Chris Brooks Newsletter 031
What a crazy four weeks! I'm writing this from our home in Napa, CA. Let's catch up on our wanderings.
1. 🚘 Where I've been traveling
We returned from our Africa adventure in mid-October. I published a summary with links to the various trip segments. After less than a week at Keuka Lake to close things down for the winter, we started a two-week drive out west to Napa via Oregon.
The trip started with an aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends tour. We saw cousin Alan, Jim, and Jill in Indianapolis, uncle Don and aunt Carol in Bloomington, the Bays family in Charleston, IL, uncle Dan and cousin Kara in LaSalle, IL, and aunt Linda in Cedar Falls, IA.
After that, we were off to some adventurous driving through the Great Plains and mountain ranges. I golfed a bunch in Nebraska (Wild Horse, Thornridge, Hi-Line, Overton, and Crandall Creek), and we enjoyed a number of pleasant Harvest Host stays at breweries and wineries. We revisited an amazing dispersed camping area at Vedauwoo west of Cheyenne, WY, and drove through blizzard-like conditions in the Wasatch as we made our way to Ogden, UT.
We revisited the City of Rocks area of Idaho, this time staying at the BLM area in an amazing dispersed area with no other campers in sight. Beautiful terrain with blobby rocks and amazing views across the valley.
Halloween was spent just outside Boise at the Cinder winery, then we moved on to Oregon and the Columbia Gorge. A night outside Baker City at a Harvest Host was very pleasant, then the night on the Washington side of the gorge was not so (trains!!!).
A short stop in PDX, then an election day long drive from Portland to Napa. We are hosting friends here for a week and managed to get the house ready enough for our tolerant guests. Julie and I are back to sleeping in the van for a week 😂.
2. 📖 What I've been reading
Articles:
- Book review on How the War Was Won – Reading this review made me want to read the book reviewed, but the review itself worked as a nice summary. The case is made that it was logistics and production ability that made the difference, not any particular battle or even set of battles.
- A 20th anniversary perspective on Sideways – I've now watched the movie again twice since reading this retrospective. It holds up so well and is a great complement to our wine tasting adventures here in Napa with friends. We all remember the merlot exclamation, but the pinot soliloquy is the star. "Pinot needs constant care and attention."
Books:
- I haven't quite finished The Razor's Edge by Somerset Maugham but will in the next day or two. It meanders a bit but is very readable. I'm not sure the themes and lessons are all that timeless or relevant anymore, especially with so much of modern culture looking at stoicism and Eastern philosophy. Still a decent novel.
- Julie and I listened to A Walk in the Park by Kevin Fedarko (thanks for the recommendation, Aunt Linda!) on our drive west. We'd listened to The Emerald Mile a few years ago by the same author, and this one was even better. He also pays proper homage to two other Grand Canyon and national park books that I've read: Desert Solitaire and The Man Who Walked Through Time.
3. 🍿 What I've been watching
TV Shows:
- Julie and I watched Fallout season 1, and it was a blast. Funny, disturbing, and a great tie-in to the video games.
- We caught up on the latest Slow Horses season after both reading Spook Street. Still very solid.
- The Bear season 3 was definitely a letdown compared to seasons 1 and 2, but we probably need to look at it as a season 3.5. No resolution and some montage episodes made it a bit confusing. Still committed to watching the show.
Movies:
I watched so many movies on the trip to and back from Johannesburg!
- The Teacher's Lounge is a fine talky German-language drama.
- I enjoyed The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial much more than I thought I would, though it was very frustrating not being able to hear all of the final dialogue and having no closed captions for this film on the flight. I'll watch it again.
- One Life would have been better as a 50-minute short film.
- Can't believe I watched Marry Me! I think it was because of this review; it was funny at times but just okay.
- I'm a big fan but didn't think Carole King - Home Again was all that good. Footage and editing weren't great, and her stage presence was awkward.
- The Fall Guy was awesome and fun.
- The star of the movie month was Stevie Van Zandt - Disciple. I think I was re-watching Talladega Nights and kept glancing over at Julie watching this and decided I needed to switch gears. The director did a great job of not showcasing Bruce songs and live sets, focusing more surgically on Stevie and his wanderings in and out of the band. Top shelf and highly recommended.
- Julie and I watched The Lion King together as we departed from South Africa.
- I'd never seen Easy Rider! Thought I had, but after starting it, I knew right away that I hadn't. Hard to evaluate a movie like this so far out of its original context. I will say this: Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson are amazing actors; Peter Fonda, not so much. But I think we already knew that.
- I watched the 2024 film Civil War with Kirsten Dunst. It was really good, my kind of dramatic film with great writing, dialogue, and some expertly shot action scenes. Major tension at times.
- Julie found Jackpot! for us to watch, and it was awful in the way most B-movies are, but still very enjoyable. John Cena helped make it redeemable.
- Julie indulged my Halloween night request to watch The First Omen, a solid Catholic horror film in the style of The Exorcist and The Omen (this movie is a prequel).
4. 🎶 What I've been listening to
Podcasts:
- There was a very fun Song Exploder with Graham Nash talking about "Our House." This is far from my favorite CSN(Y) song, but it is beautiful, and hearing the isolated vocal tracks was so worth the time.
- I enjoyed this podcast from Every about how Union Square Ventures is using internally built AI tools to help capture and share corporate knowledge. I feel like a part of USV having read Fred Wilson's blog for the past 20 years.
Music:
Jim and I continued our album club upon returning from Africa.
- First up was Blood Sugar Sex Magik by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As an album, I don't think it holds up all that well; too much filler, and it doesn't feel like a cohesive package. Of course, there are some great songs on the album.
- Next up is my pick: Tapestry by Carole King. Doesn't get much better than this.
5. 🎮 What I've been playing
- With the release on Apple Arcade, I restarted my immersion in the wonderful Balatro. So is just about everyone else I know that plays games like this.
- With gaming friends in town for a week, I'm finally back to playing some heavier board games. My favorite of the week has been Obsession. The theme matches the gameplay so well, and it is a fun ride even when you don't score well.
- Greg and I have a commitment to play Viticulture at least once every time we get together.
- Greg also brought Arcs, the new-ish game from Cole Wehrle. We played twice, and I don't think I'll play again. I like Martin Fowler's summary – the conflict doesn't suit me in this sort of game. I'd rather play a true wargame.
- We played the classic Race for the Galaxy, a game I enjoy but do not play well. That's becoming a theme for me. We also played the little sibling Jump Drive.
- I had squirreled away my original copy of Dominion when we left Oregon, and it was fun to break this out and play.
That's enough for this month. I'm already behind getting this one out. I'll save more updates on living in Napa, our grandson Rory, and our planned winter adventures for next month.
-Chris