grown SNHU and our approach to innovation. This book is so compelling, because we know attempts at development have so often been a failure and it is often puzzling to understand why some countries with desperate poverty and huge challenges somehow come to thrive (think S. Korea, Singapore, 19th C. America), while others languish. Clay offers a fresh way of thinking about development through the lens of his research on innovation and it is compelling. I bet this book gets a lot of attention, as most of his work does. I also suspect that many in the development community will hate it, as it calls into question the approach and enormous investments we have made in an attempt to lift countries out of poverty. A provocative read and, as always, Clay is a good storyteller.

What I’m watching:

Just watched Leave No Trace and should have guessed that it was directed by Debra Granik. She did Winter’s Bone, the extraordinary movie that launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career. Similarly, this movie features an amazing young actor, Thomasin McKenzie, and visits lives lived on the margins. In this case, a veteran suffering PTSD, and his 13-year-old daughter. The movie is patient, is visually lush, and justly earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (I have a rule to never watch anything under 82%). Everything in this film is under control and beautifully understated (aside from the visuals) – confident acting, confident directing, and so humane. I love the lack of flashbacks, the lack of sensationalism – the movie trusts the viewer, rare in this age of bombast. A lovely film.

December 4, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spending a week in New Zealand, we had endless laughs listening to the Kiwi band, Flight of the Conchords. Lots of comedic bands are funny, but the music is only okay or worse. These guys are funny – hysterical really – and the music is great. They have an uncanny ability to parody almost any style. In both New Zealand and Australia, we found a wry sense of humor that was just delightful and no better captured than with this duo. You don’t have to be in New Zealand to enjoy them.

What I’m reading:

I don’t often reread. For two reasons: A) I have so many books on my “still to be read” pile that it seems daunting to also rereadbooks I loved before, and B) it’s because I loved them once that I’m a little afraid to read them again. That said, I was recently asked to list my favorite book of all time and I answered Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. But I don’t really know if that’s still true (and it’s an impossible question anyway – favorite book? On what day? In what mood?), so I’m rereading it and it feels like being with an old friend. It has one of my very favorite scenes ever: the card game between Levin and Kitty that leads to the proposal and his joyous walking the streets all night.

What I’m watching:

Blindspotting is billed as a buddy-comedy. Wow does that undersell it and the drama is often gripping. I loved Daveed Diggs in Hamilton, didn’t like his character in Black-ish, and think he is transcendent in this film he co-wrote with Rafael Casal, his co-star.  The film is a love song to Oakland in many ways, but also a gut-wrenching indictment of police brutality, systemic racism and bias, and gentrification. The film has the freshness and raw visceral impact of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. A great soundtrack, genre mixing, and energy make it one of my favorite movies of 2018.

October 15, 2018 

What I’m listening to:

We had the opportunity to see our favorite band, The National, live in Dallas two weeks ago. Just after watching Mistaken for Strangers, the documentary sort of about the band. So we’ve spent a lot of time going back into their earlier work, listening to songs we don’t know well, and reaffirming that their musicality, smarts, and sound are both original and astoundingly good. They did not disappoint in concert and it is a good thing their tour ended, as we might just spend all of our time and money following them around. Matt Berninger is a genius and his lead vocals kill me (and because they are in my range, I can actually sing along!). Their arrangements are profoundly good and go right to whatever brain/heart wiring that pulls one in and doesn’t let them go.

What I’m reading:

Who is Richard Powers and why have I only discovered him now, with his 12th book? Overstory is profoundly good, a book that is essential and powerful and makes me look at my everyday world in new ways. In short, a dizzying example of how powerful can be narrative in the hands of a master storyteller. I hesitate to say it’s the best environmental novel I’ve ever read (it is), because that would put this book in a category. It is surely about the natural world, but it is as much about we humans. It’s monumental and elegiac and wondrous at all once. Cancel your day’s schedule and read it now. Then plant a tree. A lot of them.

What I’m watching:

Bo Burnham wrote and directed Eighth Grade and Elsie Fisher is nothing less than amazing as its star (what’s with these new child actors; see Florida Project). It’s funny and painful and touching. It’s also the single best film treatment that I have seen of what it means to grow up in a social media shaped world. It’s a reminder that growing up is hard. Maybe harder now in a world of relentless, layered digital pressure to curate perfect lives that are far removed from the natural messy worlds and selves we actually inhabit. It’s a well-deserved 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and I wonder who dinged it for the missing 2%.

September 7, 2018

What I’m listening to:

With a cover pointing back to the Beastie Boys’ 1986 Licensed to Ill, Eminem’s quietly released Kamikaze is not my usual taste, but I’ve always admired him for his “all out there” willingness to be personal, to call people out, and his sheer genius with language. I thought Daveed Diggs could rap fast, but Eminem is supersonic at moments, and still finds room for melody. Love that he includes Joyner Lucas, whose “I’m Not Racist” gets added to the growing list of simply amazing music videos commenting on race in America. There are endless reasons why I am the least likely Eminem fan, but when no one is around to make fun of me, I’ll put it on again.

What I’m reading:

Lesley Blume’s Everyone Behaves Badly, which is the story behind Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and his time in 1920s Paris (oh, what a time – see Midnight in Paris if you haven’t already). Of course, Blume disabuses my romantic ideas of that time and place and everyone is sort of (or profoundly so) a jerk, especially…no spoiler here…Hemingway. That said, it is a compelling read and coming off the Henry James inspired prose of Mrs. Osmond, it made me appreciate more how groundbreaking was Hemingway’s modern prose style. Like his contemporary Picasso, he reinvented the art and it can be easy to forget, these decades later, how profound was the change and its impact. And it has bullfights.

What I’m watching:

Chloé Zhao’s The Rider is just exceptional. It’s filmed on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which provides a stunning landscape, and it feels like a classic western reinvented for our times. The main characters are played by the real-life people who inspired this narrative (but feels like a documentary) film. Brady Jandreau, playing himself really, owns the screen. It’s about manhood, honor codes, loss, and resilience – rendered in sensitive, nuanced, and heartfelt ways. It feels like it could be about large swaths of America today. Really powerful.

August 16, 2018

What I’m listening to:

In my Spotify Daily Mix was Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman, one of the world’s greatest love songs. Go online and read the story of how the song was discovered and recorded. There are competing accounts, but Sledge said he improvised it after a bad breakup. It has that kind of aching spontaneity. It is another hit from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, one of the GREAT music hotbeds, along with Detroit, Nashville, and Memphis. Our February Board meeting is in Alabama and I may finally have to do the pilgrimage road trip to Muscle Shoals and then Memphis, dropping in for Sunday services at the church where Rev. Al Green still preaches and sings. If the music is all like this, I will be saved.

What I’m reading:

John Banville’s Mrs. Osmond, his homage to literary idol Henry James and an imagined sequel to James’ 1881 masterpiece Portrait of a Lady. Go online and read the first paragraph of Chapter 25. He is…profoundly good. Makes me want to never write again, since anything I attempt will feel like some other, lowly activity in comparison to his mastery of language, image, syntax. This is slow reading, every sentence to be savored.

What I’m watching:

I’ve always respected Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but we just watched the documentary RGB. It is over-the-top great and she is now one of my heroes. A superwoman in many ways and the documentary is really well done. There are lots of scenes of her speaking to crowds and the way young women, especially law students, look at her is touching.  And you can’t help but fall in love with her now late husband Marty. See this movie and be reminded of how important is the Law.

July 23, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spotify’s Summer Acoustic playlist has been on repeat quite a lot. What a fun way to listen to artists new to me, including The Paper Kites, Hollow Coves, and Fleet Foxes, as well as old favorites like Leon Bridges and Jose Gonzalez. Pretty chill when dialing back to a summer pace, dining on the screen porch or reading a book.

What I’m reading:

Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson tells of the racial injustice (and the war on the poor our judicial system perpetuates as well) that he discovered as a young graduate from Harvard Law School and his fight to address it. It is in turn heartbreaking, enraging, and inspiring. It is also about mercy and empathy and justice that reads like a novel. Brilliant.

What I’m watching:

Fauda. We watched season one of this Israeli thriller. It was much discussed in Israel because while it focuses on an ex-special agent who comes out of retirement to track down a Palestinian terrorist, it was willing to reveal the complexity, richness, and emotions of Palestinian lives. And the occasional brutality of the Israelis. Pretty controversial stuff in Israel. Lior Raz plays Doron, the main character, and is compelling and tough and often hard to like. He’s a mess. As is the world in which he has to operate. We really liked it, and also felt guilty because while it may have been brave in its treatment of Palestinians within the Israeli context, it falls back into some tired tropes and ultimately falls short on this front.

