Things We Love
No, I'm not including Kat and the cats, nor family and dear friends. Those all go without saying.
1. The staircase fencing battle between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in The Adventures of Robin Hood..
2. David Schow's short story "Monster Movies."
3. Lewis Shiner's novel Glimpses, which along with Lewis Shiner's novel Say Goodbye says nearly all that needs to be said about why I love rock and roll.
4. The moment at the start of a roleplaying-game session where we leave the phenomenal world and enter the sublime.
5. The last two or three pages of The Great Gatsby.
6. Lou Reed singing "Anyone who ever had a heart" in the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane."
7. Osekihan onigiri from the train-station sushi restaurant in Matsubaradanchi, Japan -- all crunchy adzuki, smoky black sesame, sharp salt, and yielding rice.
8. A glass cube, edged with patinated bronze and filled with sand, beach glass, seaweed, and a crab claw, given me by two dear friends after a visit some eleven years ago.
9. The final episode of Freaks and Geeks, with its glorious tribute to Dungeons & Dragons.
10. A late-1950s vintage tiki mug in green glaze that I've had since 2001.
There are more. There are always more. But reminding myself of even a few of the things that make life splendid is never a bad exercise.
1. The staircase fencing battle between Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in The Adventures of Robin Hood..
2. David Schow's short story "Monster Movies."
3. Lewis Shiner's novel Glimpses, which along with Lewis Shiner's novel Say Goodbye says nearly all that needs to be said about why I love rock and roll.
4. The moment at the start of a roleplaying-game session where we leave the phenomenal world and enter the sublime.
5. The last two or three pages of The Great Gatsby.
6. Lou Reed singing "Anyone who ever had a heart" in the Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane."
7. Osekihan onigiri from the train-station sushi restaurant in Matsubaradanchi, Japan -- all crunchy adzuki, smoky black sesame, sharp salt, and yielding rice.
8. A glass cube, edged with patinated bronze and filled with sand, beach glass, seaweed, and a crab claw, given me by two dear friends after a visit some eleven years ago.
9. The final episode of Freaks and Geeks, with its glorious tribute to Dungeons & Dragons.
10. A late-1950s vintage tiki mug in green glaze that I've had since 2001.
There are more. There are always more. But reminding myself of even a few of the things that make life splendid is never a bad exercise.