Best thing you've read and/or heard lately June 8, 2018 9:24 AM Subscribe
Spill the beans, what's the best thing you've read and/or heard lately? A great poem, short or long story, interesting article, a new single, an old album, or a live performance you just have to share?
Inspired by some folks in the Millennial discovers Rage Against the Machine thread on the blue who said they don't have anyone to tell about new musical discoveries, I thought "why not make a MeTa thread? for this?" And here we are!
Inspired by some folks in the Millennial discovers Rage Against the Machine thread on the blue who said they don't have anyone to tell about new musical discoveries, I thought "why not make a MeTa thread? for this?" And here we are!
Frank Turner's new album "Be More Kind" is half full of pop songs that I haven't stopped listening to for a few weeks no: Be More Kind, Little Changes, Blackout, and Brave Face are all pretty awesome.
(The other tracks are either Angry Frank or Quiet Frank, and while they're good, these four are what I need most these days.)
posted by wenestvedt at 9:43 AM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
(The other tracks are either Angry Frank or Quiet Frank, and while they're good, these four are what I need most these days.)
posted by wenestvedt at 9:43 AM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
A couple of albums: Shearwater's Jet Plane and Oxbow and Old Fire's Songs from the Haunted South. Both are new to me, though the first is from 2017 and the second is from 2016.
posted by irrelephant at 9:54 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by irrelephant at 9:54 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Thanks for the approval, mod(s), and to MeFites for joining the discussion. With further mod approval, I plan on posting one of these threads every month, unless someone else beats me to it.
My current picks: Orbital has a new track from their forth-coming album: "Tiny Foldable Cities" -- but if you can't wait until September for more Orbital, may I suggest Morphology's Traveler (Bandcamp)? It really scratches that instrumental electronic acidy/ bleepy/ squelchy + more organic beats (???) itch that Orbital also scratches, and the Finnish duo has more music on their on their on Bandcamp page.
As for books, I'm slowly making my way through China Miéville's The City and the City (Wikipedia), in aticipation of (eventually) watching the miniseries (FanFare full miniseries post).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:54 AM on June 8, 2018 [7 favorites]
My current picks: Orbital has a new track from their forth-coming album: "Tiny Foldable Cities" -- but if you can't wait until September for more Orbital, may I suggest Morphology's Traveler (Bandcamp)? It really scratches that instrumental electronic acidy/ bleepy/ squelchy + more organic beats (???) itch that Orbital also scratches, and the Finnish duo has more music on their on their on Bandcamp page.
As for books, I'm slowly making my way through China Miéville's The City and the City (Wikipedia), in aticipation of (eventually) watching the miniseries (FanFare full miniseries post).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:54 AM on June 8, 2018 [7 favorites]
I've been completely obsessed with Nic Jones recently, and my British-trad-folk-nerd friends are like "Oh! You didn't know about him? Yeah, he's good!" and I'm like "ASDSDFSDFDSF no you don't get it this is completely rearranging how I think about ballad singing" and they're like "Huh. Yeah, I guess he was a big deal back when."
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:55 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by nebulawindphone at 9:55 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
I just found Dvorak's Cleveland Quartet and I'm in love.
I'm in the middle of She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer, and I'm really enjoying it!
posted by ChuraChura at 10:01 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm in the middle of She Has Her Mother's Laugh by Carl Zimmer, and I'm really enjoying it!
posted by ChuraChura at 10:01 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
"With further mod approval, I plan on posting one of these threads every month, unless someone else beats me to it."
Oh, fun!
I'm in the middle of War and Peace, which I'm enjoying a whole lot! It's going slower than I'd hoped because I have to read in small chunks around my children's needs, but I'm very engaged! (Don't love that very 19th-century style of extended descriptions of every. bit. of battle -- see also: Victor Hugo -- but I guess when people couldn't just Wikipedia the battle up to see any troop movements they felt were necessary to their understanding of the novel, that was What Was Done.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:11 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Oh, fun!
I'm in the middle of War and Peace, which I'm enjoying a whole lot! It's going slower than I'd hoped because I have to read in small chunks around my children's needs, but I'm very engaged! (Don't love that very 19th-century style of extended descriptions of every. bit. of battle -- see also: Victor Hugo -- but I guess when people couldn't just Wikipedia the battle up to see any troop movements they felt were necessary to their understanding of the novel, that was What Was Done.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee (staff) at 10:11 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
I read it last month, but Lisa Halliday's Asymmetry is really, really good.
posted by chavenet at 10:12 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by chavenet at 10:12 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
THE TWO HOUR SENSE8 FINAL FINALE.
I WANT TO SQUEE WITH SOMEONE AND NO ONE HAS COMMENTED ON THE FANFARE POST YET EXCEPT ME!!!!
posted by Faintdreams at 10:12 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
I WANT TO SQUEE WITH SOMEONE AND NO ONE HAS COMMENTED ON THE FANFARE POST YET EXCEPT ME!!!!
posted by Faintdreams at 10:12 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Lately I have been enjoying the hell out of I Don’t Even Own a Television, a podcast about terrible books that’s hilarious and has surprisingly perceptive analyses of gender and social justice for a show hosted by two white men. The Night of the Crabs episode will give you a good sense of whether you like the style of the show and introduce some running in-jokes, but my favorite episode I’ve listened to is Forever Pucked.
posted by ActionPopulated at 10:16 AM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by ActionPopulated at 10:16 AM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
No doubt The Overstory by Richard Powers. It's unfortunate that the default description that fanfare posts is so "blurby" because the book itself is a masterfully written piece of passionate environmentalism. It brought me to tears on more than one occasion.
My son and I are rewatching the Expanse together and I like it much more the second time because I am no longer actively comparing it to the books as I watch.
Listening to Delvon Lamarr Organ trio
cause it's funky as hell
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:23 AM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
My son and I are rewatching the Expanse together and I like it much more the second time because I am no longer actively comparing it to the books as I watch.
Listening to Delvon Lamarr Organ trio
cause it's funky as hell
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:23 AM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
This slower, heavier version of "Circle Sky," a bonus track from the remaster of Michael Nesmith's RCA albums that came out this week, instantly became my favorite of its several versions. And Mike and Micky have been doing deep cut "Auntie's Municipal Court" on their Monkees duo tour this month, a Nesmith/Allison song which had never been played live in the group's history.
posted by jocelmeow at 10:47 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by jocelmeow at 10:47 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
It took me until the baby was nearly three, but I finally finished the Imperial Radch trilogy last month, and it was absolutely worth the effort.
The Power was pretty good, but the writing was better than the plot.
I've been reading a lot of poetry lately (thanks largely to email lists and suchlike, but some collections), and North of Zenith is amazing.
Full disclosure: I only picked this up because I served in Iraq with the author's brother, but it was the best surprise of the last year or so.
If you like the Mountain Goats and/or Welcome to Nightvale, you've likely heard of I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, a podcast wherein Joseph Fink of the latter interviews John Darnielle of the former about the album All Hail West Texas, one song per episode. The podcast also includes covers of each song, and some of them are absolutely transcendent, and they released them as an album (and as singles).
posted by Etrigan at 10:49 AM on June 8, 2018 [8 favorites]
The Power was pretty good, but the writing was better than the plot.
I've been reading a lot of poetry lately (thanks largely to email lists and suchlike, but some collections), and North of Zenith is amazing.
Full disclosure: I only picked this up because I served in Iraq with the author's brother, but it was the best surprise of the last year or so.
If you like the Mountain Goats and/or Welcome to Nightvale, you've likely heard of I Only Listen to the Mountain Goats, a podcast wherein Joseph Fink of the latter interviews John Darnielle of the former about the album All Hail West Texas, one song per episode. The podcast also includes covers of each song, and some of them are absolutely transcendent, and they released them as an album (and as singles).
posted by Etrigan at 10:49 AM on June 8, 2018 [8 favorites]
Just started my first-ever Iain M. Banks Culture novel at the beginning with Consider Phlebas. 100 pages in, and I’d forgotten how good SF can be.
Music-wise I’ve been obsessing on Bach’s Violin Concerto #1 in A Minor (BMV 1041), especially the second movement andante — used to great effect in the original Cosmos TV series. Trying to hear as many different performances and their varying approaches. And in the process discovering talented, new (to me) performers.
Also obsessing on the Switch version of Skyrim whilst occasionally checking out other games — very sad to discover the amazing-looking Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido is colorblind-unfriendly, as its over-the-top anime awesomeness combined with culinary creativity is right up my alley.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:50 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Music-wise I’ve been obsessing on Bach’s Violin Concerto #1 in A Minor (BMV 1041), especially the second movement andante — used to great effect in the original Cosmos TV series. Trying to hear as many different performances and their varying approaches. And in the process discovering talented, new (to me) performers.
Also obsessing on the Switch version of Skyrim whilst occasionally checking out other games — very sad to discover the amazing-looking Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido is colorblind-unfriendly, as its over-the-top anime awesomeness combined with culinary creativity is right up my alley.
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:50 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
I recently listened to Eddie Izzard’s reading of his memoir ‘Believe Me’ and it was excellent.
posted by bq at 10:56 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by bq at 10:56 AM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
I'm a few years behind the curve and so only just recently read A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James. It's a fantastic accomplishment; he creates a world that seems whole and well-developed precisely because you don't know everything about it, and yet that same incompleteness keeps you reading to find out more.
