A Plasticity of Being, Magnificent Gardens, Tribe Called Quest, etc.
In which we are reminded that hard things are meant to be hard.
🙏 Rest in Peace to Ozzy Osbourne, whose final show earlier this month became the highest grossing charity concert of all time.
And Chuck Mangione, whose music remains perfect for summer evenings.
📚 Remembering Dan Pelzer, who read (at least) 3,599 books in his lifetime. Though he read classics to the end, he preferred John Grisham over James Joyce, calling Ulysses “pure torture.”
📖 …and Roy Gold, who was not excessively interested in books, who had an extraordinary library of roughly nine thousand books—most carefully defaced by Gold himself. “Roy seems to have taken as much pleasure from defacing his books as reading them — and on some occasions, perhaps more. But in a number of important ways, any disdain he might have expressed for the idea of books as objects rings quite false. Often the results of his efforts elevate the books rather than diminish them, and such is the extent of the collection that those books without his additions take on the effect of being, somehow, incomplete.”
🎧 (26/50) A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory: Redefined hip-hop’s sonic possibilities. Anchored by minimalist jazz samples and deep, resonant basslines, it fused laid-back grooves with sharp, socially aware lyricism. Q-Tip is is my favorite emcee and voice in hip-hop and his interplay with Phife is thoughtful, playful, and smooth. Ron Carter’s upright bass gives the record an organic feel rarely heard in rap. A blueprint for innovation through restraint.
🪶 On the carcara, a rare South American bird of prey whose social and cognitive behaviors challenge our assumptions about intelligence. Their collaborative foraging and curiosity reveal how social learning helps reshape our understanding of mind and adaptation beyond species boundaries.
⛲️ A new book surveys 300 gardens across 40 countries, ranging from urban wild plots to Versailles’ Water Theatre Grove. It explores public and private spaces that blend art, nature, and design, offering readers a rich, global horticultural panorama.
🚀 Fake it 'til you're an astronaut. In the '80s, Robert Hunt charmed aviation audiences by pretending to be a U.S. Marine astronaut, donning a NASA flight suit, showing “re‑entry” tiles, and weaving tales of Atlantis missions. What’s real? Nearly none of it. How is this not a movie?
🥁 A look at truly ridiculous drum kits. If you don’t watch the whole video, at least skip ahead to the 6:32 mark to see the world’s biggest. And then, for good measure, watch Buddy Rich on a five-piece kit.
👜 Realizing I carry my faux-LL Bean Trader Joe’s bag everywhere. Am I an American trendsetter? Unlikely.
🍻 Gen Z doesn’t want to start a tab. I call bullshit on their generation being more “deliberate with money.”
🚴 Kids jumping bikes in the ‘70s.
🧗 Hard things are supposed to be hard.
“Changing old patterns, ending relationships you’ve outgrown, raising children, creating from your core, letting go, stretching, growing, and stepping into the unknown.
The more worthwhile endeavors require you to show up vulnerably & honestly, and they leave space for something new to happen.”
✌️Show up. Do the work. Persevere. Keep the Hoping Machine running.
Love,
Luke