June 11, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Like everyone else, I’m listening to Pusha T drop the mic on Drake. Okay, not really, but do I get some points for even knowing that? We all walk around with songs that immediately bring us back to a time or a place. Songs are time machines. We are coming up on Father’s Day. My own dad passed away on Father’s Day back in 1994 and I remembering dutifully getting through the wake and funeral and being strong throughout. Then, sitting alone in our kitchen, Don Henley’s The End of the Innocence came on and I lost it. When you lose a parent for the first time (most of us have two after all) we lose our innocence and in that passage, we suddenly feel adult in a new way (no matter how old we are), a longing for our own childhood, and a need to forgive and be forgiven. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll understand. As Wordsworth reminds us in In Memoriam, there are seasons to our grief and, all these years later, this song no longer hits me in the gut, but does transport me back with loving memories of my father. I’ll play it Father’s Day.

What I’m reading:

The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin. I am not a reader of fantasy or sci-fi, though I understand they can be powerful vehicles for addressing the very real challenges of the world in which we actually live. I’m not sure I know of a more vivid and gripping illustration of that fact than N. K. Jemisin’s Hugo Award winning novel The Fifth Season, first in her Broken Earth trilogy. It is astounding. It is the fantasy parallel to The Underground Railroad, my favorite recent read, a depiction of subjugation, power, casual violence, and a broken world in which our hero(s) struggle, suffer mightily, and still, somehow, give us hope. It is a tour de force book. How can someone be this good a writer? The first 30 pages pained me (always with this genre, one must learn a new, constructed world, and all of its operating physics and systems of order), and then I could not put it down. I panicked as I neared the end, not wanting to finish the book, and quickly ordered the Obelisk Gate, the second novel in the trilogy, and I can tell you now that I’ll be spending some goodly portion of my weekend in Jemisin’s other world.

What I’m watching:

The NBA Finals and perhaps the best basketball player of this generation. I’ve come to deeply respect LeBron James as a person, a force for social good, and now as an extraordinary player at the peak of his powers. His superhuman play during the NBA playoffs now ranks with the all-time greats, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, MJ, Kobe, and the demi-god that was Bill Russell. That his Cavs lost in a 4-game sweep is no surprise. It was a mediocre team being carried on the wide shoulders of James (and matched against one of the greatest teams ever, the Warriors, and the Harry Potter of basketball, Steph Curry) and, in some strange way, his greatness is amplified by the contrast with the rest of his team. It was a great run.

May 24, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I’ve always liked Alicia Keys and admired her social activism, but I am hooked on her last album Here. This feels like an album finally commensurate with her anger, activism, hope, and grit. More R&B and Hip Hop than is typical for her, I think this album moves into an echelon inhabited by a Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Beyonce’s Formation. Social activism and outrage rarely make great novels, but they often fuel great popular music. Here is a terrific example.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad may be close to a flawless novel. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer, it chronicles the lives of two runaway slaves, Cora and Caeser, as they try to escape the hell of plantation life in Georgia.  It is an often searing novel and Cora is one of the great heroes of American literature. I would make this mandatory reading in every high school in America, especially in light of the absurd revisionist narratives of “happy and well cared for” slaves. This is a genuinely great novel, one of the best I’ve read, the magical realism and conflating of time periods lifts it to another realm of social commentary, relevance, and a blazing indictment of America’s Original Sin, for which we remain unabsolved.

What I’m watching:

I thought I knew about The Pentagon Papers, but The Post, a real-life political thriller from Steven Spielberg taught me a lot, features some of our greatest actors, and is so timely given the assault on our democratic institutions and with a presidency out of control. It is a reminder that a free and fearless press is a powerful part of our democracy, always among the first targets of despots everywhere. The story revolves around the legendary Post owner and D.C. doyenne, Katharine Graham. I had the opportunity to see her son, Don Graham, right after he saw the film, and he raved about Meryl Streep’s portrayal of his mother. Liked it a lot more than I expected.

April 27, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I mentioned John Prine in a recent post and then on the heels of that mention, he has released a new album, The Tree of Forgiveness, his first new album in ten years. Prine is beloved by other singer songwriters and often praised by the inscrutable God that is Bob Dylan.  Indeed, Prine was frequently said to be the “next Bob Dylan” in the early part of his career, though he instead carved out his own respectable career and voice, if never with the dizzying success of Dylan. The new album reflects a man in his 70s, a cancer survivor, who reflects on life and its end, but with the good humor and empathy that are hallmarks of Prine’s music. “When I Get To Heaven” is a rollicking, fun vision of what comes next and a pure delight. A charming, warm, and often terrific album.

What I’m reading:

I recently read Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, on many people’s Top Ten lists for last year and for good reason. It is sprawling, multi-generational, and based in the world of Japanese occupied Korea and then in the Korean immigrant’s world of Oaska, so our key characters become “tweeners,” accepted in neither world. It’s often unspeakably sad, and yet there is resiliency and love. There is also intimacy, despite the time and geographic span of the novel. It’s breathtakingly good and like all good novels, transporting.

What I’m watching:

I adore Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth, and while I’m not sure his Shape of Water is better, it is a worthy follow up to the earlier masterpiece (and more of a commercial success). Lots of critics dislike the film, but I’m okay with a simple retelling of a Beauty and the Beast love story, as predictable as it might be. The acting is terrific, it is visually stunning, and there are layers of pain as well as social and political commentary (the setting is the US during the Cold War) and, no real spoiler here, the real monsters are humans, the military officer who sees over the captured aquatic creature. It is hauntingly beautiful and its depiction of hatred to those who are different or “other” is painfully resonant with the time in which we live. Put this on your “must see” list.

March 18, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Sitting on a plane for hours (and many more to go; geez, Australia is far away) is a great opportunity to listen to new music and to revisit old favorites. This time, it is Lucy Dacus and her album Historians, the new sophomore release from a 22-year old indie artist that writes with relatable, real-life lyrics. Just on a second listen and while she insists this isn’t a break up record (as we know, 50% of all great songs are break up songs), it is full of loss and pain. Worth the listen so far. For the way back machine, it’s John Prine and In Spite of Ourselves (that title track is one of the great love songs of all time), a collection of duets with some of his “favorite girl singers” as he once described them. I have a crush on Iris Dement (for a really righteously angry song try her Wasteland of the Free), but there is also EmmyLou Harris, the incomparable Dolores Keane, and Lucinda Williams. Very different albums, both wonderful.

What I’m reading:

Jane Mayer’s New Yorker piece on Christopher Steele presents little that is new, but she pulls it together in a terrific and coherent whole that is illuminating and troubling at the same time. Not only for what is happening, but for the complicity of the far right in trying to discredit that which should be setting off alarm bells everywhere. Bob Mueller may be the most important defender of the democracy at this time. A must read.

What I’m watching:

Homeland is killing it this season and is prescient, hauntingly so. Russian election interference, a Bannon-style hate radio demagogue, alienated and gun toting militia types, and a president out of control. It’s fabulous, even if it feels awfully close to the evening news. 

March 8, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We have a family challenge to compile our Top 100 songs. It is painful. Only 100? No more than three songs by one artist? Wait, why is M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” on my list? Should it just be The Clash from whom she samples? Can I admit to guilty pleasure songs? Hey, it’s my list and I can put anything I want on it. So I’m listening to the list while I work and the song playing right now is Tom Petty’s “The Wild One, Forever,” a B-side single that was never a hit and that remains my favorite Petty song. Also, “Evangeline” by Los Lobos. It evokes a night many years ago, with friends at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA, when everyone danced well past 1AM in a hot, sweaty, packed club and the band was a revelation. Maybe the best music night of our lives and a reminder that one’s 100 Favorite Songs list is as much about what you were doing and where you were in your life when those songs were playing as it is about the music. It’s not a list. It’s a soundtrack for this journey.

