| Hey y'all,
Ah, late July. I look forward to the avalanche of out-of-office replies! For those souls still at your desks, here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week: - As much as I enjoyed the 50th anniversary celebrations, I also enjoyed reading about people in 1969 who were less-than-enthusiastic about the moon landing.
- Michael DeForge's bizarre comic book, Leaving Richard's Valley, is archived and available to read on Instagram. (Here's an NPR feature on his work.) I wish I had the pleasure of reading it as it was being posted daily — parts of it reminded me of one of my all-time favorite strips, Achewood.
- I'm in the middle of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio (here's an excerpt), recommended by Nick Cave in his wonderful newsletter, The Red Hand Files. (He wrote more about Pinocchio here.)
- The L.A. punk history Under The Big Black Sun is one of the rare books I'm listening to on audiobook, because it's read by all the various contributors. (I'm not a huge fan of most of the bands, but I really love X and the Minutemen.) I'm also watching Penelope Spheeris's documentary about the scene, The Decline of Western Civilization. (Several of her movies are available on the Criterion Channel.) Fun fact: Spheeris was 45 when she got the gig to direct Wayne's World. (She has few good things to say about Hollywood.)
- Colson Whitehead's advice to writers: "Stay at home and work. Don't go out. It's not very sexy advice." (Check out his new novel, The Nickel Boys.)
- Cleveland! I'll be speaking at the Cleveland Inkubator event downtown on Saturday. Hanif Abdurraqib is the keynote. Should be good. (Want me to speak at your event? Get in touch.)
- David Berman is alive and living in Chicago. I really like his new record, Purple Mountains. ("A setback can be a setup / for a comeback if you don't let up!")
- Ear candy: I found out a bunch of old episodes of Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour are archived online. (Dig episode #32, about the moon.)
- Movies: We've been vegging out on the couch at night and watching old favorites, like Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the Fast & Furious series.
- RIP actor Rutger Hauer. (Guess I'll watch Blade Runner for the hundredth time.) RIP Tuca & Bertie. (For now.)
Thanks for reading. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, forward it to someone who'd like it or, even better, buy them a book!
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xoxo,
Austin
PS. At the time of this writing, Steal Like An Artist is $5 on Amazon. And Keep Going is now available in Spanish! | | | |
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