notes & things | 10/21/2023
It's been a whirl of a week, that included not two nights out in a row, but three, with a concert at the Salt Shed, the Frankenstein ballet at the Lyric, and another trip out to the McHenry drive-in and an overnight stay to avoid driving back to the city so late. My tiny introverted heart that prefers to stay at home is exhausted, but each was fun in its own way. The concert was music I was not at all familiar with going in,--another project from the lead singer of Primus, one of J's faves. The ballet was creepy and beautifully danced and made some interesting choices in how they adapted the novel. I found myself still always marveling what Shelley created at only 17 and its embeddedness in our culture.
McHenry was awash in fall foliage almost at its peak if not already, and we managed to land a room at a little non-chain hotel that sat perched on the Fox River with a balcony view that was much nicer than last time's Super 8. We saw the new Exorcist (meh) and Nightmare on Elm Street, which was strange to see on a big screen after almost four decades of smaller ones. We managed to stay pretty warm just closed up in the car with snacks and a thermos of boozy minty hot chocolate. We'll be headed back in early December, but we will definitely need the heater and some blankets by then.
This week before Halloween brings a couple more movie nights, it being the high season of horror and us having our evenings free this year after almost a decade of conflicting work schedules. We're heading over to the Logan for a late-night screening of The Shining (which I watch every fall and which I have seen on the screen, though I was only 6 at the drive-in) and then on Wednesday to see the director's cut of Midsommar that is back in theaters (we saw the original when it came out, but neither has seen the full uncut version and its one of my horror favorites from the last few years.).
Otherwise, I have tinkered with a few chap layouts whose releases are nigh in late October and thinking about projects and book manuscripts, including when I might like to release GRANATA which is looking to be a more art-oriented publishing project than text (which is there, obviously, but it will be accompanied by full-color collages in a format that is more art-book than traditional poetry collection.)
The drag I was feeling when it came to writing appears to have abated and maybe it's all because I have been consuming more than creating for a couple weeks..horror films and the Poe series and Frankenstein through dance. If these things have enduring value centuries later, maybe not all is lost in a sea of feeling unseen and unheard in the moment, a struggle all artists and writers feel at some point.
Comments