What I’m reading:

Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy was in the NY Times top ten books of 2017 list and it is easy to see why. Lockwood brings remarkable and often surprising imagery, metaphor, and language to her prose memoir and it actually threw me off at first. It then all became clear when someone told me she is a poet. The book is laugh aloud funny, which masks (or makes safer anyway) some pretty dark territory. Anyone who grew up Catholic, whether lapsed or not, will resonate with her story. She can’t resist a bawdy anecdote and her family provides some of the most memorable characters possible, especially her father, her sister, and her mother, who I came to adore. Best thing I’ve read in ages.

What I’m watching:

The Florida Project, a profoundly good movie on so many levels. Start with the central character, six-year old (at the time of the filming) Brooklynn Prince, who owns – I mean really owns – the screen. This is pure acting genius and at that age? Astounding. Almost as astounding is Bria Vinaite, who plays her mother. She was discovered on Instagram and had never acted before this role, which she did with just three weeks of acting lessons. She is utterly convincing and the tension between the child’s absolute wonder and joy in the world with her mother’s struggle to provide, to be a mother, is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. Willem Dafoe rightly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role. This is a terrific movie.

February 12, 2018

What I’m listening to:

So, I have a lot of friends of age (I know you’re thinking 40s, but I just turned 60) who are frozen in whatever era of music they enjoyed in college or maybe even in their thirties. There are lots of times when I reach back into the catalog, since music is one of those really powerful and transporting senses that can take you through time (smell is the other one, though often underappreciated for that power). Hell, I just bought a turntable and now spending time in vintage vinyl shops. But I’m trying to take a lesson from Pat, who revels in new music and can as easily talk about North African rap music and the latest National album as Meet the Beatles, her first ever album. So, I’ve been listening to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy winning Damn. While it may not be the first thing I’ll reach for on a winter night in Maine, by the fire, I was taken with it. It’s layered, political, and weirdly sensitive and misogynist at the same time, and it feels fresh and authentic and smart at the same time, with music that often pulled me from what I was doing. In short, everything music should do. I’m not a bit cooler for listening to Damn, but when I followed it with Steely Dan, I felt like I was listening to Lawrence Welk. A good sign, I think.

What I’m reading:

I am reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Leonardo da Vinci. I’m not usually a reader of biographies, but I’ve always been taken with Leonardo. Isaacson does not disappoint (does he ever?), and his subject is at once more human and accessible and more awe-inspiring in Isaacson’s capable hands. Gay, left-handed, vegetarian, incapable of finishing things, a wonderful conversationalist, kind, and perhaps the most relentlessly curious human being who has ever lived. Like his biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, Isaacson’s project here is to show that genius lives at the intersection of science and art, of rationality and creativity. Highly recommend it.

What I’m watching:

We watched the This Is Us post-Super Bowl episode, the one where Jack finally buys the farm. I really want to hate this show. It is melodramatic and manipulative, with characters that mostly never change or grow, and it hooks me every damn time we watch it. The episode last Sunday was a tear jerker, a double whammy intended to render into a blubbering, tissue-crumbling pathetic mess anyone who has lost a parent or who is a parent. Sterling K. Brown, Ron Cephas Jones, the surprising Mandy Moore, and Milo Ventimiglia are hard not to love and last season’s episode that had only Brown and Cephas going to Memphis was the show at its best (they are by far the two best actors). Last week was the show at its best worst. In other words, I want to hate it, but I love it. If you haven’t seen it, don’t binge watch it. You’ll need therapy and insulin.

January 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Drive-By Truckers. Chris Stapleton has me on an unusual (for me) country theme and I discovered these guys to my great delight. They’ve been around, with some 11 albums, but the newest one is fascinating. It’s a deep dive into Southern alienation and the white working-class world often associated with our current president. I admire the willingness to lay bare, in kick ass rock songs, the complexities and pain at work among people we too quickly place into overly simple categories. These guys are brave, bold, and thoughtful as hell, while producing songs I didn’t expect to like, but that I keep playing. And they are coming to NH.

What I’m reading:

A textual analog to Drive-By Truckers by Chris Stapleton in many ways is Tony Horowitz’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning Confederates in the Attic. Ostensibly about the Civil War and the South’s ongoing attachment to it, it is prescient and speaks eloquently to the times in which we live (where every southern state but Virginia voted for President Trump). Often hilarious, it too surfaces complexities and nuance that escape a more recent, and widely acclaimed, book like Hillbilly Elegy. As a Civil War fan, it was also astonishing in many instances, especially when it blows apart long-held “truths” about the war, such as the degree to which Sherman burned down the south (he did not). Like D-B Truckers, Horowitz loves the South and the people he encounters, even as he grapples with its myths of victimhood and exceptionalism (and racism, which may be no more than the racism in the north, but of a different kind). Everyone should read this book and I’m embarrassed I’m so late to it.

What I’m watching:

David Letterman has a new Netflix show called “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” and we watched the first episode, in which Letterman interviewed Barack Obama. It was extraordinary (if you don’t have Netflix, get it just to watch this show); not only because we were reminded of Obama’s smarts, grace, and humanity (and humor), but because we saw a side of Letterman we didn’t know existed. His personal reflections on Selma were raw and powerful, almost painful. He will do five more episodes with “extraordinary individuals” and if they are anything like the first, this might be the very best work of his career and one of the best things on television.

December 22, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished Sunjeev Sahota’s Year of the Runaways, a painful inside look at the plight of illegal Indian immigrant workers in Britain. It was shortlisted for 2015 Man Booker Prize and its transporting, often to a dark and painful universe, and it is impossible not to think about the American version of this story and the terrible way we treat the undocumented in our own country, especially now.

What I’m watching:

Season II of The Crown is even better than Season I. Elizabeth’s character is becoming more three-dimensional, the modern world is catching up with tradition-bound Britain, and Cold War politics offer more context and tension than we saw in Season I. Claire Foy, in her last season, is just terrific – one arched eye brow can send a message.

What I’m listening to:

A lot of Christmas music, but needing a break from the schmaltz, I’ve discovered Over the Rhine and their Christmas album, Snow Angels. God, these guys are good.

November 14, 2017

What I’m watching:

Guiltily, I watch the Patriots play every weekend, often building my schedule and plans around seeing the game. Why the guilt? I don’t know how morally defensible is football anymore, as we now know the severe damage it does to the players. We can’t pretend it’s all okay anymore. Is this our version of late decadent Rome, watching mostly young Black men take a terrible toll on each other for our mere entertainment?

What I’m reading:

Recently finished J.G. Ballard’s 2000 novel Super-Cannes, a powerful depiction of a corporate-tech ex-pat community taken over by a kind of psychopathology, in which all social norms and responsibilities are surrendered to residents of the new world community. Kept thinking about Silicon Valley when reading it. Pretty dark, dystopian view of the modern world and centered around a mass killing, troublingly prescient.

What I’m listening to:

Was never really a Lorde fan, only knowing her catchy (and smarter than you might first guess) pop hit “Royals” from her debut album. But her new album, Melodrama, is terrific and it doesn’t feel quite right to call this “pop.” There is something way more substantial going on with Lorde and I can see why many critics put this album at the top of their Best in 2017 list. Count me in as a huge fan.

November 3, 2017

What I’m reading: Just finished Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, her breathtakingly good second novel. How is someone so young so wise? Her writing is near perfection and I read the book in two days, setting my alarm for 4:30AM so I could finish it before work.

What I’m watching: We just binge watched season two of Stranger Things and it was worth it just to watch Millie Bobbie Brown, the transcendent young actor who plays Eleven. The series is a delightful mash up of every great eighties horror genre you can imagine and while pretty dark, an absolute joy to watch.

What I’m listening to: I’m not a lover of country music (to say the least), but I love Chris Stapleton. His “The Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning” is heartbreakingly good and reminds me of the old school country that played in my house as a kid. He has a new album and I can’t wait, but his From A Room: Volume 1 is on repeat for now.

September 26, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished George Saunder’s Lincoln in the Bardo. It took me a while to accept its cadence and sheer weirdness, but loved it in the end. A painful meditation on loss and grief, and a genuinely beautiful exploration of the intersection of life and death, the difficulty of letting go of what was, good and bad, and what never came to be.

What I’m watching:

HBO’s The Deuce. Times Square and the beginning of the porn industry in the 1970s, the setting made me wonder if this was really something I’d want to see. But David Simon is the writer and I’d read a menu if he wrote it. It does not disappoint so far and there is nothing prurient about it.

