Day 2,013, Quasi-Quarantine: Kino Loy Has The Words We're All Trying To Find

Thank the maker for "Andor," for lo so many reasons.

Locate your inner rebel.

Find your alliance.

Limerick Friday #639: Once-Proud Franchise Continues Wandering In The Wilderness -- Day 2,009

Been listening to this same song

For entirely too goddam long

Another tank job from the 'Fins

I see it before it happens

But just once I'd like to be fucking wrong

A country in need of a vacation

Embracing fascism without hesitation

Every truth is a lie

That will make another person die

Welcome to Gaslight Nation

Often play lazy and dumb

The Mets make me crazy and numb

So rely on every rook

And let the phenoms cook

And hope it's enough to overcome

Keep running into buzzsaws

Now injuries without pause

A third of the roster hurt

Now pick ourselves up from the dirt

And break all the fantasy football laws

Find good where you can

Then get up and do it again

Overwhelming it can feel

That's part of the deal

Happy is possible now and then

Last time ...

Day 2,007, Quasi-Quarantine: Underdogs Try To Topple Rigged Entertainment Game In "Everybody Knows"

 

“This feeling washes over her, this soul-deep wish to just go back to when she could walk through this burning world without noticing it’s on fire.”

This entertaining tale is powered by rapid pacing and clipped sentences, as the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles is exposed block by block. "Everybody Knows" proceeds breakneck through the LA streets as every Hollywood sin joins the never-ending car chase.

“Everything is a sequel or a reboot or an adaptation. Everything is an echo of something else. It’s like her friend Sarah says about the Industry: Somebody somewhere catches lightning in a bottle – and all over town people run out and they buy bottles.”

Jordan Harper has created a noir feel that tries almost too hard to be noir. At times, Aaron Sorkin-level dialogue also serves to undercut the story arc. 

“No one asks if those things are true. No one cares. The only job is to disconnect power from responsibility.”

“‘I know who he is.’

‘You’ve got it wrong already. At a certain point people stop being a who and start being a why.’”

The result is an oppressively dark exploration of the unstoppable force of the bad and powerful, making this one truly a story for its time.

“Who doesn’t know their lives are built on top of bones? Who doesn’t carry inside them that it’s only brutal violence keeping this world afloat? Child slaves making our clothes, factory farms turning animals to slurry, nations of plastic floating in the ocean. Is she supposed to yank all that down too? Just her?”

Day 2,000, Quasi-Quarantine: "A Day In The Life Of Abed Salama" Is A Devastating Depiction Of Palestinian-Jewish Relations

“We do not see our hand in what happens, so we call certain events melancholy accidents when they are the inevitabilities of our projects, and we call other events necessities merely because we will not change our minds.”

~Stanley Cavell

At times heart-breaking and heart-warming, devastating and tender, "A Day in the Life of Abed Salama" bends all emotions to its will. Nathan Thrall's work is powered by meticulous research, well-rounded perspectives, and graceful storytelling.

The author manages to weave regional history and geopolitical discussion into a narrative about a horrific bus accident, the students who were lost, and the families who were reduced to rubble in the search to learn their fates. 

“‘You’ve turned our autonomy into a prison for us,’ the lead Palestinian negotiator, Abu Ala, said.”

The timely book is aided by a series of extremely useful maps as it seeks to create context for the fraught interactions and the whirlwind nature of life in contested territory.

"A Day in the Life of Abed Salama" unsparingly details the horrors of occupation, the casual cruelty of overt racism -- and the love it takes to manifest the determination needed to persist and exist in their faces.

Limerick Friday #638: Belicheat Embarrasses Every Chapel Shill -- Day 1,995

The bandwagon couldn't wait to applaud

And pretended to be suitably awed

The local media cupped his balls

Ignoring his cheating and falls

'Til they recognized a fellow fraud

Bobby Kennedy was a hero of mine

The most promising of his line

Now his son is killing kids

And selling out to the highest bids

Of American destruction, just the latest sign

Par for the course at UNC

Hoping to skip steps 1, 2, and 3

Tried to buy a culture and team

They've always been more "to seem"

Rather than "to be"

In football's return we bask

But so many questions to ask

Can the Wolfpack compete?

