selenodyssey

‹MUSIC› One of my character flaws (among a myriad) is that I am not curious enough. I can adore a director and make grand plans to watch all their movies but fail in carrying out the project. Similarly, I can love a band but not listen to all of their albums, and I don’t really keep track of their side projects either. Which brings me to The Smile. They have been somewhat on my radar since their debut (so I am not a totally blind Radiohead-fan living other a rock), I even checked out their third LP (Cutouts) once, but all together it was a lousy effort on my behalf. So I set my ass down today and listened to (I mean I REALLY payed attention to) their first album, A Light for Attracting Attention (2022). Occasionally it’s beautifully airy, and spacious (The Same, Speech Bubbles, Open The Floodgates), often operates with more traditional indie structures (You Will Never Work in Television, Free in the Knowledge). The song, Pana-vision resembles the uncanny, echoey Radiohead-esque songs; the groovy The Smoke is immensely cool. Waving A White Flag and We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Brings are pulsing rendition of 80’s sci-fi movies infused with 00’s indie rock, I find these exceptionally intriguing. So I can only bang my head up against the wall for putting The Smile off for so long. I will continue with their second and third album.

Btw the band got their name form Ted Hughes’s poem, The Smile. Oh man, it’s really dark. Brief side-note, I should finally read Plath’s journals, and the Red Comet about her life (both have been on my shelf for years now), but for now I quickly read this blog post about Plath’s and Hughes’ marriage.

‹DIY› Knitting seems to be my thing. I genuinely excited to continue and start these tiny knitting projects of mine. It’s purposeful when I say tiny, as I’m really a beginner. It soothes and it’s mindful and I’m creating something palpable finally. I’m doing my first beanie (actually second but my first was full of flaws and quite ugly, I don’t consider it wearable), and I’m planning to start a Sophie scarf soon.

‹ARTICLES› I renewed my New Yorker subscription for this year, so while knitting I listened to a report about dyslexia and how the education system in the US can address special needs and another piece about the doom of printed dictionaries. This article about psychology in fashion was more exciting though. It’s still the start of the new year so I’m pushing myself to be productive, hence the effort to fully utilise the day and read articles, and listen to albums, and read, and watch and I wonder how long this will all last. Probably the 5th of Jan, my first work day. Shit.

‹BOOK› I’m 70 pages in Nabokov’s The Luzhin Defense, a promising short page-turner (260 pages) so perfect to get the reading year going.

‹MOVIE› We watch about the third of The Brutalist. We stopped because it was late in the evening and we were already exhausted, but. BUT… as native Hungarians we often recognised the Hungarian countryside and interiors that the creators tried to sell as American. Sadly this threw us off, but we still have high hopes for the rest of the movie.