What I’m listening to:

The National’s new album Sleep Well Beast. I love this band. The opening piano notes of the first song, “Nobody Else Will Be There,” seize me & I’m reminded that no one else in music today matches their arrangement & musicianship. I’m adding “Born to Beg,” “Slow Show,” “I Need My Girl,” and “Runaway” to my list of favorite love songs.

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COSTA BLANCA BOWLS ROUNDUP has been published at http://www.theleader.info/2017/04/01/costa-blanca-bowls-roundup/

New Post has been published on http://www.theleader.info/2017/04/01/costa-blanca-bowls-roundup/

COSTA BLANCA BOWLS ROUNDUP

SAN MIGUEL BOWLS CLUB

Last weekend saw the last of the Club Competition Finals.  Some great bowling with most games going to the last end.  Results were:  Irene Ward Singles Trophy, Eileen McLaren beat Janet Thomas;  David Bentley Singles Trophy, Gary Raby beat Alan Booth:  Harry Faulkner Singles, Gary Raby beat Stan North;  Ladies Drawn Pairs, Margaret Patterson & Gail Willshire beat Carol Rudge & Ann  Eagle;  Gents Drawn Pairs Allan Patterson & Bill Brownlee beat Brian Miller & Len Rudge;  Ladies 2 Wood Singles, Gail Willshire beat Ros Stockell;  Gents 2 Wood Singles, Bob Nesbitt beat Reg Cooper.  Congratulations to the winners and well done to all who reached the finals.

The Presentation Evening will take place at El Prado on Tuesday 25th April.  See notice board for menu or Janet Thomas for details.

The Winter League were away at Bonalba winning 10-2.  The losing team only lost by 1 point!!  The Berleen also won.  Well done all.

Fridays game against Emerald Isle had 2 winning rinks, giving a 4points to 8 result.  Well done to Carol Rudge, Don Whitney, Dave & Lyn Greenland 18-16:  Cliff Plaisted, Val & Chris Collier, Stuart Denholm 17-14.  Shots for 70 – against 104.

REMEMBER THE AGM on THURSDAY 6TH APRIL 0930 FOR 1000 START.  THERE WILL BE NO BOWLING UNTIL THE AGM FINISHES.

WASPS on Wednesdays at 1.30.  5 euro’s for an afternoons bowling, you can borrow woods and shoes for free, with free tuition if required.  Bowlers of all abilities welcome.  No dress code.

For further information on San Miguel Bowls Club please contact the President Eileen Potts telephone 966730376 or Secretary Pat McEwan, telephone 966714257.

SAN LUIS BOWLS CLUB REPORT 31.03.17.

We are about to begin the South Alicante Summer League season on 7th  but there is still the matter of the Winter League to complete, with 2 matches this week. Wednesday 29th Winter League home to Javea Green; there was some excellent bowling in a really close fought game. Ultimately we managed to win 2 rinks and hung on to win the overall shots 77-76 for 6 points -6. Winners: Lynne Morris, Jo Pering, June & Keith Jones 17-15, Irene Everett, Vic Slater, Peter McEneany, Tom Hill 21-9.

The Berleen team of Margaret Morrison, Pam Lockett, Charlie Marigold, Barry Edwards had a great win 25-11. The second Winter League match of the week on Friday 31st was home against our near neighbours; La Siesta. After a cloudy start it turned out to be a good morning all round; warm, sunny and a great result 10pts-2, shots 95-62.

Winners: Lynne Morris, Jo Pering, June & Keith Jones 18-9, Shirley Verity, Ray Clarke, Jules Pering, Russell Marks 19-16, Ann Holland, Keith Phillips, Sabrina Marks, Mal Hughes 29-7, Kath Reid, Sheila Cammack, Neil Morrison, Scott Malden 22-8. No Berleen team match. With 2 matches to go, this result has kept us in 1st place, on equal points with Vistabella but ahead on shot difference, so the fight is still on!

On Monday 27th we had the great pleasure of hosting another touring team; Barwell IBC. It was a friendly game, with good company enjoyed by the players. Although immaterial, San Luis won 4 games -3.

Following our AGM on 30th March, we have a new committee.

Officers:

President – Vic Slater,

Captain – June Jones, Vice Captain – Neil Morrison,

Secretary – Pam Lockett, Treasurer – Harry Epsom, Comp/Match Sec. – Sue Cooper,

Membership Sec. – Ros Holmes, Social Sec. – Doug Beattie.

The “Avalon Insurance” sponsored Mixed Triples Competition will run: 14th – 16th April at San Luis.

Sue Cooper is now accepting entries for the 4-2-2 competition, 8th -10th October.

For San Luis Club information please check: www.sanluisbowls.byethost7.com

Sheila Cammack.

LA MARINA REPORT BY BARRY LATHAM

Two Winter League matches this week and two different results especially for the two Barry’s. On Wednesday we travelled up the motorway to Finca Guila where some of us met old friends and some made new ones. We won by three rinks to two with Colin Armitage, Mike Stone, Mo Kidd and Lynn Armitage winning 17-14.  Then there were the Hadaways who both won. Shirley’s four were the winners by 28-14 and she was helped by Phil Pape, Alex Whyte and Ann Stone while the girls once again carried their Captain and leader Dave to the fine score of 25-8. So well done Jean Perchard, Barbara Forshaw and Janet Parsons. Now come the two Barry’s both claiming they won the extra two points on the last end to give us the overall shots and an 8-4 win.  Both rinks got “stuffed “ but Barry Sadler, Peter Parsons, Mike Smith and Margaret Sadler claim their three shots on the last end won it while Barry Latham, Terry Perchard, Wendy Latham and Carol Smith say that cutting down the three against to one on their last end was the winner. As I am writing this you might guess we did it.   

So on to Friday when the League Leaders Vistabella came, we were hoping to do the same to them as we did to Quesada but it was not to be. They won on three rinks plus the overall shots but by only eight.  They won 8-4.  The shining lights were the two Barry’s and, of course, their fellow bowlers.   Barry Sadler, Peter Parsons, Margaret Sadler and Mo Taylor won 21-19 and the Scribe won 17-8 with help from Dave Taylor who had a great game plus Wendy Latham and Kathy Manning.    Another little argument was did the number of wrong biases mess our shot difference up. Unfortunately nobody wanted to tell me who the miscreants were.  

Once again the Berleen lead by Alex Whyte with Jim Freeman, Angie Butler and Martin Butler had a fine 21-12 win.              

MONTE MAR BOWLS AND SOCIAL CLUB

Sponsored by The Belfry, The Pub, Bowling Abroad and Avalon

WINTER LEAGUE

Monte Mar v Bonalba

Winning on two rinks well done to Geraldine Fisher, Ronnie Cairns, Dave Melville and skip Gordon Fisher. Sue Kemp, Jan Gatward, Danny King and skip Gordon Fisher.

Shots Monte Mar 85 – 92 Bonalba. Points Monte Mar 4 – 8 Bonalba.

CAPTAIN’S TEAM V CHAIRMAN’S TEAM

Our annual competition of Captain’s team (Ronnie Cairns) vs Chairman’s team (Chris Harding) took place on Sunday 26th March. The Captain’s team won the trophy this year, the highest scoring team of Jan Soars, Jan Gatward and Brian Zelin also received medals. After the game everyone sat and enjoyed a drink plus an excellent buffet which was provided by the club and prepared by Liz Melville, Babs Farrelly and their helpers Val Hyman and Audrey King. Well done ladies.

WINTER LEAGUE

Monte Mar v El Cid

Winning on two rinks well done to Sheila Roberts, Howie Williams, Harry Dobson and skip Bill Young. Sue Kemp, Jan gatward, Danny King and skip Brian Zelin.

Shots Monte Mar 75 – 95 El Cid. Points Monte Mar 4 – 8 El Cid.

For further information about Monte Mar Bowls and Social Club check out our website  www.montemarbowls.com or email us at info@montemarbowls.com. We are also on Facebook.