As I write this I'm listening to a recording of Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, a theme-and-variations for solo piano based on a 1970's Chilean socialist song. It's at turns minimalist, virtuosic, modern, and romantic.
posted by Johnny Assay at 11:00 AM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
As I write this I'm listening to a recording of Frederic Rzewski's The People United Will Never Be Defeated!, a theme-and-variations for solo piano based on a 1970's Chilean socialist song. It's at turns minimalist, virtuosic, modern, and romantic.
posted by Johnny Assay at 11:00 AM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm in the middle of David Reich's Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past and am riveted—I've been seeing references to Denisovans and human/Neanderthal mating and new theories about language dispersal for several years but was never able to grasp them because I didn't have enough background in the basics, and this book is giving it to me. And Reich is one of the leading scientists in the field, so he definitely knows what he's talking about (he had to be persuaded to write the book, because it would mean taking time away from research). Highly recommended!
> (Don't love that very 19th-century style of extended descriptions of every. bit. of battle -- see also: Victor Hugo -- but I guess when people couldn't just Wikipedia the battle up to see any troop movements they felt were necessary to their understanding of the novel, that was What Was Done.)
Hey now, Tolstoy doesn't do that at all! His descriptions may be long, but they're not encyclopedic—he presents a particular viewpoint and shows you just enough to enable you to follow it. I wrote about a couple of such episodes at LH during my reread of the book almost a decade ago: Braunau, Austerlitz ("Tolstoy disposed of it in a little over twenty pages.... Furthermore, a good bit of that is preparation and aftermath; the battle proper takes up only ten pages"). He was good at this stuff.
posted by languagehat at 11:02 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
> (Don't love that very 19th-century style of extended descriptions of every. bit. of battle -- see also: Victor Hugo -- but I guess when people couldn't just Wikipedia the battle up to see any troop movements they felt were necessary to their understanding of the novel, that was What Was Done.)
Hey now, Tolstoy doesn't do that at all! His descriptions may be long, but they're not encyclopedic—he presents a particular viewpoint and shows you just enough to enable you to follow it. I wrote about a couple of such episodes at LH during my reread of the book almost a decade ago: Braunau, Austerlitz ("Tolstoy disposed of it in a little over twenty pages.... Furthermore, a good bit of that is preparation and aftermath; the battle proper takes up only ten pages"). He was good at this stuff.
posted by languagehat at 11:02 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Just lately, Bob Seger's "Ramblin' Gamblin Man" (1969) has been hitting the sweet spot.
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:10 AM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by MonkeyToes at 11:10 AM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
It’s an oldie but I only just discovered it recently and it’s goddamn amazing: Cyndi Lauper’s 1985 cover of Prince’s When you were mine . She gives it everything.
posted by iamkimiam at 11:11 AM on June 8, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by iamkimiam at 11:11 AM on June 8, 2018 [16 favorites]
metafilter's own jscalzi's book Old Man's War - a super-fun and engaging sci-fi read. I read the whole thing (and the next book in the series) in about 3 days!
posted by gorbichov at 11:16 AM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by gorbichov at 11:16 AM on June 8, 2018 [6 favorites]
no one can pronounce my name by rakesh satyal
posted by poffin boffin at 11:28 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by poffin boffin at 11:28 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Local indie country artist Karen Jonas just released her third album, and it's fabulous. First video.
Also just read a really interesting history of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Not surprisingly, most of the popular culture arond that event is wrong. Somehow I got to age 50 without knowing the Gunfight at the OK Corral was really the Gunfight at the vacant lot down the street from the OK Corral. But I guess that doesn't quite roll off the tongue.
posted by COD at 11:31 AM on June 8, 2018
Also just read a really interesting history of the Gunfight at the OK Corral. Not surprisingly, most of the popular culture arond that event is wrong. Somehow I got to age 50 without knowing the Gunfight at the OK Corral was really the Gunfight at the vacant lot down the street from the OK Corral. But I guess that doesn't quite roll off the tongue.
posted by COD at 11:31 AM on June 8, 2018
Last night, I finally got around to watching Live from Lincoln Center: Stephanie J. Block in Concert, and it was my favorite of the series this year (second place goes to Sutton Foster). She's the best!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:39 AM on June 8, 2018
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:39 AM on June 8, 2018
Been listening to Citations Needed with Nima Shirazi and Adam Johnson. And I know I'm about 10 years late, listening to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Heads Will Roll
Down Boy
Gold Lion
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:43 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Heads Will Roll
Down Boy
Gold Lion
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:43 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is a brilliant idea, filthy light thief. ❤️❤️❤️!
So, for me, I don't want to say "best" because that's always so paralyzing for me, but I love, love textile arts, and I love, love the embroidery work of young Turkish artist Irem Yazici that I discovered recently. Here's her instagram, and if you are intrigued you can also find other articles and many more images of her work. I found a larger version of this that I'm using for my desktop background at the moment. If "The Master and Margarita" were ever to be reproduced in embroidery, this is the artist that should do it. :)
posted by taz (staff) at 11:45 AM on June 8, 2018 [11 favorites]
So, for me, I don't want to say "best" because that's always so paralyzing for me, but I love, love textile arts, and I love, love the embroidery work of young Turkish artist Irem Yazici that I discovered recently. Here's her instagram, and if you are intrigued you can also find other articles and many more images of her work. I found a larger version of this that I'm using for my desktop background at the moment. If "The Master and Margarita" were ever to be reproduced in embroidery, this is the artist that should do it. :)
posted by taz (staff) at 11:45 AM on June 8, 2018 [11 favorites]
I'm savoring one map chapter a day from "Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas" by Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker.. Maps and stories, stories and maps, it's a wonderful way to dream about New Orleans.
posted by jointhedance at 12:01 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by jointhedance at 12:01 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Bit of a cheat as I already linked it in an FPP, but A Series of Steaks Is by far my favourite recent short story I’ve read.
In other reading I’ll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara is excellent if grim and I’ve been enjoying some old Patricia Highsmith, most recently Deep Water.
On TV Killing Eve has been excellent.
At the movies... you know what, I really enjoyed Solo. Got an afternoon to waste on sci fi nonsense? Go see it, won’t set your world on fire but is a fun time out.
posted by Artw at 12:04 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
In other reading I’ll be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara is excellent if grim and I’ve been enjoying some old Patricia Highsmith, most recently Deep Water.
On TV Killing Eve has been excellent.
At the movies... you know what, I really enjoyed Solo. Got an afternoon to waste on sci fi nonsense? Go see it, won’t set your world on fire but is a fun time out.
posted by Artw at 12:04 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh, and seconding the Orbital track above - really looking forward to that album.
posted by Artw at 12:05 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 12:05 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
A friend of mine linked to a Tumblr post about emo idioms and now "You're panicking at the wrong disco" has become my favorite phrase ever. Yesterday, I managed to slide it into a conversation with Kid Ruki (who is a big Panic! at the Disco fan) and she did a double take at me before bursting out laughing. I like making Kid Ruki laugh, so that was a win-win for me.
posted by Ruki at 12:07 PM on June 8, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by Ruki at 12:07 PM on June 8, 2018 [10 favorites]
The cast recording of The Band's Visit, by David Yazbek. It's just breathtaking.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 12:12 PM on June 8, 2018
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 12:12 PM on June 8, 2018
I needed this today. I'm on the verge of tears here at work. Just a very long week with very terrible mental health. I took yesterday off as a mental health day but I don't feel comfortable with my job security doing that two days in a row. So I'm here but fighting through some darkness. I'm glad you made this thread.
With regards to the actual subject/question you've posed. I rediscovered my love for Destroyer. His recent album ken is phenomenal. But if you're interested in checking out Destroyer, go back and listen to Destroyer's Rubies. Painter in Your Pocket is worth the price of admission alone.
posted by Fizz at 12:15 PM on June 8, 2018 [7 favorites]
With regards to the actual subject/question you've posed. I rediscovered my love for Destroyer. His recent album ken is phenomenal. But if you're interested in checking out Destroyer, go back and listen to Destroyer's Rubies. Painter in Your Pocket is worth the price of admission alone.
posted by Fizz at 12:15 PM on June 8, 2018 [7 favorites]
Also, I just want to say thank you to Johnny Wallflower for messaging me, JW saw that I was having a bad week on twitter and just sent me a nice message and it's made all the difference, especially today with Bourdain's passing. It hit me harder than I realized and I think it's just his passing and Spade and everyone talking about it online.
I'm rambling but the point is, thanks Johnny Wallflower. And a reminder, just connecting with someone in a small way and saying, "Hi, I hope you're ok." it helps and it fucking matters to people who are living in a dark brain space.
posted by Fizz at 12:24 PM on June 8, 2018 [28 favorites]
I'm rambling but the point is, thanks Johnny Wallflower. And a reminder, just connecting with someone in a small way and saying, "Hi, I hope you're ok." it helps and it fucking matters to people who are living in a dark brain space.
posted by Fizz at 12:24 PM on June 8, 2018 [28 favorites]
Thank you Fizz! I've been so far down other musical byways that I missed that recent Destroyer entirely. You've made my Friday!
