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Notes from today

Reeves Wiedeman on TV documentaries and ethical standards, for Vulture (and: Metallica: Some Kind of Monster)

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This was a fun stream.

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Hindens Rev, Lidköping, Sweden

Source: @hannahperssons

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I couldn’t resist making another one of these.

Source: National Emergency Library

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A selection of book covers from the National Emergency Library. 1.4 million books from their digital collection can be checked out for free during the coronavirus pandemic.

Reported by Jill Lepore for The New Yorker

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Porto, Portugal

Source: @chairishco

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Donald G. McNeil, Jr. is a voice I’ve been following during the pandemic. This will not make you feel better, but I think it is important.

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The Great Empty: Photographs by The New York Times

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by Aaron E. Carroll and Ashish Jha, The Atlantic

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To date, I have basically reserved judgement on Lena Dunham. Girls simply didn’t appeal to me, but I have nothing essentially against it. I am tempted to revisit it now that I’m not a 20-something female in Brooklyn — and now that I’ve read and really quite enjoyed Not That Kind Of Girl.

Reading this made me, somehow, reach new levels of disbelief about the level of entrenched sexism in our culture. I really expected it be more shocking, more gratuitous, more offensive. At the very least I expected it to contain some modicum of substance justifying the accusations of sexual assault directed at Dunham following its publication.

But, no. It was actually remarkably entertaining, relatable, and well-written. Yes, there is a lot of sex — but nothing outside of modern norms of entertainment. The cloud of weird controversy surrounding Dunham and her book seems an obvious reflection of the somewhat unique brew of sexism she inspires. It is certainly largely in reaction to a highly successful woman inhabiting and exhibiting a body that doesn’t align with society’s standards — but I think there’s also a sort of general disbelief at Dunham’s own self-awareness. We seem to doubt that she can tell a joke and not be the joke. If we feel the same way about, say, Woody Allen, we at least don’t hate him for it. In fact we have a hard time hating him for actual sexual assault.

This isn’t exactly surprising or new. What surprised me in reading this was just how funny and likable the book actually is, despite all the fuss.

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Source: “A Love Letter to England” by Abbie Melle via Local Milk Blog

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Frugal wins

Redeemed a free night on hotels.com to book our weekend stay in Asheville. With fees and taxes, the grand total was $5.20!

Used over-ripened pears from our produce box to make a riff on this Smitten Kitchen muffins recipe (mine have pecans instead of hazelnuts, and no chocolate — sorry, Linus).

Have sold a few long-listed Poshmark items. Not a lot of profit, but good to see those numbers in the black.

Finally thrifted some funnels! I’ve been hoping to find some for a while to help fill spice jars, etc.

Not really a cost-saver in this case, but I bought a couple of items — whole wheat flour and popcorn kernels — bulk to save on packaging. My local co-op is happy to weigh any jars/containers you bring in to use for bulk shopping, and I’ve been wanting to take advantage of this more.

Paid off our car loan — more than two years early!

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Sissinghurst Castle Garden — Kent, England

Source: Haarkon Adventures

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by Jill Filipovic

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Once you have a lot of compassion for people and a lot of compassion for yourself, you don’t see everything through the lens of people punishing each other.

Heather Havrilesky, The Cut, Ask Polly: “I Moved Off-Grid With an Emotionally Stunted Older Man!”