Recently

Trying out a new monthly post inspired by Tom MacWright to collect some of the things I've been really Interested in or inspired by in the past month.

Reading

One of my favorite albums last year was Adrianne Lenker's and I finally got around to reading Amanda Petrusich's lovely profile of her.

I'd come across several recommendations of W.G. Sebald over the years. Most recently via In the Light of What We Know, which was I think heavily influenced by Sebald. I picked up the three book set over the holidays and devoured The Emigrants. I realized after finishing the first story in that book that I'd found a writer who I'd be reading and thinking about for a long time. I also read this very heart-warming story about Sebald making friends with Jewish refugees who potentially influenced his novel Austerlitz.

Notes

After tinkering with my own implementation of a Zettelkasten, I've switched to using Obsidian and I've been really loving it. It's extremely fast and simple without too many bells and whistles and I love the idea of keeping my notes local-first.

Watching

Finished the Sopranos after two-plus years of chipping away at it. I annoy all my friends by insisting that Six Feet Under is the best HBO series of all time. I loved the Sopranos and the last episode was a pretty genius way of ending it but I'm going to continue making my claims about Six Feet Under.

Last year Tara and I watched almost all of Kelly Reichardt's movies over the course of a few months. We didn't really go chronologically but it was a great way to closely track some of the themes she revisits and to see her progression as a director, culminating in First Cow, which is great. We are thinking about doing the same thing this year with James Grey's movies. I've been fascinated by him since I read his profile in The New Yorker a few years ago. We saw his recent movies when they came out in theater but none of his older ones. So we are starting with Two Lovers and working backwards. Two Lovers is a lovely little Brooklyn movie. Joaquin Phoenix's character felt a little absurd to me but Gwyneth Paltrow was amazing.

Listening

Jazmine Sullivan's new album might be my favorite hip-hop album in a year or two. RIYL The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.

I've been obsessing over the first two songs off of Cassandra Jenkins's forthcoming album, especially the funny and trippy Hard Drive. She is new to me but apparently used to play bass in Eleanor Friedberger's band. See if you can spot the lyrical homage.