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 12:26 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 12:26 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Probably nothing I've read recently has given me more pleasure than Bad Kids Jokes. My current favorite:
Just finished rereading Gilead and Home by Marilynne Robinson, which I wanted to do after reading her most recent one, Lila. I liked them even more the second time around.
posted by Redstart at 12:28 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
why does the king sing badly?The song I most recently added to my New Good Music playlist on Spotify was Bird of Paradise by Frazey Ford. I also recently added, for the first time ever, a song recommended by one of my kids: Young Dumb & Broke by Khalid.
because he is pregnant
Just finished rereading Gilead and Home by Marilynne Robinson, which I wanted to do after reading her most recent one, Lila. I liked them even more the second time around.
posted by Redstart at 12:28 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Redstart, Marilynne Robinson has been one of those writers from the last few years that has stayed in my mind kind of permanently. Specifically, my reading of Home. That book sort of broken my brain (in a good way) and I have entire scenes just stuck in my head. She's intelligent and tender and fierce all at the same time. A thinker that I wish more people would read, because she's just that good.
I need to pick up Gilead. I was required to read it for an undergrad class many years ago but it was one of those books that I just avoided reading b/c I wrote an essay on some other thing and was able to muddle my way through seminars without knowing the particulars. This is a good reminder to pick it up again.
posted by Fizz at 12:39 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
I need to pick up Gilead. I was required to read it for an undergrad class many years ago but it was one of those books that I just avoided reading b/c I wrote an essay on some other thing and was able to muddle my way through seminars without knowing the particulars. This is a good reminder to pick it up again.
posted by Fizz at 12:39 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh, and I have to recommend this awesomely weird YA graphic novel: The Motherless Oven. And the sequel, The Can Opener's Daughter. There's going to be a third one but it isn't out yet.
posted by Redstart at 12:40 PM on June 8, 2018
posted by Redstart at 12:40 PM on June 8, 2018
This article about the JPL Deep Space Network.
posted by Rob Rockets at 12:50 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Rob Rockets at 12:50 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Not read or heard, but played: The Room: Old Sins, the fourth entry in the series. I seriously need a lot more games like this. And thanks to whoever on Metafilter introduced me to them.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:01 PM on June 8, 2018
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 1:01 PM on June 8, 2018
I'm in the middle of Runaway Heart by Stephen J. Cannell, and it is a HOOT. Given the title and author, I was wondering what it was doing in the sci-fi section, and sure enough it's a detective story, but it's like one of those two hour special episodes of one of Cannell's TV Detective shows where he tosses in some ghosts or aliens or some ridiculous shit like (in this case) a genetically engineered hybrid super soldier for extra flavor. And damn if it doesn't feel like a TV show from thirty years ago, which isn't always a good thing, as you can tell the author's old and a little out of touch (Is this how those young whippersnappers talk these days? No it isn't Steve. And there are a couple of odious gay stereotype characters, but to Cannell's credit, they're among the more upstanding characters in the book.), but on the whole it's a treat.
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 1:05 PM on June 8, 2018
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 1:05 PM on June 8, 2018
Current phone time waster: The Battle of Polytopia - like a really small very fast and simple Civ game.
posted by Artw at 1:06 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Artw at 1:06 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
I only recently discovered the Flaming Lips and that’s pretty much all I’m listening to for the past month.
I’m taking another run at Will Gaddis’ The Recognitions. It’s miraculous.
When I need a puzzle break, I’m playing Gorogoa. Gorgeous and clever with its own moments of recognition when the nature of the puzzle reveals itself.
posted by notyou at 1:09 PM on June 8, 2018 [8 favorites]
I’m taking another run at Will Gaddis’ The Recognitions. It’s miraculous.
When I need a puzzle break, I’m playing Gorogoa. Gorgeous and clever with its own moments of recognition when the nature of the puzzle reveals itself.
posted by notyou at 1:09 PM on June 8, 2018 [8 favorites]
I just finished a re-read (re-listen-to-audiobooks) of Tad Williams' Otherland books recently, which was super weird, because it was hard to keep remembering that they were actually conceived and written mostly in the 90s. For something written by a white dude, the series is credibly diverse on multiple axes, and the technology is within the realm of near-future sci-fi believable. And wow, the invasive corporatization of the internet, too.
Other than that, most of my fiction reading lately has been fanfic, because I'm a grownup. But like--it's been good for me. Escapism at its finest, a certain amount of cathartic crying, very good. Better for my stress level than big serious dramatic books. I have realized that there are some particular character archetype pairings that always work for me and so I have been attempting to drown myself in pining between lovely disasters and the serious ones who clean up after them in multiple different character variants.
posted by Sequence at 1:16 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Other than that, most of my fiction reading lately has been fanfic, because I'm a grownup. But like--it's been good for me. Escapism at its finest, a certain amount of cathartic crying, very good. Better for my stress level than big serious dramatic books. I have realized that there are some particular character archetype pairings that always work for me and so I have been attempting to drown myself in pining between lovely disasters and the serious ones who clean up after them in multiple different character variants.
posted by Sequence at 1:16 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
I love all things Mhz to some degree but high on my current list are Italian Nero Wolfe (See Also) and Lulu the Bankrobber's Wife aka Lulu and Leon.
posted by y2karl at 1:18 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by y2karl at 1:18 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was watching Gold Told Me To (1976) the other night, and it is fucking amazing. It was so good that I stopped because I felt bad watching it without my girlfriend, and was totally willing to rewatch the parts I'd already seen. So I haven't finished it yet! But I totally love what I've seen. Everything I want from a movie.
Musicwise, I've been totally obsessed with Oskar Sala's performances on the Trautonium. I only heard about him and the instrument because I happened to pick up a book about experimental music from the clearance shelf. Since then I've been obsessed with his performance of Hindemith's Langsames stück und Rondo, für Trautonium (originally composed in 1935). Also, I'd never listened to Eyehategod, but man, despite the rock stupid name they are very very good.
I've only just recently started having time to read for pleasure again, now that I'm out of school. I got a copy of Working by Studs Terkel from the library bookstore, and it's pretty great. I saw some people do monologues from the book when he died, but I'd never read anything by him.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:19 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Musicwise, I've been totally obsessed with Oskar Sala's performances on the Trautonium. I only heard about him and the instrument because I happened to pick up a book about experimental music from the clearance shelf. Since then I've been obsessed with his performance of Hindemith's Langsames stück und Rondo, für Trautonium (originally composed in 1935). Also, I'd never listened to Eyehategod, but man, despite the rock stupid name they are very very good.
I've only just recently started having time to read for pleasure again, now that I'm out of school. I got a copy of Working by Studs Terkel from the library bookstore, and it's pretty great. I saw some people do monologues from the book when he died, but I'd never read anything by him.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 1:19 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Battle of Polytopia
Speaking of polytopes, I-Write-Essays recently commented on a physics FPP with an extremely thought-provoking lecture regarding space, time, and the amplituhedron. Just the bit about representing permutations with twistor diagrams makes me think there's a board game waiting inside there, if not like a grand unified theory of everything :-)
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 1:34 PM on June 8, 2018
Speaking of polytopes, I-Write-Essays recently commented on a physics FPP with an extremely thought-provoking lecture regarding space, time, and the amplituhedron. Just the bit about representing permutations with twistor diagrams makes me think there's a board game waiting inside there, if not like a grand unified theory of everything :-)
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 1:34 PM on June 8, 2018
Reading through Cat Valente's, Space Opera. Life is beautiful and life is stupid. To avoid galactic civil war, life chooses to settle its foreign affairs via space Eurovision. It's not only a homage to glam rock, it's a loving tribute to the joyful absurdities of Douglas Adams and Sir Terry.
Decibel Jones was ready to go again at a moment’s notice with no refractory period at all, rolling back and forth between the soon-to-be Absolute Zeros—drummer, serial keyboard assaulter, and “girlfraud” Mira Wonderful Star and instantaneously gratifying man-of-all-instruments “boyfrack” Oort St. Ultraviolet—like the future could wait forever. Of course, they never made a real go of it much beyond that first night. Oort was mostly straight and hardworking, Mira was mostly monogamous and militantly cynical, and Decibel was mostly none of those things, except when he thought they’d look good with a paisley coat. But they agreed to keep up the pretenses of an android-alien-demigod orgiastic musical-erotic triad for the studio label.posted by GenderNullPointerException at 1:35 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh, and I heard Jason Mraz'z Have It All played at Roy Street Coffee & Tea aka America's Test Starbucks last Saturday and was intrigued enough to ask who that was singing those annoying lyrics.
posted by y2karl at 1:54 PM on June 8, 2018
posted by y2karl at 1:54 PM on June 8, 2018
Oh for fuck's sake, I just noticed the typo in my comment. The movie is God Told Me, not Gold Told Me. I can't vouch for the latter.
Also, since I'm commenting again, I'll mention that at this moment I am listening to Dopesick by Eyehategod for the first time, and it rules. I feel like it's keeping with the spirit of this post to share this reaction, which I think is vaguely like that dude's RATM video. Except if I did a video it would just be me typing at my computer while nodding my head and thinking "yeah, this rules." I'm assuming that makes for bad TV, but who knows.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:21 PM on June 8, 2018
Also, since I'm commenting again, I'll mention that at this moment I am listening to Dopesick by Eyehategod for the first time, and it rules. I feel like it's keeping with the spirit of this post to share this reaction, which I think is vaguely like that dude's RATM video. Except if I did a video it would just be me typing at my computer while nodding my head and thinking "yeah, this rules." I'm assuming that makes for bad TV, but who knows.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 2:21 PM on June 8, 2018
Sons of Kemet, pretty much everything, but In The Castle Of My Skin.
