Five Bullets 1.24.25
Garth Hudson, Mensun Bound, Frederic Tuten & more.
Good Morning and Happy New Year!
It’s a cool and cloudless morning here in New York City.
Earlier this week I posted an update on the zine I keep promising but haven’t delivered on yet. I’ve started working on it, pulling together bullets from this newsletter as well as essential Circles In Space reading, listening and viewing, plus some other fun stuff. Head over to the blog to get a glimpse at the process and to add your suggestions.
Here’s five bullets which captured my attention this week:
Art: Painter Frederic Tuten on how to keep going and stay motivated: “I wake up in the morning, have coffee and write. After that I go to my easel and paint. It’s a rhythm that keeps me feeling alive. It eliminates any notion of age. You’re not old, you’re not young, you’re in the moment.”
Books: I’m reading Mensun Bound’s The Ship Beneath The Ice written during the expeditions which located Ernest Shackleton’s shipwreck Endurance. The book is a compilation of journal entries, notes and research with insights into maritime archaeology, arctic exploration and environmentalism. Bound consulted and studied diaries written by Shackleton and his crew and has a robust understanding of the challenges they faced.
Music: Garth Hudson, last surviving member of The Band, died this week at age 87. This behind-the-music look at Up On Cripple Creek demonstrates how Hudson was an integral part of the band’s chemistry. Hudson also recorded and engineered The Basement Tapes. Hudson revisited Big Pink some years back. Thanks for the music, Garth.
Science: Seven planets will be visible in our night sky over the next few weeks. Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune can now be seen now plus Mercury will be visible in February. The planets are orbiting on the same side of the sun in the same area of our sky allowing Earthlings to see their alignment in the night sky, though you’ll need a telescope to view the more distant planets.
TV: Are We Living in a Dystopia? “One of the perverse pleasures of a dystopia is that we identify with its truth-seeking inhabitants as they try to find out who ruined their world—and, at the same time, we sense that we probably did.” Daniel A. Gross explores the rise of dystopian fiction and television using Silo as an example.
That’s all for this week! I really enjoy writing this newsletter. I get to explore my interests, learn more, and share it with you. Get five bullets in your inbox every Friday.
Have a great weekend,
Keith.
Cool pic!