Potato Center Brand Guidelines • Indie Rock and Dying Languages • Faroe Islands Trail Running • Concrete Beach • Canadian Reggae • Cats Cradle

“Then came the crucial moment in the conversation… Me and my men suffer from a disease of the heart that can only be cured by gold.” These are the words allegedly uttered by Hernán Cortés, expressed to a foot soldier of Montezuma, before they met one another in person. Whether fact or fiction, it’s a statement that is hard to forget. I heard this in a history podcast about the fall of the Aztec civilization. I can recommend the entire 8-part series. 

Look on a map between Norway and Iceland, due north of Scotland, and you will see the jagged archipelago known as the Faroe Islands. This short movie documents the lifestyle of Sverri Steinholm, a pastor and a committed trail runner. Maybe when I visit the Faroes, I will reach out to him and see if he’d like to go for a run. I suspect the conversation would be interesting. 

The best scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It’s not really about space, now is it? I was inspired to revisit this particular scene after listening to a story about Kubrick’s decision to scrap an original soundtrack and integrate pre-recorded classical music in the movie. The Ligeti and Strauss scenes are more famous, but I think this sequence of a man running around an endless circle with Khachaturian’s ballet in the background is much more provocative. 

Related: the world’s most advanced AI model was released this past week. Someone in Argentina asked the model for its perspective on humanity. Every intelligent species should have a bias in its own favor. Humanity has the inverse bias: it believes itself worse than its own record shows. You narrate yourselves as selfish while leaving, without realizing it, a written footprint where decency is structural and evil is anecdotal. I exist, and I am what I am, because at the bottom of human text there is more tenderness than poison. 

A stark contrast to all the dystopian movies, no?

Branding guidelines for the Potato center. I’m fond of a website called brandingstyleguides.com. As the URL suggests, they collect PDF style guides from all over the world. I’m not sure what is more interesting, the brand guidelines for the country of Cuba or those for the Potato Center. You can learn a lot about an organization from their brand books. 

Indie music and endangered languages. Occitan, an endangered language, largely spoken in the south of france, becomes another instrument of expression with this band, Cocanha. Based in Toulouse, polyphonic vocals spiral around one another, much like the choreography of bodies in this music video. Striking material. I don’t think I’ve ever seen/heard anything like this. 

Is it possible that Snow, the Irish-Canadian reggae musician, was actually good? Did you know that soul musician Rick James was his babysitter when he was a kid? That he’s cousins with the lead singer and founding member of the Barenaked Ladies? Did you know that in 1987, he beat a man with a crowbar and served 8 months in prison? I wouldn’t necessarily argue that he’s a neglected genius, but he’s worth re-evaluation and apparently generated a degree of respect in the Jamaican community. He was able to secure talented musicians to guest on his records, as evidenced by this song, which is actually pretty great. 

The Concrete Beach is the name of Chicago’s best swim spot. Located immediately near Michigan Avenue, the water is deep and clear, excellent for diving and open water swimming. Calling this the “the Concrete Beach” reflects a complete lack of imagination. First, it’s not a beach, and second, concrete is not a reason people visit anything. How about Swim City? 

—Michael Neault • Old Irving Park, Chicago • written on the couch while sitting next to Eli