October 16, 2019

The Slow and Unyielding March of Time | Episode 3

Gritty is the mascot of the Philadelphia Flyers, a hockey team in the NHL, although to describe him in those terms is like describing Mt Rainier as "some hill." Gritty ... well, Gritty looks like what would happen if you grave-robbed a muppet cemetery and make a Frankenstein's Muppet. He's a fuzzy bright orange, with a long yellow beard, huge round googly-eyes, and a smile that's just on the wrong side of unhinged. He has a belly button. It CHANGES COLOR. Some kid tried to fight him during a half-time exhibition game, and Gritty dumped him in the penalty box. I love him. (This is not a controversial opinion.) The artist behind Gritty said the organization was looking for "somebody you wanted to high-five, but not hug.”

Don't worry, this newsletter is not turning into a Who's Who of professional sports mascots. (Wait. Should be?) I just wanted you to have a little context before I linked to his new spotify playlist which is just amazingly all over the place. Kesha! Enya! Spongebob Squarepants! The prologue to Harry Potter! Smack dab in the middle is "Lawn Mower," a two minute track of someone mowing the lawn.

Anyway, now I've been listening to Flo Rida for the past hour because his masterpiece Club Can't Handle Me was included on this playlist, and embarrassingly, I LOVE Flo Rida with an enduring passion. His songs are so disgusting and so catchy. This is the chorus to one of my favorite songs, Whistle, which is not about whistling:

Can you blow my whistle, baby, whistle, baby? Let me know
Girl, I'm gonna show you how to do it and we start real slow
You just put your lips together and you come real close
Can you blow my whistle, baby, whistle, baby? Here we go

So disgusting. So catchy. I'm not posting any other lyrics because my mom reads this. I am going to Palm Springs tomorrow and I am going to listen to a lot of Flo Rida poolside. Someday I'll tell you all about the time I saw him for free, also poolside at the Palms in Vegas.

Debris
* "Lawn Mower," a track from "Soothing Sounds - Relaxing Sounds From Everyday Life," was decidedly not soothing to me. Other tracks on that album are "Wind Chimes 1," "Wind Chimes 2" and "Ticking Alarm Clock." Those sounds * would drive me up the wall, and it made me think of Why Everything is Getting Louder. Noise has increased in ways that we are bodily unequipped to handle.

Noise is never just about sound; it is inseparable from issues of power and powerlessness. It is a violation we can’t control and to which, because of our anatomy, we cannot close ourselves off. “We have all thought of killing our neighbors at some point,” a soft-spoken scientist researching noise abatement told me.

y-i-k-e-s. I very much recommend reading it.
* I was worried I didn't have any appropriate clothes for this wedding, so I went dress shopping with a buddy and realized I am extremely drawn to tween prom dresses. They're so sparkly and fun! Am I ... am i a crow?
* I briefly played the goose game and loved it. I will probably buy it and then spend a lot of time dragging rakes into lakes.
* But not for awhile because I am currently watching Star Trek: DS9 AND Pose, which are extremely different shows and so many hours of viewing pleasure.
* Someone please help me figure out what I want to be for Halloween.

What I'm reading
In the middle of:
The Bird King by G. Willow Wilson: So far this has been a really beautiful fantasy adventure story about two people who love each other enough to be willing to die for the other. I'm hoping they don't die, though, because I've been very into happy endings lately.
Finished:
Holy shit ya'll I have been reading a lot. (Mostly YA.)
Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo: I've been on a real fantasy kick lately. This book was fun, I think. honestly, I've read so many books in between this one and right now that I don't remember much about it, but it's the first in a series and I'll read the rest!
Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang: God, this was a beautiful book. The amount of craft put into each story was truly amazing. Such a joy to read.
The Merciful Crow by Margaret Owen: I found this book because this lady started a Dungeons and Dragons podcast that I really like; she's a very good storyteller. She overwrites the a little bit sometimes, but the world building is very tight and I really liked the characters.
Make It Scream, Make It Burn by Leslie Jameson: I was really looking forward to reading this book; Jameson is one of my favorite writer/essayists. She approaches stories that a lot of writers wouldn't take particularly seriously; past lives, a lonely whale, a museum of failed relationships. I didn't love this book as much as the Empathy Exams but the book is worth it for "The Real Smoke," an essay about artifice and love and desire.
American Street by Ibi Zoboi: This is a really lovely written book about a teenage immigrant from Haiti; she has to learn how to live with her family in Detroit with her mom, who gets detained as they enter the country. There's a strong magical realism bent that I really enjoyed. The ending was too abrupt and some of the threads got wrapped up in ways that struck me as false, but a very good read.
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori: I loved this short, very odd book and I am going to write more about it next time because I'm far too sleepy to do it justice now.

Shana Tovah, everyone! I love you so much.
-davida