Better Than Friday - 43 (Patreon)

Good morning everyone, hope you're doing well. 

Thanks for the support. 

1. Book in the pipeline - James Baldwin's Going to Meet The Man 

I've never read any Baldwin, but I've had this collection of short stories on the shelf for a while. It seems like the time to get to it. 

Hopefully, some positive change comes from the difficult events of late. 

"There's no way not to suffer. But you try all kinds of ways to keep from drowning in it." The men and women in these eight short fictions grasp this truth on an elemental level, and their stories, as told by James Baldwin, detail the ingenious and often desperate ways in which they try to keep their head above water. It may be the heroin that a down-and-out jazz pianist uses to face the terror of pouring his life into an inanimate instrument. It may be the brittle piety of a father who can never forgive his son for his illegitimacy. Or it may be the screen of bigotry that a redneck deputy has raised to blunt the awful childhood memory of the day his parents took him to watch a black man being murdered by a gleeful mob.

By turns haunting, heartbreaking, and horrifying--and informed throughout by Baldwin's uncanny knowledge of the wounds racism has left in both its victims and its perpetrators--Going to Meet the Man is a major work by one of our most important writers. 

- From Goodreads

2. Lydia Davis Interview: Shaping Messy Material 

I'm currently reading the short stories of Lydia Davis. It's been recommended to me for years. She's a novelist and short-story writer as well as a translator of Proust. 

This is a short clip of her giving writing advice from the talk above. 

3. Green Arrow by Yo La Tengo 

Sometimes you just want to live inside a song for a while. 

Calm and atmospheric track. Pairs well with Summer evenings.

4. An Amazing Film That I Need to Rewatch

An influence on Gaspar Noé with exceptional cinematography. 

5. A Great Youtube Channel 

This fellow goes around to galleries in NYC and films the shows, providing commentary behind the camera. 

I know nothing about the art and gallery world. 

This is meditative, quiet, educational, fantastic. 

Video starts a little after the 1:00 min mark. 

I love everything about this. It's like going to a gallery with your knowledgeable friend. 

I've already discovered painters I enjoy from the channel. 

Gorgeous day at Powell Butte. 

Notice Mt. Saint Helens in the distance. 

That was the deadliest volcanic eruption in US history.