The May melting-pot
This letter presents an edition without a main topic, but with a good song, a music book, a series to watch crazy people and a scary story.
If you have followed me long enough, you will know that these texts usually have a thematic axis. When I started writing them there really wasn’t any. They were a set of recommendations that I was discovering and some stories that were collecting digital dust.
I want to recover this sort of surprise raffle approach once a month and in May I bring some cool things. Today you find a book 📕, a song 🎶, a TV series 🎞️, a short story 🖋️ and some thoughts💭.
A book 📚
A few weeks ago I entered a bookstore cafeteria with the firm conviction of not buying anything. My convictions are not as well founded as I would like because I left with a book under my arm. Also, there was a module with “Blackie Books. 20 per cent off.” And Blackie, along with Valdemar, is one of my favourite publishers in the Hispanic world.
The book in question is by Andrew O’Neill, a metal comedian who takes a hilarious tour through the history of Heavy Metal. I have to say that part of the appeal of it is that it addresses very well the ideology behind Metal and why, unlike other genres, it becomes a kind of lifestyle. If we look at the history of music, heavy rock that digivolves into Heavy Metal is a reaction to the hippie:
“The hippies tried it with pacifism and love. And it didn’t work. Now we have to tell the truth and it is not pleasant.”
And Black Sabbath enters the scene to tell us about the most terrible things.
If you like Heavy Metal, you should read it because there are things that you probably missed. If you don’t like it, it’s a fun anthropological study of a bunch of long-haired guys who headbang and can even hurt themselves for life doing that.
If you are a BIG fan of Metal maybe you can disagree with O’Neill on some things. Not to brag, but I could have written the Black Metal chapter deeper and with more black humour. I, unlike the author, have nothing against Gothic Metal. And this friend hates Glam. Which, at times, is more show than music.
You can get it through this link on Amazon.
A TV series 🎞️
I just finally gave We Crashed a chance and I got a huge surprise.
Plus: Jared Leto appears, which excites my best friend, and Anne Hathaway lowering the range of her voice a semitone, which excites me.
What is the series about? Surely you know these co-working spaces called WeWork. Well, the rise and fall of its business model has an author and his name is Adam Neumann. This series describes how this crazy man, because he cannot be called anything else, built an empire of co-working spaces. And how he was so crazy that the company collapsed. His wife, Rebekah, is also part of the drama.
It’s a fun series because, since it’s based on a real case, you can see how someone can get away with something no matter what. The lesson? Sometimes, words matter more than looks.
You can watch it on Apple TV+ through this link.
A song 🎶
It’s been a long time since I shared covers. One of my favourite songs in life (it’s definitely in my top five) is “Wicked Game” by Chris Isaak. And it has the gift, because not just any song can be done, that it is coverable.
Well, Lengua Ignota did a cover. Kristin Michelle Hayter is the person behind this project and she has been critically acclaimed because hers is a very rare combination. Suddenly she sounds baroque, like a chamber music singer, she has something darkwave, experimental…
She is an alto that makes you go into a trance. I never imagined that Wicked Game could sound this sad and so “chamber music”.
A short story 🖋️
Shuttle
I had been chosen to go to the pharmaceutical company’s exclusive conference.
The plane stopped still far from the doors. I didn’t feel like traveling and my head was already hurting after listening to the constant bawling of the girl in front of me for two hours. She would throw a tantrum because they wouldn’t let her use the iPad.
I shifted my seat trying not to touch the blonde French woman next to me. I imagined she was from that country because of her tattoos in that language. I cleared my throat close to her ear. It was our turn to go down. We passengers follow each other in single file towards the runway.
Without thinking, I followed the crowd to the shuttle, the bus where the airline crammed us. I put my suitcase in one of the compartments designated for it while the human vapours made me wrinkle my nose.
When we finally stopped and the doors opened, I was one of the first to grab my suitcase. My luggage followed me until we entered a warehouse.
At first, I thought it was an elevator to some floor of the airport. But when we realized that nothing was happening, all the passengers began to look each other in the eyes, many of them whispering to each other, unsure of what to do.
“SHHH,” someone said to silence the murmurs.
In the distance, it sounded like we were witnessing a few tyres losing air.
Suddenly, a smell like marzipan hit me, an uncontrollable sweetness that made me nauseous. A woman with a pink suitcase vomited on an old man. The girl began to cough.
“Let us out!”, shouted a man with glasses.
“Help!!!”, the girl with the French tattoos gasped.
Madness gripped us: a few passengers climbed onto their companions to see if they could get out.
I felt uncontrollable discomfort in my chest. He was not the only one, several passengers put their hands on their chests. After a few seconds, it burned and I felt like my torso would explode from the pain. Around me, some people were convulsing.
When I felt out of breath, for some reason, I remembered the invitation. I took out my cell phone to see the email, which said:
“We are pleased to invite you to the trial of our newest pesticide. The same thing that will change the agricultural industry and give us possibilities never seen before. His code name, at the moment, is ZC.”
I heard the nails against the walls and my eardrums broke as I imagined thousands of chalk-scratching blackboards. When the pain in my chest became unbearable, the translation of that experiment came to my mind.
Zyklon-C.
Some thoughts 💭
— How can the heat make you so happy?
I am visiting the place where my mother was born, Guadalajara, which is about 10 degrees higher compared to the centre of Mexico. And, sorry, but I’m so glad I can wear dresses and skirts all day without having to use layers of cloth…
I don’t want all the “cold-team” (which are the majority around me) to stone me. I only bring up the subject as an excuse for something I’ve been doing lately: recovering my tastes.
Has it happened to you that the environment, work or routine inhibits what you enjoy the most? It usually happens to me from time to time. For example, for years I stopped reading things that I chose and was rather guided by online trends or what I could get my hands on.
Now I aim to choose my readings more. And I’m reading a vampire book that’s going great.
Also, how do I walk through life presenting myself as Geeknifer if I’ve missed key releases from that nerdy world? For example: now, I’m already watching X-Men 97 and I have a list to catch up on everything Star Wars that I haven’t seen.
This is more due to a lack of money, but I’ll tell you if the sequel to the Final Fantasy VII remake is good. I’m terrified of playing this because it’s based on a game that wants to break my heart the moment one of its protagonists is murdered.
Canonical moment in my life, because I suddenly paid more attention to the villains.
Well, what I want to get at is that part of our identity is also the things we enjoy and although I think this world needs more tolerance towards what is foreign, it is not bad to return to where we are happiest.
I hope you achieve that this week.
With virus-free love, J. McNamara, aka Geeknifer.
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