These last three months have felt like three years. I rejiggered my online presence, taught two courses at university and legally changed my name whilst trying to figure out what’s next now that i’ve decided to quit my job sooner rather than later. I might have spent a little more time than usual soothing my anxiety in front of YouTube.
Books
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell. Hamnet was a wonderful surprise, The Marriage Portrait less so. O’Farrell’s lyrical prose is delightful as ever, but the tale of Lucrezia de’ Medici’s tragic life through the mysterious portrait of her has been told before, and by Robert Browning no less. The feel-good ending is too rushed — and too undemanding — to be fulfilling.
Essays One by Lydia Davis. Lydia Davis is the rare scholar who’s not scholarly. There’s a generosity to her insatiable curiosity, a humbleness to her incessant questioning and an evident work ethic to her immense knowledge. It’s a pleasure and a privilege to be able to witness her thinking about the treacherousness of writing your own words, the precariousness of translating someone’s words and vice versa. It makes me want to reread Essays Two, which is one of the reasons i’m now writing in English.
Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World by Naomi Klein. There’s a version of me that’s baffled people could confuse Naomi Klein with Naomi Wolf, and thinks the former grossly exaggerated the issue to launch a diatribe against what she calls the “mirror world”. But there’s also a version of me that knows, deep in his heart, that people are dumber as they appear and will go to obscene lengths to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears when it suits their feeble minds. The sheeples, in the mirror world, are the ones crying wolf.
The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman. In the first few chapters, i thought that Richard Osman had finally succumbed to the stakhanovite rhythm of the literary machine. Boy was i wrong. This man can churn murder mysteries like no one else and each book in the series is more entertaining than the previous one — even though i’m a bit worried about the accelerating inflation of the cast of characters. I’m saving the fourth book for the summer and i can’t wait for the release of the fifth one later this year. I’m hooked.
Y2K: How the 2000s Became Everything by Colette Shade. Like Shade, i was a teenager during the 2000s. Unlike Shade, i didn’t get a bunch of stock options from my uncle. We didn’t grow up in the same world, and it shows in the way she can’t contribute anything meaningfully new to the subject, because she lived around the popular culture instead of being brought up from it. (Also, this was the first audiobook i’ve read in years. I’ve been using Libro to listen to more books and fewer podcasts.)
Drinks
Osco. I’ve been sober for almost a thousand days. I don’t miss the buzz (and kill) of alcohol one bit, but sometimes, i miss the herbaceousness of gin and the woodiness of whisky. Osco doesn’t try to reproduce the taste of a particular beverage, but mixes the tingling sharpness of verjuice and the drying bitterness of gentian to make a spicy and zingy apéritif. I’ll be happy to order another bottle.
Landmarks
Le 19M. Le 19M not only houses twelve maisons belonging to Chanel, a wondrous exhibition space and an off-shoot of Karl Lagerfeld’s bookshop, but also what may be the best café in Paris (and half of the building isn’t in Paris proper!). I still can’t understand how such a cavernous space can be so quiet and cosy. I’ll be back for sure.
Notre-Dame de Paris. I caught a cold while waiting in line, but it was worth it. The restoration has been executed to the most exacting standard, and even though i find the overall direction far too conservative for my taste, i have to admire the airiness of the freshly cleaned stained glass and the vividness of the side chapels polychromic ornamentation. The warm and intimate lighting has turned the old grey lady into an even older beige (and eminently instagrammable) lady. In the end, i only have one major gripe, the way they shove people like cattle in a predefined route that prevents you from roaming around as you please.
Movies
Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever by Chris Smith. You get the midlife crisis that you deserve, and it looks like Bryan Johnson did shitty things before embarking on his anti-aging crusade. Faith does weird things to your brain, such as believing you’ll live another life after this one, and losing it even weirder ones, such as believing you’ll never die to begin with. Johnson is twisted, that’s for sure, but oddly endearing at the same time?
The Gorge by Scott Derrickson. This could have been an incredibly cute (and quite novel) romcom if they hadn’t felt the need to tack a lousy zombie film to it.
Robin and Marian by Richard Lester. This movie hasn’t aged gracefully, just like Robin Hood himself, but it’s still a solid story about the folly of aging men. Let’s just say it was a nice mise en bouche before watching Breakfast at Tiffany’s for the first time on the silver screen — what a treat!
The Wild Robot by Chris Sanders. You’re the one who’s crying.
Music
Harmônicos by Fabiano do Nascimento and Shin Sasakubo. You can hear that this three-day recording began only four days after Fabiano do Nascimento and Shin Sasakubo first concert together. It has the excitement, the cheerfulness and even the friskiness of the first dates of a newly formed couple. Who knew Brazilian rhythms and Japanese melodies could intertwine so beautifully?
Brad Mehldau. I lost count of the times i saw Brad in concert, but it’s always a unique experience. His ability to shift seamlessly from Bach and Fauré to the jazziest of all jazz standards is unmatched, thanks to his uncanny skill for contrapuntal play, where one hand responds to the other in an endless cycle round and round the harmonic structure. It is mesmerizing and, at best, almost transcendental. Best of all, Brad might me be the humblest and most unpretentious virtuoso there is. (And yes, i’m calling him Brad, we’re that close in my head.)
