Hitting The Links: 2/25/24
A ton of links, my injury/pain catches up with me, Benny flips for sunnybeams, & more!
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Loatus
One of the best things about this debilitating neck-shoulder injury — it got bad again — is all the guilt I feel over not being able to keep up with my various self-imposed responsibilities. It really brings that little frisson of mental torment to make this whole experience that much more depressing.
To wit, I don’t have a guest lined up for this coming week’s podcast. I made some stabs at getting a show together, but knew I didn’t have the focus to read a guest’s book/work and do the research to record something this weekend, esp. since I took Friday off to record next week’s show and spent some this week prepping for that. (It’s a good one.)
So at this point, one of 3 things will happen:
No episode
Episode comes out late because a Wednesday evening guest confirmed yesterday and maybe I can turn that around for Thursday
I record a monologue today about some virtual memories that have been swirling about, and share that
I’ll probably just post 2 episodes the following week to balance out the cosmic scales, but it’s nice to know that I can wrap myself in knots at the very time I need to reduce my activity and rest/recover.
At least I’m staying up/ahead on work.
Here’s your sunny weekend morning Bendico:
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And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Scott Guild • Aaron Lange • Donald J. Robertson • Elizabeth Flock • David Thomson • Sammy Harkham
RIP Ewen McIntosh . . . RIP Hydeia Broadbent . . . RIP Claude Montana . . . RIP Jimmy Van Eaton . . . RIP Lefty Driesell . . . RIP Flaco . . .
Ah, the ongoing infantilization of adults. ‘Coloring books for grown-ups’ was just an early warning sign.
Interesting piece on how Taliban fighters from the villages are adapting to urban life in Kabul.
Per Nick Cave, “Muses are for losers”
This piece by Eric Sprankle leaves me bummed out that there’s already a Controlled Release Society.
You should go subscribe to/support Flaming Hydra, a writer/artist co-op that posts 2 new pieces every weekday, via email. YES, it’s One More Goddamned Newsletter in your inbox, but it’s only $3/month and it supports some good writing, like this Maria Bustillos piece on Iago & today’s Iagos.
Black Hole Sun(-Eating Quasar)
More on the high-end public toilets and cassette tape renaissance in Tokyo. (I went to see that new Wim Wenders movie, Perfect Days, last Thursday.)
Also in Japan: naked men.
Real estate piece for an amazing home near the Getty Center in L.A. The punch line to this story is phenomenal: keep reading to the end.
Christie Theriot Woodfin (mom of past guest Warren Woodfin) writes about Mardi Gras.
Current/Recent Reading
RADIANT: The Life and Line of Keith Haring - Brad Gooch
“Although much had changed in my life since then my attitude to poetry was basically the same. I could read it, but poems never opened themselves to me, and that was because I had no ‘right’ to them: they were not for me. When I approached them I felt like a fraud, and I was indeed always unmasked, because what they always said as well, these poems, was: Who do you think you are, coming in here?”
—Karl Ove Knausgaard (tr. Don Bartlett), My Struggle: Book 2
Fractured Body, Fractured Mind
I was feeling good enough to try my morning ~13-min. exercise routine this week. I did that Thursday and was okay at the time, but regressed as the day progressed. I tried again on Friday, and felt fine in the moment, without any flareups, but was flat-out debilitated later on. That may have been coincidental, but as a precaution, I’m back to no exercise but walking. I’ll check out my doc’s referral for physical therapy tomorrow. As you can expect, this is driving me nuts, but at least my weight isn’t spiraling outta control yet.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Wednesday with a new episode and some art, and on Sunday with links, books, & non-workout craziness, & who knows maybe a little profundity or something.
Life is wasted on illusion / Tom & Jerry's no solution,