The Snapped Ankles, just some woodwoses, sort of.
"Slap Bass Hunks"
Spoek Mathambo, Black Rose
posted by Frowner at 2:33 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
The Snapped Ankles, just some woodwoses, sort of.
"Slap Bass Hunks"
Spoek Mathambo, Black Rose
posted by Frowner at 2:33 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
The New York Times podcast Caliphate, on how ISIS functioned as a state. It is bleak (obviously!) but fascinating.
posted by Catseye at 2:35 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Catseye at 2:35 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Christopher Tin's "Calling All Dawns" has been making me feel better.
posted by Ipsifendus at 2:48 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Ipsifendus at 2:48 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
oooooh, Marilynne Robinson! Her books changed my DNA. Happy to see her here.
For those of you who are fans of the Barkley Marathons documentary, "The Race That Eats Its Young": I cannot recommend enough the documentary, "Where Dreams Go To Die". It's the story of the runner Gary Robbins in this photo, and if you're familiar at all with the story of Robbins at the Barkley, there's a part of the documentary in which you want to run away because you know what's going to happen, or at least fling yourself at the screen telling him to turn back. And if you're not familiar, well, it'll still hit you in the gut - its a very powerful story about being human as much as it is about the race.
posted by barchan at 2:48 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
For those of you who are fans of the Barkley Marathons documentary, "The Race That Eats Its Young": I cannot recommend enough the documentary, "Where Dreams Go To Die". It's the story of the runner Gary Robbins in this photo, and if you're familiar at all with the story of Robbins at the Barkley, there's a part of the documentary in which you want to run away because you know what's going to happen, or at least fling yourself at the screen telling him to turn back. And if you're not familiar, well, it'll still hit you in the gut - its a very powerful story about being human as much as it is about the race.
posted by barchan at 2:48 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
I’ve only heard the first 4 tracks off of Neko Case’s new album Hell-On, (drive time yesterday) but so far it’s blowing my puny mind.
Unfortunately I haven’t read a book in a couple months.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:53 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Unfortunately I haven’t read a book in a couple months.
posted by Devils Rancher at 2:53 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
The Dear Evan Hansen people posted a promotional video of student choirs singing "You Will Be Found" in the cities where their tour is headed. It's a pretty necessary song today.
Is it the greatest singing? Is it a trite and overwrought song from a musical that shouldn't be good? Whatever. There's a moment at 2:45 where some of the kids turn and smile at each other on the lyric "when you need a friend to carry you," and that's what I need to see today.
Everyone needs a hug.
posted by zachlipton at 3:17 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Is it the greatest singing? Is it a trite and overwrought song from a musical that shouldn't be good? Whatever. There's a moment at 2:45 where some of the kids turn and smile at each other on the lyric "when you need a friend to carry you," and that's what I need to see today.
Everyone needs a hug.
posted by zachlipton at 3:17 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
(Great idea this, like a periodic, short-form Fanfare compendium. Also a bit like jkottke's recent media diet feature.)
Music:
- via an AskMe, Colin Stetson was a striking musical discovery for me. (Also a lot of The Bad Plus is fun.)
- via Brian Eno, sui-generis drummer Jojo Mayer/Nerve.
- oh, and, via I can't remember what, Sneaks - Look Like That
posted by progosk at 4:01 PM on June 8, 2018
Music:
- via an AskMe, Colin Stetson was a striking musical discovery for me. (Also a lot of The Bad Plus is fun.)
- via Brian Eno, sui-generis drummer Jojo Mayer/Nerve.
- oh, and, via I can't remember what, Sneaks - Look Like That
posted by progosk at 4:01 PM on June 8, 2018
I've somehow only just come across The Mountain Goats, and honestly, the song This Year came to me in a drunken, depressed train ride home from work. I'd been watching music videos on YouTube, which I almost never do as a way to kill a commute, and I was just feeding my depression with darker and darker songs, and then this popped up in the suggested video feeds.
It's been an incredible boon to have run into this song when I did. It's become something of a mantra, and the line "there will be feasting, and dancing, in Jerusalem next year" has given me more hope and support than I thought possible.
It's a good song.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:16 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
It's been an incredible boon to have run into this song when I did. It's become something of a mantra, and the line "there will be feasting, and dancing, in Jerusalem next year" has given me more hope and support than I thought possible.
It's a good song.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:16 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
(Ghidorah - give their Rian Johnson-directed Woke Up New video a whirl.)
Podcasts:
- Chris Gethard's Beautiful/Anonymous ep. 104 The Whirlpool Galaxy and ep. 115 The Chillionaire
- Jonathan Hirsch's ARRVLS episode Cosmic Wind, on Oyevind Aamot's amnesia.
- Davy Rothbart's FOUND s2e3 To My Darling Etta Mae, on a found photo album.
posted by progosk at 4:37 PM on June 8, 2018
Podcasts:
- Chris Gethard's Beautiful/Anonymous ep. 104 The Whirlpool Galaxy and ep. 115 The Chillionaire
- Jonathan Hirsch's ARRVLS episode Cosmic Wind, on Oyevind Aamot's amnesia.
- Davy Rothbart's FOUND s2e3 To My Darling Etta Mae, on a found photo album.
posted by progosk at 4:37 PM on June 8, 2018
I am not a New Things kind of person--I find something I love and then hang on like grim death, ignoring everything else.
But I have been listening to a new-to-me podcast called Pretend Radio and it's pushing a great many of my buttons. Really high production values despite it being just one dude's passion project as far as I can tell. It's about all manner of people pretending to be someone else, con artists, or people in situations where they have to pretend to be something they aren't. And the occasional "this baaaarely fits the premise but was a cool story, so just roll with it."
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:01 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
But I have been listening to a new-to-me podcast called Pretend Radio and it's pushing a great many of my buttons. Really high production values despite it being just one dude's passion project as far as I can tell. It's about all manner of people pretending to be someone else, con artists, or people in situations where they have to pretend to be something they aren't. And the occasional "this baaaarely fits the premise but was a cool story, so just roll with it."
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:01 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
I am a Gen Xer just discovering Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, ask me anything
posted by roger ackroyd at 6:31 PM on June 8, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by roger ackroyd at 6:31 PM on June 8, 2018 [9 favorites]
Found while clicking around YouTube and random searching a few nights ago...
One of the best covers I've heard in awhile, Aerosmith's Dream On covered by Blacktop Mojo (YouTube link, southern rock genre). Faithful to the original, but with a southern rock edge to it. It makes me want to dig my guitar out of storage and rock out.
Then I found the music video for Shimon Moore's Hallelujah (YouTube link, rock music again) and watched it about five times in a row because sock puppets.
posted by rakaidan at 6:32 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
One of the best covers I've heard in awhile, Aerosmith's Dream On covered by Blacktop Mojo (YouTube link, southern rock genre). Faithful to the original, but with a southern rock edge to it. It makes me want to dig my guitar out of storage and rock out.
Then I found the music video for Shimon Moore's Hallelujah (YouTube link, rock music again) and watched it about five times in a row because sock puppets.
posted by rakaidan at 6:32 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Ella Fitgerald & Louis Armstrong great classic music.
posted by bjgeiger at 6:37 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by bjgeiger at 6:37 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
A friend turned me on to the poem Explaining my Depression to my Mother which is sadly timely.
My personal reaction is interesting (to me, at least) as I identify as someone with a history of depression and for me at fifty I still sort of see that as my default state, dispite being only depressed perhaps 3 of the last 25 years. So identify with the author of course. However what made me tear up was identifying with the mother who does not understand and cannot help her child which is so frightening to me with a 15 year old and a 7 year old.
posted by shothotbot at 8:15 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
My personal reaction is interesting (to me, at least) as I identify as someone with a history of depression and for me at fifty I still sort of see that as my default state, dispite being only depressed perhaps 3 of the last 25 years. So identify with the author of course. However what made me tear up was identifying with the mother who does not understand and cannot help her child which is so frightening to me with a 15 year old and a 7 year old.
posted by shothotbot at 8:15 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
Tami Neilson is the New Zealand rockabilly/swing/vintage country you didn’t know you needed but now can’t do without.
And The Art of Charlie Chan Hick Chye is a graphic novel that will teach you about Singapore and the transition from British colony to independent nation.
posted by supercrayon at 8:45 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
And The Art of Charlie Chan Hick Chye is a graphic novel that will teach you about Singapore and the transition from British colony to independent nation.
posted by supercrayon at 8:45 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
And Mike and Micky have been doing deep cut "Auntie's Municipal Court" on their Monkees duo tour this month
I was really sad that I wasn't going to be able to see them, but I happened to see that they were livestreaming part of tonight's show on FB. I went back and started watching the other videos, and now I'm listening to the most delightful stripped down version of Papa Gene's Blues, made even better because you can hear a little kid singing along. Play magic fingers!
posted by Ruki at 8:58 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was really sad that I wasn't going to be able to see them, but I happened to see that they were livestreaming part of tonight's show on FB. I went back and started watching the other videos, and now I'm listening to the most delightful stripped down version of Papa Gene's Blues, made even better because you can hear a little kid singing along. Play magic fingers!
posted by Ruki at 8:58 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh man sorry to keep commenting but I also got really excited when I heard Come to the Sabbat for the first time recently. I was obsessed. Satan’s there!
