Monday, February 12, 2024
Super Bowl Most years I watch the Super Bowl fairly closely, tracking the game, commercials, and halftime show with an idea of being able to take an active role in whatever the post-game discourse is. Last night I sat on the couch for four-plus nearly uninterrupted hours, but was often letting my attention drift to other things. So no deep takes today. A game that was super boring turned super exciting in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Friday, February 9, 2024
An extra-stuffed playlist this week. There’s been a good run of new music, plus a lot of Other Stuff that deserves inclusion. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Blue Skies” - Finnoguns Wake The best piece of music I’ve heard so far this year is Finnoguns Wake’s four-song EP. Every song is a ripper. “Lose” - Boeckner Daniel Boeckner has been in several bands over the years, most notably Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, and Divine Fits.
Thursday, February 8, 2024
I meant to post these yesterday and got sidetracked by this-and-that. Thus Wednesday links become Thursday links. As someone who dabbles in obsessive, esoteric pastimes, this article fascinated me. I know I occasionally get into weird little spaces where I am beyond consumed by a particular topic, but I’m pretty sure that has never gotten in the way of my relationships with friends and family. It seems to me that the payoff in this story was not worth the cost along the way, both monetarily and personally.
Tuesday, February 6, 2024
Movies, Shows, etc Fargo, season five I loved this season, it is right up there with season two as my favorites in Fargo’s TV run. There were a couple small moments that bugged me which kept it from being a straight A, although after listening to an interview with creator Noah Hawley they made a little more sense. As always, almost every performance was spectacular, but Juno Temple and Jon Hamm were the clear stars.
Monday, February 5, 2024
Last week was pretty much a lost week for me. I could never shake my cold. In fact, it kept getting worse. I thought I had turned a corner Friday before my stomach and head started hurting in the evening. I woke up Saturday feeling even worse. I ate some cereal, took some meds, and passed out on the couch for another three hours. Sunday morning I again thought I was feeling better.
Friday, February 2, 2024
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Real Doll Time” - VR SEX I’m not sure exactly how to describe this song. It harkens back to the earliest days of punk with its aggression and hint of nastiness, but sounds thoroughly modern at the same time. No matter how it ends up getting categorized, it 100% rips. “Lagunita” - Lizzie No Lizzie No is primarily a folk artist, but when she decides to plug in and rock out, I dig the results.
Thursday, February 1, 2024
Wednesday’s sectional quarterfinal went pretty much as expected. Lawrence North jumped on Cathedral early and never let up. It took four possessions for CHS to even get the ball into the paint on offense, and that resulted in an immediate turnover. Our first shot was a hurried airball. LN hit their first four 3s and 6 of 8 for the half. Meanwhile our only 3-point attempt that even hit the rim came on the last play of the first half when we banked in a half-court shot to cut the LN lead to 34.
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
After 23 games over three months, Cathedral’s regular season is complete. Sectionals officially started Tuesday with CHS set to play their opening game tonight. I’ll wrap up the regular season in this post and save whatever happens in the playoffs for a separate entry(-ies). The Irish opened their final week of the schedule traveling to neighboring Carmel. That 20 minute bus ride must have really gotten to the JV girls because they played like crap.
Tuesday, January 30, 2024
I’m still battling a cold. It’s one of those shitty ones that isn’t crazy bad during the day, more annoying than debilitating. But at night between the coughing and sneezing and body aches manages to keep me from sleeping. Each of the last two nights I’ve given up and gone into M’s room to toss and turn so I don’t keep S awake with my nonsense. She did the same thing last week when she had the same cold.
Monday, January 29, 2024
I have started 2024 on a huge reading run; I finished my seventh book of the year early this morning. It helps that I’ve been sick the past couple days and unable to sleep, so I’ve stayed up deep into the night knocking out the final book in this list. Said illness and lack of sleep will also push my sports notes entry to Tuesday this week. Sea of Tranquility - Emily St.
