Top collector
hello,
We've had the ado.
I can do no better than copy Ben's own introduction:
"Ghostwriter and critic Ben Thompson presents a DFS Algonquin Table for the post-thought era; an imaginary session from Christian Marclay and music from Guy Warren to the Lakeside Show Band."
Proto-turntablism from 1987. "A thousand copies seems more than enough / the Swedish disco version of tubular bells"
This is how to turn up for an interview:
"Christine Lagarde hands over a small white paper bag with something surprisingly heavy inside after sweeping through the restaurant with her customary assured elegance.
Taking off her black leather gloves before shaking hands — there’s a slight chill on this overcast day in Frankfurt — she explains: “It is marmalade I made with grapefruits from our garden in Corsica.”
I am disarmed by the gift. Maybe this is Lagarde’s intention. Can I accept it? Should I have brought something to give her? “I’ve been eating a grapefruit a day since about 45 years ago,” says the European Central Bank president, flashing a bright smile that sets off her cropped silver bob, white silk blouse, monochrome floral scarf and pearl earrings. “It gives you vitamin C and a little pep in the morning.”
This New Yorker article about "A Young Architect’s Designs for the Climate Apocalypse" is fascinating. And halfway through there's a beautiful and extraordinary section about the building he built for his father to die in. Lovely and sad. This is a bit of it. But you have to read the whole thing.
"When Hedström, Kaspars, and two friends carried Bo out from his room, on a stretcher, a herd of cows started lowing in a field. Hedström slept with his father on his first night in the new building. Bo said that it was his best sleep since he had fallen ill. The rest of the family brought in mattresses, so they could be together, and lit a huge fire outside the windows which burned through the short August night. “Then he started to cross,” Hedström said. Bo died two days later. “It was used for one day of life and two days of transition,” Hedström said, of the new building. “And it was extremely satisfying.”
I love reading about the mundane bits of billionaire lives. Apparently Silvio Berlusconi saw out his last days buying crap art from late night shopping channels:
"The heirs of Silvio Berlusconi inherited billions from his empire but now they are faced with a dilemma: what to do with his vast collection of mostly worthless artwork, including paintings of nude women and the Madonna, stored in a warehouse opposite his home near Milan.
The former prime minister, who died in June at the age of 86, reportedly amassed the 25,000 works during the final years of his life, buying the majority from late-night shopping channels in his quest to become a top collector."
I did yet another song. Sorry. This time with actual singing. And Riccardo did another cover.
I'll let you go. It's been lovely.
PS - A FREE PHYSICAL THING
I've got another project brewing. It will involve sending a physical thing to people. In the post. For free. You won't have to do anything with it. Don't worry. You can keep it, you can throw it away. If you'd like to get one please pop your details in this form.
(There are 918 of you. Global milk production was around 918 million tonnes in 2021. The most popular milk is cow milk, followed by buffalo milk, goat milk, sheep milk and camel milk.)