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 9:01 PM on June 8, 2018
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 9:01 PM on June 8, 2018
I bought this book Coyote America A while ago and after the kinda weirdly fight-y thread about the coyote massacre a bit ago, I started reading it. It’s a very good book about the history of the coyote, anthropologically, biologically, historically, and the history of coyote culls, which- spoiler alert! Really really don’t work. It’s a great book which is one of those books where the history of an animal and how we treat it is really a story about America and how we treat each other.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:03 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 9:03 PM on June 8, 2018 [3 favorites]
This tweet probably deserves more attention: "I trained a predictive keyboard on Sanrio characters and their personality descriptions to create my own unlovable Sanrio characters" -- @dami_lee.
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:06 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by Wobbuffet at 9:06 PM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]
Do you like rap? You must listen to Pusha T's newest, Daytona.
posted by reductiondesign at 9:23 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by reductiondesign at 9:23 PM on June 8, 2018 [2 favorites]
My latest discovery was a place - a place that looks like the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore had sex with a junk shop in a set designer's living room, and then Willie Wonka moved in. It's a non-profit art/event space that's covered in original artworks by a squillion people, most of the collection thanks to this one guy who found all sorts of amazing shit.
I was there on one of the group outings we had during a business trip for where I work and I saw they had an entire set of marionettes from a Federal Theater Project staging and completely flipped my shit and ended up running into the bar where everyone else I worked with was hanging out and talking with the owner and gave them all this 5-minute oral presentation on "what was the Federal Theater Project and why it was awesome" and then dragged all 15 of them out to look at the puppets.
I was seriously thisclose to quitting my job and giving up my Brooklyn apartment to move to Rochester solely to work at this place. ....I've calmed down from THAT a bit, but I'm really thinking I should find a similar space here in Brooklyn and volunteer there.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:31 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
I was there on one of the group outings we had during a business trip for where I work and I saw they had an entire set of marionettes from a Federal Theater Project staging and completely flipped my shit and ended up running into the bar where everyone else I worked with was hanging out and talking with the owner and gave them all this 5-minute oral presentation on "what was the Federal Theater Project and why it was awesome" and then dragged all 15 of them out to look at the puppets.
I was seriously thisclose to quitting my job and giving up my Brooklyn apartment to move to Rochester solely to work at this place. ....I've calmed down from THAT a bit, but I'm really thinking I should find a similar space here in Brooklyn and volunteer there.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:31 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
Wish I could talk to somebody about them -- for a long time I've been intrigued by Harry Turtledove's Tosev or 'Worldwar' books of alternate history. Last year I finally gave in to the temptation, and now I've finally reached the last, eighth book in the series, Homeward Bound. The premise is reptilian aliens invade during WWII -- and they're not much more advanced than we humans are. My brother said he'd heard that Turtledove was a bit of hack; my reaction is, it's trash, but pretty good trash. I'm reminded of Arthur Hailey's Airport and Hotel -- tales told around the reactions of a collection of several different participants. The series has unexpected sub-texts involving cycling, Communism and drug abuse which I find irresistible. Anybody else read these books?
posted by Rash at 10:13 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Rash at 10:13 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm rereading Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver. It's been long enough that the fine details have left my memory so they now have the punch of knowledge and wisdom. Occasionally, I read a sentence three or four times because it so perfectly encapsulates a nugget of reality. Of all her books I've read, I like this one best.
posted by MovableBookLady at 11:36 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by MovableBookLady at 11:36 PM on June 8, 2018 [5 favorites]
Loving some new music from Lykke Li (deep end), Billie Eilish and Khalid (lovely), and Empress Of (In Dreams).
posted by ellieBOA at 11:48 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ellieBOA at 11:48 PM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]
At the late age of forty-nine I got around to reading Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems which knocked my socks off.
A recent charity-shop LP discovery: Jay Berliner's oddly-titled 1972 album Bananas are Not Created Equal.
posted by misteraitch at 12:11 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
A recent charity-shop LP discovery: Jay Berliner's oddly-titled 1972 album Bananas are Not Created Equal.
posted by misteraitch at 12:11 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Diamond Mine by King Creosote and Jon Hopkins is a few years old but is really floating my boat at the moment. It's been dubbed blanky music, as in it's the musical equivalent of a hot cup of tea and a blanky.
I have also been getting into both of The Triffids big albums, Born Sandy Devotional particularly, the other other being Calenture. They really are incredible masterpieces.
posted by deadwax at 12:42 AM on June 9, 2018
I have also been getting into both of The Triffids big albums, Born Sandy Devotional particularly, the other other being Calenture. They really are incredible masterpieces.
posted by deadwax at 12:42 AM on June 9, 2018
God, I’ve been reading Bleak House By Dickens and really I should probably stop all other media intake for a week and just get through it - because it’s worth it. But I had a conversation recently about putting down books and my friend was saying how she puts books down when she feels no love from the writer. Not that Dickens doesn’t show love, he does, but there’s some other quality that I can’t get around. Also it is a deeply personal London Book and I’m not really such a London person. So I guess I’m kind of trying to find a hook that works for me.
Also, and also of that era, “The Terror” which I watched on amazonPrime - the writing of it, the characters and how they get through their lives, is pretty great. At times it veers into the silly as well, but Jared Harris carries it all nicely.
Music I’ve been listening to has been mostly Mingus (no seriously, you have no idea how good it is) and Ella Fitzgerald w/ L.Armstrong.
It’s been a weirdly hot early summer late spring here, in Berlin. The weather reminds us of NYC at the same time of year and it’s odd. At a certain temperature your relationship with buildings changes - and you notice how there’s no ac anywhere. I don’t feel ready for the future at all, and the present and I are not getting on so we’ll either.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:39 AM on June 9, 2018
Also, and also of that era, “The Terror” which I watched on amazonPrime - the writing of it, the characters and how they get through their lives, is pretty great. At times it veers into the silly as well, but Jared Harris carries it all nicely.
Music I’ve been listening to has been mostly Mingus (no seriously, you have no idea how good it is) and Ella Fitzgerald w/ L.Armstrong.
It’s been a weirdly hot early summer late spring here, in Berlin. The weather reminds us of NYC at the same time of year and it’s odd. At a certain temperature your relationship with buildings changes - and you notice how there’s no ac anywhere. I don’t feel ready for the future at all, and the present and I are not getting on so we’ll either.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:39 AM on June 9, 2018
I just really enjoyed this short poem about verbing.
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 6:14 AM on June 9, 2018
posted by Wrinkled Stumpskin at 6:14 AM on June 9, 2018
I'm just about to finish rereading Valerie Martin's novel The Great Divorce, and I don't want to finish the last few page because then it will be over. I really love her writing and wish she were better known. After that, I have two Alan Watts books waiting for me at the library and I should be able to pick them up today.
Also this poem, mainly for the last stanza:
"The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog" by Alicia Ostriker
To be blessed
said the old woman
is to live and work
so hard
God’s love
washes right through you
like milk through a cow
To be blessed
said the dark red tulip
is to knock their eyes out
with the slug of lust
implied by
your up-ended skirt
To be blessed
said the dog
is to have a pinch
of God
inside you
and all the other
dogs can smell it
posted by lazuli at 7:02 AM on June 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
Also this poem, mainly for the last stanza:
"The Blessing of the Old Woman, the Tulip, and the Dog" by Alicia Ostriker
To be blessed
said the old woman
is to live and work
so hard
God’s love
washes right through you
like milk through a cow
To be blessed
said the dark red tulip
is to knock their eyes out
with the slug of lust
implied by
your up-ended skirt
To be blessed
said the dog
is to have a pinch
of God
inside you
and all the other
dogs can smell it
posted by lazuli at 7:02 AM on June 9, 2018 [5 favorites]
Thanks to Spotify, I discovered this cover of Fade Into You (original) and this chill version of Cher's Believe (original). And maybe everyone else knows about singer Allman Brown, but I sure didn't. Many a tear has been shed while listening to his playlist.
posted by AFABulous at 7:02 AM on June 9, 2018
posted by AFABulous at 7:02 AM on June 9, 2018
Music I’ve been listening to has been mostly Mingus (no seriously, you have no idea how good it is) and Ella Fitzgerald w/ L.Armstrong.
posted by y2karl at 7:10 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 7:10 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
I had no idea that for a number of years John Cleese has been a "professor at large" at Cornell University, until I grabbed an advance reading copy of his forthcoming book, which is a "best of" collection of his lectures, etc., and which I'm just starting to delve into. I also, about 10+ years late, stumbled on and am loving an album of English Medieval music from Ensemble Belladonna called Melodious Melancholye (example song on youtube).
posted by gudrun at 7:16 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by gudrun at 7:16 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Recently read Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado. Beautiful, horrifying, poetic, scary, sexy short stories. Didn't love every story in the book, but the ones I did love haunt me. I'll read anything else she writes.
posted by centrifugal at 7:30 AM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by centrifugal at 7:30 AM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
I finished a book called We Are As Gods which was about the back to the landers movement of the seventies as researched by someone who was one of the hippie kids. The influx of hippie types really changed the fabric of Vermont in a few notable ways and this description of those changes and the good and bad things that came with the back to the landers has been fascinating for me to read.