Friday, January 26, 2024
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Train Full of Gasoline” - Ducks Ltd. Not sure it’s possible to write a catchier song about an ecological disaster than these guys have done. Believe it or not, this band is not Australian. They are from Toronto. I bet they listened to a lot of Aussie pop, though. “So Nice” - Finnoguns Wake This band, however, is Australian. “Shadow of a Doubt” - SPRINTS I really like this group, but in small amounts.
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
NFL Because of basketball (KU and CHS) and some other activities, I didn’t get to see much of the four playoff games last weekend. San Francisco is very lucky to advance, and does not seem like the same team that ran roughshod through their opponents during stretches of the regular season. Jordan Love’s final pass for Green Bay might have been the worst choice/throw in a big moment in a long time.
Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Fans can be overly dramatic about tiny moments in a long season, both good and bad. Keep that in mind when I tell you that Johnny Furphy has saved KU’s season. He certainly saved the game Monday against Cincinnati, the only KU player who seemed to be locked in and engaged for every minute he was on the court. He had a career-high 23 points on 7–8 shooting, grabbed 11 rebounds (also a career high), kept several other balls alive until teammates could grab them, and hit the biggest shot of the night, a 3 as the shot clock expired to put KU up 10 with about four minutes to play in what ended up as a five-point win.
Monday, January 22, 2024
As we had a pretty quiet weekend and KU plays tonight, I’m going to flip my normal routine and cover high school hoops today. Two more games last week - both wins for JV and varsity - but L was a little off. In Tuesday’s practice she rolled her troublesome ankle when she landed on a teammate’s foot. She complained about it when I picked her up, but later in the evening and Wednesday morning seemed to be walking normally so I didn’t put too much worry into it.
Friday, January 19, 2024
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Blue Tuesday” - Francis of Delirium Spotify has been spitting a lot of FoD tracks at me lately. I’ve yet to hear one I did not like. I don’t think I realized, when I’ve shared songs from them in the past, that they are based in Luxembourg. That might be a new pin on our musical map. “Mother Mary” - Late Bloomer The first song of 2024 that has grabbed me and won’t let go.
Thursday, January 18, 2024
Julia - Sandra Newman My first book of the year was a real uplifter! Officially sanctioned by the estate of George Orwell, it is labeled as a re-telling of his classic 1984. Newman flips the script, and instead of focusing on Orwell’s protagonist Winston Smith, she uses Smith’s lover, Julia, to explore Oceania. It’s been a decade or so since I last re-read 1984. As I processed Julia I wished I had done another review of the original just to better compare the books.
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Chart Week: January 5, 1985 Song: “Centipede” - Rebbie Jackson Chart Position: #24, 14th week on the chart. This was its peak. This is at least the third entry in the RFTS series that is as much about the massive cultural impact of Michael Jackson as the highlighted song or artist.[1] This time we will see how Michael helped pull the least known of his siblings into the spotlight. By 1984, eight of the nine surviving children of Joe and Katherine Jackson had achieved some measure of stardom.
Tuesday, January 16, 2024
A super busy week with a very exciting ending as L and her teammates played in the Indianapolis City tournament. Tournament rules allowed for three swing players who were eligible for both JV and varsity games. These players had to be named before the tournament and could not change from game-to-game. L was one of Cathedral’s, which was cool, but it also limited her minutes for the week. In Tuesday’s quarterfinals, the JV squad won 57–3, giving up just three free throws.
Monday, January 15, 2024
Kind of a strange weekend, mostly due to the weather, which kept us cooped up inside. I spent roughly 87.2% of Saturday and Sunday on the couch, under a blanket, either watching sports on TV, watching shows on my laptop, or reading one of two books. Jayhawk Talk: Hoops It took awhile to get going, but a very nice bounce back game against Oklahoma. Johnny Furphy moving into the starting lineup worked out pretty well, both for him and Elmarko Jackson, who looked more relaxed coming off the bench.
