Something Good #96: Fierce Good Things
I have these vivid memories of my parents running interference for me as a kid when it came to certain gifts. I was a bookish and retiring child and their...
Something Good #95: It Hurts When I Do This
Patient says, “Doctor, it hurts when I do this.”Doctor says, “Then don’t do that.” — Henny Youngman The problem started in September, when I woke up with a...
Something Good #94: Holding Back the Dark
This is it. Your last chance to dance. There are only a couple of days left in 2023, which means the Do Something Good fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders...
Something Good #93: The Was That Year
The latest, and probably final, version. (Last-minute update: have just been informed the brick ink colour is no longer available, so this will not be the...
Something Good #92: New Traditions / Old Magic
First, an update. I’m thrilled to announce that the Do Something Good fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières blew past its initial...
Something Good #91: Let's Do Something Good
This is a proudly money-losing newsletter; always has been, hopefully always will be. But while I resist monetization, I’d like to do something good with my...
Something Good #90: Temples
Lately, it’s been hard to write. It’s difficult to overcome the feeling that nothing I can say will make any difference; that the most I can hope for is to...
Something Good #28 Revisited: Satoshi Kon - The Lost Interview
This month, the Criterion Channel is presenting a program of 14 “technothrillers,” which includes Satoshi Kon’s dreamworld fantasia Paprika, an exceptionally...
Something Good #89: From Saxony
I’m the kind of guy who, when invited to a film festival in a spa town in Central Europe, tends to say yes. Look, I’ll even go if you invite me to a festival...
Something Good #88: Irene From Forest Hills
Longtime readers and friends will know that I spent several years of my life poring over YouTube comments and collecting the most poignant I could find for...
The Something Good Index
This is the Something Good Index, a continuously updated list of everything mentioned in this newsletter. Above-pictured is the author, beardless in Budapest...
Something Good #86: Late Summer Recos
Some very fresh kittens we met. Hello dear readers. I hope you’ve been having a lovely summer. I myself have had a very filling few months—lots of reading,...
Something Good #85: Frame of Mind
For a long time, my friends and I were obsessed with a particular DJ mix we’d found online. Its exact origin and creator were, and remain, somewhat of a...
Something Good #84: More Good Hands
My hands holding volcanic soil on the Big Island of Hawaii. Recently, I brought up the feeling of being “in good hands” when experiencing a work of art for...
Something Good #83: Dangerously Prancy
The work of illustrator and animator James Braithwaite will be familiar to any regular reader of this newsletter, for he designed both the logos for...
Something Good #82: In Good Hands
I’ve come to trust a certain feeling that comes over me when I first make contact with a piece of art. The opening lines of a book; the first 30 seconds or...
Something Good #81: Deluged
This is what happened: last week we were in Toronto when an ice storm, the likes of which had not been seen in these parts since 1998, knocked Montreal...
Something Good #80: Barely a Book Club
A quick announcement: I’m starting a Something Good book club. This is a spinoff of the main newsletter, and everybody is invited, whether you are a current...
Something Good #79: Tropical Interlude
Winters are very long in Montreal. They manspread themselves into spring’s territory shamelessly; you can expect snowstorms in March, April, and sometimes...
Something Good #78: Back to the Hotel Thermal
An recent New York Times story about how the spa town of Karlovy Vary is faring now that the Czech government has barred Russian tourists from entering the...