Day 2072. THE JOURNEY.
There was no destination for this thing so I didn’t reach one. I never had any idea what I was going to do or what I was even doing as I did it. I’d just think for a second about what I’ve enjoyed in my life and try and write about it in a way that was funny, sincere, or both. 15 minutes a day. But 15 minutes a day adds up and it’s a little too much time looking at screens. It’s almost summer. The temp is rising and I’m ready to go outside.
I’ll be back. For now it’s time for me to go and try to touch grass. ✌️
Day 2071. GLASSES.
I wear them all day everyday and don’t spend nearly enough time being thankful that they exist. My eye sight isn’t even that terrible but I would constantly have a headache without them.
Day 2070. CHANGES.
Starting six months ago, I saw a man at the gym every single day. It didn’t matter what time I went or what machine I was using, eventually I saw him. He was in his late 30s with a shaved head and horn rimmed glasses. He wore t shirts with the sleeves cut off and the same blue New York Mets trucker hat every time. The hat helped me recognize him. I sometimes wondered if he was stalking me or if he thought I was stalking him. I saw him for three months and then one day he was gone. Vanished.
I hadn’t thought about it for a while but today he reappeared. Same glasses, same style of cut t shirt, but now he was wearing a 1997 throwback teal Florida Marlins hat.
Huge development! What happened to his loyalty to the Metropolitans? It’s a good reminder that people continue to change even when you don’t see them around.
Day 2069. TASHA.
This is a “Best Of” my posts that I’ve done daily.
Tasha is the musician I’ve listened to and seen perform in concert the most that you may not have heard of. She is one of my absolute favorite artists and if you get anything from this long collection of things I like that you are willing to try for yourself I’d recommend Tasha’s music.
Day 2068. “TOMORROW”.
There are episodes of The Bear that I have watched more times, but nothing has made me feel as inspired as I have when watching the premiere of Season 3 “Tomorrow”. It’s an episode I feel so much during and would like to take more time and words to understand.
I love reading film and television criticism. I’m fucking terrible at writing it but I want to get better at it for me.
The list of critics I follow has gotten smaller because a lot of the people I used to read now host podcasts instead (Are you even an expert on movies or tv if you don’t have a podcast sponsored by a gambling or mattress company?).
Those are great but I prefer reading. At the end of this week when I’m done with this I’m looking forward to working more on longer pieces where I can learn more about why I like what I like.
Day 2067. MY EDITOR.
I don’t proof read anything I post here. I have given myself a strict limit of 15 minutes to find a topic, find a picture, and write about it for every post. This leads incomplete sentences, words that make no sense next to each other, and of course autocorrections that didn’t correct shit I just didn’t type the word I wanted correctly.
So I’ll post these things and then try not to look at Instagram until the next day. But probably every two or three days I will receive a text in the middle of the night from my mom that will say something like “Coen Brothers not Corn Brothers”. No context, no context needed. I leap back onto Instagram to correct it before anyone notices.
My mom worked as a book editor for a decent chunk of her career. I should be paying her for this. Instead, she reads this dumb stuff I write about ice cream sandwiches or vague three sentence posts about an album I like but don’t have any good way of describing it because I don’t know anything about music. She does it for the love of the game. I am the game.
Those 11pm texts will be the thing I miss most about posting once a day.
Day 2066. JOURNEY THROUGH THE PAST.
In the heart of the Garden District of Toronto, Ontario is the concert venue Massey Hall. It’s not The Rivoli, but it seems special. It’s been around since 1894, was the home of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for 90 years, and has hosted speeches by Winston Churchill and the Dalai Lama. It’s also a venue that every great musician of the 20th century making their way through Toronto has played.
It should be impossible to know when the a 132 year old building peaked. But it’s not.
January 19, 1971. Neil Young was on stage and finished a performance of his song “Old Man”. As he tinkered at the piano he said to the crowd:
“I’m going to sing mostly new songs tonight maybe only a couple more old ones. But I’ve written so many new ones that I can’t think of anything else to do with them than sing them.”
He played “Journey Through the Past”. And as he sang about winter rains and restless hearts, the theater staff, the audience, and the building itself knew that nothing could ever be better.
Day 2065. HAM THE ASTROCHIMP.
In 1959, NASA was run by a bunch of cowards with dreams. They wanted to send someone to space but didn’t have the courage to go themselves. Enter: Ham the Chimpanzee. The Air Force purchased Ham from the Rare Bird Farm in Miami, Florida in July and over the next 15 months trained Ham for space travel.
As Abraham Lincoln asks in the film LINCOLN (2012): “Do you think we choose to be born? Are we fitted to the times we’re born into?”
In January 1961, NASA sent Ham to space from Cape Canaveral. He soared 157 miles into the sky and landed in the Atlantic Ocean alive.
When America needed a hero, Ham fit the bill. He proved to a bunch of scientists that space was made for the brave, not the billionaire class that goes today.
His species may be known as the “common chimpanzee” but I think we all know he was far from that.
Day 2064. THE END IS NIGH.
All things come to an end. Whether this was good or bad is in the eye of the beholder. I’m going to do one more week of things I like. Seven more posts. Then I’m calling it a show.
I’ll still post occasionally but it’ll be significantly less frequent. I’ll spend more time off of the app. Over the next week I’ll try and go out with a bang.
Let’s have some fun. One last time.
Day 2063. MARTIN DONOVAN.
I haven’t seen Weeds but I am aware he is on it a decent amount. My familiarity with Martin Donovan is him showing up in already incredible movies and making them even better with limited screen time.
Day 2062. COMFY CLOTHES ON AN AIRPLANE.
I googled “Comfy Clothes on an Airplane” and this came up. This is not me, but I basically wear this exact outfit except no sunglasses and looser sweatpants.
I don’t want skin touching the seat or arm rest and I think if you’re wearing shorts that’s crazy.
Day 2061. WHEAT BREAD.
For every day use (sandwiches, toast, etc.) it is the best bread out there on purely a taste level. I have no idea what breads are better or worse for you, honestly they’re all probably bad. But this week I got a loaf of sourdough and that is insane. The hype around that is such a fucking scam. It’s the Dasani of bread. I understand that people like baking it or whatever but it’s not good.
Wheat bread. It’s the way.
