Sunrise

There was a very nice sunrise on the way to work yesterday morning. 

2024 Reads

 

I was thinking over the books I read in 2024 which I posted yesterday.

Some of my favorite reads of last year...

The Marches by Rory Stewart: Poignant and fascinating look at a walk across England.

Montmarte - Paris's Village of Art and Sin by John Baxter. Baxter is always a fun, entertaining read.

Bewilderment by Richard Powers. Powers work is stunning and at the time I found it highly relatable. 

The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian. The Aubrey-Maturin series is always great.

Green Earth by Kim Stanley Robinson. A re-working and compilation of Robinson's Science in the Capital Trilogy. I found this work fascinating and timely.

Where'd You Park Your Spaceship? Book One, Welcome to Firdus by Rob Bell. The most pleasant surprise of the lot. A powerful and funny read. I'm currently reading Book Two of the series.

Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson. Excellent fiction about pre-historic humans. A surprising page turner. 

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. LeGuin. I found this work heart wrenching and at the end, hopeful.

Books Read in 2024

 

Fellowship

Just finished re-reading The Fellowship of the Ring. So good. The movies, as great as they are, pale in comparison. They almost seem like a cliff notes version compared to the depth of story telling in the books. That's true of most movie adaptations of great works. And the movies are great! But nothing tops reading the story in book form in this case.

Place Setting

 Yeah, why my place at the table? 

No Name

Rounding out my top 3 favorite albums of 2024 was Jack White’s surprise release, No Name. 

No Name was not announced in advance of its release. Shoppers at Jack White’s Third Man Records one day in July found unlabeled white vinyl LPs slipped into their shopping bags without explanation.  

Word quickly spread and soon fans were encouraged to rip the album wherever they could. I found one on Reddit. Then it was announced a small number of now labeled records of No Name would be released to select record stores around the country. Alas, I still have yet to procure a vinyl copy as the two or three record stores I frequent sell out as soon as they get it. 

But eventually No Name was released on streaming platforms. And it is fantastic. Old school rock and roll that shakes the roof. I’m happy to say I got tickets to Jack’s show in May in Dallas. Can’t wait. 

And honestly, I had a lot of fun searching out the music, zipping it over to mp3 files to float over to my iTunes. I even had to upload fan created album art, just like the old days. Things are almost too easy these days. Suffice it to say, this album rocks and rocks hard. 

Dylan Movie

I was dubious about the new Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown. But it was pretty good. 

(Photo: taken outside the concert venue where we saw Dylan live in March 2022.) 

Another snow day

 Another snow day so time for some LOTR

Snow Day

 Current road conditions in North Texas. No school today! 

18!

 

Ever Was

My second favorite album that came out in 2024 was As It Ever Was So It Will Be Again by The Decemberists. My wife and I actually saw The Decemberists in concert six weeks before the album was released so we heard many of these songs live first. This is an excellent record. It was finally released while I was in Kansas City for a couple of weeks. I remember the first listen as I drove through my old neighborhoods. 

Freewheelin’

Today would have been my Dad's 73rd birthday. I visited his grave yesterday and shared a Mexican Coke with him. I also thought the occasion was a good excuse to buy a record in his honor. So I bought one of his (and mine) favorite artist's most famous albums. 

By the way, I finally replaced my speaker wires this week. When setting up my turntable a few months ago I had cannibalized some old cheap wire from a portable stereo system on hand. A few days ago I replaced these cheap wires with some 16 gauge wire and let me tell you, the difference was immediate. Amazing the difference in sound quality!

Steak

Went to get fine steak for the boy’s 18th birthday. Lately he wants that rather than presents. 

 

Nomad

I finally got around to watching Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin. This documentary film was directed and stars Werner Herzog as he traces the life journey of his friend and sometimes collaborator, Bruce Chatwin. 

The film is a spiritual exercise in the pursuit of nomadism. Werner Herzog always provides gravitas whenever he is on camera. Seeing him with Chatwin’s rucksack, a gift Chatwin gave to Herzog near the end of Chatwin’s life is extraordinary. 

I’ve been a fan of Bruce Chatwin for a long time. I used his Songlines as one of the sources for a paper I wrote in grad school about the historic conflict between the sedentary and nomadic peoples of history. 

I’ve re-read Songlines, Why Am I Here and Patagonia several times each. Chatwin’s life is always a good reminder to go outside, walk about, travel and see the adventure in life. I write in a Chatwin inspired moleskine notebook every day. 

The film is enigmatic and mercurial much like the subject. It is a nice, reflective piece of art and I enjoyed it very much. 

Stars

Stars game last night vs the Senators. Stars win 4-2! 

 

Top Albums of 2024, part one

Some of my favorite artists released new records in 2024. Surprisingly, this was my favorite of 2024. I’ve alway liked JD McPherson. There’s not a bad album in his discography. But Nite Owls took things up a notch. This isn’t just his best album, it’s one of my favorite albums of the past twenty years. 

2025

Happy New Year from the staff of The Internet Lounge. We went over to a friend’s house and played board games and ate brisket nachos to ring in the new year. 

Looking forward to 2025 despite the looming fascism. It will be an eventful year as my son graduates from high school and heads off to college. This blog started off before he was born and in the early days, chronicled his arrival. 

My daughter started high school in 2024 in great fashion and seems to have found her place there. My wife will possibly enter her final year of public education in the fall. We shall see! 

I will continue to write nonsense that no one reads. But again, this blog has simply turned into another way for me to pay attention to the world around me and make note of it. My resolution is to surpass 2024’s record output and hit 251 posts this year. That’s a lot. Again, we shall see!