Something Good #97: Inversions
A new era and a new home for our newsletter.
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...