Welcome to proper admin, a monthly rubble bucket of everything I couldn't quite turn into its own post.
Rubblebucket?
Well, I didn’t make it to a Rubblebucket show this month but I did continue digging through their full musical catalogue. I was happy to find this performance of some of their recent work (though ‘If U C My Enemies’ comes off better in this video). I also went back to their album Survival Sounds and came away with renewed enthusiasm for ‘My Life’ and ‘Rewind’.
Isn’t ‘Fruity’ one of their songs?
It is, but not among my favorites.
However, this does lead me nicely to this month’s fruit-centric...
Food News!
First, I learned about sumo oranges, a type of Clementine that is definitely the best type of orange I’ve ever eaten (and possibly best fruit). I believe they are available only for another month so I highly recommend trying one now before they go away.
I also deduced out that I’m somehow allergic to bananas. Or maybe ‘sensitive’ is the best word – in any event, I’m not eating them anymore. Details to come next month, I think.
Is that it for music?
Kind of – since I got a few nice comments about my ‘Spirit of Radio’ post, I guess I’ll mention that I borrowed the title from this Rush song. While I'm on the topic, I should add that the style of writing was to a certain extent lifted from Andre Dubus's essay collections.
Podcast update
A friend asked if I had any current events podcast recommendations. I’m a little thin in this area at the moment (mostly due to longtime favorite Common Sense going on hiatus) so I started a search of my own for another show to fill the space. I’m down to three candidates – The Pollsters, Middle Theory, and Left, Right, & Center. They are all apparently ‘centrist’ which I consider important, but no other big thoughts yet on any of these shows. I will keep you posted, reader, if any crack my permanent rotation.
Naturally, the second I start looking for a Common Sense replacement, Carlin puts out a show on his Hardcore History Addendum feed that resembled his longtime current events program.
I liked this More Or Less episode that demonstrates how an entirely truthful statement of fact can still be completely deceiving to the target audience.
TOA News and Notes
As I mentioned yesterday, tomorrow will be the start of a months-long series on my daily reminders. The last block at the end is taken straight from Jane Kenyon's A Hundred White Daffodils – read more about it in this Brain Pickings post.
We’re also starting up with TOA awards season. The modest goal this year is to hand out The TOA Book of the Year sometime before Thanksgiving – don’t bet on me, but I’m confident.
Book previews
A series of fluke events led me to pick up Bad Stories by Steve Almond. I had never heard of this book until the moment I grabbed it from the library’s new releases but I found it thoroughly entertaining. The book’s basic insight is useful – the biggest problem with a bad story is that it takes up the space that could be used by a good story.
Anything else? No Hubway news?
I think April will be a better month for a Hubway update.
However, I think the time is right to officially confirm that I’m bringing my diary-style ‘Tales Of Two Cities’ posts to an end. This announcement won’t change much in the short term – I still have a few completed posts to go up – and I’ll continue posting my bike-relating musings under the general label. All of this will continue to happen on the last Wednesday of each month.
It just means I’m no longer going to use specific trips as a reference point for journaling. I think overall the project was a success but I’ve started to feel that I’m forcing the gimmick a little bit with my more recent trips. To put it another way, the extra structure helped me learn to write about these trips, but these days I feel ready to roll without the extra help. You could say, reader, that I’m taking off the training wheels…
So, with a somewhat heavy heart I acknowledge that it’s the right time for me to move on and try some different things with my time.
Like what?
I’m not sure yet but whatever it ends up being, I’m sure I’ll be here every month to tell you all about it.
Until then, and thanks for reading.
Tim
On the next month... of True On Average...
1. Surely not... my first graph?
2. I start the proverbial 'uncomfortable conversation' about Asian supremacists.
3. Is a bike helmet worth five bucks?
