I might be reading too fast. This is the 10th week of the year and I’m about to finish my 14th book of 2024. Because of that they are running together a bit. I apologize, as these summaries aren’t the most detailed of my writing career. The World We Make - N.K. Jemisin Jemisin’s Great Cities series was supposed to be a trilogy. Between the pandemic, US politics, and some other things that got her down, she decided to cut it off at two books.
I said in my last car post that despite deciding to get a Tesla Model Y, I would continue to research EVs until I actually pulled the trigger to make certain of my final decision. It doesn’t take much to send me down research rabbit holes, and I spent a decent chunk of the weekend re-evaluating my choice and diving back into review videos and posts. It started Friday when my brother-in-law in Boston, Uncle Maaaahk, mentioned that if I had time for more test drives, he has a friend who owns a Volkswagen ID.
Movies, Shows, etc The Greatest Night In Pop The funny way to sum up this look at how “We Are The World” was recorded would be to say it was outrageous. Some of you will get that joke. I’ve read about that night several times, but there were still some terrific little tidbits in this film. I’m on record as not being a fan of the song, but I liked how Bruce Springsteen described his experience: no matter what you think of the song, it was a tool for helping people.
A relatively laid-back weekend, although some of that was unexpected, so a quick post to get the new week started. No, I did not buy a car. Jayhawk Talk Another road loss, although the game at Baylor was chalked up as an L to begin the season, so no real harm. Kevin McCullar came back and looked decent. He still can’t hit a 3 and missed two makable layups, so maybe he’s 100% healthy?
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “The Sound of Suffering” - Salim Nourallah I’ve long used these playlists to celebrate Spotify’s Discover Weekly feature, and share new discoveries I’ve made through it. I have to admit that something about their algorithm has changed and it has been sucking lately. It has been offering music that doesn’t match either what I listen to historically or recently. Like not even close. But this song was in my new playlist on Monday, so maybe they have made corrections to the model and the suggestions are improving.
Weird week here. It was in the 70s Monday, high 60s Tuesday, then the wind chill was in the teens all day Wednesday. The sun is bright and dazzling today, but it is still very chilly. That combined with some other things has thrown my body clock off.[1] I’m having trouble sleeping at night then struggle all day to avoid taking a nap, usually unsuccessfully, so I can go to bed tired.
When I realized that the Kia EV6 likely wasn’t the car for me, I started thinking about the areas where it failed to be sure about what I was looking for. Kia is fairly new to EVs, so their products are not mature. They don’t seem to have a strong organizational commitment, on either the corporate or dealer side, to EVs at the moment. With the electric market softening over the past year, I wonder about how serious they will continue to be about their models going forward.
It was a three-day weekend at CHS. Which was good since L and I started the weekend off early. Caitlin-palooza I took L and one of her hoops buddies down to Bloomington Thursday night for the Iowa-Indiana game. This was my first time in Assembly Hall 2003. Our seats were better for that game. We were UP THERE! We arrived right when doors opened two hours before tip and found the back of the line, which was roughly half a mile from the arena.
This week features several new songs from artists who have played a large role in my musical life. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Dark Matter” - Pearl Jam One of my all-time favorite bands returns. This isn’t too bad at all. Now sending out good vibes to keep anyone in the band from getting sick in late August when they are scheduled to return to Indy. “Oh Hi” - Crowded House One of my all-time favorite artists returns with the band that made him famous.
Things are moving quickly compared to my last car buying adventure. As I shared yesterday, in the span of about 36 hours I went from casually looking at one set of cars with a planned acquisition date in early May to suddenly test driving a totally different car with the chance of bringing it home soon. Part of that adjustment was adding electric vehicles to my list. I’ve been interested in EVs for some time.
I mentioned Monday that I fell into a rabbit hole over the weekend. If you pay close attention to all my nonsense, you probably could have made a pretty solid guess as to what that rabbit hole was. I am officially car shopping again! Just like when I did this three years ago, there’s going to be some background bullshit before we get to the good stuff. I’ll try to be brief, but y’all know how I am.
Chart Week: February 25, 1984 Song: “Nobody Told Me” - John Lennon Chart Position: #7, 6th week on the chart. Peaked at #5 the week of March 3. I’ve been thinking about songs by dead people lately. There’s no mathematical way to quantify it, yet I keep trying to isolate the effect an artist’s death has on new music released after they pass. Do songs get more popular because of our morbid fascination with death, and thus become bigger hits?
Snow! Our first significant snow of the year hit Friday afternoon. Which was perfect for A) kids who are driving home from school, B) a wife who has to commute through rush hour traffic, and C) the opening night of All Star Weekend. Perfect in this case meaning the opposite of perfect. We ended up getting between 4–5” inches of heavy, wet snow at our house. Everyone made it home safely and I was excited to get to use the snowblower for the first time in three years.
open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Cured” - Restorations This band enjoys taking its sweet time between new releases. It’s been six years since their last album. I think you can hear the effect of the breadth of their career in Jon Loudon’s vocals. “Distinct Star” - So Totally As much as I’ve enjoyed the recent shoegaze revival, I’ll admit it has become a little much since s many of the songs sound so much alike.
I had planned to post a new Reaching for the Stars entry today, but I can’t quite get the right flow to the piece, so I’m going to keep at it a few more days. Instead, some assorted notes to unload my brain. Health After nearly three weeks I think I’m finally beating whatever has been ailing me. S kept asking me in week two if I wanted to start taking antibiotics.
Sing Her Down - Ivy Pochoda I read this book while I was sick. Maybe the infection or virus or whatever was plaguing me combined with a lack of sleep and cold meds kept me from appreciating it. Because I did not get this book at all. It is the story of two women who are released from prison during the Covid lockdown and travel from Arizona to LA. They run into some troubles and get the attention of an LA cop who has her own issues she’s dealing with.
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.
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.
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.
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.