- It’s been winter (and snowy), so the Ralston Creek Trail that runs behind our house hasn’t gotten the use it normally would in warmer weather. So, it was a treat to go for a morning run AND an afternoon stroll out there this past weekend.
- Like everyone else interested in popular music, I’ve been listening to Caroline Polachek’s album Desire, I Want to Turn into You. If there’s anything it reminds me of, it’s Fiona Apple’s Fetch the Bolt Cutters, another album with a very particular musical voice that only one artist could have made.
- There is one other thing I’ve been listening to: this single “Chosen to Deserve” by Wednesday, which marries a crunchy country-rock guitar riff right out of Uncle Tupelo with wistful, hilarious, self-effacing lyrics.
- I tore through Elizabeth Strout’s novel Oh William! this past week, failing to realize that it was actually the second book to feature her character Lucy Barton. The voice of the novel—that of Lucy Barton—had an immediacy and honesty to it that made me struggle to put it down.
- My wife and I, as a “palate cleanser” after taking in all seven seasons of Mad Men, have been watching Season 1 of the The O.C. I understand now why Seth Cohen was such a cultural icon! But the show is overall OK—and frankly, a little dated in its treatment of LGBTQ+ topics, mental health, addiction, and sex. Also: isn’t it crazy that Death Cab for Cutie still relevant two decades later?
- I’ve been alternately disturbed and entertained by the revelations this past week about Bing’s AI search feature. The Kevin Roose coverage in the New York Times has been stellar.
- A Band-Aid for the irritating drainage problem at the foot of my driveway. (A puddle of water that ices over whenever the temperature drops.) A 3×5 rubber utility mat from Lowe’s has made life immeasurably less slippery when I go to get the mail.
On 7 things from last week (2/20/23)
Published
Taylor Coe 