Bird Mail 025
Brutal Distance
Austin, TX
March, 2020
Hello Birders,
I’m writing you a full week earlier than normal, but that’s because Bird Mail is shifting to a weekly letter from me, at least for now. I think we could all benefit from some more delight in our inboxes these days, thus, more Bird Mail for you all. To those of you who filled out my survey in the last issue, thank you. If you haven’t yet, it is still open and I’d love to get your feedback. If Bird Mail is landing in your inbox too often, has grown to be too much of a burden, or you simply never want to read my writing again, it’s cool, the unsubscribe link is at the bottom. If you’d like to stay, onward to the issue!
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It is a modern affliction to feel like one is drowning in great media to watch the moment you sit down in front of the TV. Of late though, Bird and I have taken to watching movies from the 1950s and the running theme in them has been female leads that are brilliant and easily outshine their male counterparts. We started a while back with His Girl Friday and most recently watched To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. After the movie, Bird and I were looking into Grace Kelly and we learned about her withdrawal from film acting after her marriage to the Prince of Monaco. What I didn’t learn until a week or so later is that Grace Kelly and Alec Guinness had a practical joke war that lasted until her death.
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If you feel like you’ve exhausted your usual set of focus playlists over the past few weeks and you need something new to play in the background, I recommend this two hour piano set by Jason Lux. You can also try the mixes of My Analog Journal, though not all of them are winners for working background music. If you’re looking for a creative outlet, try making some single page ‘zines with Austin Kleon like this wonderful ode to our beloved H-E-B. And if you just need a laugh, this permutation of Jolene is appropriate for our collective situation.
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Reader Stephanie sent me this fantastic piece about two cyclists going different directions and their chance encounter in the desert of Kazakhstan. Without ruining things, the story is told by bouncing between the fun-house-mirrored narratives of Leon on Noel—yes their names were palindromes—to a rather unexpected finish. I’m not quite sure if it was the satisfying ending I was hoping for, but it’s a great story nonetheless.
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Given we’re all stuck and home, cooking and drinking more, and obviously documenting all of it for the rest of the internet to commiserate on our quarantinis and sourdough concoctions, it’s probably a good time to flip through Helen Rosner’s guide to better food/drink photography and put it to good use.
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If you’ve ever wondered why they’re called Triscuits, prepare for an electrifying ride.
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If for some reason, you feel like you’ve watched all the Tiger King you can handle and have exhausted the rest of what Netflix has to offer, you could always take on the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe but in the proper order.
- I’ve been going aaaaaaall the way back into my Instapaper backlog and I came across something I saved back in 2015 that speaks to our forced simpler needs. I particularly like the jest at calling oneself a minimalist—a thing I long aspired to be but have recently realized may not really be for me.
If you found something you enjoyed in this issue of Bird Mail and know someone who could use a little delight in their inbox right now, why not forward it on to them so they can join the club.
Until next week,
Bruce