Summer Reading – Offseason Sunday Open Thread

[Opens book]

The village of Carrasco de la Virgen settled by the banks of the river Torrente as if preordained by an indifferent god. It fell on a valley brimming with all kinds of animal life and vegetation.

Ooh… Angry leopards maybe?

Humble olive trees overwhelmed in number but there were all kinds of fruit trees. Exotic mangoes from India, tomatoes from Perú

[scratches neck]

And rows of eucalyptus trees bordered like guards an old mansion that appeared abandoned if not for a flickering light inside and a sign that read “Private Property.”

Alright, people, characters. Good.

Towards the horizon from the “Private Property” sign there was an old pier facing the river, which overlooked the towns of Narciso de la Sierra and the old church were services were made every Sunday with a silent solemnity.

[runs hand through thinning hair]

Crossing through Carrasco de la Virgen’s center through its main street, turning on each block first left then right again until you reach the estuary,

Like in Metroid, go on.

which takes you to Cumpiano de los Pastores.

[picks up phone to write names of places in notes]

Cumpiano de Los Pastores was lush in vegetation, filled with bougainvilleas of all colors: twilight orange, moon white,

[puts phone down]

sun yellow, mumu purple. The Mayor’s office overlooked

 Does anything happen in this fucking… [snort]

 [starts to flip pages]

 Let’s see. Parliamentary assembly [flips] confessionary [flips] symposium [flips] feline—WAIT

The wind coursed through the streets of Venancio de los Tedios like housecats looking to nip the master’s heels with feline stealth

I ask for so little in books. Entertaining dialogue. Getting to know characters through their actions, or how other characters perceive those actions. Did I say action? Shit gotta happen. Events.

 And also, hey. Simple settings; no Hyrule shit. A complex public transit system that doubles as an allegory of decaying lives traversing preordained roles with automatism and never opportunely—uh huh, uh huh, yeah. I’ll read the review. Don’t ask my brain to visualize spatial stuff. Chances are I will be struggling to keep memorized character names by page 35; page 20 if the writer was born from the Pyrenees mountains to the Bering Cis-Het. Notable exception: Italians by page 35, of course. They Latin OGs, you know.

NFL NEWS

 -Voting? On July 20, the NFL owners could vote on the Commanders’ sale. It’s a “Source:” item from espen, but mentions a memo circulated to the owners “to discuss the sale”. 24 votes are required, but the vote may not happen on that date. In any event, Green Bay’s vote will be by proxy, adopting the result of the July 19 WRJN (Kenosha) call-in poll. Voters will need proof of stock ownership or photo evidence of burning Favre Viking jersey(s).

 -Extended: The Buffalo Bills renewed the contracts of GM Billy Beane and HC Ron Howard, until 2027. In NFL years, 2027 = one Owl appearance by February ’25, or

Yes, I am 86 years old. Only emotionally [shifts muscularly in chair]. Aaahhh.

-Dropped: The assault charges against Davante Adams for shoving a cameraman after the MNF where the Chiefs came back 30-29. The, 😑,  “credentialed media worker’s” civil suit remains pending.

 To clarify: my disdain was at the phrase used to describe the cameraman. I would never sully that touchstone of justice, oracle of truth, and promoter of virtue that is the personal injury civil court. I expect the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come,

Amén.

SPROTS TOMKITE

 All times Central.

 Grandes Ligas

Fokin Astros (Brown) @ Doyers (Gonsolin) – 6:00

GOLD CUP FÚTBOL

México v Honduras – 7:00 (Houston)

TOP FLIGHT FÚTBOL

Argentina

Sarmiento (Junín) hosts Atlético Tucumán – 6:30

Bolivia

Jorge Wistermann hosts Oriente Petrolero – 6:30

FINALLY,

I’m a bad reader, of books. A long article, a magazine, something that does not demand more than a coupla hours to finish—I’m there. But grabbing a book and dropping it to pick it up later is

 It’s too much commitment, dammit. If the book doesn’t keep my attention enough to forgo most obligations and all chores, bye. It’s a higher bar than for people. I am not a psycho tyvm

Reading is parsing words. The medium matters.  Movies and film is the best. Yeah. Stop kidding yourselves, all 17 of your left in world.

An image can summon a story and a movie can tell it without words. You add music and then it’s cookin’. As long as I live, I would rather watch poorly acted, dreck story movies over any book going pages and pages and pages on setting, atmosphere, expository dialogue, not-that-obvious imagery, and OK maybe that’s on dumb me but fuck you anyway Faulkner graverobber. I read Cervantes you fuck. Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra you goddamn boor! And I looooooved it. HE’s a genius. Cabrón.

In short, Filmia is the hermaphrodite overlord of the Muses. And stories gotta have events. Though I could watch movies that are talk-a-thons. But more stuff has gots to happen than in The Breakfast Club. That’s my Equator for movie action. Off topic revisionist history: Bender’s dad was showing tough love.

Hey, good art takes you places.

I like plays and see folks perform live, so I got nothing against talkathons—except in books. I could swing a story of a tense conversation (let’s say… 30 pages of paperback). But it’s gotta be a hella funny or interesting conversation. If it doesn’t have humor, it better be about history, clever drama, otherworldly passion… Or Tom Coghlin’s crimes against NFL players and mirth. Now THAT could be the “Maus” of the XXIst Century. We can develop storyboards #JustSayin

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