Things I Learned This Week
The shorter answer might be what didn’t I learn!
Welcome to the new year everyone, for better or worse. This holiday has been intense. Yesterday was supposed to be my day of relaxation, and for some reason, I decided to fill out another application, quilt, and do this, and it’s only noon! That said, I learned a ton this week, but I’ll just share a few things. Have at it!
Too much movie watching to tell it all… Rewatched Aftersun. That movie was overhyped, but it still made me cry a second time around. After watching Eggers Nosferatu, we saw The Lighthouse for the first time, and while the set, acting, and ambiance were on point, I'm not sure what the point was. Would not recommend unless you might enjoy Robert Pattinson jerking off to a mermaid. Saturday Night was OK, but for a biopic on SNL, it was not as edgy as it should have been. Why do all these new movies seem so aware that they are a movie? Just too formulaic and polished. Nightbitch was a bit of the same, but I loved the overall message. Every mom and dad should watch it. Makes me want to read the book by Rachel Yoder. Rewatched Don’t Look Back. Good but slow to watch. I loved seeing this when I was younger, but now… Dylan is such a baby… way too cool for school. New favorite Dylan quote, “Either be groovy or leave man.” That’s my motto for 2025.
And finally, rewatched The Big Year, and now that I have a full-fledged birder as a son, it was even more fun. Plus, it’s a sweet movie that made me feel good. Speaking of birdwatching, as you may know, we went to the coast overnight to do some of it. We’ve always been on the lookout for our feathered friends, but I have a new appreciation for spending time seeking them out. The act is so sweet and chill, and there’s a real community of nice people NOT BEING ASSHOLES—on boats or walking—enjoying nature away from cell phones and humanity. We all need more of this in 2025. Being around bird nerds and watching that movie made me think how much I’d love to do a ‘big year.’ Retirement goals.
All my promises, and I barely read anything. Didn’t finish James and spent the bulk of the holiday looking up esoteric rhetorical devices in The Handbook to Literature. (Thanks Prof. Carlisle!) Did you know an ‘envelope’ is a line or group of lines enclosing a body of verse giving a sense of structure or closure? Me neither.
Totally obsessed with Do Ho Suh’s exhibition at Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts. Saw this piece in Glass Tire that started me down the rabbit hole. I’ve seen some of his ‘room’ work at The Contemporary in Austin before, but these pieces are so an amalgamation of natural history museum exhibits and my son’s childhood bedroom that they stir up all kinds of feelings about what we leave behind. Not the calcified fossils of old but these bright colored, plastic forever-forms destined to breakdown and become plankton food or be uncovered someday by a new race who will ponder where it all went wrong—love, love, love all of it.
Music-wise, everyone knows all I do is steal songs off my son’s playlist to co-opt as my own. Favorites from various car rides over the holiday? Favourite by Fontaines D.C. and Freak by feeble little horse. I talked him into creating an end-of-the-year playlist for us here. :) Enjoy!
Quote of the week?
“How many generations of women had delayed their greatness only to have time extinguish it completely? How many women had run out of time while the men didn’t know what to do with theirs? And what a mean trick to call such things holy or selfless. How evil to praise women for giving up each and every dream.”
― Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch
‘Til Tuesday kids.
Burgin
(I’m finishing college at 50+, follow along and read my story here.)
Love it when your son shares music suggestions!
I kinda weirdly liked The Lighthouse - watched it during Covid which maybe was why the vibes were hitting just right? Hallucinatory Prometheus/Ancient Mariner cabin fever dream.