Friday, January 12, 2024
I should register some NFL picks before it is too late. After a wild, uncertain regular season, I don’t feel great confidence in any teams or matchups. No upset would surprise me. The NFL is League Chaos, which makes it extremely fun. NFC Dallas over Green Bay. People are getting too excited about the Packers recent good play. And the Cowboys might be the best team in the conference. Detroit over Los Angeles.
Friday, January 12, 2024
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Grace” - IDLES Even though this is band is always surprising, this is miles from anything I’ve ever heard from them before. It veers dramatically from their normal, caustic sound towards gentle, Radiohead territory. I like it. “Sage” - Sun June I had a few weird, intense dreams last night. This song was inspired by a recurring dream the singer had about her childhood home. So I guess that kind of matches up.
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Events demanded an emergency sports notes post. I’ll try to keep these relatively brief. Jayhawk Talk: Disaster Well that fucking sucked. Arguably the worst Big 12 loss of Bill Self’s career, the first time his team lost when they led by 16 or more points. Having that big lead is what made it worse than the TCU loss in 2013. Because they had this game won. They were toying with UCF.
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Tuesday we learned that Sinéad O’Connor died of natural causes. As so often happens in these situations, that initially came as a relief but then was even more heartbreaking. I’ve been sitting on this very good remembrance of her by people who knew and admired her for a bit. Seems like the right time to finally share it. Yes, she was controversial and ahead of her time, but aren’t all our favorite artists controversial and ahead of their time?
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
The Irish were back on the court for two games last week. It ended up being a pretty frustrating stretch for L. Thursday the teams took a bus to Louisville to face Assumption. About all we knew about them was that they are a national volleyball power. They’ve won at least six national championships, if you can believe the banners in their gym.[1] They even honored their volleyball team for their latest state title at halftime of the varsity game.
Monday, January 8, 2024
It was odd walking downstairs this morning. We put all the holiday decorations away Sunday, so this was the first time since Thanksgiving I was greeted by a dark main floor. C said our family room looked “emo” without the decorations yesterday. I’m not sure if emo is the term I would pick, but it does always take a few days to get used to the tree, etc being packed away for another 11 months.
Friday, January 5, 2024
I’m still transitioning out of the long stretch at the end of each year where I listen to holiday music, I put the finishing touches on my Favorite Songs of the Year list, and I’m generally too busy to listen to new music. So this week’s list begins with a few new(ish) tracks then pick up some other things I’ve read about/listened to. As I look at it, it’s kind of a bummer playlist.
Thursday, January 4, 2024
Bing Crosby: The Hollow Man - Donald Shepherd and Robert F. Slatzer Each December, as I listen to a shitload of Bing Crosby music, I think, “I should learn more about his life.” I picked up a little of the general, collective pop-cultural memories of him as a kid. But I was six when he died and that was all basically background noise. This year I finally looked into his biographic options.
Wednesday, January 3, 2024
After playing six games in the first 19 days of December, L and her Irish teammates are in the midst of a much more leisurely three-games-in–18-days stretch. Throw in three days off for Christmas and two for New Year’s and it has been a nice breather after that tough run. Their only games over the holidays were big ones: split doubleheaders against big rival Bishop Chatard. Last Friday the JV boys and girls played back-to-back at Cathedral, then Saturday the varsity teams matched up at BCHS.
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
I dropped our Denver relatives off at the airport early this morning and returned to a quieter and emptier house than we’ve had in about ten days. The decorations are still up and the college kid is still with us, but the holiday season has ended. We had a busy and mostly fun week-plus of holiday celebrations. S’s brother from Boston and his family were in town for about a week over Christmas, staying with another sister.
Monday, January 1, 2024
Holiday Stuff Most of the usuals are in here. One thing missing, though, was The Office Christmas episodes. This is the first time in a few years we haven’t subscribed to the streaming service that allows you to watch the episodes of your choice. Maybe they’ll be back somewhere real (i.e. not Peacock) next year. Or I’ll just record them all off Comedy Central over the course of 2024 and save them for next holiday season.