27 March 2020

“I must be content to see how really little I can do and still do it with an open heart.”

Mar 28, 2020

This Week

How are we doing, my friends. It’s been a tough week. Fortunately, I just had a box of wine delivered. So. It’s looking up a bit.

Recently on Twitter I saw someone write about missing the city they’re in and that is the feeling that set in for me this past week. I miss my city. I miss the train and the library and the corner diner and the museums. Even the lakefront is shut down. It’s all necessary, of course, and we’ll gladly stay in. But it does squeeze the heart.

I also miss the movie theaters. I go to movies in theaters twice a week on average. It’s one of my favorite things to do. If you’ve got a favorite independent movie theater around, this would be an excellent time to buy a membership or some gift cards for future use. I want them all to be able to open back up and welcome us when this is over.

A gift from my own local indie movie theater: the Music Box’s in-house organist, Mr. Dennis Scott, plays an organ prelude you can listen to at home.

Links

“I think it’s going to daylight a lot more of the equity issues that we have in this country. People are going to start seeing people that they never saw before ... It’s going to seem small at first, but as the weeks go by, it’s going to become obvious." What library closures reveal about the American social safety net.

“To read Bradbury’s three tattooed-person tales embedded within this glorious parade of contemporary inked bodies breathes new life into his notions about how tattoo meanings can change, how the viewer of a tattoo can see something different than what the owner might have intended, and how psychology intersects with the desire to permanently inscribe one’s skin.” How Ray Bradbury understood the narrative power of tattoos.

Presenting the SXSW Shorts festival online.

Farewell to Stuart Gordon. Note: Re-Animator is on Shudder until April 1.

The 25 best horror movies since 2000.

Nine Inch Nails released a digital double Ghosts album for free.

“We aren’t weak people, we’re sensitive people. That’s why we have to get serious about who we are and make careful choices.” Ask Polly.

“In time we will be given the opportunity to either contract around the old version of ourselves and our world — insular, self-interested and tribalistic — or understand the connectedness and commonality of all humans, everywhere. In isolation, we will be presented with our essence — of what we are personally and what we are as a society. We will be asked to decide what we want to preserve about our world and ourselves, and what we want to discard.” Nick Cave.

Reading/Watching/Listening

- Blow the Man Down (Amazon Prime): Two sisters at the center of a Maine coastal small town black comedy, including a stellar collection of older women character actors who deserve all the movies. It’s poignant and offbeat and very much my speed.

- Tigers Are Not Afraid (Shudder): I knew that this magic realist horror film was intense, so I held off on it for a bit until I felt prepared for it. I ended up still having to take a break in the middle of it. Beautiful and horrific. I recommend it highly, but it is difficult to take in.

- Satanic Panic (Shudder): For the lighter side of horror, this young woman captured by a suburban satanic cult caper will do the trick. It’s slight but fun, with the touch of class warfare that pairs well with horror these days.

- Tiger King (Netflix): As documentaries go, this one is middling, but the story it depicts is so bonkers the quality of the medium barely matters. You might as well, right?