And as for listening, I've been doing a little too much driving lately which means I ran out of QI podcasts. I am exceptionally picky about podcasts and decided to try Brave Little State which is a monthly podcast out of VPR with the tagline "Be Brave, Ask Questions" Perfect, right? IT IS THE WORST (for me). Basically someone will ask a factual question like "Is the Northeast Kingdom (region) quantifiably different than the rest of the state?" and they'll attack the question by gathering a few less-than-comprehensive facts and then interviewing a bunch of locals and non-locals to ask what they think and end on a note of "It depends" I was just yelling at my radio "That is not research!" I mean, I am sure most people would like it, it was just very much not for me.
But! There was one episode (I was stuck in traffic, could not turn it off) that addressed the question "Could Vermont become a separate nation?" (spoiler: no) that had this lovely poem at the end of it (scroll to bottom). I am shruggo on most poetry and I liked this one.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:42 AM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
And as for listening, I've been doing a little too much driving lately which means I ran out of QI podcasts. I am exceptionally picky about podcasts and decided to try Brave Little State which is a monthly podcast out of VPR with the tagline "Be Brave, Ask Questions" Perfect, right? IT IS THE WORST (for me). Basically someone will ask a factual question like "Is the Northeast Kingdom (region) quantifiably different than the rest of the state?" and they'll attack the question by gathering a few less-than-comprehensive facts and then interviewing a bunch of locals and non-locals to ask what they think and end on a note of "It depends" I was just yelling at my radio "That is not research!" I mean, I am sure most people would like it, it was just very much not for me.
But! There was one episode (I was stuck in traffic, could not turn it off) that addressed the question "Could Vermont become a separate nation?" (spoiler: no) that had this lovely poem at the end of it (scroll to bottom). I am shruggo on most poetry and I liked this one.
posted by jessamyn (retired) at 7:42 AM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
> A recent charity-shop LP discovery: Jay Berliner's oddly-titled 1972 album Bananas are Not Created Equal.
> Music I’ve been listening to has been mostly Mingus (no seriously, you have no idea how good it is)
Jay Berliner played on Mingus's The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady and Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus: synchronicity! And yes, Mingus is fantastic, everybody go listen to Mingus.
Also, I'm reading Crime and Punishment, and damn is that ever a gripping crime novel, apart from everything else.
posted by languagehat at 8:13 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
> Music I’ve been listening to has been mostly Mingus (no seriously, you have no idea how good it is)
Jay Berliner played on Mingus's The Black Saint and The Sinner Lady and Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus: synchronicity! And yes, Mingus is fantastic, everybody go listen to Mingus.
Also, I'm reading Crime and Punishment, and damn is that ever a gripping crime novel, apart from everything else.
posted by languagehat at 8:13 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
I'm loving every song (and song fragment) released by Tobi Lou. His videos are all delightful, and I hope he's going to be much more famous very soon.
posted by neroli at 8:30 AM on June 9, 2018
posted by neroli at 8:30 AM on June 9, 2018
Also, I'm reading Crime and Punishment, and damn is that ever a gripping crime novel, apart from everything else.
John Hurt was the best Raskolnikov. Oh, if only there was a clip of his confession wherein his face became a mask of pain, regret and horror...
posted by y2karl at 8:35 AM on June 9, 2018
John Hurt was the best Raskolnikov. Oh, if only there was a clip of his confession wherein his face became a mask of pain, regret and horror...
posted by y2karl at 8:35 AM on June 9, 2018
languagehat: I only picked that LP up because I recalled he'd played with Mingus (and on Astral Weeks). Only knowing those two reference points, I wasn't really expecting an album of straight-ahead jazz/funk, but I loved it at first hearing & have been playing it regularly since then.
posted by misteraitch at 8:43 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by misteraitch at 8:43 AM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
Do you like rap? You must listen to Pusha T's newest, Daytona.
Of the 3 "albums" out in Kanye's crazy 5 weeks of releases, I'm liking the newest, "Kids See Ghost" (Kanye + Kid Cudi) the most, but then again, I like moody/ sad rap.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:28 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Of the 3 "albums" out in Kanye's crazy 5 weeks of releases, I'm liking the newest, "Kids See Ghost" (Kanye + Kid Cudi) the most, but then again, I like moody/ sad rap.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:28 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy was the best of the most recent pile of library books.
Free transit in all of Estonia was the best thing I've heard lately.
posted by aniola at 11:01 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Free transit in all of Estonia was the best thing I've heard lately.
posted by aniola at 11:01 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Katy Davidson’s new Dear Nora album (explanation).
“Anyway”
“Creature of Habit”
posted by D.C. at 11:32 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
“Anyway”
“Creature of Habit”
posted by D.C. at 11:32 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Read: The Power finally, and currently The Last Battle, about the last land battle of WW2, after Hitler’s suicide, when SS grenadiers besieged a castle in the Austrian Alps defended by forward elements of the US Army, the French VIPs (some Free French and some Vichy) who had been imprisoned there – and the castle’s regular German Army garrison!
Heard: Kelly Willis, whom I’ve been mad about for, jeez, 25 years, just released her first solo album in 11 years, Back Being Blue, and it’s lovely. And she’s touring! Also listening to lots of Little Feat. Oh! and Juliana Hatfield just released an album of Olivia Newton-John covers! And the worst one is Totally Hot and it’s so great.
posted by nicwolff at 11:36 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Heard: Kelly Willis, whom I’ve been mad about for, jeez, 25 years, just released her first solo album in 11 years, Back Being Blue, and it’s lovely. And she’s touring! Also listening to lots of Little Feat. Oh! and Juliana Hatfield just released an album of Olivia Newton-John covers! And the worst one is Totally Hot and it’s so great.
posted by nicwolff at 11:36 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
In music, while neither is actually new, both Camille and Goran Brejovic are new to me. And they're both still alive, which means there may be more music in the future!
Lately my experience reading fiction has entirely consisted of feeling disappointed in the latest from authors I typically like. I'm looking forward to trying some suggestions here.
posted by eotvos at 12:13 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Lately my experience reading fiction has entirely consisted of feeling disappointed in the latest from authors I typically like. I'm looking forward to trying some suggestions here.
posted by eotvos at 12:13 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was listening to Vivaldi on Youtube during the week, when I saw for the first time Max Richter's "recomposition" of The Four Seasons. The combination of the familiar Baroque sounds and the pulsing film-like Minimalist arrangement is really hitting the spot. Spring 1 in particular, the first movement, floored me the first time I heard it.
posted by rollick at 1:04 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by rollick at 1:04 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
I just listened to the audiobook for Caitlín Kiernan’s The Drowning Girl, and it really got into my head. The structure of the novel is almost mathematical, and it handles its unreliable narrator, who is entirely upfront about her own in reliability (and even more her uncertainty about her reliability), with a deftness that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. The edges of reality and fiction blur in an novel that weaves the real and imaginary in very clever ways. It may or may not be a ghost story. It also makes the city of Providence feel like the city of Providence. I went out and bought a paper copy because I need to be able to read it and take notes; that’s how much it won’t get out of my head.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:19 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:19 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
I am still having a hard time getting over the fact that Ceiling Cat is actually Wall Cat.
posted by y2karl at 6:19 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by y2karl at 6:19 PM on June 9, 2018 [3 favorites]
What???
posted by lazuli at 6:26 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by lazuli at 6:26 PM on June 9, 2018 [2 favorites]
THIS IS SOME BATMAN* SHIT.
* of the 1966 climbing up “walls” variety.
posted by Artw at 6:41 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
* of the 1966 climbing up “walls” variety.
posted by Artw at 6:41 PM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]
Last year I decided to clean up my browser bookmarks and MeFi favourites, and ended up reading every single one of the hunderds of articles and posts I had saved over the years. These were among the most interesting:
Scott and Scurvy (March 2010)
(See also this incredible tweet)
I was a Warehouse Wage Slave (February 2012)
The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie (April 2014)
Jason Molina's Long Dark Blues (October 2014)
The Reckoning (March 2016)
Currently I'm reading the diaries (1933-1945) of Victor Klemperer, which are incredible and incredibly topical. Thanks to several MeFites who recommended it over the years.
Music: still listening to these guys
(I made a post about them a couple of months ago)
posted by mahershalal at 1:14 AM on June 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Scott and Scurvy (March 2010)
(See also this incredible tweet)
I was a Warehouse Wage Slave (February 2012)
The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie (April 2014)
Jason Molina's Long Dark Blues (October 2014)
The Reckoning (March 2016)
Currently I'm reading the diaries (1933-1945) of Victor Klemperer, which are incredible and incredibly topical. Thanks to several MeFites who recommended it over the years.
Music: still listening to these guys
(I made a post about them a couple of months ago)
posted by mahershalal at 1:14 AM on June 10, 2018 [3 favorites]
Best thing I've heard lately is the new Chvrches album, "Love is Dead". (Spotify link if that's handy. Youtube of Get Out, which is catchy as hell.)
