Last Saturday I went to my first NYE party since the Before Times, and rang in the new year surrounded by some of my favorite people, magnificently drunk. It was rowdy and it was perfect.
The next morning, I didn’t even feel hungover. That was probably due to my body having vigorously expelled, multiple times, all the alcohol I’d consumed sometime after the ball dropped at midnight. So I awoke a tad dehydrated, but that was the worst of it. We went to a New Year’s lunch with my folks, then headed back to Columbus in the mid-afternoon. I was so pleased with myself for having survived NYE no worse for wear.
Oh, such hubris.
That evening, I began experiencing some greater-than-usual congestion in my sinuses and felt very, very tired. By the next morning I was in the throes of what was to become a full-fledged ear and sinus infection, as a doctor would inform me a few days later.
I’m feeling much better now, thanks to a robust regime of medicines and one powerful antibiotic. Of course, now Jess is sick…
So: that’s how I’ve spent my first week of 2023. Honestly, I’ve had worse. Let’s see what week two brings.
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Here’s what I’ve been up to.
Watching:
When you’re sick, what better way is there to relax and rest than to binge a bleak, tense British crime drama like THE FALL? Well, there are probably other, better ways, but this one at least made my time on the couch pass quickly. The first two seasons of THE FALL were excellent… like holy shit good. The third, not as much, but was still really good. I would love to see a series, done ORPHAN BLACK-style, where Gillian Anderson’s cool, chic Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson teams up with FBI Agent Dana Scully to solve some creepy-ass murders in, I dunno, the Scottish Highlands or somewhere.
If, like me, you have a more than passing interest in filmmaking, this video examining Steven Spielberg’s use of long, continuous shots is a fun watch.
My personal favorite Spielberg oner – which looks like it should be pronounced “oh-ner,” and not “one-er” – is the ferry scene from JAWS. It’s so subtle that you barely notice it’s happening, and it keeps the scene moving beautifully.
Reading:
Finished my first book of 2023: THE PRICE OF SALT, or CAROL, by Patricia Highsmith. Read this on recommendation from my dear comrade Kat, and consumed it in two days. A novel of a romance between two women in the 1950’s United States, an era that was, uh, not exactly known for being progressive about such relationships. It was adapted into a film in 2015 as CAROL, with Cate Blanchett starring in the title role. I’ve yet to see the film, but Blanchett seems so perfectly cast as Carol that, as I was reading the book, it felt as though Highsmith had somehow had Blanchett in mind during the writing process, even though it was sixty-five years earlier. I definitely need to track down a copy of the film.
Listening:
Back on my Chumbawamba bullshit, this time listening to ANARCHY. The lyrics to “Give The Anarchist A Cigarette,” in particular, possess the kind of energy I’d like to carry with me into 2023:
Nothing ever burns down by itself, every fire needs a little bit of help
And Kirby:
Such a goof.
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