Southern Lights by Sullivan Fortner. Fortner is a sideman extraordinaire — he played or plays for Cécile McLorin Salvant, Theo Crocker, Melissa Aldana, Lauren Henderson, Samara Joy and countless others — but he’s a band leader in his own right. Southern Lights features only one original, but his interpretations of Allen Toussaint’s titular track and Bill Lee’s “Never Again” are as fresh as can be. His dynamic and constructive interplay with Peter Washington on the bass and Marcus Gilmore on the drums never fails to make me grin.
Samara Joy. Joy is, well, a joy. Her performance with a seven-man ensemble was incredibly tight and obviously written note-for-note. I watched the concert she played in Paris a few days later and it was pretty much identical to the one i heard in Lyon. She’s not pushing musical boundaries, but there’s nothing wrong with a well-rehearsed band (i’ve heard echoes of Nat King Cole’s band and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra) backing an incredibly gifted singer (i could swear i was listening to Billie Holiday or Sarah Vaughan at times). She has a unique instrument and she plays it to perfection. This is entertainment at its finest.
Knats by Knats. Knats, not to be confused with the insects that plague every plant lover, is a self-described quintet “making Geordie Jazz, with sophisticated arrangements, strong melodies and danceable grooves.” I never thought about Newcastle’s jazz scene, but if Knats is anything to go by, it might be one of the most bass-thumping, kick-punching, hard-blowing places on Earth.
Out There by Hiromi’s Sonicwonder. On a scale of 1 to Hiromi, Out There is a firm 104. The titular suite is a never-ending display of slightly out-of-tune and out-of-time virtuosity, the new recording of “XYZ” proves this Hiromi staple should become a standard, and “Yes! Ramen!” might be the funniest track i’ve ever heard in my life. Hiromi is precious and must be protected at all costs.
Things
iPad Air M3. I had no real reason to trade in my iPad Pro M1, but the credit made the iPad Air M3 extremely cheap and i got to keep my Magic Keyboard. The new chip is slightly faster than the “old” one, i prefer Touch ID to Face ID and i don’t miss the ProMotion display at all. I have a nagging feeling it’s going to be my last iPad, though.
Lamy AL-star Aubergine. After an endless parade of pinks and greens and blues, i’m not mad that Lamy made five purple limited edition pens in nine years. The aubergine hue is a cool purplish grey that seems really office-appropriate… until you uncap the pen to reveal a neon yellow translucent section. This is the perfect embodiment of the German psyche (and, as always with Lamy, a great if slightly dry writer).
AnkerMake M5. I asked AnkerMake to provide me with a 3D printer to write a beginner’s guide and they complied… a month before discontinuing their whole range. I guess it solves the usual ethics conundrum? 3D printing is fun, though, and i can see myself becoming obsessed really quickly. I’ve already spent far much time modelling things in FreeCAD than i thought i would.
2K automotive paint. I really wanted to try out 2K automotive paint, which combine a pigment with a hardener, to repaint a typewriter. It was fairly expensive and incredibly messy, but despite a few mistakes i’ll have to buff out, the end result is stunning. My Olivetti Lexicon 80 is now the greenest, shiniest and smoothest typewriter in the land.
Travel
Besançon. I’m continuing on my quest to visit every one of France’s 320 arrondissements. Close to the Jura mountain range and the border with Switzerland, Besançon is the historical capital of French watchmaking and the birthplace of Victor Hugo. The Musée du Temps, which hosts one of the most complicated watches ever made and a beautiful pendulum, was the highlight of my trip. The Museum of Fine Arts and Archaeology masterfully blends the (really) old with the new by dropping a Guggenheimesque concrete ramp inside of a 19th century building. The city itself is a quirky blend of medieval streets and modernist architecture that gave me plenty of new architypes.
TV shows
Zero Day by Lesli Linka Glatter. The suspension of disbelief was really hard with this one and the big twist was incredibly obvious. At least Robert De Niro is impeccable in the role of an elderly former president.
Severance S2 by Dan Erickson. Watching a company trying to destroy humanity while my boss was meticulously destroying a relationship of sixteen years has been the thrill of my life. I can’t wait for my reintegration procedure. (Also: the first shot, the ORTBO episode, the room full of Vitsœ furniture that looks eerily like my living room, Mr. Milchick’s arc, the last shot. And this is all coming from the man who made Zoolander!)
Resident Alien S1 and S2 by Chris Sheridan. The archetype of the show that gets more convoluted and less articulate the more money it gets. What began as a straightforward sitcom with an interesting twist (the new guy in town is an actual alien!) devolved into a fussy thriller ridden with endless side intrigues that tries to cater to everyone and ultimately satisfies no one.
Mythic Quest S4 by Charlie Day, Megan Ganz and Rob McElhenney. The season finale, which turned up to be the series finale after its cancellation, was the best episode in years. I’m surprised it lasted this long after F. Murray Abraham’s unfortunate dismissal and the whole Covid debacle.
Videos
Xyla Foxlin. I don’t know how i managed to ignore Xyla Foxlin’s existence, but i’m happy i found her channel. Not only is she my wife’s Asian-American look-alike, she’s also a talented and upbeat maker. Her rockets, her canoes and her camper prove she’s got serious chops, but she doesn’t take herself too seriously, which is a breath of fresh air.
Leatherworkers. Because i was already following Corter Leather and Hahn’s Atelier, the algorithm though i’d like to drown the noise in my head with Little King Goods, Plan.B Leather, Mascon Leather and Atelier Sang Bleu. The algorithm was right. All hail the all-knowing algorithm.
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