Hitting The Links: 12/17/23
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Numbers Game
Can I tell you something? It can all get a little Much, no matter what your circumstances are. Job/$$, health, family, pets, art, friendships/relationships, The World At Large: it can get to you. I mean, it gets to ME, and I figure I’m not that different from the rest of you.
That’s what I wrote about in my previous post, after my 6-month oncology check-in & crisis of faith. What I didn’t tell you last week is that, for a brief moment, part of me thought, “What if I just SAY that my blood-test numbers were worse than they were?”
I mean, everybody thinks I know medicine for some reason, so I could’ve made up some blather about a pre-treatment protocol where my condition didn’t warrant pharma-intervention but did require that I take several months off from <waves hands> All This, and I could’ve gone into 2024 with an empty slate.
Except, of course, I’m a big goddamned boy scout, and can’t lie like that. So I let myself get wallow in self-pity and doubt for a few days, went through the motions of my workouts Monday & Tuesday, and put off reading. Then a bunch of January 2024 pod-guests came through in rapid succession, and I thought I’d better confirm those sessions because I can’t let [the guests, the publishers, the audience, the universe] down.
And then something neat happened. On Friday, I had an idea for a new, year-long art-project! It riffs off last week’s episode with Jarrett Earnest, but I won’t tell you more about it until it progresses (here’s hoping it outpaces my next blood test in March). Still, I find myself charged up by the idea that another year’s worth of podcasts might just lead me to having a piece of art to share with [the guests, the publishers, the audience, the universe].
I also recorded the first 2024 guest episode yesterday afternoon, with cartoonist & writer Ed Subitzky, and our conversation turned out to be fun, subtle, and an absolute treat.
Which is to say, I will admit I was pretty down earlier this week, and envisioning <waves hands> All This as a burden or duty, instead of the soul-feeding joy it should be.
And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Jarrett Earnest • Christian Wiman • Danny Fingeroth • Matt Bors • Phillip Lopate • Leslie Stein
RIP Andre Braugher . . . RIP George McGinnis . . . RIP Michael Bishop . . .
Go read this year-end cultural wrap-up by W. David Marx (and go buy/read his Status & Culture).
My fave Dylan album: Bull On The Tracks.
Jerry Saltz interviewed Sharon Stone about art & death.
Funny piece by Dana Brown about Casa Cruz, a new NYC club for wealthy people ($250k membership), and clubs in general. I don’t know much about clubs, but I enjoyed visiting the Metropolitan Club in advance of that Bill Gates event I wrote about last week. That said, I didn’t take in much of the ambience; our group just hung out in the bar area. Bathroom was really nice, though.
Not sure there are two people whose Second/Next Acts are less interesting to me than Jon Corzine & Steve Aoki, but you do you, BusinessWeek TV.
Related, because that article ends with Aoki holding out hope that non-fungible tokens will return to presumably bilk more suckers, is news that someone got hacked and lost all his Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. I only bring this up because it led to a very funny post on Bluesky, from Viktor Winetrout: “Yeah I stole your ape pics. What are you gonna do, draw some police”.
Yesterday would have been Tom Spurgeon’s birthday. I would have gotten him a book or something.
Tom Spurgeon & me, 2014 at Toronto Comic Arts Festival, photo by Amy Roth
Current/Recent Reading
Inherent Vice - Thomas Pynchon
The Book of Disquiet - Fernando Pessoa
Poor Helpless Comics! - Ed Subitzky
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
Last week, I managed 5 weight/yoga workouts by doubling up on Sunday. I also got in a 6.3-mi. run with The Guys on Monday morning before my oncology check-in, but I don’t count runs as workouts, because I’m stupid. This weekend, I managed weights on Friday, but missed yoga yesterday, because I ran 10+ miles with The Guys. I’ll try to double up yoga then weights today, but holy crap I ran 10+ miles on Saturday! It was a slow run, with walking breaks each mile or so, but TEN MILES. The fact that I felt fine all day (and today) is actually not a good thing, because it means I can Go Long. Which has me thinking about finally getting to my belated first marathon in 2024, and that can only lead to disaster.
Here’s a pic from my yoga-thang:
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back Wednesday with a new podcast, maybe some art, & who knows maybe a little profundity or something, and Sunday with more great links, current reading, and this broken down ol’ body of mine.
You don't know where and you don't know when, But you've still got your words and you've got your friends,
—Gil Roth
Virtual Memories
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