We had a pretty boring weekend and I’m saving the Jayhawk Talk for tomorrow, so a good day so share the latest stack of links I’ve accumulated. Simply the best accounting of what Tech Karen has done to Twitter. Extremely Hardcore It’s pretty amazing how many of the people who came out of Toronto’s Second City are still culturally relevant. This is a terrific history of how they came together and built the group.
Generally my focus in these weekly playlists is on sharing new music, the stuff I have time to dig up that I know most of you are unable to. I’m going to tweak that recipe going forward. There will still be plenty of new music. In addition, though, I’m going to start throwing in more classic tracks. I don’t know that I’ll ever get these up to the size of my old podcast playlists, but that does mean as my schedule allows, I’ll be sharing a little more music each week than I traditionally have.
Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story - Bono One of my sisters-in-law received this book from her employer awhile back and passed it along to me. I wasn’t super excited to read it, since I’m not much into U2 anymore. But when brother-in-music E$ told me he was reading and liking it, I pulled it from the shelf. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Bono is a very good writer.
Movies, Shows, etc Wednesday This was on constantly in our house over the holidays. I think the girls and S all watched it on their own, then we had several episodes on the main TV while we had guests. I sat and partially watched a few of them. I thought it was funny, clever, and generally good. Doubt I’ll check out the entire series on my own, though. B+ The White Lotus, seasons one and two I probably should have taken some time between these seasons, and then written down my thoughts separately for each.
Ugh. I had battled a cold for a week or two, with this weird congestion passing back-and-forth between my head and chest. I never had a sore throat, never felt bad. Just constant plug of yuck in part of my body. In the midst of that, I took NyQuil for several nights so I could breath and sleep peacefully. I slept like a baby all of those nights. Since I got off the meds, though, my periodic insomnia has returned.
A lot of sports this weekend. Kid Hoops L’s team played one game Saturday night. They were matched up with a team that we think were all soccer players in a hoops league for winter conditioning. We play at least one of these teams a season. Sometimes these teams are really good. This one was not. It took awhile for our girls - only eight this week - to find their groove but eventually they got it going.
It seems like embedding Spotify playlists has been funky for the past week. I’ve checked old posts a couple times and received error messages where the playlist should be, only to find them available again a few hours later. So just a note to check back later if it is being a bitch when you first read this post. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “True Blue” - boygenius Music fans rejoiced last Friday when the supergroup boygenius released three new songs, one featuring each of its members on lead.
Snow Day We had the first snow day of the year yesterday. It was kind of a dud. The storm that was supposed to drop 5–8” of snow here could only muster about 2.5 inches. As the storm was expected to hit right at the morning rush, most area schools had either cancelled classes or jumped to e-learning well before bedtime Tuesday. M and C found out they would be home Wednesday while they were still in class Tuesday.
Chart Week: January 23, 1988 Song: “Don’t Shed A Tear” - Paul Carrack Chart Position: #21, 11th week on the chart. Peaked at #9 for three weeks in February. It feels like I’ve lost the momentum for this series lately. After reviewing the numbers, I did add 15 entries in 2022, which was three more than 2021. Perhaps it seems like I’ve slacked off because I have a bunch of drafts where I’ve jotted down ideas, but, for one reason or another, haven’t been able to turn them into completed posts.
Perhaps THE thing that has set Kansas apart and made their Big 12 success so consistent in the Bill Self era is their ability to avoid losing streaks. Lose one? They almost always win the next. On the rare occasions they lose back-to-back games, a win in the third is about as easy money as you can find. There might be momentary panic among the fanbase after a loss. But normally that is quickly quashed.
This was the week when I tried to figure out what my new normal listening habits are. The Bridge went back to playing their regular rotation of music, so while I still listened to their stream often, I wasn’t quite as obsessive as during their Z to A countdown. But I also didn’t completely fall back into listening to mostly newer music on Spotify. Throw in a lot of appointments and my listening time, in general, was reduced.
Well, KU’s end-game luck had to run out eventually. After winning 15-straight games that were decided by less than 10 points, KU came up a point short in overtime in Manhattan Tuesday night. KU missed 10 free throws and 23 3-pointers. They had the ball at the end of regulation and overtime and didn’t get a shot off either time. They had the ball at the end of the first half and a chance to run out the clock.
Over the holidays I worked hard to get my Instapaper queue cleaned out, especially a whole swath of very long reads that had been sitting there for months and months. Of them, this might be my favorite, an accounting Susie Goodall’s attempt to sail around the world by herself. There are all kinds of harrowing details of her effort, but what stuck with me most was how the media framed her journey.
A little late today as I spent most of the morning running around doing things for the girls. It’s also been a rather odd start to my music year, and I’m not piling up the new music the way I normally do. More on that below. I have managed to cobble together a few songs for your listening pleasure. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Getting It Right” - Caitlin Rose and Courtney Marie Andrews Another entry in my continuing exploration of where the line between pop and country that I can tolerate lies, and this is just poppy enough for me to enjoy.
Another nail biter for KU on Tuesday, an improbable four-point win over Oklahoma after trailing by ten (and looking dead) with about 5:00 left. KU went over 11 minutes without hitting a field goal. ELEVEN MINUTES! Oklahoma was loose and focused. Then KU got a dunk. Followed by two offensive boards and a 3. Bill Self found a way to turn Oklahoma’s defensive strategy of face-guarding Gradey Dick against them and suddenly KU was scoring on every possession.
Often December is when I really pad my reading stats. There’s always at least one holiday book. I also tend to get locked into a good reading groove as the days get cold and dark and the girls are out of school. Not this December. I only finished three books last month. Despite that, I still logged 62 books for the year, which is my most since 2018. Just think if I had stayed focused last month!
It’s back to semi-normal today. L returned to school after her Christmas break. M and C still have one more week of J-term, so they go in a little later and get out a little earlier. But all three have to get up in the mornings again. Last week I had to get up to make sure C was up, so my alarm was 7:15 instead of my normal, school-day 6:55.
Back to the grind this week. open.spotify.com/playlist/… “Flaw In The Design” - Home Front Holy 1983, Batman! I hope these guys dress like they’re from the original New Wave, too. “Harvard” - Briston Maroney This guy can’t help but make solid, indie-pop jams. “Kind of Light” - Bodywash Super Beach House-y without totally ripping off their sound. “God Bless the USA” - The Men This is not a remake. “Too Bored to Run” - Ryan Adams I’ve held off listening to Adams' music since the allegations that he sexually harassed/coerced many of the women he worked with.
Holiday Shit The Classics Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas, A Christmas Vacation, A Elf, A Four Christmases, B+ SNL Christmas Special, A- I did not watch this the past two years, instead catching my favorite sketches on YouTube. That was a good decision. They’ve made some updates and a couple of the new adds were quite good. Still say “Consumer Probe” needs to be dropped. SNL - Christmas in Australia, A+ This is the perfect replacement for “Consumer Probe.
UConn Women I took L and her best friend to meet some of their travel teammates at Hinkle Fieldhouse for the Butler-UConn women’s game last night. A lot of people had the same idea. I’m guessing this was Butler’s most-attended game of the year, with nearly 3,000 people showing up. A good chunk of those in the house were high school and middle school players. They were packing the hallways before and after the game, mostly to get a look at injured UConn guard Paige Bueckers.