Senses working overtime #489

 1 Quote of the week

Nature is merciful, and does not try her children, man or beast, beyond their compass. It is only when the cruelty of man intervenes that hellish torments appear. For the rest - live dangerously; take things as they are; dread naught; all will be well.

Winston Churchill


2 Reading: Dr. Brené Brown's The Gifts of Imperfection

3 Watching: The Rookie (season 1)

4 Reading: Anne Tyler's Morgan's Passing

5 Listening: WTWMC - Beasties

First week is done and dusted.  

Overtime: 

None of us own anything. Everything is constantly in flux. What we have today may be gone tomorrow—we ourselves may be gone tomorrow. Understand that. Appreciate everything accordingly. Be grateful and humble...or life will rebuke you.

Ryan Holiday

Senses working overtime #277

 1 An Earth Gone Mad

2 Tulsa turnaround

Great article from the BBC on that failed Tulsa Trump rally.

3 Bees

A man whose arms and shoulders and hands and face and ears are covered with bees says, I’ve never known such pain. Another man comes over with bees all over his hands— only bees can get the other bees off. The first man says again, I’ve never known such pain. The second man’s bees begin to pluck the first grave yellow bees off, one by one. Jean Valentine (1997)

4 Churchill's speeches as free verse

5 Poor Melania Trump.

Married to that guy.

Overtime: Rest in peace Sir Ken Robinson

Senses working overtime #259

1 A Tale Of Two Cities

Like a lot of us I've been working from home (full tilt too as it happens) and I mistakenly thought that would give me an opportunity to read more of A Tale Of Two Cities but that time was swallowed up by urgent and important school stuff. So I'm slowly edging forward - right now on page 241 (of 307 in this edition).

It's grim - Paris in the revolution was no picnic! But I am loving the language and the removal to a traumatic time in the past as an antidote to the traumatic times of the present.

Although, it's ANZAC day in NZ and Australia today - a day to remember another traumatic time in our past. 

Interesting species aren't we?

2 Poetry corner (returns)

Ha, This One's About Insomnia Too My bed is a godless church yet I still pray there every night.  Am I a fool? I can almost hear other worshippers in their far- off corners, the small breath of their hands unclasping. Ariel Francisco (2020)

3 Poetry

Wondering rather than knowing.

4 Austin's zines

I love Austin Kleon's newsletters - always filled with great creativity. I urge you to check out his zines.

5 Sweet Baby James

The music of James Taylor is a great salve for these times. 

Overtime: 

Senses working overtime #233

1 Aaarrrggghhhhhh!!!

Photo by Fred Moon on Unsplash

The nightmare goes on, and on, and on...

2 Deepfake


James Whatley alerted me to this extraordinary video as Jim Meskimen partnered with deepfake artist Sham00k to make his celebrity impression. More about the process here.

3 It's complicated - Seth Godin

If we only forward the easy, short and funny things we read online, why are we surprised that our inbox is filled with nothing we’ll remember tomorrow?

What would happened if instead, we shared the most complex, useful and thoughtful things we discovered instead

4 Never give in!

5 Living With Yourself 
We're enjoying Paul Rudd's show on Netflix.




Overtime: Small Faces
Combination of still reading Andrew Loog Oldham's 2Stoned and listening to my The Biggest Small Faces album on the Immediate label results in this clip of the amazing Steve Marriott in action:

Senses working overtime #136

1 The 'umble sandwich exalted

The Guardian do the honours - mines a tuna bagette thanks.

2 Man paints bridge

Great human interest story about Brian Russell, a guy who works on the Golden Gate Bridge in SF.

3 Darkest hour

I started to skim but quickly settled in to read the whole damned thing. Oddly compelling and fascinating. But I do have a thing for Winston Churchill and how he saved us all, so I guess it was inevitable.

4 Infinity War

New Avengers movie and the promo is full of promise. Stay with it to the end too - I smiled!

5 Twenty-six words we don't want to lose

Great article from The Guardian (where else?) on some spectacular words that I need to drop into the conversation. Frinstance: I'm especially looking forward to some frowst this Sunday morning!

Overtime: And so this is Christmas

Great antidote to all that saccharine piped Christmas muzak in department stores as November turns to December (first day of summer in Nu Zild) - both this article and Vince Guaraldi’s cool jazz.