Inputs
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino: Described as a novelization of the movie but it’s more like a bunch of deleted scenes, with the climactic action sequence in the movie recounted in a clause-long aside. For a book consisting mostly of the main characters waiting around for something to happen and long jags of mid-century fictional and nonfictional show biz gossip it was very fun, made to be gulped down while you’re in transit and left in the seat pocket when the journey’s done.
The Beautiful Mrs. Seidenman by Andrzej Szczypiorski: About the arrest and salvation (not really a spoiler) of a Jewish woman in Poland during the Nazi occupation, covering the day or so between her arrest and release but also zagging into the future to show the eventual fates of the various people she encounters. More tense and gripping than anything QT could muster, with a tiny sliver of hope and grace.
Outputs
By the time the next Ropography rolls around I will have turned 39. My thirties have mostly felt like a necklace of disasters strung on failure, but somehow through my innate pluck and determination I have not let the afflictions of my perfectly nice life crush my hopes for a strong end to the decade of “Nothing Matters :(…or Should That Be Nothing Matters :)?”, teeing up a pivot to the decade of “What the Hell, Why Not”. I’ve spent a week shy of 39 years building a cozy house for myself, and my goal now is to give each and every brick a little wiggle, and if any of them come loose to decide whether I wouldn’t rather just throw them out the window.
Condiment Corner
This was a gift for, as the giver put it, “your little articles”. It’s mostly sardines, along with onions, peppers, anchovy, and some other stuff that I couldn’t figure out and to be honest all of that was a guess because the label was all in French. The pepper and onion added pleasant flavor and textural elements. Nice on breakfast toast, would probably be really good on some kind of Mediterranean sandwich involving hardboiled eggs if you do not share my loathing of eggs in all forms.