Hitting The Links: 5/26/24
This one's got lots of links, a sleeper or two, the existential heebie-jeebies, & me looking decent in a suit.
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
In the Driver’s Seat
On early morning dog-walkies today, I saw a man sleeping in his car, parked behind the local strip mall. I don’t mean dozing; he had a blanket and pillow, and his car looked lived-in. I hoped this was just his routine before an early shift at the luncheonette, but suspect he’s living out of his car. He was in the driver’s seat.
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And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Jim Moske • Adam Moss • Randy Fertel • D.W. Young • Jen Silverman • Leonard Barkan • Emily Raboteau
RIP Kabosu . . . RIP Caleb Carr . . . RIP Morgan Spurlock . . . RIP Richard M. Sherman . . . RIP Bruce Nordstrom(’s) . . .
Ivan Boesky died, too.
Great tribute to Dabney Coleman by Matt Zoller-Seitz.
David Owen has a piece on trying to archive his life (& his family’s). It’s a funny contrast with this week’s guest, an archivist who regularly purges his stuff & records so that his kids won’t have to deal with it all.
My two pod-sessions with Celia Paul (2020, 2022) drew me into the art of Lucian Freud and his, um, monstrous behavior. Another guest told me (off-mic) an anecdote about someone who sat for a Freud portrait, and how unearthly his gaze was. This memoir by one of his many children, centered on her sitting for him for a nude portrait, adds the horrific tension of a kid wanting some sort of attention/acknowledgement from their father.
Ooh! John Porcellino (2014, 2021) sat down for a big ol’ video interview for the NY Comics & Picture-story Symposium! Also, John’s going through some things right now, so this would be a good time to support him & his work via Patreon, if you’re not doing so already.
Speaking of Patreons, Summer Pierre does a weekly comic-update on hers. This past one was about mockingbirds and how they steal other birds’ songs. She wonders what they sounded like before they migrated north. I wonder what their song was before they ever heard another bird singing.
Man, this Lizzie McGuire reboot is HARDCORE.
When the lead photo caption reads, “A paralegal dyes Leonard Francis’s hair while he prepares for a debriefing by federal agents in the U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego in 2015. In reward for his cooperation, the Malaysian defense contractor was permitted to hire staff who gave him manicures, pedicures and foot rubs,” you know you’re in for a barnburner.
Frankly, I’m disappointed this abstract for next weekend’s ASCO meeting didn’t include “existential heebie-jeebies”.
Speaking of existential heebie-jeebies, Sebastian Jünger had a near-death experience in 2020 — an undiagnosed aneurysm in his pancreatic artery that went kablooey — and came back to tell the tale. It’s a harrowing piece — adapted from his new book — not because of the health scare but the aftermath, once everything was back to “normal,” when the underpinnings of his life were ripped out and he had to figure out what he was living for. I know, I know: kids, family, art, the next sunrise, etc., but it’s not that easy sometimes. I don’t mean that in a suicidal way, but definitely in an aimlessly despairing one.
I recorded a podcast yesterday with Stan Mack for the June 11 slot [go pre-order his Real Life Funnies collection!], but still have no plans for a new show this week and am unsure about the June 4 slot. I did, however, have to do my least favorite form of presentation at work last week: prerecorded video. No audience interaction, no gauge of whether a laugh line hits, & a time limit that I blew past, so boo. At least I looked good in my suit & new shirt. Here’s a still:
“CDMOs: Challenges & Opportunities”, part 486,275
Current/Recent Reading
I Love Dick - Chris Kraus
SWOLE: The Making of Men and the Meaning of Muscle - Michael Andor Brodeur
“Everything was first generation with me, everything was happening as if for the first time, nothing, neither bodies, faces, customs, nor language, originated in that place or had been bound up with it for a longer period, and so couldn’t be viewed in that way.
“Actually there were only two forms of existence, I reflected: one that was tied to a place and one that wasn’t. Both had always existed. Neither could be chosen.”
—Karl Ove Knausgaard (tr. Don Bartlett), My Struggle: Book 5.
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
(Not) Speaking of Swole, I got in my 5-day exercise cycle last week (Fri-Tue), although I subbed Saturday’s yoga for that big ol’ hike in Woodstock. I’m on pace for this week, although I don’t know if I’ll have time for weights on Tuesday, since I have to get down to DC at some point for lobbying meetings on Wednesday. We’ll see. Next week will be a write-off, as I’m doing a bunch of travel out west.
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Wednesday IF there’s a new episode (again, doubtful), and on Sunday from an undisclosed location, with links, books, & workout craziness, & sure maybe a little profundity or something.
Chicken surely knows that fox so well / Chicken understands that fox so well,