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Last summer, I caught some major tennis fever after listening to the How Long Gone interview with Caitlin Thompson, publisher of Racquet Magazine. My girlfriend Zoe and I always gift each other books during the holidays and she really *aced* her gift last year with Open. Itās a wild read that is written with the vulnerability that only a tennis prodigy with an extremely demanding father from Iran (no shots at Dadvali) could possess.
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It's an insane autobiography of the Tennis players life with some of the strangest passages I've seen in a memoir. Truly fascinating even if you don't care about tennis.
Nov 13, 2024
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It's important to do your homework when entering a new line of work so I've been reading books like Monster by John Gregory Dunne, about the years-long process of writing Up Close & Personal with Joan Didion and a slew of producers, and You'll Never Make Love In This Town Againāthe title a send-up of the bestselling You'll Never Eat Lunch In This Town Again (next on my list)āwhich I purchased on audiocassette and chronicles three high-class hookers blabbing on their celebrity clientele. The Kid Stays In The Picture is read by a very gravelly Bob Evans on audiobook: a must. Michael Ovitz's memoir was involuntarily funny because he's such a liar. I even read Disney War, a book about Michael Eisner's reign of terror at the Walt Disney Company. Now I'm on Tinderbox, which is a newly released oral history of HBO. I think it's good to be familiar with everything that can and has gone wrong in the movie and TV business so you can adjust your expectations and remain cautiously optimistic.
Mar 3, 2022
pure poetry autobiography written by the painter marc chagall who was a cancer man like me. his description of his mother practically made me cry for the first time in months. also lots of bitchy ranting about trends in art in his day.
some favorite lines:
āBut my art, I thought, is perhaps a wild art, a blazing quicksilver, a blue soul flashing on my canvasesā p 110
and
āI didnāt hesitate to darken my eyes a little, to redden my lips lightly, though there was no need for it and yes, yesā¦ I wanted to please those girls on the river sideā p 69
ok itās actually hard to pull single lines from this thing bc the long form is so good. just get the damn book it was like $6 shipped on abe books or whatever and it has prints of etchings he made specifically for the project.
a real page turner u could finish in one sitting easily
Nov 6, 2024
Top Recs from @bijan
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Frankies 457 Spuntino is my absolute favorite restaurant in New York. Over the last 5 years, this has been where Bae-Z and I have gone to celebrate almost every birthday and significant life/career event. The vibes are cozy af, the food is comforting af and most importantly it is consistent af. This cookbook delivers too - it has all the greatest hits from the restaurant and the recipes are easy and straightforward enough that anyone can do them. If my kitchen is on fire, this is the cookbook I am grabbing. My favorite dishes are the Fennel, Celery Root, Parsley & Red Onion Salad, Cavatelli with Sausage & Browned Sage Butter and the Pork Braciola Marinara.
Apr 13, 2021
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My buddy Zack just put me on this album because ur boi loves him some 1990s ambient/dream pop type beats and this certainly scratched the itch. Fave tracks: Skin Divers, Distractions, Darling Effect. I love the artwork as well - it is by The Senate who did a lot of artwork for Everything But The Girl (who is always in heavy rotation at Intramural HQ) in the early 90s.
Apr 13, 2021
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Dia commissioned Detroit techno legend Carl Craig to put together a sound installation in the basement at Dia:Beacon. As you walk down the stairs to the basement, all you hear and feel is the thumping bass coming from the installation and you are instantly filled with that feeling of anticipation/excitement of entering a party that youāve been looking forward to all week. When you open the door to see where the music is coming from you enter a massive, empty basement that is illuminated sparsely with just a few vertically oriented neon lights. The installation hits a bit differently from when it first opened and now as a result of covid and it is hard to describe the feeling when you are inside. The best I can do is say that the experience is equal parts zen and melancholy in the most beautiful way possible.
Apr 13, 2021