Can the Scooters repeat?

And how many issues can the 'Fins mask?

A heartless, creepy old man

Lies and deceives each spineless fan

On the young he preys

While every sycophant obeys

Trump or Belicheat -- decide if you can

Last time ...

Day 1,993, Quasi-Quarantine: "Never Flinch" Marks Yet Another Return Of Holly Gibney, The Character Stephen King Can't Quit

 

“She understands that extreme horror is, in its own way, merciful. It doesn’t allow you to look ahead to the end.”

Detective Holly Gibney is back yet again in Stephen King's "Never Flinch," as are the coincidences and cloud of trouble that perpetually surround her.

In this installment, the journeys of a serial killer and a stalker converge in Ohio, and Holly and her cast of familiars are squarely in the crosshairs. King makes use of contemporary storylines, his customary sublime character-building, and his trademark frantic pacing to make up for some required suspension of disbelief.

“Most days I’m like a one-legged woman in an ass-kicking contest.”

The Finders Keepers universe is at its best when Holly and her surrogate family -- Jerome, Barbara, and Pete -- align to solve otherworldly mysteries, but this one lacks the fantastical and the foursome spend most of their time on their own paths. The result is a fun read that lacks the depth and existential questions of previous efforts.

“He stepped over the line, and guess what? The other side of the line is no different. The idea is both terrible and comforting.”

Day 1,988, Quasi-Quarantine: The Pack Gets Off To A Positive Start Despite Uneven Effort

 

Staying almost impossibly on brand, the Wolfpack made things unnecessarily hard on themselves last night, outlasting East Carolina, 24-17, after opening up a 17-0 advantage.

Some thoughts:

• It's always good to go 1-0.
• In year 13, coach Dave Doeren is still abysmal at game management. Which -- judging by his title -- is a pretty big part of his job description.
• State's front seven is going to be pretty difficult to deal with.
• One game in, the Pack has serious concerns along the offensive line. Again.
• NC State should never play East Carolina. There is literally nothing to gain from this for the Red and White. Make it stop.

Onward. Go Pack.

Day 1,984, Quasi-Quarantine: "CivilWarLand In Bad Decline" Is The Promising But Immature Debut Of Notable Satirist

 

“How can you take the word of a man with biscuit crumbs under his nose and a habit of walking around holding his hand over his anus for fear of violation?”

Alternating between hilarious and unrelentingly depressing, "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" marks the memorable debut of perhaps America's pre-eminent satirist, George Saunders.

“The moon comes up over Delectable Videos like a fat man withdrawing himself from a lake.”

The writer depicts a bleak future that features the uncanny valley of consumerism, relying on spineless main characters who see ghosts but exhibit little agency. "Isabelle" is dark but pretty, "400-Pound CEO" was cruel to the point of being difficult to read, and "The Wavemaker Falters" repeatedly withholds any chance of redemption.

“Family. It’s not perfect. Sometimes it’s damn hard. But I look after her and she squeals with delight when I come home, and the sum total of sadness in the world is less than it would have been.

“Her real name is Isabelle.

“A pretty, pretty name.”

"Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz" was my favorite, displaying a sly beauty that most of the other entries seem to lack, opting for cruelty for cruelty's sake instead. 

“Connie’s a prostitute, I’m a thirty-year-old virgin, but all things considered, we could have turned out worse.”

Saunders's work -- characteristic of many debuts -- is a little confusing and a lot depressing, creating space for him to find his true voice in future books like "Liberation Day," "A Swim in the Pond in the Rain," "Fox 8," and "Lincoln in the Bardo."

Nearly 30 years later, "CivilWarLand in Bad Decline" is demented, hysterical, and challenging -- if startlingly prescient.

