Friday Playlist
All of a sudden I have a glut of new music. Which is a good thing, of course. Sadly, it’s still all singles; no good album releases today, at least that I’ve seen so far. I did add two more exciting releases to April and May this week, so spring promises to be a beast. https://open.spotify.com/user/224aiwksicafjldlua6nnpo4y/playlist/5s9b1qLlJCV3Z97TmwZq3B?si=zIupfUN8RAGhtlB1N-F9tA “Always Ascending” – Franz…
Twenty
After you have a parent die, you think of them in odd moments and ways. Example: one day last fall I was shaving. As I stood there, scraping metal against skin and stubble, for some reason my brain jumped back 31 years to the night my stepdad taught me how to shave. I remembered him showing me the proper amount…
TV Stuff
I’m working on a couple longer, more personal writing pieces to share over the next couple days. Thus, rather than writing about the Olympics or college hoops, I’ll share another link from my Instapaper stash. I had planned on doing a What I’m Watching post before the holidays. That, obviously, kind of went to shit and is tough to recreate…
The Joys of Losing
I tried writing several introductory paragraphs for this piece. But they all felt wrong, probably because this is such a wonderfully written essay. So just go read it and enjoy it like I did. Unpacking Forty Years of Fandom For a Losing Team
NBA ASG
I found myself watching the entire NBA All Star Game last night. That was kind of a surprise because that’s not something I’ve done very often in, oh, 20 years or so. Plus the Olympics were on, with some decent live coverage that didn’t revolve around four hours of figure skating for once. But L was excited to see Steph…
Reaching For the Stars, Vol. 2
Chart Week: Feb. 7, 1981 Songs/Chart Positions: “Killin’ Time” – Fred Knoblock and Susan Anton, #28 “Smoky Mountain Rain” – Ronnie Millsap, #27 “I Made It Through the Rain” – Barry Manilow, #26 My normal Sunday routine is to get up sometime between 8:00 and 8:30, watch the local news long enough to check the weather, and then move into…
Friday Playlist
https://open.spotify.com/user/224aiwksicafjldlua6nnpo4y/playlist/2fYqQaHIn4jokFvXzBM8AG?si=zHd6YKbpRMOXMasmIP-vtg “Lovesick on a Hotel Wildfire” – Korey Dane. This is a song Spotify sent my way, and I’m glad it did. Apparently I’ve heard a couple of Dane’s songs before, although I did not recall his name. He’s been called a “stoner Springsteen,” and this song certainly fits that vibe. “Name For You – Flipped” – The Shins. A…
Reader’s Notebook, 2/15/18
I have a few more books to share, but this time I will do something a little different: write about a book I have not finished yet. I looked into the site’s archives and couldn’t find a direct reference, but I’m pretty sure one of the reasons I started writing about the books I read here is because of the…
KU Hoops Update
This Big 12 basketball season is exhausting. Every time I look at the schedule, checking the next 2–3 games, there is never a break. Every game comes with a series of questions and perils. There have been years when the top has been better, when you could look at the top 2–4 teams and think they all have a shot…
Nordic Skating
This is has nothing to do with the Olympics but is a must-watch. It is equally amazing and creepy. The best parts are about halfway through this piece, when you see the ice surface flexing and then cracking after Marten Ajne skates across it. I can’t ice skate, so I’ve never been tempting to go out on our lake when…