Yvan Chouinard is mentioned quite a bit in the early parts of the book that I’ve almost finished; Everest Inc. It’s about the businesses that formed to get people to the top of Everest and it’s pretty up to date. It also tells about the tragedies. It seems like you can’t write about Everest without writing about the deaths. They say that the deaths bring the clients, not that they want to die, but that they want to face death and survive. I’ve read several books about Everest and I think this one is very good.
I’m going to put the Chouinard book in my list.
Listening; I recently went to see Toby Walker. He’s one of the top acoustic blues players in the country and a great entertainer. If you ever get the chance to see him, don’t pass it up.
Currently halfway through “Welcome to Paradise, Now Go To Hell” by Chas Smith.
An irreverant and brutally honest look at the grittier, often violent side of life on Oahu’s North Shore. Kind of surprised Smith is even allowed to show his face there any more with some of the laundry he airs.
Next up are “It’s Only Drowning” and Bob Mortimer’s “Hotel Avocado”.
Yes, enjoying it so far. Smith sometimes seems like he’s trying a little too hard to push limits and buttons but his honesty regarding some of surfing’s sacred cows is refreshing.
My wife and granddaughter are Swifties, so probably listened to this 8-10 times this weekend. She’s salty and dirty! The production is great - lots of stuff going on … a little Jackson 5, so James Jamerson bass lines, Olivia Newton John. It’s not really my kind of music and I’m not exactly the demo audience, but I definietely don’t hate it. I like the storytelling in Life of a Showgirl and The Fate of Ophelia.
We watched the movie Saturday evening. The granddaughter and I danced in the aisle. I liked the movie a lot more than I anticipated I would … it was cool to hear the commentary behind the songs and the making of the Ophelia video was fun. I wish videos with high production value were still a thing … far too uncommon.
I just finished Monster: The Ed Gein Story on Netflix, a dramatized retelling of the story of one of America’s most notorious psychopaths, and the inspiration for Hitchcock’s Psycho. I had no idea the main character was portrayed by Charlie Hunnam of Sons of Anarchy fame until the final credits. A fascinating and engrossing series if you can stomach the subject matter.
To be accurate, Ed Gein was the inspiration for the novel, Psycho by Robert Bloch*, which was then adapted for film by scriptwriter Joseph Stefano, and directed by Hitchcock
It was a quick turn-around too, as the novel was published in Spring 1959, and the movie released in Fall 1960
.* Further review shows that Bloch was already working on Psycho when Gein was arrested
Though Bloch was not aware of the Gein case at that time, he began writing with “the notion that the man next door may be a monster unsuspected even in the gossip-ridden microcosm of small-town life”. The novel, one of several Bloch wrote about insane killers, was almost completed when Gein and his activities were revealed, so Bloch inserted a line alluding to Gein into one of the final chapters. Bloch was surprised years later when news of Gein’s living in isolation with a religiously fanatical mother came to his attention. Bloch “discovered how closely the imaginary character I’d created resembled the real Ed Gein both in overt act and apparent motivation”.
Finished this on the plane. English woman buys old house in rural France and moves there and fixes it up. Enjoyed it, though I want to buy a non-fixer and in a city or large town. Looking forward to the whole series she’s written.
Watched: Icarus - the documentary about the Russian doping scandal. It wasn’t what I thought it would be. Fascinating story!
i really liked Icarus. Think there may have been a thread on the main forum
I’m winding down with Plebs, british comedy, set in ancient rome, Same vibe as the In Betweeners – dumbass guys get into dumbass scrapes. Don’t know if it’s on US netflix.
