July 2022 Top Ten

1.

After I found that painting by Caspar David Friedrich, I found this ebook that contains all of his paintings and a brief commentary on each. It’s part of a larger series by Delphi Classics, and they’ve got a ton of great stuff. Definitely recommend. My full review.

2.

I like to carry around a low stakes book I can just pop into and read a paragraph or two at a time while I’m in line or something, and the old book How to Know the Birds by Roger Tory Peterson was perfect for this. I loved it. And, I found a quote from it that I put at the beginning of my new poetry book. My full review.

3.

Me and Sammi watched the mid-2000’s movie The Guardian, which stars Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher. They used slow motion shots way too much, which date it, but man, we love that movie.

4.

One of the bands I like released a new album and I’m still working my way through it. Musically it’s pretty wild. Lyrically, there’s a lot to unpack. If you check it out, let me know what you think.

5.

We read the book Fable by Zack Jackson for book club. I beta read this a few years ago, but really enjoyed it again. My full review.

6.

I read Upgrade by Blake Crouch and enjoyed it. He’s so good at taking wild ideas and pushing them as far as possible. My full review.

7.

On one of my long road trips I downloaded season two of the 90’s Spider-man animated series that I used to watch as a kid. Loved it.

8.

Speaking of things I enjoyed as a kid, I bought the Nintendo Game & Watch: The Legend of Zelda handheld thing and have been playing through Link’s Awakening, which I also played as a kid. I’ve already gotten way farther than I did as a kid, because now I have Google.

10.

While driving up to the baseball game I listened to Strangely Bright: Can You Love God and Enjoy This World? and loved it. The quote below about bread blew my mind. I’m still trying to reckon with it.

“Long before you and I existed, long before Jesus came in the flesh, before the Bible was written down, from the very beginning God invented something called “hunger” and something called “bread” so that some day, when Jesus showed up, we would have categories for understanding who he is. In other words, when Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” he’s not finding or discovering a convenient metaphor. He’s revealing the main reason that bread exists.”

10.

Marcus Mumford, frontman for up and coming band Mumford and Sons, is coming out with a solo album and has released two singles. Rhett McLaughlin, comedian and general funny guy, came out with a single under the name James and the Shame. It’s been interesting listening to what these two dudes decided was worth starting a solo career and writing a song about.

 

12.

I read one of Ray Bradbury’s poetry collections, Where Robot Mice & Robot Men Run Round in Robot Towns, and enjoyed it, but I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone. The poems are long and sometimes nonsensical. But, if you’re a Bradbury fan, I think you’d enjoy it. My full review.

13.

The Royals beat the Yankees!