It’s hot! Brooklyn is blazing right now and I am baking in this atmospheric energy. Fortunately I have enjoyed ample time off and have ensconced to cooler climes frequently over the past month. Our annual Taylor convention in Maine is always a highlight and while our general itinerary is the same; great company of siblings, parents, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles and cousins, fantastic food, boating, fishing, island camping in Casco Bay, hiking in Acadia and relaxing at the cabin, we somehow manage to improve it every year and enjoy it even more as the nine cousins rise in age. We have camped in Chester, VT and Warwick, NY, taking advantage of life by a lake and a pond, as well as life by a pool and Fire Island beaches in Bellport. We are halfway through July and have more recreation on the horizon with camping and cabin escapades in The Catskills and Lake George and a return to Europe with pan-France overland journey from Barcelona to Dorset, England visiting every Buckland!
I’ve watched (and re-watched) some great cinema, sports and music, plus read some books and enjoyed a few nice restaurants recently:
Dirty Dancing (1987) – A young woman coming of age and breaking down social hierarchies in the 1960’s at a family resort in the Catskills.
Clue (1985) – We enjoy playing this game as a family and the movie is a campy and fun whodunnit romp with a clever ending.
The Mighty Ducks (1992) – a classic from my youth that we shared with the kids featuring a ragtag bunch of hockey kids falling under the reluctant leadership of a selfish lawyer who finds a heart and discovers the true joy of the game.
Inside Out 2 – another youth hockey film about the inner emotional strife of a teen girl coping with social dynamics and competition.
IF – Imaginary Friend; a girl confronts her anxiety and depression with the help of her imagination and the forgotten creations of other kids who grew out of their IFs; reminded me of my old pal, Nunu.
The Hit Man – Richard Linklater relates the story of a mild-mannered Philosophy professor who runs a side-hustle for the police investigating murder-for-hire cases as a fake hit man.
Challengers – Two young, talented and driven tennis players compete for the affection of a superstar in the making, spanning careers that unravel in different directions and culminating in a hyper-tense match where the past crashes into the present. Excellent and propulsive analog synth score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross.
The Bear Season 3 – A Chef inherits his brother’s sandwich shop and transforms it, through great sacrifice and with the help of family and friends, into a fine dining experience seeking the recognition of a Michelin star. The food preparation alternates between sublimely inspiring and oppressively terrifying.
Haenyeo – A Korean restaurant in Park Slope that serves phenomenally tasty food, including the memorable Dukboki Fundido rice cakes in spicy sauce with Oaxaca cheese and chorizo
Tokyo Record Bar – a super-hip spot in the West Village featuring Japanese food and sake with a vinyl DJ playing diners’ requests.
Wilco at The Beacon Theater- a wonderful band responsible for some of the best indie-folk-alt-country noise of the past 30 years and still joyfully playing together and writing new material.
Mdou Moctar at The Bowery Ballroom – a group from Niger in West Africa and their take on desert blues with entrancing and hypnotic grooves punctuated by shredding guitar.
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton – I read the book (1967), watched the movie (1983) and saw the musical (2024), all of which express the perpetual angst and alienation of youth.
Suffs – A wonderful new musical by Shaina Taub recounting the history of the Women’s suffrage movement which, unbelievably, happened only a century ago.
European Championship – a fun month of quadrennial international competition, culminating in Spain breaking England’s heart with a dramatic victory in the final.
NBA Championship – The Celtics have been a good-not-great team for the last five years, but finally got over the hump and burned through the playoffs with a 16-3 record to earn the title and raise Banner 18!
Anaximander, The Order of Time, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Reality Is Not What It Seems- Four books by the Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli, written in beautiful prose and describing the ultimate state of Nature and our quest for understanding.
Contact by Carl Sagan – One of my favorite movies (1997) but the book is deeper and richer, imagining a message from deep space being received on Earth with the blueprints for a mysterious machine. Combining science and theology as opposing doctrines and intertwined visions of reality, the journey extends from the inner, metaphysical sense of self, to the infinite vastness of the cosmos.