Five Bullets 6.28.24
Cloning, The Haunting, Fallout & more
Good Morning & Happy Friday!
After a few weeks of very warm weather, it’s a cool 65°F here in New York City this morning with the high expected to be just short of 80° today.
Is there anything better than free books? This week I was gifted books (thanks V!) and also found several books including those pictured above. As it happens, I’ve got a ton of books on my ‘To Read’ shelf already and this week I found myself working through three at a time!
What are you reading, hearing and seeing this week? What’s on your ‘To Read’ shelf? What small treasures did you find on a recent walk?
Bullets this week:
Article: Would You Clone Your Dog? Since 2005, two thousand dogs have been cloned for owners hoping to replace their deceased pets. What are the issues with cloning a pet? Is it the ‘same’ pet? Alexandra Horowitz covers the ethically murky world of dog cloning with cloned-pet owners, the science behind it, and the companies profiting from it.
“Our attitude toward dogs is that they are members of our families. They share our sofas and beds; we throw them birthday parties and dress them in sweaters. But, for each special, beloved dog that is cloned, two non-special, nameless dogs must be operated on, giving up their eggs or womb.”
Movies: This week I wrote about revisiting The Haunting (1999), being disappointed by it, and then reading Shirley Jackson’s The Haunting of Hill House, which Stephen King named ‘one of the best horror novels of the 20th century’.
NYC: The New York Historical Society recently reminded me of one of my favorite New York City facts: Opening in May 1930, the Chrysler building was, for a short time, the tallest building in the world. A shining example of the art-deco era, Chrysler building workers managed to construct the building’s spire within the building itself, hoisting it into place overnight, taking their ‘opponents’ by surprise. One year later the Empire State Building won out as tallest building.
TV: Fallout, Amazon’s series based on the popular video game series, is a wild ride through the radiated Wasteland. Lucy, a vault dweller, ventures to the surface to find her father who was taken by Moldaver, the leader of a surface faction which infiltrated the vault. As Lucy navigates the Wasteland, viewers are treated to a western meets monster/zombie story while uncovering what really happened during the nuclear apocalypse 200 year ago. This series had me itching to learn the secret backstory while laughing at the hilariously dangerous Wasteland inhabitants.
Writing: Fran Lebowitz spoke about some of her favorite letters in the Morgan Library & Museum. Lebowitz said that reading the letters of great writers, including Oscar Wilde and Mark Twain, offer a chance to be closer to the writer, a chance to get inside their head a bit while they worked on their great pieces. I was reminded of diaries, letters, and essays I’ve read by writers and artists, including Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet which offers some of Rilke’s deepest insights into art, poetry and life while writing to a would-be poet. [Also, I’ve got to check out the Morgan!]
That’s all for this week! I sure love getting this weekly list together. It gives me something to work on, to indulge my interests, learn more and share it with you. If you enjoyed this newsletter please consider subscribing to get Five Bullets in your inbox every Friday.
I'm about to re-read "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. This might be the third or fourth time.
Free books are the best! Letters to a Young Poet is a book that I reread every year-a profound and beautiful exploration into what it is to be an artist, writer, and human.