The Matchbook | 5.20.22

Little Bits Of Light

Welcome to The Matchbook. Another little thing I’ll do from time to time, maybe weekly if I feel energetic enough, in which I’ll just send you all a few things that have been lighting my own proverbial fire as of late. Might be links to articles I read and loved, books I’m reading, songs I’ve found, movies watched, news that struck my fancy, who knows. It’ll just be a little curated list of things that lit me up, either for a good warm glow, an angry fire, or anything else in between. Why the hell not. You all deserve it.

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Here we go, a random list of random things that I found, loved, and wanted to share:

1. The Mannal House off the coast of Scotland. I’m not huge into architecture or anything like that, but this house makes me FEEL things. I would give up a lot of things to have this house, in this place, and look at That view every day.

   

2. Weather by Jenny Offill - One of the stranger books I’ve read in a while, such weird pacing, such weird style, but it hooked me in, and the truths spilled out in such random ways are beautiful. Sometimes books just feel important. This is that.

3. Take It With Me by Tom Waits - This song stings. Tears your damn heart out and steps on it, then makes you want to hug it for doing so. What a beautiful piece of music, from such a strange, gravel voiced troubadour.

4. 103 Pieces of Advice I Wish I Had Known - Great bites of wisdom here from a great writer. Worth goin through the whole damn list. A favorite: “Aim to die broke. Give to your beneficiaries before you die; it’s more fun and useful. Spend it all. Your last check should go to the funeral home and it should bounce.”

5. 7 Hours Of Sleep Is Ideal Amount - Thank goodness for this. I cannot count how many times I stressed about not getting the 8 hours I thought I was supposed to be getting. Great research in here.

6. How America Reached One Million Covid Deaths - A sobering read, no matter what your beliefs are about this pandemic, no matter your political stance, one million people that were here in 2019 are now gone, and that his haunting. This is an intense, but important read from the New York Times.

7. Framed - Think Wordle, but for screenshots from movies. You get 6 tries, increasingly getting easier, to decipher what movie is being displayed. I weirdly ROCK at this game.

In the immortal words of Matt McConaughey, ‘alright alright alright,’ that bout wraps it up for this week. Hope you dig what I dug, and hope you dig this new idea. Always trying to make this a richer place for you all.