The Soft Bulletin, Undertaking the Challenging, Infinite Jest, etc.
In which, though they were sad, they rescued everyone...
🎧 (17/50) The Flaming Lips, The Soft Bulletin: Euphoric songs that feel both intimate and cosmic. Wayne Coyne’s vulnerable vocals, paired with lyrics that explore mortality, love, and resilience, celebrate the fragile beauty of being human, insisting that joy and connection are always possible.
🤖 This week the Chicago Sun-Times posted a summer reading list… filled with faux books attributed to real authors, generated by AI, fact-checked by none.
“On Sunday, the Chicago Sun-Times published an advertorial summer reading list containing at least 10 fake books attributed to real authors, according to multiple reports on social media”
🧑🤝🧑 Love this: “I think it’s good to stay fully, even slightly foolishly, committed to the idea that humans doing human things, with other humans, is and will remain at the vital heart of human existence. Because otherwise what on earth’s the point?”
🏃♀️ Leslie Kern reflects on the personal growth and insights gained from undertaking a challenging endeavor. “No one else is paying much attention to your pace or progress or times or whatever it is that means a lot to you in the process. People are mostly thinking about themselves and despite your worries that others are judging you, mostly they’re barely noticing you. This is great news, and a great reminder that in most areas of life, you don’t need to worry that much what other people think of you (because they aren’t).”
📖 Reminds me of wise words from one of my all-time favorite novels:
“If, by the virtue of charity or the circumstance of desperation, you ever chance to spend a little time around a Substance-recovery halfway facility like Enfield MA’s state-funded Ennet House, you will acquire many exotic new facts…
That certain persons simply will not like you no matter what you do.
That you do not have to like a person in order to learn from [them]. That loneliness is not a function of solitude. That logical validity is not a guarantee of truth. That it takes effort to pay attention to any one stimulus for more than a few seconds. That boring activities become, perversely, much less boring if you concentrate intently on them. That sometimes human beings have to just sit in one place and, like, hurt. That you will become way less concerned with what other people think of you when you realize how seldom they do. That there is such a thing as raw, unalloyed, agendaless kindness.”
✌️ Actually do the work, do it with others, and keep the Hoping Machine running.
Love,
Luke