GREENLANDS BOWLS CLUB

In the Winter league on 22nd March we were at home to La Siesta.After a very competitive game played with good humour and sportsmanship the final scores on the doors were – total shots for – 96.  Against – 81. Points for – 8. Against 4. Winning rinks  —- Margaret Dewar, Jean Giddings, John O brien, Marilyn Fryatt. – 21 to 17.  Sandra Jones, Doreen Watt, Dave Thompson, Graham Watt – 17 – 8.  Sheila Stead, Jean Thompson, Kim Hunter, Mel Brown – 32 – 12. On the 29th March in the Winter League we made the long trek up north to El Cid Bowls club. Final scores after a very close game were as follows…………Total shots for – 81.  against – 87.  Points for – 4. against – 8.  Winning rinks were – Margaret Dewar, Jean Giddings, John OBrien, skip Sue Brown. – 15 shots to 14.  Sheila Stead, Jean Thompson, Val Duchart, Skip Mike Kelly. – 17 shots to 13. On Friday a re-arranged winter league match against Quesada was played at home and proved to be a very tight game. So after a very competitive game played in the right spirit the final results were as follows……………. Total Shots For – 79. Against – 102.  Points for – 2. Against – 10. Winning rink was – Sheila Stead, Jean Thompson, Kim Hunter, skip Mike Kelly. – 22 shots to 15. Well played everyone. Greenlands Bowls Club would love to welcome new bowlers to the club and to facilitate that on Saturday mornings we have a fun morning of bowls where people new to the game can participate in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with prizes on offer. Please Telephone Haley on 966844399 for all enquiries.

EMERALD ISLE BOWLS CLUB

The winter game took place on Wed at Monte Mar,and the E,I came away with a good win 7=5 aggregate 75=69,,winning rinks

P Heaney S Johnson D Birkett I Brewster 18=8

J Parkes M Veale C Highland P Parkes  18=12

J Pooley B Eldred J Mulloy M Odell drew 14=14

Thursday saw the VCL game by the Dukes playing at Monte Mar Lords,,and they come away with a 10=4 win aggregate of 108=79,,winners where

Ladies singles Anne=Marie Stevenson 21=8  P Heaney 21=10 Singles

Pairs M Veale D Gerrard 22=13  Trips J Parkes C Highland P Parkes  19=12

The E.I entertained the RBL on Thursday afternoon and the result was a home win by 9=5 aggregate of 106=80,,the largest trip win was by K Griffiths R Adams and T Kelly by 31=8

San Miguel visited the EI on Friday in the winter league and the result was a good win for EI 8=4

We continue to have our very popular SAPS taking place on Sat great value 5 Euros gets you 2 hours of bowling,, tuition ,,if need bowls and shoes included smashing way to spend in the lovely weather

[adamfyfod]

[ooc] jules & adam

okay soooo adam is friends with chase so i’m guessing he’s friends with jules too??? i mean, can you imagine the kinds of things these three get get themselves into??? alsoooo, here’s a thing i said to lizzy about adam’s friendship with chse. basically i feel like adam spends time with chase (and probs jules) when he feels lower and reverts back to his normal jerk self. because they are both so much like he naturally is?? sooo thoughts, my darling jenn???

[paisleyfyfod]

[ooc] jules & paisley

okay but i’m seriously laughing so hard about the fact that these two used to date. i feel like that was probably such a disaster. but i think they probably only dated because paisley is rich too??? and she thought she loved jules and was suPER heartbroken when he broke up with her. and maybe the only reason she started dating chase was to make jules jealous?? (@chasefyfod want to weigh in here, lizzy??) but now i think she thinks she’s in love with chase and the second that happened, she started hating jules. and probably is constantly picking fights with him or something?? thoughts?

[thesnhuup]

Pop Picks – March 28, 2019

March 28, 2019

What I’m listening to: 

There is a lovely piece played in a scene from A Place Called Home that I tracked down. It’s Erik Satie’s 3 Gymnopédies: Gymnopédie No. 1, played by the wonderful pianist Klára Körmendi. Satie composed this piece in 1888 and it was considered avant-garde and anti-Romantic. It’s minimalism and bit of dissonance sound fresh and contemporary to my ears and while not a huge Classical music fan, I’ve fallen in love with the Körmendi playlist on Spotify. When you need an alternative to hours of Cardi B.

 What I’m reading: 

Just finished Esi Edugyan’s 2018 novel Washington Black. Starting on a slave plantation in Barbados, it is a picaresque novel that has elements of Jules Verne, Moby Dick, Frankenstein, and Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad. Yes, it strains credulity and there are moments of “huh?”, but I loved it (disclosure: I was in the minority among my fellow book club members) and the first third is a searing depiction of slavery. It’s audacious, sprawling (from Barbados to the Arctic to London to Africa), and the writing, especially about nature, luminous. 

What I’m watching: 

A soap opera. Yes, I’d like to pretend it’s something else, but we are 31 episodes into the Australian drama A Place Called Home and we are so, so addicted. Like “It’s  AM, but can’t we watch just one more episode?” addicted. Despite all the secrets, cliff hangers, intrigue, and “did that just happen?” moments, the core ingredients of any good soap opera, APCH has superb acting, real heft in terms of subject matter (including homophobia, anti-Semitism, sexual assault, and class), touches of our beloved Downton Abbey, and great cars. Beware. If you start, you won’t stop.

Archive 

February 11, 2019

What I’m listening to:

Raphael Saadiq has been around for quite a while, as a musician, writer, and producer. He’s new to me and I love his old school R&B sound. Like Leon Bridges, he brings a contemporary freshness to the genre, sounding like a young Stevie Wonder (listen to “You’re The One That I Like”). Rock and Roll may be largely dead, but R&B persists – maybe because the former was derivative of the latter and never as good (and I say that as a Rock and Roll fan). I’m embarrassed to only have discovered Saadiq so late in his career, but it’s a delight to have done so.

What I’m reading:

Just finished Marilynne Robinson’s Home, part of her trilogy that includes the Pulitzer Prize winning first novel, Gilead, and the book after Home, Lila. Robinson is often described as a Christian writer, but not in a conventional sense. In this case, she gives us a modern version of the prodigal son and tells the story of what comes after he is welcomed back home. It’s not pretty. Robinson is a self-described Calvinist, thus character begets fate in Robinson’s world view and redemption is at best a question. There is something of Faulkner in her work (I am much taken with his famous “The past is never past” quote after a week in the deep South), her style is masterful, and like Faulkner, she builds with these three novels a whole universe in the small town of Gilead. Start with Gilead to better enjoy Home.

What I’m watching:

Sex Education was the most fun series we’ve seen in ages and we binged watched it on Netflix. A British homage to John Hughes films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and Pretty in Pink, it feels like a mash up of American and British high schools. Focusing on the relationship of Maeve, the smart bad girl, and Otis, the virginal and awkward son of a sex therapist (played with brilliance by Gillian Anderson), it is laugh aloud funny and also evolves into more substance and depth (the abortion episode is genius). The sex scenes are somehow raunchy and charming and inoffensive at the same time and while ostensibly about teenagers (it feels like it is explaining contemporary teens to adults in many ways), the adults are compelling in their good and bad ways. It has been renewed for a second season, which is a gift.

January 3, 2019

What I’m listening to:

My listening choices usually refer to music, but this time I’m going with Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast on genius and the song Hallelujah. It tells the story of Leonard Cohen’s much-covered song Hallelujah and uses it as a lens on kinds of genius and creativity. Along the way, he brings in Picasso and Cézanne, Elvis Costello, and more. Gladwell is a good storyteller and if you love pop music, as I do, and Hallelujah, as I do (and you should), you’ll enjoy this podcast. We tend to celebrate the genius who seems inspired in the moment, creating new work like lightning strikes, but this podcast has me appreciating incremental creativity in a new way. It’s compelling and fun at the same time.

What I’m reading:

Just read Clay Christensen’s new book, The Prosperity Paradox: How Innovation Can Lift Nations Out of Poverty. This was an advance copy, so soon available. Clay is an old friend and a huge influence on how we have grown SNHU and our approach to innovation. This book is so compelling, because we know attempts at development have so often been a failure and it is often puzzling to understand why some countries with desperate poverty and huge challenges somehow come to thrive (think S. Korea, Singapore, 19th C. America), while others languish. Clay offers a fresh way of thinking about development through the lens of his research on innovation and it is compelling. I bet this book gets a lot of attention, as most of his work does. I also suspect that many in the development community will hate it, as it calls into question the approach and enormous investments we have made in an attempt to lift countries out of poverty. A provocative read and, as always, Clay is a good storyteller.

