great(ish) pt 2: Arctic crime, Edith Wharton, an architecture indie film
Hello! I've decided to send this email out whenever I feel like it, because I reckon we all need more inane, friendly content in our inboxes right now. Here we go!
Article: The Arctic Job by David Kushner, published by Outside Magazine in January 2020
Ostensibly the story of a man who needs easy access to a gun and finds it in the Norwegian Arctic town Longyearbyen, this is also a wonderfully layered portrait of a unique place undergoing increasingly significant changes due to climate change. I have thought of this article regularly since I first read/listened to it (you can listen to the audio recording on the Outside Magazine website).
Film: Columbus, written and directed by Kogonada (2017)
This debut feature by South Korean director Kogonada has all the elements of your classic indie film: in a small town in Indiana a young librarian meets a Korean translator, in town to visit his architect father in the hospital. Together, they explore the modernist buildings that Columbus is famous for. He is John Cho; she is Haley Lu Richardson; their friends are played by Parker Posey and Rory Culkin.
I watched and loved this film last week. There's a simplicity to it that reminded me of films I used to watch in the early 2000s. It's a great way to spend 1h 44mins, plus you'll be sure to google the history of Columbus, Indiana for another 30mins afterwards.
Note: Columbus is streaming on Amazon Prime, the BFI Player and Kanopy (which seems awesome if you're based in North America and have a library card).
Book: The Glimpses of the Moon by Edith Wharton (1922)
It's a great time to read Edith Wharton. A newly married couple gallivants around Europe. They have promised each other they'll break up as soon as one of them is able to make a more advantageous match. As so often in Wharton's novels, societal standing and a lack of funds interfere with the characters' personal happiness – or do they? I read Glimpses of the Moon in one day a couple of summers ago and found it totally absorbing. There is no minor Edith Wharton in my opinion, but this is a particularly good and comparatively cheerful one.
Note: Edith Wharton's books are old and therefore available for free on Project Gutenberg. Lucky us!
Other: Fearless by Taylor Swift (2008) and Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1791)
What music are you listening to right now? I'm trying to make sure I listen to a lot of old beloved classics. Music is good and calming! Why did I spend the past few years listening to podcasts instead? I'm not recommending anything particularly cool here; instead, I'd encourage you to (re)acquaint yourself with Taylor Swift's best album, which is full of one country pop banger after another (and some truly regrettable lyrics). Great to sign along to while doing household chores.
Also: I'm listening to A LOT of Mozart right now. There's a Spotify playlist called "Mozart for Babies" which showed up on my feed one day... and it's perfect. As is Mozart. I always feel better about the world knowing that a genius composed so much perfect music and it's all there for me to enjoy. The clarinet concerto has always been my favourite. An additional benefit of classical music is that you can go on a great youtube deep dive by reading the predictably strange comments on particular performances. Check out the ones on the interpretation I'm linking above: for example, goatman86 says, "these lower notes are doing things to me, good things :D". Because of course people are horny for Mozart on youtube...
And that's it for now. Let me know what reading material/films/other things you're enjoying right now. Until next time, take care!