You Recognized A Loss
This one's got my new podcast with Witold Rybczynski, a triggering moment at a tax appointment, an Instax outtake, & more
The Virtual Memories Show News
A 2x/week email about a podcast about books & life
Podcastery
This week, I posted Episode 624 of The Virtual Memories Show, feat. architect and architecture & design writer Witold Rybczynski as we talk about his latest book, THE DRIVING MACHINE: A Design History of the Car (Norton). We get into how cars evolved from their earliest days through the befuddling styles of today’s EVs, how the design language of cars had no true precedent, why European styles were so different and varied than America’s, his favorite era for car design, and the differences between writing about cars and writing about buildings. We talk about the cars in his life and how he integrated them into The Driving Machine‘s narrative (including the Mercedes that lasted him 25 years), the lives of the engineers & car-company founders he explored for the book, what he learned by drawing the book’s car-illustrations himself, and how drawing all those cars brought him back to his youth. We also discuss the new book he’s writing about his dissatisfaction with contemporary architecture, how it resulted from a Chat-GPT ‘hallucination,’ the cycles of architecture & the death of architecture criticism, the (sorta) imaginary house he designed for himself, and more. Give it a listen! And go read THE DRIVING MACHINE! (And listen to our 2015, 2019, and lockdown conversations!)
Last week, I posted Episode 623, feat. cartoonist Matt Madden‘s return to the show as we dug into his new collection, SIX TREASURES OF THE SPIRAL: Comics Formed Under Pressure (Uncivilized Books). We talked about the liberation to be found in formal constraints, his history with OULIPO and its OUBAPO offshoot, how structure can inspire story, and the formal and thematic challenges in sequencing the stories in the collection. We got into how he tried to make the most of a multi-year residency at La Maison des Auteurs in Angouleme, the changes in his art & storytelling since publishing Ex Libris in 2021, and the “director’s commentary” he added as back matter for Six Treasures. We also discussed Trondheim’s Challenge to him to make a comic without a formal rule or constraint, his Substack-goal of sharing OUBAPO rules, why it’s important not to let the formal constraints overwhelm the heart of the stories, and more. Give it a listen! And go read SIX TREASURES OF THE SPIRAL! (And listen to our 2021 conversation!)
Recent episodes: Fred Kaplan • Mia Wolff • Damion Searls • 2024 Recap • The Guest List • Benjamin Swett • Ken Krimstein
You Recognized A Loss
I cashed out some mutual fund shares last summer to pay for part of our kitchen renovation. It was either that or redeem a CD early and take a penalty on it.
I pointed this out at the tax-prep meeting with our accountant this week, said that I picked the “tax-optimized” option for it, but had no idea if that was going to cause a hiccup in our filing, as I’d literally never cashed out of any investments before.
He said, “You recognized a loss; you’re fine.”
And the abyss opened before me. I recognized a loss.
While meditating in corpse-pose a few days earlier, I saw the image of myself sinking into the earth and leaving a Gil-shaped hole. I even envisioned a gag panel of two people standing over it and saying, “He meditates hard.”
UPDATE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO CLICK THROUGH RATHER THAN JUST READ THE EMAIL:
I should’ve just cashed out the CD instead, so I could write about early redemption.
*
This email setup runs $29/month, so if you want to help out with it or otherwise Contribute To The Cause, you can support the Virtual Memories Show with a contribution of any size, one-time or recurring.
Instaxery
I haven’t had much time/focus to write any pieces for the GUEST/HOST book, and this bit from last night’s reading of Pessoa’s Book of Disquiet didn’t help:
“I’ll be living quietly in a little house somewhere in the suburbs, enjoying a peaceful existence not writing the book I’m not writing now and, so as to continue not doing so, I will come up with different excuses from the ones I use now to avoid actually confronting myself.”
I also didn’t take any Instax this week, but here’s another outtake from last year:
Artistry
No real art this past week, just a little sketch every day with a rollerball pen in a cheap notebook, but that’s been it. You should go to the Flickr album of most of the art I’ve made & find something you like.
Postcardery
Let me know if you want to be on my postcard-a-day list. (Financial supporters of the podcast get a hand-drawn or painted postcard as a thank-you.)
Until Next Time
Thanks for reading this far! I’ll be back on Sunday with links, books, & workout-/meditation-craziness, and on Wednesday with a new episode, and maybe some art, maybe some Instax or an outtake.
Seagulls circle endlessly / I sing in silent harmony / We shall be free,