What I’m watching:

Just watched Leave No Trace and should have guessed that it was directed by Debra Granik. She did Winter’s Bone, the extraordinary movie that launched Jennifer Lawrence’s career. Similarly, this movie features an amazing young actor, Thomasin McKenzie, and visits lives lived on the margins. In this case, a veteran suffering PTSD, and his 13-year-old daughter. The movie is patient, is visually lush, and justly earned 100% on Rotten Tomatoes (I have a rule to never watch anything under 82%). Everything in this film is under control and beautifully understated (aside from the visuals) – confident acting, confident directing, and so humane. I love the lack of flashbacks, the lack of sensationalism – the movie trusts the viewer, rare in this age of bombast. A lovely film.

December 4, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spending a week in New Zealand, we had endless laughs listening to the Kiwi band, Flight of the Conchords. Lots of comedic bands are funny, but the music is only okay or worse. These guys are funny – hysterical really – and the music is great. They have an uncanny ability to parody almost any style. In both New Zealand and Australia, we found a wry sense of humor that was just delightful and no better captured than with this duo. You don’t have to be in New Zealand to enjoy them.

What I’m reading:

I don’t often reread. For two reasons: A) I have so many books on my “still to be read” pile that it seems daunting to also rereadbooks I loved before, and B) it’s because I loved them once that I’m a little afraid to read them again. That said, I was recently asked to list my favorite book of all time and I answered Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. But I don’t really know if that’s still true (and it’s an impossible question anyway – favorite book? On what day? In what mood?), so I’m rereading it and it feels like being with an old friend. It has one of my very favorite scenes ever: the card game between Levin and Kitty that leads to the proposal and his joyous walking the streets all night.

What I’m watching:

Blindspotting is billed as a buddy-comedy. Wow does that undersell it and the drama is often gripping. I loved Daveed Diggs in Hamilton, didn’t like his character in Black-ish, and think he is transcendent in this film he co-wrote with Rafael Casal, his co-star.  The film is a love song to Oakland in many ways, but also a gut-wrenching indictment of police brutality, systemic racism and bias, and gentrification. The film has the freshness and raw visceral impact of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing. A great soundtrack, genre mixing, and energy make it one of my favorite movies of 2018.

October 15, 2018 

What I’m listening to:

We had the opportunity to see our favorite band, The National, live in Dallas two weeks ago. Just after watching Mistaken for Strangers, the documentary sort of about the band. So we’ve spent a lot of time going back into their earlier work, listening to songs we don’t know well, and reaffirming that their musicality, smarts, and sound are both original and astoundingly good. They did not disappoint in concert and it is a good thing their tour ended, as we might just spend all of our time and money following them around. Matt Berninger is a genius and his lead vocals kill me (and because they are in my range, I can actually sing along!). Their arrangements are profoundly good and go right to whatever brain/heart wiring that pulls one in and doesn’t let them go.

What I’m reading:

Who is Richard Powers and why have I only discovered him now, with his 12th book? Overstory is profoundly good, a book that is essential and powerful and makes me look at my everyday world in new ways. In short, a dizzying example of how powerful can be narrative in the hands of a master storyteller. I hesitate to say it’s the best environmental novel I’ve ever read (it is), because that would put this book in a category. It is surely about the natural world, but it is as much about we humans. It’s monumental and elegiac and wondrous at all once. Cancel your day’s schedule and read it now. Then plant a tree. A lot of them.

What I’m watching:

Bo Burnham wrote and directed Eighth Grade and Elsie Fisher is nothing less than amazing as its star (what’s with these new child actors; see Florida Project). It’s funny and painful and touching. It’s also the single best film treatment that I have seen of what it means to grow up in a social media shaped world. It’s a reminder that growing up is hard. Maybe harder now in a world of relentless, layered digital pressure to curate perfect lives that are far removed from the natural messy worlds and selves we actually inhabit. It’s a well-deserved 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and I wonder who dinged it for the missing 2%.

September 7, 2018

What I’m listening to:

With a cover pointing back to the Beastie Boys’ 1986 Licensed to Ill, Eminem’s quietly released Kamikaze is not my usual taste, but I’ve always admired him for his “all out there” willingness to be personal, to call people out, and his sheer genius with language. I thought Daveed Diggs could rap fast, but Eminem is supersonic at moments, and still finds room for melody. Love that he includes Joyner Lucas, whose “I’m Not Racist” gets added to the growing list of simply amazing music videos commenting on race in America. There are endless reasons why I am the least likely Eminem fan, but when no one is around to make fun of me, I’ll put it on again.

What I’m reading:

Lesley Blume’s Everyone Behaves Badly, which is the story behind Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises and his time in 1920s Paris (oh, what a time – see Midnight in Paris if you haven’t already). Of course, Blume disabuses my romantic ideas of that time and place and everyone is sort of (or profoundly so) a jerk, especially…no spoiler here…Hemingway. That said, it is a compelling read and coming off the Henry James inspired prose of Mrs. Osmond, it made me appreciate more how groundbreaking was Hemingway’s modern prose style. Like his contemporary Picasso, he reinvented the art and it can be easy to forget, these decades later, how profound was the change and its impact. And it has bullfights.

What I’m watching:

Chloé Zhao’s The Rider is just exceptional. It’s filmed on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which provides a stunning landscape, and it feels like a classic western reinvented for our times. The main characters are played by the real-life people who inspired this narrative (but feels like a documentary) film. Brady Jandreau, playing himself really, owns the screen. It’s about manhood, honor codes, loss, and resilience – rendered in sensitive, nuanced, and heartfelt ways. It feels like it could be about large swaths of America today. Really powerful.

August 16, 2018

What I’m listening to:

In my Spotify Daily Mix was Percy Sledge’s When A Man Loves A Woman, one of the world’s greatest love songs. Go online and read the story of how the song was discovered and recorded. There are competing accounts, but Sledge said he improvised it after a bad breakup. It has that kind of aching spontaneity. It is another hit from Muscle Shoals, Alabama, one of the GREAT music hotbeds, along with Detroit, Nashville, and Memphis. Our February Board meeting is in Alabama and I may finally have to do the pilgrimage road trip to Muscle Shoals and then Memphis, dropping in for Sunday services at the church where Rev. Al Green still preaches and sings. If the music is all like this, I will be saved.

What I’m reading:

John Banville’s Mrs. Osmond, his homage to literary idol Henry James and an imagined sequel to James’ 1881 masterpiece Portrait of a Lady. Go online and read the first paragraph of Chapter 25. He is…profoundly good. Makes me want to never write again, since anything I attempt will feel like some other, lowly activity in comparison to his mastery of language, image, syntax. This is slow reading, every sentence to be savored.

What I’m watching:

I’ve always respected Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, but we just watched the documentary RGB. It is over-the-top great and she is now one of my heroes. A superwoman in many ways and the documentary is really well done. There are lots of scenes of her speaking to crowds and the way young women, especially law students, look at her is touching.  And you can’t help but fall in love with her now late husband Marty. See this movie and be reminded of how important is the Law.

July 23, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Spotify’s Summer Acoustic playlist has been on repeat quite a lot. What a fun way to listen to artists new to me, including The Paper Kites, Hollow Coves, and Fleet Foxes, as well as old favorites like Leon Bridges and Jose Gonzalez. Pretty chill when dialing back to a summer pace, dining on the screen porch or reading a book.

What I’m reading:

Bryan Stevenson’s Just Mercy. Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, Stevenson tells of the racial injustice (and the war on the poor our judicial system perpetuates as well) that he discovered as a young graduate from Harvard Law School and his fight to address it. It is in turn heartbreaking, enraging, and inspiring. It is also about mercy and empathy and justice that reads like a novel. Brilliant.

What I’m watching:

Fauda. We watched season one of this Israeli thriller. It was much discussed in Israel because while it focuses on an ex-special agent who comes out of retirement to track down a Palestinian terrorist, it was willing to reveal the complexity, richness, and emotions of Palestinian lives. And the occasional brutality of the Israelis. Pretty controversial stuff in Israel. Lior Raz plays Doron, the main character, and is compelling and tough and often hard to like. He’s a mess. As is the world in which he has to operate. We really liked it, and also felt guilty because while it may have been brave in its treatment of Palestinians within the Israeli context, it falls back into some tired tropes and ultimately falls short on this front.

