four things #12

Bending Hectic by The Smile, Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk, Bardo by Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, Priorities

Music:

Bending Hectic by The Smile. It’s quite possible to keep up with Thom Yorke’s prolific musical projects, but you’ve gotta have lots of time on your hands. Everyone knows Radiohead. Then you have his solo projects. Atoms for Peace (famed Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea is in this band). His DJ sets. His short film ANIMA on Netflix. Film score for Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Suspiria (I definitely prefer the 1977 original film from Dario Argento, and the score from that one was AMAZING, by the Italian band Goblin).

Yorke’s latest project is called The Smile. They are a three piece band consisting of his longtime Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood (a musical genius in his own right) and drummer Tom Skinner. Check out their full length album A Light For Attracting Attention.

Concerning “Bending Hectic”, it’s a helluva piece. Eight minutes long, it’s structured like a film score. There are movements. Light and delicate at the beginning, growing in pace and depth, with an orchestra casting a foundation as the sun sets upon the sonic horizon. It develops into an unsettling cacophony (which until now you didn’t notice was present the whole time) ending with a chaotic crescendo of clashing guitars and harmonic noise. I listened to it multiple times in a row (at least seven time while writing this, almost an hour of listening to the same song on repeat).

Book:

Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk. If you are interested in writing, this is an incredible resource. It's a cheat code. Writer of Fight Club, Choke, and many more novels and short stories, Chuck is definitely one of the definitive writers of our generation. To become a good writer (or musician, painter, game designer, dad, anything) you have to put in loads and loads of time. This is a good thing. Everybody wants a hack to do things faster and better. But the real cheat code is laser focus, limiting distractions, your ability to say “no” a lot. You can’t rely on talent. You’ve got to dive into the things that interest you and learn by doing, learn by failure, re-group, and keep going. That said.. if there if there was ever a cheat code for writing, this is it. A lot of the hard-won wisdom accumulated over the years by Chuck is in here. It packs a punch. It’s an MFA all by itself. Insightful, witty, practical.

**Bonus: Here is his Substack Newsletter:

Chuck Palahniuk

. It’s one of the publications I pay to read.

Film:

Bardo: False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. I went into this movie not knowing much about it. I like this approach because you begin with a clean slate, not having formed any kind of preconceived opinion. I’ve liked all of Alejandro’s films that I’ve seen, so I decided to give this one a shot. It gave off vibes of Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2, in a modern Mexican-American setting. It’s not Top 40 playlist material. He wants you to watch, to REALLY watch, and try to understand, inviting you to shed any pretense that you are viewing a story that resides in an ordinary reality, much like a dream. I don’t want to comment too much about it, other than what I’ve already written. If you’re into the surreal, then you’ll like this. And if you’re not, then try it out.

Thought to ponder:

Where in life are you expendable? Where are you irreplaceable? Let the answers to these questions dictate your priorities.

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Until Next Time,

Tyler