Ah, friends and forced readers.
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I hope you’ve made the most of that time. Learned to make commemorative jams, done exciting things with dried pampras, come to terms with the essential vulnerability of your inbox.
For here I am, making a return.
I don’t think we have a Ben walkthrough on the horizon. The truth is I don’t properly know what direction this will take in 2024, but I do have several books that deserve a collective look, and a very nascent project I hope to share soon.
In the meantime, put this song in your ear and never, ever let it go.
(Chris Fleming recently did a special on Peacock, of all doomed platforms, and I will gladly give you my login if you promise to watch him and not The Office.)
More on the music front. Christmas is coming, which means I’ll be sharing some of my demented pseudo-favorites with you. If you make a find, like an old school Matchbox 20 cover of Let It Snow, message me.
Bookwise, I’ve just finished the first story in the anthology Contemporary Taiwanese Women Writers (in translation).
Author Ping Lu kicks it off with a thinly veiled read on me:
“In my younger days, as a college graduate majoring in Chinese. I showed some literary promise. It was that promise that was eaten away by years of working at a desk.”
Well! MY desk is covered in glue and porcupine quills from Etsy so I win in the most minor way possible, to quote Mark Corrigan.
Let’s end here for now. We’re going to end on two essential truths, every time.
Medicaid is designed to batter you mentally until you simply fold into yourself and renounce your humanity.
After all these years, it is still a joy to stumble across vintage items on eBay that are somehow perfect, even if they are old glass medicine bottles that no one wants but you. Better that way even.
Hey, it's great to hear your writing voice again. I would be very interested in that film walkthrough.
One bit of good news is that Rob Thomas seemed to have anticipated your move away from the big city and composed this, with some dance moves suited to all ages: https://youtu.be/MXgNdE_PVaY?si=Bz1_0nG_f8v6aksJ
Also big thanks for the excellent manifesto. Matt's number is no longer saved to my phone.