🔗 Joyce Carol Oates’s search for a self
Thoroughly enjoyed this, all the way to its bones and its crunchy core. Felt for Joyce, and wondered about my own “self.”
Links — 2023
🔗 The line of succession
I’ve been watching The Crown S3 and got to thinking about the current state of the monarchy. What a tangle - how one gets to the top of the pile.
🔗 Beginning to mourn Bandcamp
Count me among those fearing for Bandcamp’s future. I consider it my main source for purchased music, and if it topples, I’m not sure what I’ll do. Return to the iTunes Store?
🔗 Worker backs car into an ancient toilet
I haven’t gotten over this story yet. I might’ve even shared it before, but it’s still in my head every day.
🔗 Our country shouldn’t have political refugees
I can’t blame these folks in the piece for their decisions to relocate, but I also have to wonder whether in the end the old maxim will apply, “Wherever you go, there you are.”
🔗 Stars of the Lid’s Brian McBride has died
Stars of the Lid was and remains transformative music for me. Wiltzie and McBride crafted a new realm of sound that I could inhabit. Yes, they gave us hours and hours of music - but I wish it had been more and more and more.
🔗 Spotify IS essentially white noise
File this in my “Problems with streaming music platforms” cabinet. Man I dislike them, and the ways they’re undermining and co-opting and dumbing down culture.
🔗 How to talk to kids
Pro tip from a seasoned father: don’t get caught that kids have nothing useful or unique or amazing to convey. Believe it - because they do. Figure out how to pay attention and go along for the ride. Don’t be weird and don’t force the issue. Don’t talk about yourself.
🔗 Surprisingly Interesting Pence Profile
I feel genuinely bad for this man. I probably shouldn’t, but I can’t help but slightly admire his perseverance and willingness to ignore the odds and the obvious.
🔗 Let Nu Metal die in shambles, I say
Yes, I had the Korn tapes I snuck purchased at Disc Jockey. Yes, Limp Bizkit blasted in the varsity locker room before cross country practice. But the world moved on for good reasons: the inanity, the exclusion, the anger.
It’ll pass this time in a few minutes.
🔗 Nice new album from my pal Jim
Jim O’Rourke added to his Drag City catalog by roping in his recent strains of atmospheric ambience. Instantly hooked.
🔗 NCAA Tennis is a mad world
This piece makes me want to get out and support my local college tennis teams.
🔗 Taking the choice away
Figuring out what to watch next has become as difficult as picking out shampoo — there’s a wall of indistinguishable material, and in the end, one thing winds up being a lot like another. Despite what the marketing tells me. Even the idea of “what’s next” chafes my brain. I don’t want to figure it out. I just want to have my hand held. And not by the algorithms.
🔗 Metallica still exists?
I skipped out on seeing Metallica with friends in high school. I’ve never been big into their sound and schtick - but I somehow connect to their ongoing attempts to reclaim their thrash roots.