Brooklynaut

I had me an adventure yesterday, by my standards. I drove into Brooklyn to record two podcasts and shoot six Instax pix for my book. I wound up having some great conversations (I mean the unplanned, off-mic variety, in addition to the pod-sessions). I also monologued a bit near the end of the day, when I was pretty fried and maybe at my less coherent, but hey. I got to see friends, maybe make new ones, and cruise around Brooklyn in a pretty stress-free way.

(The drive back was awful, due to Manhattan traffic, but I managed to get home 3 minutes before we were supposed to head over to our neighbors’ Christmas party; I splashed some water on my face, rallied, and talked about the Drone Invasion of NJ with folks.)

Most amazingly, I found street parking near all 4 of my destinations, so despite $20+ in tolls, I didn’t run up any bills for parking. In fact, my parking situation was so convenient that I was able to give pod-guest #2 & his wife a drive from their place to Red Hook (I was heading there to SHOOT MOAR INSTAX), and that led to some fun schmoozing.

Later, I took a nice walk in the Carrol Gardens/Boerum Hill area (I don’t know Brooklyn very well) from one past guest’s home to another. I crossed the Gowanus, which had me thinking of Jonathan Ames and That Episode of Bored To Death. The late afternoon light was beautiful and I felt full with friendship. I got to spend my day among artists and journalists and people who are making the world better.

I wish I could tell you more about it, but we have to drive back into Manhattan now for a client’s holiday luncheon at the Metropolitan Club (!).

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And now, let’s hit the links!

Links & Such

• Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Ken Krimstein • Eddie Campbell • Caitlin McGurk • Frances Jetter • Roland Allen • Eric Drooker • Simon Critchley

• RIP The Amazing Kreskin . . . RIP Rocky Colavito . . . RIP Nikki Giovanni . . . RIP Ma & Pa O’Brien . . . RIP Lorraine O’Grady . . . RIP Ángela Álvarez . . . RIP Joseph Manuel Rivera . . . RIP Isak Andic . . . RIP Mark Withers . . .

• I loved this tribute to Frank Auerbach by Sebastian Smee.

• Jerry Saltz published his top 10 art shows of 2024 (#1 features a great piece by Joe Coleman).

• John Waters’ Top 10 movies of the year is always a fun read. If you get the Criterion Channel, do yourself a favor & watch his Adventures in Moviegoing interview this month and his intros to a couple of movies. He’s awesomely hilarious and an encyclopedia of moviemaking.

• Dynamite interview of filmmaker Paul Schrader.

• Here’s a profile of translator Damion Searls, with whom I recorded recently (I’ll post it in January).

• Speaking of translation, it depends on what your definition of I is.

• Ooh, this Shōwa Guide Tokyo volume that W. David Marx co-wrote looks pretty awesome.

• Since getting diagnosed with CLL, I pay a lot more attention the annual American Society of Hematology meeting than I ever thought I would. Some good findings came out about treatment options (I’m still pre-treatment). And more good ASH news.

• Speaking of the intersection of pharma & art, here’s a piece about the mural that was in Pfizer’s old HQ.

• HECK YEAH EVAN GERSHKOVICH BYLINE

• If none of my friends ever let me know when they were in town, I think I’d re-evaluate how shitty of a friend I am, not raise millions to launch an app so that I can find out where they are.

• Duh: I should launch a Virtual Memories memecoin! JK; I don’t understand anything about The World Of Today and will just continue making ~50 podcasts and ~100 newsletters a year for no money. Oh, okay, I’ll also spend a year-plus making a book that I’ll lose money on.

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Current/Recent Reading

The Moviegoer - Walker Percy

A Capital Calamity - Fred Kaplan

Year Of The Monkey - Patti Smith

Sound Body, Fractured Mind

I didn’t get to do yoga yesterday because of my Brooklyn adventure, but did weights-yoga-weights Wed.-Fri. I also got in a nice 6.4-mi. run with The Guys on Monday. I’d been eating badly recently, so I got in touch with my Hunger Artist for a few days, although I wound up noshing way too much last night at my neighbors’ Christmas party. Still, I’m looking/feeling pretty good, and hope to get weights in today, despite having to go back into the city for that brunch event.

One of yesterday’s pod-guests mentioned in an interview that her paintings show how she’s got A Whole Thing about men’s backs. Since we’ve known each other 20+ years, I showed her a post-workout pick of mine from a couple weeks ago. Her response was, “Are you a swimmer?” I’m not, but glad my mid-50s physique looks like it.

Until Next Time

Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Wednesday with a new episode, maybe some art, a bunch of Instax pix, and on Sunday with links, books, & workout craziness, & maybe a little profundity or something.

My job ain't a job, it's a damn good time / City to city, I'm a-runnin' my rhymes,