“‘The writer can choose what he writes about,’ Flannery O’Connor once said, ‘but he cannot choose what he is able to make live.’”

Limerick Friday #637: Farewell To A True Blood -- Day 1,974

Had to swallow a tough pill

Struggling to understand it still

You looked out for the new kid

Saved my whole year, you did

Rest in peace, my friend Phil

Living in baseball hell

Turning every W into an L

Every move backfires

Turning contenders into liars

Will any Mets rise for that final bell?

Look for beauty in small things

And any happy tidings

They're there if you look

Sometimes in a book

And remember there are no kings

Getting punked day after day

Need any hope, just a ray

The coach is a lame duck

The GM is clueless as fuck

The 'Fins just can't find their way

It's that time of year

When the salt air feels near

Saying goodbye to summer

Is always a bummer

But the beach helps me hold back each tear

Last time ...

Day 1,971, Quasi-Quarantine: "On The Hippie Trail" Doubles As Coming-Of-Age Story For Naive, Budding Globetrotter

 

“Travelers learn that fear is for people who don’t get out much; that culture shock is the growing pains of that broadening perspective; that we’re all children of God – and that by traveling, we get to know the family.”

Some 45 years after the fact, Rick Steves has transcribed and edited the notes from his journey from Istanbul to Kathmandu. "On the Hippie Trail" documents the trials and tribulations of he and his friend Gene as as they travel thousands of miles overland.

Just 23 at the time, Steves's observations are often overly romanticized and/or immature. A mid-trip decision to go from spending as little as possible to treating themselves as well as possible goes unexplored, and a choice to mainly wear only one shirt and a pair of shorts for weeks and weeks also seems ... bizarre.

“The road to India is a long one. The pavement stops with Europe – but that’s where the drive becomes a ride animated by exciting potholes.”

Many of the observations have not aged well -- the author apparently shat in a ceremonial garden at one point -- and the sudden availability of plenty of money certainly represented a glossed-over departure.

In a post-script, Steves attributes the experience to leading him to become a travel writer. While the poignant moments are few and far between, "On the Hippie Trail" sheds light on a forgotten time when the world felt less dangerous and more like an amusement ride -- and how exploring it can inspire personal growth.

“Before he left, he told me, ‘A third of the people on this planet eat with spoons and forks like you, a third of the people eat with chopsticks, and a third of the people eat with their fingers like me … and we’re all civilized just the same.’”

Day 1,971, Quasi-Quarantine: "Where The Line Bleeds" Documents Twins Trying To Find Their Way In Opportunity-Bare Gulf Coast

 

“Away from the citronella candles and electric bulbs illuminating the trees into the surrounding darkness, Eze walked into the ascending crescendo of the raucous night, calling back over his shoulder, ‘Well, come on, I got something to show you.’”

Jesmyn Ward's debut offers glimpses of the writer to come, as "Where the Line Bleeds" balances tremendous character-sketching with some clear over-writing, memorable renderings of atmosphere and place balanced against plot shortcuts and confusing shifts in perspective and time.

While the story hovers around the relationship between twins Cristophe and Joshua and how they manage fractured dynamics with Cille and Sandman, their estranged mother and father, Ma-mee is the core of the book. The blind grandmother tries to hold the twins and extended family together, with most of them figuratively blind to the toll it is taking on them.

On the strength of subsequent works like "Salvage the Bones," "Sing, Unburied, Sing," "Let Us Descend," and "Men We Reaped," Ward has become one of my favorite novelists. This work from 2008 documents that artist on the verge of emergence, after she works out some issues with how things escalate in confusing ways, the passage of time, and the omission of the voice of a key character in Laila.

"Where the Line Bleeds" shows a novelist finding her voice, a hint at Ward's eventual ascension as one of our most revered chroniclers of the South.

“His brother, their wounds, Ma-mee dimming like a bulb, his parents’ places unknown and orbiting them like distant moons: it was enough.”

