good (kitchen) couch

sundaaaaays

only have one day off this week and i am FULLY taking advantage of it, as in, i am still in bed at 1:41pm and watching the knicks game (half time show featuring christmas rockettes, no complaints). about to write some thank you notes but in the meantime i’m catching up on laura olin newsletters (this is p cool). some things:

• watched the mr. scorsese mini-series, it was great. a lot of thoughts but mostly just cool to see how time CAN soften you (personally at least). also prompted watching casino for the first time.
• did i say how nice thanksgiving was? it was so nice. my dessert order for the big day was a bit of a fail but whatever. loved seeing everyone, loved watching christmas movies, loved seeing wicked: for good at the alamo with the merrimans, loved eating banana pudding during the movie, loved watching mulholland drive with john and nancy, loved hanging with the merriman-wus on sunday morning. all loved. the hotel was actually kind of good for me!
• decorating a REAL christmas tree — what a pleasure. next up: NOG

cy

Cy Twombly, Some Trees of Italy, 1974, courtesy of Laura Olin

important update on ken burns

ok hot tip i’m driving to austin and ~LISTENING~ to ken burns’s american revolution and it’s thrilling and depressing and inspiring and dispiriting and just a reminder that even geniuses are a mix of incredible and horrible and that every single thing is so complex and fucked up, even the good things. building this (dream?) republic based on (theoretical) equality is so revolutionary but the native americans and black people get absolutely effed in every way. but anyway i was honestly thinking I want to go on an am rev tour some day [any takers?] and thomas paine is kind of my new hero. MORE TO COME

who am i kidding

watching ken burns’s american revolution and a) I keep accidentally immediately falling asleep and b) sadly i’m 85% sure I’d have been a loyalist

constant mood

a 12!

from The NY Times:

After the meeting, [Donald] Trump called Xi a “tough negotiator.” Still, Trump seemed to be happy with the outcome. On a scale of one to 10, he said he would rate his meeting with Xi a 12.

this can’t be true

watched alfred hitchcock’s rope this weekend and thought i saw there was a commentary for it but couldn’t find it, so ended up reading all the amazon “x-ray notes” (!) that accompany the film and noticed this one — could this be true?!?! gagged and dragged off the soundstage!

everyone just disappears

still cleaning out my photos — hence the plethora of new posts — and found this bit from anderson cooper. it’s exactly what i’m struggling with:

On processing the past: “I’m the last one left from this sort of interesting family that existed,” he said. “I just find it sort of haunting this idea that everyone just disappears.”

you have everything

another old screenshot from my photos — a good reminder from “After A.L.S. Diagnosis, Rebecca Luker Is ‘Proud I Can Still Sing’”:

How has living with A.L.S. changed your outlook on life?
I want to tell everyone how lucky they are. I tell my friends that they can talk to me about their problems, but just to always be aware that if you can walk down the street and you’re healthy, you have everything. I’m never going to complain again.