I love love love Chvrches, have listened to their first two albums to death, so not really a surprise that I'm into their latest, but...it has landed for me really really well and I've been listening to it a lot. They're what I think of sometimes as a time machine band, like I want them to have existed in high school so they could have been my entire life back then. Gonna see them live for the first time later this year and really excited about that as well.
Best thing I've heard since I got up literally a half hour ago is these every-other-beat edits of songs which are just stupidly fun to listen to and I'm gonna go make a front page post if someone didn't get to them earlier this year which someone probably did. Like check out this Uptown Girl which is transformed into some very weird rad new blippy glitchboy.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:07 AM on June 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I love love love Chvrches, have listened to their first two albums to death, so not really a surprise that I'm into their latest, but...it has landed for me really really well and I've been listening to it a lot. They're what I think of sometimes as a time machine band, like I want them to have existed in high school so they could have been my entire life back then. Gonna see them live for the first time later this year and really excited about that as well.
Best thing I've heard since I got up literally a half hour ago is these every-other-beat edits of songs which are just stupidly fun to listen to and I'm gonna go make a front page post if someone didn't get to them earlier this year which someone probably did. Like check out this Uptown Girl which is transformed into some very weird rad new blippy glitchboy.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:07 AM on June 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
The Kanye albums all felt a bit rushed and incomplete to me. There's interesting stuff on each of them, but i feel like more effort was spent on crafting the weeks of dumb internet drama (ye talks slavery! pusha starts a beef!) while seeing how quickly these guys could throw together a minimally viable EP.
The better 15 minute investment for me this week was discovering the delightful weirdness of Whack World. More of this please.
posted by zsh2v1 at 7:12 AM on June 10, 2018
The better 15 minute investment for me this week was discovering the delightful weirdness of Whack World. More of this please.
posted by zsh2v1 at 7:12 AM on June 10, 2018
I Was A Warehouse Wage Slave
Had occasion recently to dig this link out so here it is for everyone! (Short story, good, Amazony)
posted by Artw at 7:14 AM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Had occasion recently to dig this link out so here it is for everyone! (Short story, good, Amazony)
posted by Artw at 7:14 AM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
THIS IS SOME BATMAN* SHIT.
* of the 1966 climbing up “walls” variety.
What???
posted by y2karl at 8:09 AM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
* of the 1966 climbing up “walls” variety.
What???
posted by y2karl at 8:09 AM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
Not the BEST thing I've seen - i had to watch TRIUMPH OF THE WILL for my blog last night. Ew.
But when i was done i called up a vudeo of the SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER sequence from the 2005 PRODUCERS because John Barrowman being fabulous while parodying the Third Reich was the perfect palate cleanser.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:11 AM on June 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
But when i was done i called up a vudeo of the SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER sequence from the 2005 PRODUCERS because John Barrowman being fabulous while parodying the Third Reich was the perfect palate cleanser.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:11 AM on June 10, 2018 [2 favorites]
I've been enjoying the heck out of the Taj Mo concert. Saw them last year and they seem to be having a grand time while laying out some feel good blues.
posted by mightshould at 2:18 PM on June 10, 2018
posted by mightshould at 2:18 PM on June 10, 2018
THIS IS SOME BATMAN* SHIT.
* of the 1966 climbing up “walls” variety.
>What???
I... sigh. I am having feelings about that but think they are likely about 20 years out of date, which I realize is kind of the inspiration for this thread but still.
posted by lazuli at 4:59 PM on June 10, 2018
* of the 1966 climbing up “walls” variety.
>What???
I... sigh. I am having feelings about that but think they are likely about 20 years out of date, which I realize is kind of the inspiration for this thread but still.
posted by lazuli at 4:59 PM on June 10, 2018
Well, being up to date certainly is not my strong point anymore, except among my own demographic cohort,* so I only found out about Wall Cat last Wednesday. And I was so disappointed.
*To which I owe to my membership here, imho...
posted by y2karl at 6:48 PM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
*To which I owe to my membership here, imho...
posted by y2karl at 6:48 PM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
My favorite Brooklyn band is on tour elsewhere this summer, so I'm getting my fix my watching these really nicely-shot videos of live-in-studio performances (and some others that pop up in the suggestion sidebar):
paris_monster | A Vision Complete
paris_monster | Hot Canyon Air
paris_monster | Ape
(Disclosure: I'm friendly with these guys and have done a bit of design work for them. This association has managed not to diminish the fact that they're flippin' amazing.)
posted by D.Billy at 7:44 PM on June 10, 2018
paris_monster | A Vision Complete
paris_monster | Hot Canyon Air
paris_monster | Ape
(Disclosure: I'm friendly with these guys and have done a bit of design work for them. This association has managed not to diminish the fact that they're flippin' amazing.)
posted by D.Billy at 7:44 PM on June 10, 2018
I hereby rescind my previous recommendation of Stephen J. Cannell's Runaway Heart. On further reading I got to this week's special celebrity guest star. Worst. Cameo. Ever. At the time of publication (2003) it would have merely been obnoxious for this particular real-life celebrity to show up (didn't even have a reality show at the time) , but these days... (shudders)
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 7:55 PM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 7:55 PM on June 10, 2018 [1 favorite]
I fucking love these sorta-jazz-influenced classical art songs by H. Leslie Adams, a composer who's 1. African American, and 2. still alive! (so much oft-repeated, crowd-pleasing classical repertoire is by white guys who've been dead for 100+ years). I was happy to buy the scores and know that Adams would actually get this money. 95% of Youtube recordings of these songs are by African American singers, but fyi, Adams says on his website (I think... it could've been an interview... can't remember exactly) that he's happy for anybody to sing his songs. (I specifically checked this because "Sence You Went Away" is in a bit of a dialect, eg "Sence" not Since.) Oh and the poems he's chosen are by Harlem Renaissance poets, so that's another layer of intellectual heritage that deserves more eyeballs.
Prayer (Langston Hughes poem)
Heart of a Woman (Georgia Douglas Johnson poem; so relevant for #metoo, though my White guy teacher didn't get it, so I explained about the concept of how and why the bird "breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars," its intellectual pedigree -- recently Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and almost certainly I'm guessing, originally from Paul Lawrence Dunbar's 1899 poem, "Sympathy," about the way that White Americans circumscribed African American lives after emancipation)
Sence You Went Away (James Weldon Johnson poem; I did this one at a recital yesterday. Christians might know this Johnson as the lyricist for Lift Every Voice And Sing)
And here's his duet for bassoon and piano, Poem of Love. (I love the way the two parts weave in and out of harmonies, unison, dissonances that resolve and come back and resolve, and alternating who plays the simple basic theme, and who plays the swirly part that reminds me of a bit of Smetana's Vltava.)
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 1:16 AM on June 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Prayer (Langston Hughes poem)
Heart of a Woman (Georgia Douglas Johnson poem; so relevant for #metoo, though my White guy teacher didn't get it, so I explained about the concept of how and why the bird "breaks, breaks, breaks on the sheltering bars," its intellectual pedigree -- recently Maya Angelou's autobiography I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, and almost certainly I'm guessing, originally from Paul Lawrence Dunbar's 1899 poem, "Sympathy," about the way that White Americans circumscribed African American lives after emancipation)
Sence You Went Away (James Weldon Johnson poem; I did this one at a recital yesterday. Christians might know this Johnson as the lyricist for Lift Every Voice And Sing)
And here's his duet for bassoon and piano, Poem of Love. (I love the way the two parts weave in and out of harmonies, unison, dissonances that resolve and come back and resolve, and alternating who plays the simple basic theme, and who plays the swirly part that reminds me of a bit of Smetana's Vltava.)
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 1:16 AM on June 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Best contemporary detective-procedural,thriller,mystery novel of the year so-far for me is undoubtedly THIS! There was an earlier one called Norwegian by Night which won a ton of awards but i think this just edges that one on vibrancy of dialogue and likeability of main characters.
posted by Wrick at 3:12 AM on June 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Wrick at 3:12 AM on June 11, 2018 [3 favorites]
I tend to bulk up on similar genre'd reading. Last summer, it was a tour de force of classic dystopian novels. This is the summer of the woman. Mary Beard's Women and Power; the sometime academic, but incredibly important analysis of what makes misogyny work, Down Girl by Kate Manne; and finally The Price of Salt (aka Carol), which really does a lot to help flesh out Therese's character.
posted by ikahime at 7:51 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by ikahime at 7:51 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
Things I've been digging lately: hooked by a first sentence describing Ibiza as "the most savage of the Balearic islands," I've just finished Isobel English's Every Eye. (Yes, my love affair with everything Balearic is a long one. Yes, I have this book. No, I've never been there.) English wrote few enough novels that I might try to read the rest this summer.
I saw awakebutstillinbed, Jamie Branch (previously), and Mars Williams recently. And in a couple of days I'm going to see The Large Unit. Also musically, I've been digging IRISIRI, Eartheater's new record out on PAN, Fred Lonberg-Holm's Bow Hard At The Frog, and Ohmme.
Also also, two recent favorite tweets: Italian bus riders greeting far-right Interior Minister with the Partisan song "Bella Ciao" and WWII poster "Every time you twist a nut, think of Hitler!"
posted by octobersurprise at 9:02 AM on June 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
I saw awakebutstillinbed, Jamie Branch (previously), and Mars Williams recently. And in a couple of days I'm going to see The Large Unit. Also musically, I've been digging IRISIRI, Eartheater's new record out on PAN, Fred Lonberg-Holm's Bow Hard At The Frog, and Ohmme.