Limerick Friday #636: Nothing Is Great, And Everything Feels Bad -- Day 1,968

Find hope where it belongs

Despite all of the world's wrongs

Heard "Ohio" played off the shelf

And it made me ask myself

Where are this generation's protest songs?

"Ted Lasso" for golf is "Stick"

Owen Wilson does his normal schtick

But it's the summer's feel-good show

If you just let yourself go

And forget how much our country is sick

Football's coming fast

The summer nearly passed

I can't get unhooked

But the 'Fins already seem cooked

Who will play cornerback at last?

A demented, racist coot

And a pedophile to boot

As he wandered around the roof

Hoped someone could make him go poof

And cut out the problem at its root

A dismal June and July

And August makes me want to cry

The Mets are choking something rare

And really don't seem to care

Where does rock bottom actually lie?

Last time ...

Day 1,964, Quasi-Quarantine: Neglect, Grief Propel Devastatingly Emotional "Foster"

 

“I am in a spot where I can neither be what I always am nor turn into what I could be.”

Claire Keegan is a master at packing an emotional wallop in a short number of pages, and she's at her very best in "Foster." The author of "Small Things Like These," "Walk the Blue Fields," and "Antarctica" beautifully renders a neglected child who is sent to live with relatives in rural Ireland while her mother has the latest in a series of children.

“It is something I am used to, this way men have of not talking: they like to kick a divot out of the grass with a boot heel, to slap the roof of a car before it takes off, to spit, to sit with their legs wide apart, as though they do not care.” 

The unnamed child quickly develops a deep attachment to her aunt and uncle, who have suffered an unspeakable loss that they've left unspoken. Focusing their grief and love on their niece, the Kinsellas show her the attention she has never received in her home.

Much is hinted at and little is explicitly stated in "Foster," but a heartbreaking final scene elevates this short story into an unforgettable tale.

“‘You don’t ever have to say anything,’ he says. ‘Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.’”

Day 1,959, Quasi-Quarantine: Boarding-School Misfits Deal With Love And Grief In "Looking For Alaska"

 

“I lit a cigarette and spit into the creek. ‘You can’t just make me different and then leave,’ I said out loud to her. ‘Because I was fine before, Alaska. I was fine with just me and last words and school friends, and you can’t just make me different and then die.’ For she had embodied the Great Perhaps – she had proved to me that it was worth it to leave behind my minor life for grander maybes, and now she was gone and with her my faith in perhaps.”

John Green's remarkable coming-of-age story is at turns wistful, hysterical, painful, and thought-provoking. "Looking for Alaska" documents a small group of outsiders trying to find who they're trying to become at a posh Alabama boarding school.

“No matter how miserably hot it got, I resolved, I would sleep in my clothes every night at the Creek, feeling – probably for the first time in my life – the fear and excitement of living in a place where you never know what’s going to happen or when.”

I did have a quibble: The Thanksgiving week that Miles and Alaska were able to spend alone went by way too quickly. So much more was possible there that it felt distinctly like a missed opportunity not to let Miles and Alaska experience a little bit more together.

“She had the kind of eyes that predisposed you to supporting her every endeavor.”

The gutting loss of one of their friends marks the midpoint of the book, along with a shift toward something of a detective story. Green draws from his own experiences, but infuses "Looking for Alaska" with a bit of magic, beautifully capturing those teen moments when all seems alternately possible -- and awful.

“And if Alaska took her own life, that is the hope I wish I could have given here. Forgetting her mother, failing her mother and her friend and herself - those are awful things, but she did not need to fold into herself and self-destruct. Those awful things are survivable, because we are as indestructible as we believe ourselves as to be. When adults say, ‘Teenagers think they are invincible’ with that sly, stupid smile on their faces, they don’t know how right they are. We need never be hopeless, because we can never be irreparably broken. We think that we are invincible because we are. We cannot be born, and we cannot die. Like all energy, we can only change shapes and sizes and manifestations. They forget that when they get old. They get scared of losing and failing. But that part of us greater than the sum of our parts cannot begin and cannot end, and so it cannot fail.

