#3
It is Friday and here are some thoughts on the content I’ve been consuming (books, articles, movies, sports, music, podcasts, food, beer, etc.). This is partially a social experiment to get people to share their ideas with me, so please do get in touch. I’m available via comment/text/email/tweet/phone call/carrier pigeon.
What I’m reading
It’s Walt Whitman’s 200th birthday! In his honor I picked up a copy of Song of Myself at a small bookstore close to my apartment. I’ve always enjoyed Whitman’s poetry and appreciated his writing. I like to contemplate his writing especially in the context of when it was written. Even as he watched the country descend into civil war, and his city assimilated multitudes from around the world, Whitman appealed to a higher ideal for the country and for ourselves. Surely something we can all contemplate today, which speaks to the timelessness of his work.
If you’re not looking to read (or re-read) Leaves of Grass, I highly recommend this piece from the New Yorker, Revisiting the Streets that Spawned Walt Whitman’s Masterpiece by Paul Berman (1995). I enjoyed it because a lot of the streets and places mentioned are familiar, but have greatly changed since it was written. Riding my scooter past many buildings mentioned in the piece, on my way to Williamsburg or Sunset Park for various jobs, I reflect on what buildings were still there and which new buildings were going up. Who lived there? How did they end up there? How much was their rent? Were Walt Whitman walking here today he’d probably recognize the street names, but little else. In Brooklyn things change quickly, but change doesn’t come or go quietly, and we hold on to some small parts of our past.
If reading isn’t your thing it is worth watching these two Walt Whitman-centric clips from the Ric & Ken Burns PBS documentaries. Mostly because they cover my two favorite things: New York City and Baseball.
What I’m listening to
Let me start by quoting the immortal Abe Simpson, “I am NOT a crackpot!”
That being said, I’ve been listening to podcasts about UFOs. It seems that our culture becomes fascinated with UFOs, extraterrestrials, and space about every 10 years. When I was a kid in the mid-90s I loved all UFO and alien content I could consume. I never missed the X-Files, I’d watch any History Channel show about UFO sightings, and wore out VHS copies of Aliens (1986) and Independence Day (1996). As I got older I lost interest. It all seemed juvenile and with the advent of high definition cameras, advanced infrared technology, and cell phones the skeptic in me took over. It became harder to believe that “the truth” was really “out there”…
…until recently! The New York Times has run several stories on it’s front page about Navy pilots that cannot stop seeing UFOs. There is HD infrared footage of these things! They even had to invent a new military protocol to allow pilots to report on sightings. Harry Reid made it a Department of Defense line item to investigate UFOs with the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification program.
Of course the skeptics will point to logical conclusions. They are likely very advanced drones or part of some kind of military experiment, but come on…that’s no fun. Also, it’d be one thing if this were being reported by the National Enquirer or TMZ, but this is front page news for papers of record like the New York Times and Washington Post.
You can’t help but wonder if this were reported on at any other time in our history, that it would be all everyone would be talking about. I think Kumail Nanjiani summarized this feeling best:
Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, or somewhere in between, I’ve got two podcast recommendations. The Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast ran a story late last year about ‘Oumuamua, the first interstellar object we’ve observed in our solar system. Astronomers have speculated that it could be anything from an asteroid or comet, to a recon device or alien spacecraft. Whatever it may be, the Stuff to Blow Your Mind guys do a pretty good job of summarizing the facts as we know them about this extra-solar traveler.
Oumuamua II: Revenge of the First Messenger
If you’re more into a spooky, controversial, but entertaining story the Last Podcast on the Left ran an episode about an incident in Rendlesham Forest, England in 1980. They play audio recorded by American servicemen documenting multiple UFOs, discuss multiple sightings around military bases, and why the Rendlesham incident is one of the more compelling encounters in recent history.
Episode 366: Rendlesham Forest Part 1 - I’m the Alien
With me, it’s either “I WANT TO BELIEVE” or “Ya GOTTA BELIEVE.” I see no rational alternatives to life.
If you’d like to see me at something, this is…
What I’m plugging
What Made _____ Laugh & TV Dinner – Thursday, June 6th – I work these shows every week. The first show is fun and is $7. The second show is free and well worth the price of admission…$0
The Postmen: Greatest Hits, vol 1 @ Littlefield - Tuesday, June 11th - Matt Barats, Carmen Christopher, and Anthony Oberbeck are among the funniest comedians I’ve had the opportunity to work with and will be performing their greatest hits at Littlefield. Their sketches are original and insane. Also Annie “the Queen” Donley is opening for them….not to be missed.
Bonus Content: Anthony and Matt’s short film Farside is a great preview of the show and one of my all time favorite sketches.
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