Hitting The Links: 5/12/24
This one's got a bunch of links, my thoughts on skipping TCAF, a Mother's Day reminder, some workout craziness, and more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
NO MO TCAFOMO
In The Before Time, this was the weekend I attended the Toronto Comic Arts Festival. I’d have some great meals with friends, see my cousins, record podcasts with various cartoonists in attendance, buy some comics, and maybe go to a Jays game. On Sunday I’d call my mom for Mother’s Day, and we’d pretend the Canada-to-US connection was bad.
But I passed on TCAF this year, with tentative plans to visit Toronto later this summer. Partly it’s because the local artists I want to record with will be crazy-busy this weekend, and I’d like to get them when they’re more relaxed. Partly it’s because the hotels are getting crazy-expensive (I never found any info about the hotel block on the festival site; when I finally wrote to ask them about it last month, they said it had just expired).
And partly — okay, largely — it’s because I looked over the roster of guests and exhibitors and realized I have seriously aged out of this show.
Sure, there’ll be a few cartoonists and writers I know and would like to gab with (on- or off-mic), but the vast majority are people I’ve never heard of, seemingly half my age, and when I looked at samples of their work, I realized I have no real point of entry to it all, no time to develop it, and no interest in walking around a packed, hot Toronto Reference Library while masked up (only because talking in a crowded setting while masked is tough, not because I’m anti-mask).
So I thought, “No one’s going to miss me, and do I really need this, esp. in the middle of trade-show season?” (And, okay, I’m also bummed that Lai Wah Heen — the restaurant where we’d go with Tom Spurgeon after the festival closed on Sunday — has closed down.) (Tom was my guide/curator to the younger cartooning cohort, and losing him in 2019 further cut me off from having any idea What The Kids Are Up To These Days.)
The last few years have taught me that I have to pick my spots. I’ve seen a few pix from the festival; it looks like everyone’s having a great time and nobody’s muttering, “Why isn’t Gil here?”, so that’s good. For my part, I had a great time going into NYC yesterday to record a podcast and then meet up with a pal of 20+ years.
I’ll call Mom soon.
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INTERNS BUILT THE PYRAMIDS!
One of my friends writes: “My daughter is completing her sophomore year at college, where she’s majoring in publishing & creative writing. Would you have any suggestions for people in the publishing industry she could contact about summer internships? Would any of the authors you interview like some free summer help so she can build her resumé?”
She’s based in the northeast; if you have ideas or want to find out if she’d make a good fit for an internship (paid or un-), hit me up & I’ll connect you.
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And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Randy Fertel • D.W. Young • Jen Silverman • Leonard Barkan • Emily Raboteau • Trillian Stars/Kyle Cassidy (bonus ep.) • Leela Corman
RIP Steve Albini . . . RIP Lord Theoden, Mad Woman, Kevan Lannister, Super-Stuntwoman, Quant King, and the King of Shlock . . .
Sebastian Smee wrote a remembrance of Frank Stella, & Stella’s escape from ideology.
Speaking of art critics and death, the posthumous collection of Peter Schjeldahl’s art reviews, The Art Of Dying, comes out this week! It’s got an intro by Jarrett Earnest. Here’s Steve Martin’s foreword.
Recording with Peter in 2021 was one of my all-time fave experiences. Let’s stick with art critics but jettison the morbid stuff: here’s Jerry Saltz writing about his favorite Instagram feeds (NOT INCLUDING MINE: SOB!).
Rebecca Mead wrote about crazy goings-on at the British Museum.
The World Is A Real Estate Scam’s ultimate iteration remains Neom in Saudi Arabia.
Yay! Patrick McDonnell’s Guard Dog story, Breaking the Chain, is coming out as a book in September! Go pre-order it!
Howard Chaykin (2017, 2022) wrote about Jewish identity and Schmuckholm Syndrome.
As I mentioned earlier, it’s Mother’s Day. You should go listen to my recent episode with Emily Raboteau and check out her new book, Lessons For Survival: Mothering Against “The Apocalypse”. Here’s a pic I took last week of one of the bird murals she writes about:
A Williamson’s Sapsucker by the artist ATM, on W. 158th St.
Current/Recent Reading
The Work of Art: How Something Comes From Nothing - Adam Moss (finished last week for yesterday’s podcast)
Stan Mack’s Real Life Funnies - Stan Mack
“Not everyone here has heard of Heidegger,” Yngve said in an unexpected lull. “Surely there must be other topics we can discuss apart from some obscure German philosopher.”
“Yes, I suppose there are,” Kjartan said. “We can talk about the weather. But what shall we talk about then? The weather is what it always is. The weather is what existence reveals itself through. Just as we reveal ourselves through the mood we are in, through what we feel at any given moment. It’s not possible to imagine a world without weather or ourselves without feelings. But both elements automate das Man.”
—Karl Ove Knausgaard (tr. Don Bartlett), My Struggle: Book 4. I got started on Book 5 on Friday, but haven’t pulled a usable quote from it for you yet.
Fractured Body, Fractured Mind
Because of travel & a trade show in PHL last week, I didn’t get to work out Monday or Tuesday, so I only got in 3 days of my weights-yoga cycle. I’m back in the swing of it now, and I’ll pretend the 2 extra days off did me good. My dumbbell weight is finally back up to where it was before my neck-injury derailed things, and the new stuff I’ve incorporated into my morning 15-minute routine has also been good (some stretches & exercise-band stuff I picked up in PT). I carried my pod-gear bag + my guest’s big, heavy hardcover book for hours around NYC yesterday without feeling any shoulder/neck soreness, so yay. My body’s looking better, but I’ve still got a gut to work off (by my standards; you’d say I’m nuts).
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Wednesday with a new episode and (I hope) some art, and on Sunday with links, books, & workout craziness, & who knows maybe a little profundity or something.
The time of our time has come and gone / I fear we’ve been waiting too long,