Rec. #811: Slow Burning Crimes

What: "Slow Burning Crimes" is from the band East Hundred's 2009 EP (Passenger), but it feels like it's from about 15 years earlier -- in the best possible way. Listen and tell me it doesn't sound like something off the Reality Bites soundtrack.

Representative lyrics:

I waited long ago this time
In the cold and rain
So tell me what the time is now
Before I figure it out

How to get it: Watch the music video on YouTube or Vimeo.

Have a good weekend, all. I wish you excellent hipster blanket forts, if that's the sort of thing that rings your bell.

Rec. #810: Crosstalk

What: There are many Terrible Truths about the world today. Once of the less horrifying ones is that no one knows how to direct screwball comedies anymore. Luckily, Connie Willis at least knows how to write them. Such a snappy pace that I read all 500 pages of Crosstalk in a weekend.

Representative quote: "That's the great thing about telepathy. You can talk to people anywhere. At any time."

Connections to previous Wreckage: Connie Willis has been all over this blog before, with All About Emily (Rec. #266), Bellwether (Rec. #218), Blackout/All Clear (Rec. #355), Lincoln's Dreams (Rec. #248), and To Say Nothing of the Dog (Rec. #100).

Rec. #809: Twelfth Night

What: It's getting to be Shakespeare in the Park time, and if you have no access to such a thing, make your own. 

Twelfth Night is an excellent start, as it's perhaps the rompiest of Shakespeare romps. Mistaken identities galore, screwball-level drunk scenes, and lots of attractive people hooking up.

This particular adaptation (1996) features a killer cast, including Helena Bonham Carter flapping about endearingly, Toby Stephens in full rawr mode, Imogen Stubbs trying to remain rational, and Richard E. Grant being posh and drunk. Good fun.

Connection to previous Wreckage: If you do have access to Shakespeare in the Park, probably thank The Public Theater (Rec. #710). If you want behind-the-scenes Shakespeare, see Slings and Arrows (Rec. #127, Rec. #191, Rec. #287).

Also: Lincoln Center did an a-MAZ-ing adaptation of the play in the late '90s as well. If you were lucky enough to see it in person or on your PBS station, you got to enjoy Helen Hunt and Kyra Sedgwick being geniuses and Paul Rudd being ridiculous and hot and wet.

Rec. #808: #StopTheBans

What: If you can't make it to a protest in person today, do set aside some time and mental energy for the clarity, resolve, and righteous fury of pieces like these ---

"The Messiness of Reproduction and the Dishonesty of Anti-Abortion Propaganda," Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker

"Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Have No Idea How Women's Bodies Work," Jessica Valenti, Medium

"The Harm Done for White Men," Jamil Smith, Rolling Stone

"Our Fury Over Abortion Was Dismissed for Decades as Hysterical," Rebecca Traister, The Cut

Representative quote: "And still those who are mad about, have been driven mad by, these injustices have been told that their fury is baseless, fictional, made of chewing gum and recycled copies of Our Bodies Ourselves." -- Rebecca Traister

Connections to previous Wreckage: Jia Tolentino, Rebecca Traister, and Jessica Valenti were all part of List #66: Public Voices to Pay Attention To. See also Traister's "When the Muzzle Comes Off" (Rec. #663) and Good and Mad (Rec. #737).

Rec. #807: When Life Begins and Ends, and Other Recent Pieces from Alexandra Petri

What: Alexandra Petri is an expert feelings-puncher. You start with a knowing chuckle, a moment of "ooh, that's a good line," but before you know it, Petri has ducked in and punched that bundle of emotions you'd been trying to keep protected.

Quite a streak she's had recently, too.

"When Life Begins and Ends"
"We should be able to view this scientifically. Science is very good these days. We can identify the species that human activity is driving to extinction with more accuracy than ever before."
(See also "I'm a State Legislator and I'm Here to Substitute Teach Your Biology Class")

"Other Questions to Go With 'Which Candidate Would You Like to Have a Beer With?'"
"Which candidate would you like to bite you gently on the arm?"

"You Have to Think About Electability"
"I just think people — again, not me, I’m on board, just … people — might not vote for this candidate. Because the candidate is a little, well, you know."