June 11, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Like everyone else, I’m listening to Pusha T drop the mic on Drake. Okay, not really, but do I get some points for even knowing that? We all walk around with songs that immediately bring us back to a time or a place. Songs are time machines. We are coming up on Father’s Day. My own dad passed away on Father’s Day back in 1994 and I remembering dutifully getting through the wake and funeral and being strong throughout. Then, sitting alone in our kitchen, Don Henley’s The End of the Innocence came on and I lost it. When you lose a parent for the first time (most of us have two after all) we lose our innocence and in that passage, we suddenly feel adult in a new way (no matter how old we are), a longing for our own childhood, and a need to forgive and be forgiven. Listen to the lyrics and you’ll understand. As Wordsworth reminds us in In Memoriam, there are seasons to our grief and, all these years later, this song no longer hits me in the gut, but does transport me back with loving memories of my father. I’ll play it Father’s Day.

What I’m reading:

The Fifth Season, by N. K. Jemisin. I am not a reader of fantasy or sci-fi, though I understand they can be powerful vehicles for addressing the very real challenges of the world in which we actually live. I’m not sure I know of a more vivid and gripping illustration of that fact than N. K. Jemisin’s Hugo Award winning novel The Fifth Season, first in her Broken Earth trilogy. It is astounding. It is the fantasy parallel to The Underground Railroad, my favorite recent read, a depiction of subjugation, power, casual violence, and a broken world in which our hero(s) struggle, suffer mightily, and still, somehow, give us hope. It is a tour de force book. How can someone be this good a writer? The first 30 pages pained me (always with this genre, one must learn a new, constructed world, and all of its operating physics and systems of order), and then I could not put it down. I panicked as I neared the end, not wanting to finish the book, and quickly ordered the Obelisk Gate, the second novel in the trilogy, and I can tell you now that I’ll be spending some goodly portion of my weekend in Jemisin’s other world.

What I’m watching:

The NBA Finals and perhaps the best basketball player of this generation. I’ve come to deeply respect LeBron James as a person, a force for social good, and now as an extraordinary player at the peak of his powers. His superhuman play during the NBA playoffs now ranks with the all-time greats, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, MJ, Kobe, and the demi-god that was Bill Russell. That his Cavs lost in a 4-game sweep is no surprise. It was a mediocre team being carried on the wide shoulders of James (and matched against one of the greatest teams ever, the Warriors, and the Harry Potter of basketball, Steph Curry) and, in some strange way, his greatness is amplified by the contrast with the rest of his team. It was a great run.

May 24, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I’ve always liked Alicia Keys and admired her social activism, but I am hooked on her last album Here. This feels like an album finally commensurate with her anger, activism, hope, and grit. More R&B and Hip Hop than is typical for her, I think this album moves into an echelon inhabited by a Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On or Beyonce’s Formation. Social activism and outrage rarely make great novels, but they often fuel great popular music. Here is a terrific example.

What I’m reading:

Colson Whitehead’s Underground Railroad may be close to a flawless novel. Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer, it chronicles the lives of two runaway slaves, Cora and Caeser, as they try to escape the hell of plantation life in Georgia.  It is an often searing novel and Cora is one of the great heroes of American literature. I would make this mandatory reading in every high school in America, especially in light of the absurd revisionist narratives of “happy and well cared for” slaves. This is a genuinely great novel, one of the best I’ve read, the magical realism and conflating of time periods lifts it to another realm of social commentary, relevance, and a blazing indictment of America’s Original Sin, for which we remain unabsolved.

What I’m watching:

I thought I knew about The Pentagon Papers, but The Post, a real-life political thriller from Steven Spielberg taught me a lot, features some of our greatest actors, and is so timely given the assault on our democratic institutions and with a presidency out of control. It is a reminder that a free and fearless press is a powerful part of our democracy, always among the first targets of despots everywhere. The story revolves around the legendary Post owner and D.C. doyenne, Katharine Graham. I had the opportunity to see her son, Don Graham, right after he saw the film, and he raved about Meryl Streep’s portrayal of his mother. Liked it a lot more than I expected.

April 27, 2018

What I’m listening to:

I mentioned John Prine in a recent post and then on the heels of that mention, he has released a new album, The Tree of Forgiveness, his first new album in ten years. Prine is beloved by other singer songwriters and often praised by the inscrutable God that is Bob Dylan.  Indeed, Prine was frequently said to be the “next Bob Dylan” in the early part of his career, though he instead carved out his own respectable career and voice, if never with the dizzying success of Dylan. The new album reflects a man in his 70s, a cancer survivor, who reflects on life and its end, but with the good humor and empathy that are hallmarks of Prine’s music. “When I Get To Heaven” is a rollicking, fun vision of what comes next and a pure delight. A charming, warm, and often terrific album.

What I’m reading:

I recently read Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko, on many people’s Top Ten lists for last year and for good reason. It is sprawling, multi-generational, and based in the world of Japanese occupied Korea and then in the Korean immigrant’s world of Oaska, so our key characters become “tweeners,” accepted in neither world. It’s often unspeakably sad, and yet there is resiliency and love. There is also intimacy, despite the time and geographic span of the novel. It’s breathtakingly good and like all good novels, transporting.

What I’m watching:

I adore Guillermo del Toro’s 2006 film, Pan’s Labyrinth, and while I’m not sure his Shape of Water is better, it is a worthy follow up to the earlier masterpiece (and more of a commercial success). Lots of critics dislike the film, but I’m okay with a simple retelling of a Beauty and the Beast love story, as predictable as it might be. The acting is terrific, it is visually stunning, and there are layers of pain as well as social and political commentary (the setting is the US during the Cold War) and, no real spoiler here, the real monsters are humans, the military officer who sees over the captured aquatic creature. It is hauntingly beautiful and its depiction of hatred to those who are different or “other” is painfully resonant with the time in which we live. Put this on your “must see” list.

March 18, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Sitting on a plane for hours (and many more to go; geez, Australia is far away) is a great opportunity to listen to new music and to revisit old favorites. This time, it is Lucy Dacus and her album Historians, the new sophomore release from a 22-year old indie artist that writes with relatable, real-life lyrics. Just on a second listen and while she insists this isn’t a break up record (as we know, 50% of all great songs are break up songs), it is full of loss and pain. Worth the listen so far. For the way back machine, it’s John Prine and In Spite of Ourselves (that title track is one of the great love songs of all time), a collection of duets with some of his “favorite girl singers” as he once described them. I have a crush on Iris Dement (for a really righteously angry song try her Wasteland of the Free), but there is also EmmyLou Harris, the incomparable Dolores Keane, and Lucinda Williams. Very different albums, both wonderful.

What I’m reading:

Jane Mayer’s New Yorker piece on Christopher Steele presents little that is new, but she pulls it together in a terrific and coherent whole that is illuminating and troubling at the same time. Not only for what is happening, but for the complicity of the far right in trying to discredit that which should be setting off alarm bells everywhere. Bob Mueller may be the most important defender of the democracy at this time. A must read.

What I’m watching:

Homeland is killing it this season and is prescient, hauntingly so. Russian election interference, a Bannon-style hate radio demagogue, alienated and gun toting militia types, and a president out of control. It’s fabulous, even if it feels awfully close to the evening news. 

March 8, 2018

What I’m listening to:

We have a family challenge to compile our Top 100 songs. It is painful. Only 100? No more than three songs by one artist? Wait, why is M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” on my list? Should it just be The Clash from whom she samples? Can I admit to guilty pleasure songs? Hey, it’s my list and I can put anything I want on it. So I’m listening to the list while I work and the song playing right now is Tom Petty’s “The Wild One, Forever,” a B-side single that was never a hit and that remains my favorite Petty song. Also, “Evangeline” by Los Lobos. It evokes a night many years ago, with friends at Pearl Street in Northampton, MA, when everyone danced well past 1AM in a hot, sweaty, packed club and the band was a revelation. Maybe the best music night of our lives and a reminder that one’s 100 Favorite Songs list is as much about what you were doing and where you were in your life when those songs were playing as it is about the music. It’s not a list. It’s a soundtrack for this journey.

What I’m reading:

Patricia Lockwood’s Priestdaddy was in the NY Times top ten books of 2017 list and it is easy to see why. Lockwood brings remarkable and often surprising imagery, metaphor, and language to her prose memoir and it actually threw me off at first. It then all became clear when someone told me she is a poet. The book is laugh aloud funny, which masks (or makes safer anyway) some pretty dark territory. Anyone who grew up Catholic, whether lapsed or not, will resonate with her story. She can’t resist a bawdy anecdote and her family provides some of the most memorable characters possible, especially her father, her sister, and her mother, who I came to adore. Best thing I’ve read in ages.

