Things that quickened the heart, 2024 edition.
Song
David Bowie, “Right”
Jamie XX, In Waves
sample track: “Treat Each Other
Bob Dylan, GWW, Seems Like a Freeze Out (bootleg)
Blonde Redhead, Sit Down for Dinner
sample track: “Sit Down for Dinner (Part 2)”
Destroyer + Lightning Dust, Ritz PDB, Montreal, QC, April 8, 2024 (a.k.a., SOLAR ECLIPSE DAY [see “Miscellaneous” below])
Everything But the Girl, Fuse
sample track: “Nothing Left to Lose”
Sudan Archives & Neneh Cherry, “Heart”
Lafayette Afro-Rock Band, Soul Makossa
sample track: “Hihache”
Altin Gün, Gece
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Wild God
Neil Young, On the Beach
Neil Young, Neil Young
The New Year, The New Year
Mdou Moctar, Funeral for Justice
Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek, Dost 1
Derya Yildirim & Grup Şimşek, Dost 2
Nia Archives, “Silence is Loud”
V/A, The Love You Save: American Soul Music, 1955-1972
sample track: Bettye Lavette, “Let Me Down Easy”
Perfect Days (original soundtrack)
Staples Jr. Singers, When Do We Get Paid
sample track: “Send It On Down”
Sinéad O’Connor, “All Apologies”
Muscle Memory, “Body of Light (Justin Strauss Remix)”
Calexico, “Alone Again Or”
Wolf People, Ruins
Olafur Arnalds, Island Songs
Talk Talk, “Life’s What You Make It”
Fleetwood Mac, Tango in the Night
Terry Callier, Hidden Conversations
sample track: “Wings”
Lubalin, “Just Love”
Witch, In The Past
Myriam Gendron, Mayday
sample track: “Long Way Home”
Boba Teens, Toronto, ON
Food & Drink
Pacina (vino, olio e ospitalità), Castelnuovo Berardenga, Tuscany, Italy
Cena Pop Up, Michelle Marek + Natasha Pickowicz @ Pacina, Castelnuovo Berardenga, IT, July 2024
Barbara Fish House, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
Ahimé, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Sagra della Bistecca, Olmo, Tuscany, Italy
shopping at Miklagarður, Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, then going “home” to prepare and enjoy the bounty
Cittavino & Co., Oakland, CA
Rôtisserie La Lune, Montreal, QC
Ohayo Café, Montreal, QC
Quinnie’s, Hudson, NY
Kitty’s, Hudson, NY
Mel the Bakery, Hudson, NY
Grapefruit Wines, Hudson, NY
Luciano, Rome, Lazio, IT
Sunny’s Chinese, Toronto, ON
Maipai, Hamilton, ON
Icelandic picnics (thank you, Chef Bryn!)
Zucchini Agrodolce alla Gabrielle Hamilton
Poulet au 40 gousses d’aîl à la Richard Olney
Tintico, l’art du café Colombien, Quebec City, QC
Toro, Boston, MA
Neptune Oyster, Boston, MA
La Bottega Nicastro, Ottawa, ON
True Loaf Bread Company, Ottawa, ON
Cantina Gia, Ottawa, ON
Moving Images
Universal Language (2024), dir. Rankin @ the Mighty Niagara Film Festival + Q & A with Matthew Rankin
Green Border (2023), dir. Holland
Blitz (2024), dir. McQueen
Janet Planet (2024), dir. Baker
Dahomey (2024), dir. Diop
Sing Sing (2023), dir. Kwedar
Klute (1971), dir. Pakula
A Real Pain (2024), dir. Eisenberg
Conclave (2024), dir. Berger
Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb (2022), dir. Gottlieb
Réjeanne Padovani BRD, Canadian International Pictures (featuring commentary by Yours Truly)
Dune 2 (2024), dir. Villeneuve
The Green Fog (2017), dir. Maddin, Johnson, and Johnson, NAC Microcinema, Mighty Niagara Film Fest, November 2024
Tales From the Gimli Hospital (1988), dir. Maddin + Q & A w/ Guy Maddin, Mighty Niagara Film Fest, November 2024
The Village Detective: A Song Cycle (2021), dir. Morrison
Hit Man (2024), dir. Linklater
The Zone of Interest (2023), dir. Glazer
Sibyl (2019), dir. Triet
