February 9, 2022

Something Good #54: A Short Update

Briefly:

It continues to be 2022. Things keep happening: dumb things, dismaying things, but also, occasionally, nice and good things.

I have been busy. Busy with my newish job at Compulsion Games, with finishing the edit of the feature film I have been working on for eight years, You Can Live Forever, with the intermittent and surprising school closings that occur, when, say, half your daughter’s kindergarten class is out with COVID. I also somehow put it on myself to organize my huge archive of digital photographs1 and sort through about 1,000 old photo negatives, which I have sent off to be scanned.

So while I have some exciting newsletter projects in the works, I’m going to keep it simple this week.

Here are some things I have enjoyed lately:

The book Pet Shop Boys, Literally by Chris Heath, first recommended by Cadence Weapon in his newsletter. The author followed the group on their first tour, of Hong Kong and Japan, and the book reads like an endless 1980s magazine article; in other words, it’s perfect. (The intentional lack of a dust jacket for this hardcover edition is an added bonus.)

Afterglow, a book of photos from one of my favourite Instagram follows, Argentine photographer Maxi Magnano, aka @suffer_rosa. Beautifully illuminated, largely uninhabited images of my favourite kinds of urban spaces. Love this work and was very happy when a book was announced; I jumped on the chance to order it from the publisher in Barcelona.

This letter at Ask a Manager (aka my favourite advice column), in which a classic “unreliable narrator” is calmly, systematically—and somehow, kindly—dismantled.

All of the videos and singles from the new Mitski album Laurel Hell, but this one in particular:

What have you been enjoying? Tell me. Sound off in the comments or reply to this email or whatever.

I owe some of you a zine. Truth is, I’m out and I need to print a bunch of new ones. Which means: I will have a bunch more. Want a zine yourself? Send me an email (and a #nojacketsrequired if you can) and I will send you one for free.

This week’s #nojacketsrequired comes via Linda Yu; I dig the “old library book” vibe of the “denuded,” as Linda put it, edition. Is it fancy? No. But I prefer it to the dust jacket, which reminds me somehow of an AirBnB.

Send me your finds and receive a free zine (as per above).

Bonus track:

Every once in a while, but not on a weekly basis for at least a few months, I will send you Something Good. If you liked what you read, please tell a friend or subscribe below:

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