A source material tracker. I don’t always know how a thing will influence me until I get further down the road. This is a post to reference later, not to show off. Maybe some accountability—am I pursuing good inputs?
Guidelines: Don’t note the reasons someone else might like it. Say why I picked it up and what I’ve found interesting. How it bumped into other stuff, how it spun into something, and what I tucked away or was surprised by.
Watching
This perfect documentary, Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching. (Free on Youtube!!)
One of my favorite things is listening to my brothers riffing.
Their stream of funny banter is near-constant, and this documentary feels similar. Brothers messing around! And making a beautiful interesting film. They do some really clever low-tech visual stuff that is charming. I also love the switch between camcorder footage and beautiful high-res bird shots. It feels like what I hoped the whole “everyone has a camera in their pocket!” age would spawn. Clearly, the brothers are very good at this, I’m not saying it’s cobbled together. But it has people like you could make this kind of thing energy. Probably because it’s self-distributed via Youtube. I love that they made it, I love that it’s free on their terms, I was totally engrossed the whole time.
Anne Hathaway, Robert De Niro. It was cute! It’s nice when Amazon Prime actually has a movie I’ve been wanting to watch. I’m looking for stuff to watch while sewing for my art show these days. It’s a weird thing: I’m being productive, but it still feels kinda lazy, all this screen time.
The State Theatre was showing the best Terminator, so I had to go. I had forgotten pretty much everything except that I loved it the first time. The soundtrack is really great and I need to see if it works as background office music. Arnold biking around to Bad to the Bone? Ridiculous. The 90s visual effects struck me as funnier on the big screen. Also funny? The apocalyptic future is set in 2029. Watch out for SkyNet, people.
Reading
The Overstory by Richard Powers
I snagged this from the Little Free Library and promptly stuck it in an unread stack. Then one day I was bored and trying to stay offline and I read one chapter out of context and then I started from the beginning.
Here’s the thing: the writing is beautiful. The characters are interesting. Powers’ descriptive writing style trickled into my journal entries.
Here’s the other thing: it’s super depressing to hear about trees getting chopped down all the time.
It’s a hefty book, 502 dense pages. It’s a heavy story, 8 characters whose storylines slowly merge together. I like them, I am curious about them, but I am also really bummed out by it and I might not finish it. I can only read something for so long before I need a big gust of hope, you know?
Martha Stewart’s Hors D’Oeuvres Handbook
Also a hefty tome. Martha’s birthday was August 3rd, my friend Cat and I hosted a birthday party. I used this book to make some fancy appetizers.
I love how extra Martha is. This feels like a true Martha book, written before things were super ghostwritten (though she def had help writing this one). Super comprehensive, with beautifully styled photos. This doesn’t feel timeless, but it feels good. A time capsule. And the perfect level of unhinged. Cat and I cracked up when we saw the suggestion to use a loaf of bread as a basket for sandwiches. So naturally, I made one. Worked beautifully. Martha, you genius.
Listening
Re-listening to old Home Cooking episodes in honor of the show’s new season. A total joy. I’m traveling to San Francisco to see Samin + Hrishi in conversation in September. I also recorded a voice note with my own cooking dilemma. Thinking about how projects like this need participants. The show doesn’t work unless some of us send questions. What else might I be a more active participant in? What does that back-and-forth look like for projects led by me?
Also I made Samin’s slow-roasted salmon after a podcast mention and it’s delicious.
Making