Teenage (2013), dir. Wolf
Wolfs (2024), dir. Watts
Pour la suite du monde (1962), dir. Brault & Perrault
Soul to Soul (1971), dir. Sanders
John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection (2018), dir. Faraut
Diabolique (1955), dir. Clouzot
The Crown, Season 6 (2023)
Bad Monkey (2024)
Creating a Distinct Regional Film Culture panel, with Guy Maddin, Donna Szoke, and Leslie Supnet, Mighty Niagara Film Fest, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, November 14, 2024
Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys
Alexei Navalny, “Prison Diaries,” The New Yorker, October 21, 2024
Kathleen Hanna, Rebel girl
Patti Smith, Just Kids
Camilla Wynne, Nature’s Candy
Anna Wiener, “The Art of Taking it Slow,” The New Yorker, September 16, 2024
W.G. Sebald, Vertigo (yet again)
Rebekah Peppler, Le Sud: Recipes From Provence-Alpes-Côtes d’Azur
Gurdeep Loyal, Mother Tongue: Flavours of a Second Generation
Lauren Collins, “The Hottest Restaurant in France is an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet,” The New Yorker, April 1, 2024
Han Kang, The Vegetarian
John Le Carré, The Honourable Schoolboy
Josiah Thompson, Last Second in Dallas
Anthony Lane, “The Secret History of Risotto,” The New Yorker, December 16, 2024
Malcolm Harris, Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World
Heidi Blake, “Blood Relatives: Who Committed the Murders at Whitehouse Farm?,” The New Yorker, August 5, 2024
Richard Olney, Simple French Food (toujours!)
Jamie Baron and Kristen Fuhs, eds., Summer of Soul: A Docalogue
Rachel Cusk, The Last Supper
Deborah Levy, Real Estate
Luisa Weiss, Classic German Cooking
Miscellaneous
solar eclipse 2024, Montreal, QC
Art at the Kent, Kent Museum, Calais, VT, October 2024
Bessie Drennan retrospective, Kent Museum, Calais, VT, October 2024
lumens workshop with Amber Lee Williams at Studio 4, St. Catharines, ON
linocut workshop with Janet Cathey at Maple Corner Community Center, Calais, VT
YMC sweaters
Il Palio, Siena, Italy
Antica Aguzzeria del Cavallo, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Listasavn Føroya (National Gallery), Tórshavn, Faroe Islands
“Making Her Mark: A History of Women Artists in Europe, 1400-1800,” Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, ON
“Saints, Sinners, Lovers & Fools: 300 Years of Flemish Masterworks,” Musée des beaux arts, Montreal, QC
studio visit, Brynhildur Gudmundsdottir, The Association of Icelandic Visual Artists, Reykjavik, Iceland
Serial & The New York Times: The Good Whale
Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs
Slow Burn: The Rise of Fox News
Kapwani Kiwanga, Trinket, Venice Biennale 2024
This American Life, “My Senior Year”
This American Life, “There Will Be Blood”
This American Life, “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here”
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Fuji X-T5 cameras
Snaelden Sweaters
Bélisle Pottery Workshop, Regional Municipality of Niagara, ON
pen pals
Thingvellir National Park, Iceland
Laxness House & Helgufoss, Iceland
Greater Reykjavik, Iceland
flying from Iceland to the Faroe Islands
Greater Tórshavn, including Nólsoy, Faroe Islands
Streymoy & Eysturoy, Faroe Islands
Siena, Tuscany, Italy
Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Izzy & Ozzy (4 1/2 years old now, and still crazy after all these years…)
R.I.P.
Aleksei Navalny
Steve Albini
Jimmy Carter
Melanie
Kris Kristofferson
Françoise Hardy
Rodriguez
Shelley Duvall
aj