Five Bullets 11.18.22
This week: Hiking, NASA, Marukami & more
Hello and welcome back to Circles In Space for Five Bullet Friday, where each Friday I share some interesting stuff I collected during the week.
“In the bottom of the first inning, Hilton slammed Sotokoba’s first pitch into left field for a clean double. The satisfying crack when the bat met the ball resounded throughout Jingu Stadium. Scattered applause rose around me. In that instant, for no reason and on no grounds whatsoever, the thought suddenly struck me: I think I can write a novel.”
-Haruki Murakami on the moment he became a novelist while attending a baseball game.
On to this week’s topics:
Yesterday was National Take a Hike Day. The above photo was taken in November 2003 from the Breakneck Ridge trail, one of my favorite hikes in New York’s Hudson Highlands State Park. At the time, I was involved in a high school hiking group, which introduced me to the natural beauty of the Hudson Valley, Catskills and Adirondacks. [Fun fact: At 6 million acres, Adirondack State Park is the largest park in the continental U.S. and three times bigger than Yellowstone National Park.] I’ve been an avid hiker since and still enjoy the solitude, clarity and rejuvenation that walking in nature - parks, woods, beaches, rivers, hills or mountains - brings to my body, mind, and spirit. Get out there and take a hike this weekend!
On Wednesday, NASA launched Artemis I on a mission to the moon, 50 years after the Apollo program. Artemis will allow NASA to test the Orion spacecraft which will orbit the moon before returning to Earth. NASA plans to begin crewed missions to the moon by 2025 with the goal of establishing a basecamp which will serve as a staging platform for future Mars missions.
New York City will soon have a soccer stadium. Unveiled this week by Mayor Adams, the stadium will be built in Willets Point, Queens, located near Citifield and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park’s Tennis Center. The New York Football Club will build the stadium and lease the land from the city. Plans also include a hotel and 2,500 units of affordable housing, the most built in the city since the 1970s.
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is a 2008 film adaptation of Winifred Watson’s novel. A down-on-her-luck governess, Miss Pettigrew (Frances McDormand) becomes singer-actor Delysia Lafosse’s (Amy Adams) social secretary for a day. The entertaining cast and fast-paced plot make for a well-balanced mix of humor and romance set in 1930s London at the outset of World War Two.
Bestselling Japanese author Haruki Marukami (Kafka on the Shore, Norwegian Wood) has a new book out: Novelist as a Vocation. I enjoyed this interview with the author as discusses his favorite books, authors and writing process. Marukami is also an avid runner and vinyl collector - he wrote his first novel while operating a coffeeshop/jazz bar.
Got something to share? Leave me a comment! I’m always on the lookout for something new to dive into.
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That's all for this week! As always, thanks for reading and have a great weekend!
Until next time,
KW