True Culture, No False Gods.

"Blah, blah, blah; something about books." And film. And music. And death.

“No love’s as random/As God’s love/I can’t stand it.” — Wilco, “Can’t Stand It.”

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I’m burying the lede (if you’re hip to journalism) or lead if you’re not (and actually I prefer the latter even though I got that J-schooling).

But I have to bury it. Otherwise I’m going to ugly cry all over this keyboard and I can’t afford to replace it.

So, with a wave of my hand and then some added sleight of hand, let me direct you to this book I promised I wouldn’t buy myself when I did my 2025 New Year’s Resolutions — and if you know me, you know how I take those very seriously.

I bought this book recently because I’ve wanted it for years and I’m a geek about architecture and design and I love Phaidon and I got it for like $10:

Pretty easy decision. Pretty book, too.

The idea of tiny built things fascinates me. The Architecture Of Things is real — in nature and in the built world. Coffee table with dog bed? Sounds heinous. Except when it’s well-designed! Tree houses that you’d want to rent out. Acrylic blobs in giant green fields where you want to read books. A book nook that hangs over a river and is also a great place to nap. Sheds, beach houses, ADU’s — I’m all in. I could read this all day (and likely will but not in one day; over many days in small chunks, which is why I love reference books and also this endless supply of architecture and design books I’m drawn to).

This is one thing, this book, that brings me happiness. You might like it as well.

I wrote that part first because this part is hard. My beloved dog, Pepper, died on Monday in Portland, where I am now. He was 14 years and 7 months to the day and while you never know with old dogs who pick up ailments through the years, the end can still come much faster than you would imagine, as was the case.

His death has devastated me and I’m only faking my way through all of this as a diversion to not thinking about him. He was with me all day, every day, for so many years, providing constant companionship. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do without him, but I wanted to pass it along because people who have been around this Substack for a while know about him.

It’s hard to work, but I’m trying, if for nothing else a distraction.

I don’t have the capacity right now to do Pepper any justice with something eloquent. I’m gutted. I just love and miss him. That’s all I can convey now.

Last morning together. R.I.P., Peps.

On Super Bowl Sunday when some folks were apparently watching a football game that didn’t involve my 49ers, I thought I’d do something constructive since I was never going to watch anyway. Instead, I spent more time tinkering on Letterboxd, trying to find the best way that the site works for me (although I love it, I can’t say it’s perfectly intuitive).

I just wanted to get more fluid with it and learn some tips from Viewing Partner KB (KBknowsbest on Letterboxd), who watches more film than I do (though I am out to fix that this year) and I glommed on to some (of the many) lists that can be found on the site, as a starting point: Official Top 250 Narrative Feature Films; Official Top 250 Documentary Films; Letterboxd 100: Animation, etc. Previously I glommed onto fellow reader Paul Costigan’s brilliant list of Martin Scorsese’s Film Rant, a thing I’ve mentioned before (and now a list I would love to finish and perhaps write about here, as I go along, someday).

Anyway, my breakthrough on Sunday came by just stopping to think about what kind of films that I love the most. Now, that’s not easy, right? I would say I love almost anything but horror, so the list could be long and complicated and where would I even start?

But that’s not thinking, it’s talking out loud. When I actually thought about it, in serious reflection, I came to this: Espionage.

That’s my genre. Above all else.

I love spy stuff. Smarts, thrills, conspiracy, action. So I searched for “espionage” on Letterboxd and came upon a number of lists that members created, opened them, clicked on the images to learn more about each film, see if they were playing on my streaming services, clicked on the ad-free previews of certain films, then decided (or not) to add them to my Watchlist. All of that is available right there. (If you are going to try Letterboxd, and I think it’s a great site if you love movies, I can’t say it strongly enough that it’s worth the yearly $20 to get an ad-free pro account. It makes a world of difference in your experience.)

Anyway — espionage.

This was a rabbit hole that was roughly three hours deep. It was magnificent.

I’m going to be writing more about film in 2025 and I’ll have something soon on the discursive dives I’ve been on lately, guided by my Letterboxd discoveries (and no, that’s not a paid endorsement, obviously).

Diversions are good.

It’s hard to think clearly and rationally in grief. It’s not like I would have a reasoned list to go by, at the ready, once I lost Pepper, but I did immediately play two albums in my moments of need (and again, just for distraction).

The first was “Summerteeth” by Wilco, one of my Top 5 bands (and one of their most underrated albums). It was a pretty intuitive pick — an emotional album, dusted with sadness but also inherently positive at its core. Anything too upbeat or poppy wouldn’t have worked. Anything too depressing — sad songs and bleak beats comprising my foundational albums — would have been disastrous.

(I’m listening to “Summerteeth” now, in fact.)

The second album, and the one I put on to start this post, was “Enlightenment” from Van Morrison. I’m not even a huge Van fan but that was just kind of where I ended up today. Randomly. Played it in the background a bit; again to start this whole thing off.

Give me some space and time and there’s no doubt I will tell myself, “Oh, I should have chosen X and Y.” That’s just how I am. Logic-based.

Music is emotional. This is an emotional time. So that’s what I went with.

Books, movies, music and television. Not necessarily in that order. That’s what I’m going to lean on. That’s what I’m going to get lost in. Out of necessity.

Okay, that’s all I’ve got for now.