“So I know she forgives me, just as I forgive her. Thomas Edison’s last words were: ‘It’s very beautiful over there.’ I don’t know where there is, but I believe it’s somewhere, and I hope it’s beautiful.”

Day 1,953, Quasi-Quarantine: "Montpelier Parade" Offers Stark, Oppressive View Of Multiple Dublin Identities

 

“You never understood how that was with people, that they could tell you all kinds of things without saying anything.”

The seedy and privileged aspects of Dublin clash in this remarkable debut novel. Karl Geary relies on second-person narrative to depict the stark and devastating loneliness of Sonny. 

A vivid first two chapters really sketches the characters and sets the tone for the remainder of the novel. A core tension for the reader involves the question of whether Sonny will ever stand up for himself, with the answer provided along the way -- as well as in an ironic ending.

“Your mother. Not so many years ago you would race home to her after school just to know she was still alive and hadn’t left you in that house of men, without a soft thing in the world.”

With a detached father (I selfishly wanted to know more about this man), overwhelmed mother, and nameless brothers, Sonny is almost literally a stranger in his own house, and he looks for companionship in Sharon and Vera, polar opposites.

“The dashboard lit some of his face, showed his age, and added more. Some years later, when he died, he would be buried without you ever touching that face.”

The author explores Sonny's occasionally disturbing relationship to sex, his inability to accept Sharon, and his hopeless pursuit of Vera. "Montpelier Parade" leaves questions unanswered in the most beautiful of ways, creating a gut punch of a short novel that will stick with you well beyond the reading.

Another Geary novel, "Juno Loves Legs," was a "Narrow Miss" in the 2023 Scooties, and you might expect to see "Montpelier Parade" finishing high in the Scooties again this year.

“You could taste the salt at your lips and held your breath for as long as you could, and for a moment you were between worlds, before being thrown from the water, fighting for that precious air.”

Day 1,950, Quasi-Quarantine: Meticulous, Dense "On Air" Can Be Difficult To Absorb

 

“‘What’s advocacy and what’s not?’ she asked. ‘It’s very easy to present both sides and let it go at that. Maybe you become biased because you did all the research and you could come to no other conclusion.’” ~Barbara Newman

Steve Oney's intensely researched tome relies heavily on interviews with scores of former and current NPR employees. As a result, "On Air" can feel rather dense, with attributions occasionally handled clunkily and the prose bogging down with incessant clauses.

The story itself, however, is sublime and well told. The organization's perseverance through a litany of setbacks and obstacles -- continuing to this day -- is inspiring for anyone who values precise, passionate journalism.

“I think the fundamental advantage of narrative is that you can create a context where it’s possible to imagine being someone different from yourself.” ~Ira Glass

Oney's work serves as a timely reminder of the vital presence NPR holds in our culture and in a democracy under siege. While he underplays the role that government plays in undercutting and undermining the organization's efforts, the efforts put into articulating its origin story are instructive, important, and invaluable as the very nature of independent journalism becomes a daily question.

“‘The job of the reporter is to listen to all these distortions and pick up a little bit here, a little bit there. The other stuff you discard. The writer’s job is to search for truth in a world of deception and lies.’” ~Loren Jenkins

Day 1,945, Quasi-Quarantine: The Triangle Takes Center Stage In "A Really Strange And Wonderful Time"

 

“Vertical structures are about power, after all. Horizontal ones are about community.”

Meticulously researched, "A Really Strange and Wonderful Time" evokes a memorable creative era in Chapel Hill and the Triangle. Tom Maxwell -- part of the "scenius" himself -- relied on extensive interviews, a fabulous memory, and first-person accounts to bring this momentous time to life.

Chock full of tales of short-lived bands and collaborations and the steady presence of Cat's Cradle, Merge Records, and other community pillars, this book leans hard on nostalgia and what-ifs -- but a resounding lack of regret. Music is eternal, and Maxwell's account is a welcome reminder in a time of cultural upheaval.

