Just A Peck 0021 // Stoppard, Snowstorms, Dictionaries
Welcome to the latest issue of Just A Peck. I’m glad you’re here! New issues come out most Sundays. Unsubscribe at any time.
WHAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT THIS WEEK
Every year, one house on Exhibition Drive programs a phenomenal Holiday Sound & Light Show. It’s part of our annual holiday tradition.
Nerd Nites are so much fun. Three community members each give a fifteen minute talk on something they’re passionate about and then take questions. The topics are more interesting than you might guess – due in large part to the speakers' passion.
For the first time in over twenty years (and only the twelfth time ever), Merriam-Webster is publishing a new hardcover dictionary accompanied by a flurry of clever marketing about this being their “large language model” and how, in an age of artificial intelligence, they’re doubling down on actual intelligence. In a week where we lost one of the great wordsmiths, I was even more excited than I would normally have been to order this.
QUICK LINKS
- A supercut of plant growth timelapses
- Joanna Steidle's incredible drone photographs
- Magicians of the Miniature
- Anthony Bourdain's Lost Li.sts
- Pearl Jamboni
- London's Bills of Mortality
- Art is valuable because a person made it
- A CRT terminal emulator
JOURNAL
Tom Stoppard died this week. Is there any other artist with the power a make erudition, linguistic prowess, and intellectualism seem as romantic and playful as he did? A towering genius, the writer of some of my favorite plays and movies, and perhaps the most inspirational of my artistic idols. What a loss.
We had our first big snow of the season this week. Jody and I spent the morning snowblowing, shoveling, roof raking…
…and unfortunately dealing with a downed tree.
On the upside, the storms made for some spectacular skies. Here is the sunset after the storm with the lake still roiling from the gale.
And here is a second storm which was dropping its snow on the opposite shore after blowing over us.
Corey and my parents joined Jody, Kaylee, and me for Thanksgiving. It was a lovely day with too much good food (as always).
What I watched:
- Bugonia (2025). The new film from Yorgos Lanthimos. Jesse Plemons and a young autistic actor named Aidan Delbis were great, but Emma Stone was incredible. I almost always love her work, but this time I was thinking, "How is she doing this?"
- Train Dreams (2025). A beautiful, quiet film about the life of a logger in the Pacific Northwest. I loved it. Great performances from Joel Edgerton, Felicity Jones, and William H. Macy. How powerful to see a depiction of the kinds of lives we so rarely see depicted.
What I’m reading:
- Vineland, Pynchon
- The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus
MEMORIES
Five Years Ago:
We took this great Album Cover photo at Jay Cooke
Ten Years Ago:
On our first Christmas in Duluth, we added this awesome ornament to our Christmas Tree
MY FAVORITE QUOTE OF THE WEEK
"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about."
-- Charles Kingsley
That’s it for this week. Stay safe, friends. Thanks for reading!