It’s pretentious at times. But I still have a fond memory of it. I don’t know whether this qualifies as an art film or not, but it’s definitely not your typical film.
The thing that I remember most fondly is that there were a few moments – a few select segments/scenes… that caught me off guard, and made me rethink how I listened to the world. One of those moments from the film was called “Truck Stop”:
It’s odd to think of Proenneke now, more than a year into the Coronavirus pandemic. Many of us have remained inside our homes, not able to go outside or be around people. And contrasting that with being wholly in the wilds of Alaska, more or less outside all the time – able to go absolutely anywhere at all, but there being no one else around.
“Hedda Sharapan, one of the staff members at Fred Rogers’s production company, Family Communications, Inc., recalls Rogers once halted taping of a show when a cast member told the puppet Henrietta Pussycat not to cry; he interrupted shooting to make it clear that his show would never suggest to children that they not cry.”
I fell down a rabbit hole today, watching a ton of videos by The Hood Internet. Their project, ’79 – ’99, is just phenomenal and a ton of nostalgia and fun and good feelings, all rolled up.
I had this strange ritual when I was an undergraduate. Well, I had several, but the one I’m talking about was what I did early in the mornings, before I went to my job at the Monroe County Public Library.
There’s a distinct feeling of nostalgia I feel, listening to this album again. It’s also fitting that the days are shorter, and dusk arrives a little faster – as this album makes me think a lot about late fall.
“Negative emotions are various but they are similar in one dimension, which is it hurts and leads people to react, to amend, to try to counter the negative feelings. One possible way to recover – or to generate positive utility – is to seek nostalgia that reminds people of the good old days.”
I was working on the house recently, and when I was looking for music to play… ended up looking at my Spotify collection by Album (sorting only by album name).
This was a fun thing, as I ended up remembering a ton of albums I haven’t listened to in… well, in ages. A lot of digging into old favorites, songs from a bygone era.
As I was watching this video and feeling like I was kneeling on the carpet in my parents’ living room, something struck me as kind of odd. I was looking at the background, at where the band was recording this video.
Even now, the key changes in this song are (to me) incredibly complex. There’s a great deal of satisfaction hearing the shifts, up and down, and I wish I had better words to describe what’s happening with the notes in the song.
I remember not really caring much for Chapman when I heard this song. It was ok, but I remember it having a lot of airplay (or video play perhaps). Listening to it now, as an older man, it’s a very different song to me. The lyrics are the same, but I hear them now in a way I don’t think I did or could have, when I was younger.
I’ve forgotten how fantastic it is, to lend ones voice to a choir – to become a part of some larger energy greater than any single, individual part. It’s rare for me to sing much anymore, but this was a lovely reminder of what can happen when we all gather together.
I started re-watching The Wire recently, and have mostly made my way through the first season. It started off while I was browsing for something to watch, and one episode turned into two and three, and we were off to the races. Again.
I have had the song “Black Balloon” by the Goo Goo Dolls stuck in my head for days now. And I have absolutely no earthly idea why.
I’ve been playing it again on my commute, to and from work. And so many of their songs on this album – incredibly catchy, and just a lot of fun. I’ve been listening to the album a lot, and the hooks even make their way into my brain when the music is off.