Also also, two recent favorite tweets: Italian bus riders greeting far-right Interior Minister with the Partisan song "Bella Ciao" and WWII poster "Every time you twist a nut, think of Hitler!"
posted by octobersurprise at 9:02 AM on June 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm reading the Chernow biography of Ulysses Grant. It's every bit as dense as I expected but, so far (1/3 of the way in) it's been worthwhile reading. I'm embarrassed by how little I knew about him and it's been interesting to expand my knowledge a bit.
Today is my birthday! I will soon have lunch with the new person at work, which should be fun. I propose to spend my evening eating homemade falafel, hanging out with my wife and kids, and finishing another 50 pages of Chernow. Sounds pretty good to me.
posted by cheapskatebay at 9:11 AM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Today is my birthday! I will soon have lunch with the new person at work, which should be fun. I propose to spend my evening eating homemade falafel, hanging out with my wife and kids, and finishing another 50 pages of Chernow. Sounds pretty good to me.
posted by cheapskatebay at 9:11 AM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
Today I heard on the radio Stephen Hough's piano arrangement of "Favourite Things" from the Sound of Music. Very cool. Also heard "Now We Are Free" from the Gladiator soundtrack. Hans Zimmer and Lisa Gerrard FTW.
In March I saw Víkingur Ólafsson perform with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. I had never heard of him and bought a ticket because it was part of a boxing day sale and he was touted as "Iceland's Glenn Gould" by the NY Times. I thought, I like Iceland, I like Glenn Gould, why not? Friends, I was blown away. Was that ever a good call. Now I'm a total fangirl, commented on his twitter, bought and listen to his CDs (he's the soloist on the 2nd link). This will probably go down as one of the best concerts I've seen in my life! (And I'm seeing Beethoven's 9th on June 28!)
posted by foxjacket at 10:06 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
In March I saw Víkingur Ólafsson perform with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. I had never heard of him and bought a ticket because it was part of a boxing day sale and he was touted as "Iceland's Glenn Gould" by the NY Times. I thought, I like Iceland, I like Glenn Gould, why not? Friends, I was blown away. Was that ever a good call. Now I'm a total fangirl, commented on his twitter, bought and listen to his CDs (he's the soloist on the 2nd link). This will probably go down as one of the best concerts I've seen in my life! (And I'm seeing Beethoven's 9th on June 28!)
posted by foxjacket at 10:06 AM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
The BestAlbum9x final poll has me listening to Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney, which is great. Won’t win, but still appreciate the poll bringing it up.
posted by Artw at 10:15 AM on June 11, 2018
posted by Artw at 10:15 AM on June 11, 2018
Nigerian Artist Chiamon Wu Joy and her astonishing large-scale hyper-realistic charcoal drawings. I found her through her twitter feed.
posted by jokeefe at 12:12 PM on June 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by jokeefe at 12:12 PM on June 11, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm reading Radical Happiness and it is a lot better than that title makes it sound.
My new hobby is seeing how many AskMe questions I can answer with Dessa songs, apparently. I can't get enough of her new album, also her old ones, also Doomtree's albums (although quite often I gotta say their songs rule in direct proportion to how much Dessa is involved), also youtube videos of live shows. I knew she was good but I was sleeping on her until a couple months ago and now I'm counting down the days (four) until tickets go on sale for her next show where I am. hnnnnnnnng
The new Neko Case also rules and it took me until last night to listen to it because see above.
posted by clavicle at 3:04 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
My new hobby is seeing how many AskMe questions I can answer with Dessa songs, apparently. I can't get enough of her new album, also her old ones, also Doomtree's albums (although quite often I gotta say their songs rule in direct proportion to how much Dessa is involved), also youtube videos of live shows. I knew she was good but I was sleeping on her until a couple months ago and now I'm counting down the days (four) until tickets go on sale for her next show where I am. hnnnnnnnng
The new Neko Case also rules and it took me until last night to listen to it because see above.
posted by clavicle at 3:04 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
I was saving Janelle Monae's most recent album as my reward for finishing a particular project, so I finally listened it to this weekend, and it was wonderful and everything I wanted and lots of things I didn't know I wanted. It's a complete gift, and I hope she's so very proud of it.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 4:16 PM on June 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by mixedmetaphors at 4:16 PM on June 11, 2018 [5 favorites]
Have you watched the movie? Worth doing if you haven't already.
posted by Artw at 4:28 PM on June 11, 2018
posted by Artw at 4:28 PM on June 11, 2018
I just reread 4 Minute Window in which Steve Rogers & Bucky Barnes get out of the superhero business and into domestic bliss as friendly local contractors. I am apparently a 2015-era Marvel nerd forever.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:05 PM on June 11, 2018
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:05 PM on June 11, 2018
Have you watched the movie? Worth doing if you haven't already.
AHHH I have not! This just became twice as exciting, thank you.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 8:10 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
AHHH I have not! This just became twice as exciting, thank you.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 8:10 PM on June 11, 2018 [1 favorite]
aaaaaaaaaaa the movie is the other best thing I’ve seen recently, every moment is a masterpiece.
(I didn’t precisely answer the question as posed above because I was in a hurry. I do have a live performance I just have to share, it’s this old video of Dessa performing a Doomtree song with two guys doing flamenco handclaps)
posted by clavicle at 8:40 PM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
(I didn’t precisely answer the question as posed above because I was in a hurry. I do have a live performance I just have to share, it’s this old video of Dessa performing a Doomtree song with two guys doing flamenco handclaps)
posted by clavicle at 8:40 PM on June 11, 2018 [2 favorites]
After seeing multiple recommendations for it over the past year, I’ve finally picked up Steven Brust’s Vlad Taltos books. An omnibus of the first three was on sale on Amazon and I’ve just been devouring them. They are like candy. The title character (and narrator) is a snarky assassin. With a tiny dragon familiar. And lets be honest, I am kind of a sucker for either of those traits. But the world is deftly sketched, and feels both familiar and fresh. And so far each book is very happily self-contained so I don’t need to remember much more than the basics of the characters and their relationships.
Vlad’s narrative voice is cynical, well-written, and eminently charming in the way a professional assassin should be, from the very first page. This is not one of those series where you have to slog through one or more dreary, unfocused volumes before it starts to get good.
posted by egypturnash at 3:59 AM on June 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
Vlad’s narrative voice is cynical, well-written, and eminently charming in the way a professional assassin should be, from the very first page. This is not one of those series where you have to slog through one or more dreary, unfocused volumes before it starts to get good.
posted by egypturnash at 3:59 AM on June 12, 2018 [3 favorites]
...describing Ibiza as "the most savage of the Balearic islands"
You should see their hounds.
posted by y2karl at 8:23 AM on June 12, 2018
You should see their hounds.
posted by y2karl at 8:23 AM on June 12, 2018
Very savage!
posted by octobersurprise at 8:40 AM on June 12, 2018
posted by octobersurprise at 8:40 AM on June 12, 2018
Barracoon by Zora Neale Hurston is really really good. I highly recommend it.
posted by OmieWise at 10:41 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by OmieWise at 10:41 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh, also, Bad Blood, the book about Theranos. I had followed the articles, but the book is much better. It depressed the hell out of me because of all the bad behavior, but it's excellent and fun in other ways.
posted by OmieWise at 10:45 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by OmieWise at 10:45 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
I just received a fuckton of new edition Delta Green material so I will be reporting on the material therein once I have absorbed it, but at first glance: this is the good stuff.
Also my kid found my copy of Peterson’s guide and has been flicking through it looking at monsters, and went from that to reading the INJ Culbard comic of Mountains of Madness, so that’s good.
posted by Artw at 10:51 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Also my kid found my copy of Peterson’s guide and has been flicking through it looking at monsters, and went from that to reading the INJ Culbard comic of Mountains of Madness, so that’s good.
posted by Artw at 10:51 AM on June 14, 2018 [1 favorite]
Picked up Tattoos on the Heart from Goodwill recently and it's one of my favorite books of the last few years.
Written by a Jesuit priest who has three master's degrees and was one of the founder's of Homeboy Industries, it's just full of anecdotes about Father Greg Boyle's life in the hood and Homeboy Industries. Often funny.
posted by qsysopr at 5:43 PM on June 14, 2018
Written by a Jesuit priest who has three master's degrees and was one of the founder's of Homeboy Industries, it's just full of anecdotes about Father Greg Boyle's life in the hood and Homeboy Industries. Often funny.
posted by qsysopr at 5:43 PM on June 14, 2018
Super late to this thread, but I am currently really stuck on Admiral Fallow's album Tiny Rewards. It came out in 2015 but I only discovered Admiral Fallow late last year (if you like Frightened Rabbit, you might also like... which it turns out I do!) but I am really digging their atypical song structure, complicated lyrics, layered vocals, woodwinds and rock. They are great and deserve way more attention! (Plus after reading Louis Abbott's annotations to the songs I need to listen to it all over again to hear the references to two of my other musical loves, the National and Sufjan Stevens.)
posted by Athanassiel at 4:59 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Athanassiel at 4:59 PM on June 17, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 9:31 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]