Hitting The Links: 10/5/25
We've got a whole lotta links, some thoughts on self-motivation and slowing down, a pink Birdy!, my current reading, & more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Fill Your Horn With Oil And GO
The rabbi’s Kol Nidre sermon was about dreams deferred and whether it’s the dream that loses its way or the dreamer. He talked about the various ways our lives don’t pan out — career, family, marriage, never becoming a professional athlete — and how that can make us spiral as the years go by.
To illustrate his point, he brought up Prophet/Judge Samuel from the Torah, and how Samuel bound up his life in mentoring and guiding Saul into his role as king of the Israelites. When Saul’s rule goes off the rails, Samuel falls into depression.
But then, God spoke to Samuel and told him to go to Bethlehem and secretly anoint David as the next king. Specifically, per the rabbi, God said, “Fill your horn with oil and GO.”
Which he did, leading to David’s reign, etc.
The rabbi went on about what could have happened if Samuel continued to wallow in his depression, having spent his life prepping Saul, only to be disappointed, and how we all need to get over ourselves and make the world better.
Which: sure. But the rest of us don’t have a direct hotline to the divine presence, as Samuel did. It’s one thing to get up and dust yourself off when the creator of the universe is telling you to do so; it’s another when that voice has to come from within. But maybe “Fill your horn with oil and GO” can become a mantra.
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I went back to shul the next day for Yizkor, the prayer for one’s family-dead, as I mentioned last email. The prayer itself wasn’t as resonant or meaningful as I’d hoped it would be for me, maybe a result of how debilitated I was by then — flu + covid vaccines 10 minutes before starting a 25-hour fast? ZERO STARS, DO NOT RECOMMEND — but I saw something beautiful before the prayer. In the back row of the shul, a father was sitting with his little son (5 or 6 or 7 years old). The kid was bored and sleepy, and the father took his tallis and extended it over his child, put his arm over his son’s shoulder, and hugged him to his side. I wanted to cry.
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On Saturday, I filled my horn with oil and went to NYC to record this week’s show; it’s with Tom Tomorrow, in support of his new Kickstarter (which you should contribute to). We talked on mic and off, and it was good to see a friend and try to share some of our lives.
After, instead of hurrying home, I decided to sit on a bench in Riverside Park and enjoy the pleasant weather, watch the Upper West Side folks, try & fail to write a little for my Instax book, and let the world slip by.
It did me good to sit there with nowhere to race to. When I did finally head back to NJ, I decided to stop by dad’s grave, or as I texted Amy, “go check out the grass,” which will be my new euphemism for those visits.
The grass over his grave is greener and more vivid than the surrounding area. I know it’s just the seeds and new shoots but I thought his body feeding the soil and giving it a little extra burst.
I read the mourner’s kaddish over his grave, then sat/lay down beside it and talked about the last few days, semi sorta addressing him, but really just myself. Just like I do here.
Birdy Of The Week
What if not Birdy but a shot from this morning’s walkies as the morning was creeping over the hills and illuminating the turning autumn trees?
Okay, fine, here she is on early-morning pink sunlight walkies a few days ago, living up to her doggo stereotype:
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And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Kayla E • Hunter Prosper • M.L. Rio • David Leopold • Dmitry Samarov • Ask Me Anything • Dan Goldman • David Levithan/Jens Lekman
RIP Jane Goodall (here’s a note from Patrick McDonnell) . . . RIP Patricia Routledge . . . RIP Renato Casaro . . . RIP George E. Hardy . . . RIP Lally Weymouth . . . RIP Edward T. Blake . . . RIP Iceman Immonen . . . RIP Brian Patten . . . RIP Leo Hindery Jr. . . . RIP Arthur Jones . . .
Laura Bullard (wife of this week’s guest, Kayla E) went DEEP into Peter Thiel’s obsession with antichrist theology. As you can imagine, there’s a Nazi tie-in. It’s a fantastic piece, so give it a read.
I’ve never really read Willam Vollmann but I respect that he’s just kept writing the books he wanted to write.
M.L. Rio writes a tour diary, and goes into the crappiness of selling books right now. SPEAKING OF: GO BUY HOT WAX! It’s a fantastic novel!
Good piece by Ben Schwartz about the “free speech” comedians who took the check to perform for the Saudis.
Nicole Rudick reviewed the Ben Shahn On Conformity exhibition for NYRB.
This NYT piece on The 25 Most Influential Magazine Covers of All Time has a couple by George Lois (incl. #1, which is The Greatest), and Adam Moss was one of the panelists.
Here’s me on another pharma podcast. The picked up a 2014 photo of me for the episode, which is very funny because I look like a baby, despite being in my early 40s at that point.
Current/Recent Reading
In My Time of Dying - Sebastian Jünger (a variation on my tapped-out Yom Kippur practice of reading books written by authors who were dying at the time)
The Magic Mountain - Thomas Mann (tr. John E. Woods)
“[T]he note of sarcasm in her prophecy would have been even harder to bear had he not understood that some prophecies are made not so that something may come true, but as a kind of spell to prevent it from coming true.”
+ the mourner’s Kaddish every morning, in Aramaic
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
Still not back in the swing of my workout routine. I got in weights Monday and yoga Tuesday, but Wednesday was derailed by work and then starting Yom Kippur fasting. Thursday was obviously out, but Friday got derailed by work & post-vaccine tiredness, Saturday I foolishly watched the Yankees-Jays playoff game after I got back from NYC, rather than yoga & meditation, and so I have to try to get restarted on weights today. Next week I’ve got my conference to host, so that’s Wed-Fri off the table. Maybe after all that I can try to get my 5-day routine going again.
Similarly, I’ve missed some meditation days, which isn’t good for me.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll back on Wednesday, with a new episode, no Instax, and maybe some art. On Sunday I’ll be back with links, books, & workout craziness, & maybe a little profundity or something.
XXX,