Hitting The Links: 7/27/25
We've got lots of great links, plus my Citizen Dick moment at Dad's grave, my first podcast-foray in 4 weeks, that time I had a psychotic breakdown, a couple flexes, BIRDY! on patrol, and more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Touch Me I’m Rock
I felt kinda compelled to visit my father’s grave mid-week. Tried talking to him, didn’t feel right, lay back on the grass beside the grave & took in the view.
I read the mourner’s Kaddish from the card they gave out at the funeral (Hebrew, not the transliteration). Took a pic of myself beside the grave, but thought it might look a little too much like Cliff at Hendrix’ grave in Singles, so I won’t be sharing that.
On the way out, I discovered this nearby marker, and laughed:
Yesterday, I got back in the podcast-saddle and recorded a new episode up in Connecticut. It was my first session in 4 weeks, I was worried that I’d make it All About Me, but the guest’s story was so different than mine that I was able to fall into the flow of conversation, learning another person, finding some of myself through them, without it being My Whole Situation. You’ll get to hear that one on this week.
In fact, I oughtta go edit that one now.
Birdy Of The Week
On sentinel-duty
*
This email setup runs $29/month, podcast-hosting is $20/month, and the remote recording setup is $20/month, so if you want to help out with these expenses or otherwise Contribute To The Cause, you can support the Virtual Memories Show with a contribution of any size, one-time or recurring.
And now, let’s hit the links!
Links & Such
Recent Virtual Memories Show podcasts: Eulogy • Rachel Cockerell • Paul Karasik • Kate Maruyama • David Denby • Peter Stothard • Cecile Wajsbrot
RIP Ozzy Osbourne . . . RIP Chuck Mangione . . . RIP Malcolm-Jamal Warner . . . RIP Tommy McLain . . . RIP Cleo Laine . . . RIP Gary Smith . . . RIP Joanna Macy . . . RIP Rex White . . . RIP Willy Wonka of Cheese . . . RIP Washington Post RIPs . . .
Also, Hulk Hogan died.
“Challenge the forbidden zone to forge the tools of a great power!” should have been the slogan of the new Fantastic Four movie.
I will continue to ridicule the life-extension set & especially the “I will live forever because I fed all my words into an AI” morons.
On the flipside, older men are at high risk for suicide.
I do find it funny that people are TRUSTING A CHATBOT TO REVEAL THE TRUTH, but that’s not to make light of psychotic episodes. I mean, I had one myself a bazillion years ago. It was a bad reaction to an antibiotic I was on, and over the course of three days, I became convinced that my wife & coworkers were trying to poison me. Because this was all in my head, it was difficult for me to step back, recognize what was wrong, and fix it. (Was able to get some clarity, called the doctor and said what was happening and how it coincided with my taking this drug, and he said, “Huh: it looks like CNS is a pretty rare response, but let’s get you off of that NOW,” and things quickly got better.) Now I have a good story when doctors & nurses ask about the medicine-allergy in my health records.
Rebecca Mead wrote a good piece about the reissue of Adrienne Salinger’s ‘80s/‘90s photos of teenagers in their bedrooms. Also, on the drive home from MA last Sunday, I heard In Your Room by the Bangles.
Ben Schwartz wrote about CBS shutting down Stephen Colbert’s show.
I did hope for more seasons of LA To Vegas, but this looks bad.
Maybe not so bad as Miami to Orlando, though. FTR, it looks like that “high-speed rail” route is 3:30, and when I searched the driving time between those two cities’ Brightline train stations, it was . . . 3:30. So, I get that the train is convenient, but “high-speed” has to offer some time savings over the drive; the DC route I take is generally at least an hour faster by train than by car.
In his last years, I pretty much only saw my dad when I had to take him to medical appointments or vaccinations, or when he fell and needed to get lifted up off the floor. Sometimes on those drives I could tell that he would suddenly have no idea who I was nor where we were going, and would just look down and not say anything until it came back to him. I took to tying my hair back for those trips, figuring that might make it a little easier on him, cognitively speaking. I’m only telling you this so I can show off how good my hair & the sunlight looked yesterday morning before I headed out to record that podcast.
dude, I know
Current/Recent Reading
Authority: Book 2 of The Southern Reach - Jeff VanderMeer
Frighten the Horses: A Memoir - Oliver Radclyffe
Kaddish - Allen Ginsberg (& mourner’s Kaddish every morning)
Sound Body, Fractured Mind
I started working out again, thankfully, but by Friday my body was so beat by weights on Wednesday and yoga on Thursday that I took that day off to recover (& walk 4 miles with The Guys). Got a yoga workout in Saturday after getting back from the podcast in CT. That drive was arduous w/traffic, so I’m glad I got some stretch/pose exercise in. I hope to get to weights today, and I have my annual physical tomorrow. Have to get my mind right and return to running, too, but work, travel, and The Dad Stuff really made that untenable for a while. Still looking okay, though:
I’ve gotten back to daily meditation for 15 min. or so in the afternoons, and that helps me disconnect from the world & myself a bit. Might need to come up with a new mantra; I tried out the highway sign I saw in NJ a few weeks ago: “OVER-DIMENSIONAL VEHICLES MUST EXIT.”
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll back on Wednesday, with a new episode to share, plus some Instax and maybe some art. On Sunday I’ll be back with links, books, & workout craziness, & maybe a little profundity or something.
I've been blazed, I've been hurt / I've been reamed inside a curtain, come on!,