and I’m continuing this, I haven’t forgotten!
July was busy. Life-busy, in an absolutely positive way. I decide to limit my moaning and actually live, and enjoy doing so. This month, I went kayaking. I flipped the kayak. I had a big nasty scar on my leg. Moaning to a minimum. That’s the start of a character arc, at the very least.
I also heard the water slowly plodding along. Watched horses run on a dirt road. Saw some kind of bird-predator. Saw three of them. Got splashed. Got sunburned. Had my leg swallowed up to its knee on a muddy bank.
Lived.
We also took a little vacation, before the financial situation gets any worse. 5 days in Italy, swimming in the pristine-emerald water. Gorging on delicious food. Trying to fit in whatever meager amount of words I’ve learned using Du*lingo into English sentences, like an absolute doofus. I had fun.
Contrary to most vacations, I even managed to record some fields (which were not fields). Turns out keeping birds is quite common there, as I’ve learned from their trilling echoing through the streets. Haven’t listened to the recordings yet but maybe there will be a small thing to release.
To be honest I’m struggling with finding an inspiring approach to the next field-recording collection. I have material but I often find myself wanting something more, either from the lore of the recording or from the sound itself. I say this statement ultimately knowing that it reflects on me as an artist the most. I’m a fraud, who knew.
I continue this entry, writing on the 27th of July. I will be delayed, but I will arrive. I will continue writing.
I wanted to bring a musical souvenir but chickened out of buying an italo disco record, worrying about money and the need. Ultimately, in the next town, I decided to pull the trigger, get a record that might remind me of this time. Or just to bring a part of a place. No italo disco in the second place but we looked for an Italian record that would scream to us from the cover. We landed on this:
It turned out to be some prog stuff, a bit interesting in its rawness under a shifting musical approach.
I put in the music chart only from a bibliographic need. It was not a time of any particular album but travel always lends itself to stellar, feel-good choices. The newest one would be Arooj Aftab’s album which was my cloudwatch choice. I have to listen to it more. Its quiet shuffle has me hooked.
Not many choices film-wise in June but I’m not complaining.
When at my parents, flicking channels through a vast emptiness of modern TV I found one where a black-and-white movie just started. I had a hunch and was rewarded as what was about to play was one of Ozu’s classics, from the earlier period than what I’ve seen before.
Ozu’s raw cinematic eye portrays everyday beauty and drama that captivate me. At first slow, I’m attuned to its speed sooner than I would think. I want to watch more of his work.
The same will be true for Cronenberg Jr.’s Possessor which I was hooked on quite early. Ditto also for Mr. Fosse whose All That Jazz is probably the best movie musical I’ve ever seen. Its cinematic energy and confidence are unparalleled to what I’ve seen before.
It’s a struggle to write this month and I haven’t been very creative in other venues as well. I will get back to it soon enough. Thank you for your attention.
Take care,
Bartosz
the home of all wounds 