These are the words, images, and beers that inspired the GBH Collective this week. Drinking alone just got better, because now you're drinking with all of us.
READ.// Several months ago a few friends and I picked up Mark Z. Danielewski's “House of Leaves” and started a mini book club. It was definitely a nail-biter, but reading it alongside my friends is really what made it so special—and what also helped me cross the finish line. Last week we started our newest novel, Don DeLillo's “White Noise.” Our current worldwide situation has seamlessly mixed in with the tone of the writing, and I'm having a tough time not reading ahead of the group.
LOOK.// Museums and galleries are closed until further notice. But I still visited this one last week to look at newish work from contemporary designers that I admire—and you can, too! Make sure to turn around and catch the sunset before you go inside, though.
DRINK.// Domaine Fond Cyprès - Le Carignan de la Source 2017
It is fun to spice up your life by celebrating victories, both big and small. Like one-month quarantine-iversaries, or putting on pants for the first time after a pants sabbatical. Alongside these accomplishments, I've been raising glasses of Super Glou's Le Carignan de la Source 2017 and Inconnu's Lalalu Cabernet Franc 2017.
READ.// “In fairy tales, form is your function and function is your form. If you don’t spin the straw into gold or inherit the kingdom or devour all the oxen or find the flour or get the professorship, you drop out of the fairy tale, and fall over its edge into an endless, blank forest where there is no other function for you, no alternative career.” About one in seven people are unemployed because of coronavirus. Sabrina Orah Mark writes a column for The Paris Review called Happily, where she weaves together stories of her life and experiences with motherhood and fairy tales. In her latest piece, she talks about the arduous journey into employment—the weird questions you desperately hope to get right, the countless interviews, and the way our society has conceived of ideas of worth and wellbeing. Using fairy tales, where the assumption is that the hero deserves a happily ever after and if you don’t get the prize at the end it’s a moral reflection of your worth, Mark challenges us to ask, “Who deserves to be employed?”
LOOK.// Honestly, after Netflix released the docu-series “Cheer,” all I do is search YouTube for cheerleading pyramids.
DRINK.// Classic Margarita
Out of all “drinks,” cocktails are probably the ones I’ve had the least since the coronavirus has kept us at home. Last night, I craved something that felt special and would hopefully transport me from my living room to one of my neighborhood bars. This did the trick.
READ.// "Try to imagine a licensed N.B.A. documentary setting LeBron James highlights to something like Adele’s 'Someone Like You.'" If you've been glued to ESPN's Michael Jordan docuseries like I have, you'll also enjoy this dive into how its producers jumped through legal hoops to assemble its hip-hop-heavy soundtrack.
LOOK.// Amateur bird-watching has seen increased popularity as many of us are cooped up during the pandemic. Even when I can't get outside, I can get my fix via the osprey nest cam set up at Dunrovin Ranch in Lolo, Montana—it's much more soothing than you'd imagine.
DRINK.// Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA
My friend Ryan generously shared his cellared 2007 Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, which remarkably suffered little cardboard-y oxidation. Malts had mellowed; hops were still sticky and resinous. It's the best Barleywine I've drunk this year.
Curated by The GBH Collective