What I’m watching:

The Florida Project, a profoundly good movie on so many levels. Start with the central character, six-year old (at the time of the filming) Brooklynn Prince, who owns – I mean really owns – the screen. This is pure acting genius and at that age? Astounding. Almost as astounding is Bria Vinaite, who plays her mother. She was discovered on Instagram and had never acted before this role, which she did with just three weeks of acting lessons. She is utterly convincing and the tension between the child’s absolute wonder and joy in the world with her mother’s struggle to provide, to be a mother, is heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once. Willem Dafoe rightly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role. This is a terrific movie.

February 12, 2018

What I’m listening to:

So, I have a lot of friends of age (I know you’re thinking 40s, but I just turned 60) who are frozen in whatever era of music they enjoyed in college or maybe even in their thirties. There are lots of times when I reach back into the catalog, since music is one of those really powerful and transporting senses that can take you through time (smell is the other one, though often underappreciated for that power). Hell, I just bought a turntable and now spending time in vintage vinyl shops. But I’m trying to take a lesson from Pat, who revels in new music and can as easily talk about North African rap music and the latest National album as Meet the Beatles, her first ever album. So, I’ve been listening to Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy winning Damn. While it may not be the first thing I’ll reach for on a winter night in Maine, by the fire, I was taken with it. It’s layered, political, and weirdly sensitive and misogynist at the same time, and it feels fresh and authentic and smart at the same time, with music that often pulled me from what I was doing. In short, everything music should do. I’m not a bit cooler for listening to Damn, but when I followed it with Steely Dan, I felt like I was listening to Lawrence Welk. A good sign, I think.

What I’m reading:

I am reading Walter Isaacson’s new biography of Leonardo da Vinci. I’m not usually a reader of biographies, but I’ve always been taken with Leonardo. Isaacson does not disappoint (does he ever?), and his subject is at once more human and accessible and more awe-inspiring in Isaacson’s capable hands. Gay, left-handed, vegetarian, incapable of finishing things, a wonderful conversationalist, kind, and perhaps the most relentlessly curious human being who has ever lived. Like his biographies of Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein, Isaacson’s project here is to show that genius lives at the intersection of science and art, of rationality and creativity. Highly recommend it.

What I’m watching:

We watched the This Is Us post-Super Bowl episode, the one where Jack finally buys the farm. I really want to hate this show. It is melodramatic and manipulative, with characters that mostly never change or grow, and it hooks me every damn time we watch it. The episode last Sunday was a tear jerker, a double whammy intended to render into a blubbering, tissue-crumbling pathetic mess anyone who has lost a parent or who is a parent. Sterling K. Brown, Ron Cephas Jones, the surprising Mandy Moore, and Milo Ventimiglia are hard not to love and last season’s episode that had only Brown and Cephas going to Memphis was the show at its best (they are by far the two best actors). Last week was the show at its best worst. In other words, I want to hate it, but I love it. If you haven’t seen it, don’t binge watch it. You’ll need therapy and insulin.

January 15, 2018

What I’m listening to:

Drive-By Truckers. Chris Stapleton has me on an unusual (for me) country theme and I discovered these guys to my great delight. They’ve been around, with some 11 albums, but the newest one is fascinating. It’s a deep dive into Southern alienation and the white working-class world often associated with our current president. I admire the willingness to lay bare, in kick ass rock songs, the complexities and pain at work among people we too quickly place into overly simple categories. These guys are brave, bold, and thoughtful as hell, while producing songs I didn’t expect to like, but that I keep playing. And they are coming to NH.

What I’m reading:

A textual analog to Drive-By Truckers by Chris Stapleton in many ways is Tony Horowitz’s 1998 Pulitzer Prize winning Confederates in the Attic. Ostensibly about the Civil War and the South’s ongoing attachment to it, it is prescient and speaks eloquently to the times in which we live (where every southern state but Virginia voted for President Trump). Often hilarious, it too surfaces complexities and nuance that escape a more recent, and widely acclaimed, book like Hillbilly Elegy. As a Civil War fan, it was also astonishing in many instances, especially when it blows apart long-held “truths” about the war, such as the degree to which Sherman burned down the south (he did not). Like D-B Truckers, Horowitz loves the South and the people he encounters, even as he grapples with its myths of victimhood and exceptionalism (and racism, which may be no more than the racism in the north, but of a different kind). Everyone should read this book and I’m embarrassed I’m so late to it.

What I’m watching:

David Letterman has a new Netflix show called “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction” and we watched the first episode, in which Letterman interviewed Barack Obama. It was extraordinary (if you don’t have Netflix, get it just to watch this show); not only because we were reminded of Obama’s smarts, grace, and humanity (and humor), but because we saw a side of Letterman we didn’t know existed. His personal reflections on Selma were raw and powerful, almost painful. He will do five more episodes with “extraordinary individuals” and if they are anything like the first, this might be the very best work of his career and one of the best things on television.

December 22, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished Sunjeev Sahota’s Year of the Runaways, a painful inside look at the plight of illegal Indian immigrant workers in Britain. It was shortlisted for 2015 Man Booker Prize and its transporting, often to a dark and painful universe, and it is impossible not to think about the American version of this story and the terrible way we treat the undocumented in our own country, especially now.

What I’m watching:

Season II of The Crown is even better than Season I. Elizabeth’s character is becoming more three-dimensional, the modern world is catching up with tradition-bound Britain, and Cold War politics offer more context and tension than we saw in Season I. Claire Foy, in her last season, is just terrific – one arched eye brow can send a message.

What I’m listening to:

A lot of Christmas music, but needing a break from the schmaltz, I’ve discovered Over the Rhine and their Christmas album, Snow Angels. God, these guys are good.

November 14, 2017

What I’m watching:

Guiltily, I watch the Patriots play every weekend, often building my schedule and plans around seeing the game. Why the guilt? I don’t know how morally defensible is football anymore, as we now know the severe damage it does to the players. We can’t pretend it’s all okay anymore. Is this our version of late decadent Rome, watching mostly young Black men take a terrible toll on each other for our mere entertainment?

What I’m reading:

Recently finished J.G. Ballard’s 2000 novel Super-Cannes, a powerful depiction of a corporate-tech ex-pat community taken over by a kind of psychopathology, in which all social norms and responsibilities are surrendered to residents of the new world community. Kept thinking about Silicon Valley when reading it. Pretty dark, dystopian view of the modern world and centered around a mass killing, troublingly prescient.

What I’m listening to:

Was never really a Lorde fan, only knowing her catchy (and smarter than you might first guess) pop hit “Royals” from her debut album. But her new album, Melodrama, is terrific and it doesn’t feel quite right to call this “pop.” There is something way more substantial going on with Lorde and I can see why many critics put this album at the top of their Best in 2017 list. Count me in as a huge fan.

November 3, 2017

What I’m reading: Just finished Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, her breathtakingly good second novel. How is someone so young so wise? Her writing is near perfection and I read the book in two days, setting my alarm for 4:30AM so I could finish it before work.

What I’m watching: We just binge watched season two of Stranger Things and it was worth it just to watch Millie Bobbie Brown, the transcendent young actor who plays Eleven. The series is a delightful mash up of every great eighties horror genre you can imagine and while pretty dark, an absolute joy to watch.

What I’m listening to: I’m not a lover of country music (to say the least), but I love Chris Stapleton. His “The Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning” is heartbreakingly good and reminds me of the old school country that played in my house as a kid. He has a new album and I can’t wait, but his From A Room: Volume 1 is on repeat for now.

September 26, 2017

What I’m reading:

Just finished George Saunder’s Lincoln in the Bardo. It took me a while to accept its cadence and sheer weirdness, but loved it in the end. A painful meditation on loss and grief, and a genuinely beautiful exploration of the intersection of life and death, the difficulty of letting go of what was, good and bad, and what never came to be.

What I’m watching:

HBO’s The Deuce. Times Square and the beginning of the porn industry in the 1970s, the setting made me wonder if this was really something I’d want to see. But David Simon is the writer and I’d read a menu if he wrote it. It does not disappoint so far and there is nothing prurient about it.

What I’m listening to:

The National’s new album Sleep Well Beast. I love this band. The opening piano notes of the first song, “Nobody Else Will Be There,” seize me & I’m reminded that no one else in music today matches their arrangement & musicianship. I’m adding “Born to Beg,” “Slow Show,” “I Need My Girl,” and “Runaway” to my list of favorite love songs.

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