"Some Math Problems for Donald Trump's Tax Returns"

"Q: It costs $0.08 to buy a banana. You have -$0.05. Can you afford to buy a banana?
A: I don’t know, let me ask Deutsche Bank."

"Bill Barr Goes to Hell. And Finds a Client."

"Here, do you want the remnants of the credibility of the Justice Department? If not, I’m going to toss it next to the little chunk that is all that remains of John Kelly’s soul."

How to get it: Alexandra Petri is a columnist for the Washington Post. Find her there. 

Connections to previous Wreckage: See also Rec. #661 ("Some Impersonal Verbs, Conjugated by Gender"). Petri was also on List. #66.

Rec. #806: Worlds Spins Madly On

What: "World Spins Madly On," by The Weepies, is broody without preciousness and resigned without bitterness. It's a tricky balance and also pretty much exactly how I feel every single morning.

Representative lyrics:
Woke up and wished that I was dead
With an aching in my head
I lay motionless in bed

Connections to previous Wreckage: Other songs along similar lines include "All the Umbrellas in London" (Rec. #530), "Damn These Vampires" (Rec. #681), "Endless Imitation" (Rec. #642), "Friendly Ghost" (Rec. #568), "Invisible Ink" (Rec. #579), "Novocaine for the Soul" (Rec. #787), and "Yodel" (Rec. #777).

Rec. #805: From Pulp to Pulp Fiction -- Musical Book Jackets

What: Enjoy dozens of songs reimagined as vintage book covers. Despite the title of The Guardian's gallery, not all of the covers are "pulp fiction" style.

Other styles include comic book ...

And romance ...

And Penguin Classics ...

How to get it: The Guardian had curated a selection of these images. They're also available on the creator's Instagram.

Rec. #804: Marguerite

What: The film Marguerite came out a bit before Florence Foster Jenkins, and it tells roughly the same story (wealthy woman loves to sing, sadly not great at it, doesn't realize this) in a very different way.

In this version, no one is saintly or evil. It centers on the nature of art and taste, adds in the beginnings of jazz, and--crucially--makes Marguerite herself a fully realized character instead of a joke.

Also, peacocks.

How to get it: Marguerite (2015) is available to stream for free via Kanopy. You can also rent or buy it through several other streaming platforms.

Rec. #803: The Library Book

What: Talented nonfiction writer Susan Orlean spent several years in a library-related research binge sparked (ha) by the devastating 1986 fire of the Los Angeles Public Library. In The Library Book, she dips in and out of spaces and times to look at the (public) library universe from a variety of angles, including the expansive future, the character-driven past, funding (always), who even are librarians anyway, and what a book looks like when it's burning.

Any one of these topics could be (and is) enough for a book of its own, but Orlean trips across them dashingly, pinning certain ruminations in place with some particularly well-turned phrases.

Now do academic libraries, please.

Representative quote: "Destroying a library is a kind of terrorism. People think of libraries as the safest and most open places in society. Setting them on fire is like announcing that nothing, and nowhere, is safe."

Comparable to: The documentary The Great Museum takes a similarly multifaceted approach to another cultural institution -- the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Connections to previous Wreckage: The Great Museum was Rec. #763. Other excellent books by Orlean are Saturday Night (Rec. #15) and The Bullfighter Checks Her Makeup (Rec. #126).

Rec. #802: Britain's Best Home Cook

What: The existence of Britain's Best Home Cook is one of the rippling effects of The Great British Bake Off leaving the BBC. Beloved national treasure Mary Berry landed here as a judge, with Claudia Winkleman (who is charm personified) as host.

As I mentioned on Twitter, I don't understand the point of the two additional judges. Go away, Kyles (can't manage to learn their actual names, sorry/not sorry). More time with the Berry/Winkleman double act, please.

How to get it: Britain's Best Home Cook is available to stream on Hulu.

Connections to previous Wreckage: See more on the post-original-flavor-GBBO content explosion in Rec. #717. See more of Claudia Winkleman being a goddamn delight in Rec. #502 and Rec. #434.