“‘The artist-as-midwife idea is very simple and useful if you want to make art versus being an artist,’ John [Enisslin] said. ‘Every work is a compromise between intention and medium. The less important component is the intention. It is completely disposable at the point the material comes to life. Then, all the practice in the medium and the experience with intuition is there to help as you plop this thing into the world as smoothly as possible, whatever is it, itself. No artist should ask, ‘What am I trying to say here?’ That’s useless and profane. It’s not a code to be figured out. It’s a thing already. Get out of the way. It’s not about you.’”

Day 1,938, Quasi-Quarantine: "Creation Lake" Suffers From A Flat Protagonist, Sinking Promising Premise

 

“People might claim to believe in this or that, but in the four a.m. version of themselves, most possess no fixed idea on how society should be organized.

…

“What is it people encounter in their stark and solitary four a.m. self? What is inside them?

“Not politics. There are no politics inside of people.

“The truth of the person, under all the layers and guises, the significations of group and type, the quiet truth, underneath the noise of opinions and ‘beliefs,’ is a substance that is pure and stubborn and consistent. It is a hard, white salt.

“This salt is the core. The four a.m. reality of being.”

"Creation Lake" had a few elements that would appear to lend themselves to a tremendous story: an existential hermit living in a cave in France, a globe-trotting mercenary charged with infiltrating protest movements, and the overarching conflict between capitalism and individualism.

“Revolution, which back in 1968 he had believed was possible, he now understood to be foreclosed. The world ruled by capital would not be dismantled. Instead, it had to be left behind.”

However, Rachel Krushner struggled to help these variables coalesce into a coherent story. The first proper dialogue takes place more than 40 pages into the book, and a lack of insight into the inner nature of the protagonist renders most of the tale surface level.

For a few reasons, I was somewhat surprised that this book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize a year ago. I ended up wanting and expecting much more out of the work.

“ … He had the sexual energy of a grandmother with bone density issues.”

Despite the presence of a strong female character, there was a difficult-to-parse scene where she was essentially sexually assaulted in public on a bench near a lake, then quickly succumbed to a random blowjob with this stranger, which included her even swallowing a load.

At times, Sadie demonstrates a lot of agency, while at others she appears to just allow events to unfold without her assent or engagement. "Creation Lake" follows much the same path: It can be difficult to determine when it's trying to make a statement and when it is simply meandering through the European countryside.

“But why would you want to survive mass death? What would be the purpose of life, if life were reduced to a handful of armed pessimists hoarding canned foods and fearing each other? In a bunker, you cannot hear the human community in the earth, the deep cistern of voices, the lake of our creation.”

Day 1,932, Quasi-Quarantine: Still Processing Everything That Alaska And The Yukon Had To Share And Reveal

 

The seals near Dawes Glacier were so serene and peaceful. We almost felt bad for interrupting their nap.

Glacier calving is a moving (and depressing) thing to witness.

The dog-sledding portion of the trip in Juneau was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

The resonant blue of some of the icebergs were truly breath-taking, especially against the backdrop of the persistent gray-white of Alaska's inner passage.

A bear? Yes, a fucking bear. Just getting his dandelion on.

So many more pictures and memories to process. 

What a trip.

Day 1,915, Quasi-Quarantine: Stars Hollow Comes To Raleigh

 

A recent gift-giving opportunity allowed me to present a Hallmark puzzle to a long-time "Gilmore Girls" aficanado.

The 1,000-piece puzzle was just challenging enough, allowing for the various locations from the TV show to be built as a collection of mini-puzzles. From Luke's Diner to the Dragonfly Inn to Lorelai's house and more, the pieces were colorful and vibrant.

Measuring 24" W x 30" H, this puzzle was charming and nostalgic, even for those who struggled to follow the fast-talking Gilmores.

8.6/10, would construct with a "Gilmore Girls" fan again