I spent the first half of August in New England and the second back in Istanbul, and both places were sweaty and hot and thick with summer.
Best Of The Month
My early August trip to the east coast was full of joys. I began the month in Vermont with my family, going on hikes and eating black raspberry ice cream, and it was so fantastically beautiful.
Then I went to Boston, which despite a horrific heat wave was full of so many homecomings. I visited my hometown and high school for the first time in years, ate pizza at Revere Beach, went to Boston’s Italian North End for a saint’s feast, took a trip to Salem to visit the Peabody Essex Museum and eat oysters and cod, and spent time with dear friends… so many things I love in just a few days.
There were so many joys in New York City as well, but a true highlight was stumbling upon a performance of La Traviata in Bryant Park, and visiting Casey Rubber Stamps, a true gem of a shop.
Worst Of The Month
I mentioned the heatwave in Boston, but I didn’t mention how truly atrocious it was. The weather was consistently 95 degrees (35 degree celsius) and disgustingly humid for a week, which is unusual in Boston. I went to a movie just to escape it. I went anywhere I could think of to escape it.
And then when I returned to Istanbul, we were deep in the armpit of sweaty Istanbul summer, so August felt like one like month of gross.
After my standby adventure at the airport in July, I had more airport stress in August, when I spent six hours in JFK due to a delayed flight. It’s a really bad airport!!
I was also stung by a jellyfish when I was swimming in the Bosphorus, which had no lasting effects, but did indeed sting.
What I’m Loving
Reads: I was really devastated by the attack on Salman Rushdie, so I took it as an opportunity to reread some Rushdie: specifically, Joseph Anton (his memoir about living under the Fatwa), and The Satanic Verses, which I hadn’t read in many years. I’ve always been a big Rushdie fan, so both re-reads were a pleasure.
Music: I revisited the music of Cartola, the 70’s Brazilian samba legend, and it’s just a perfect groove– I particularly like his 1974 and 1976 albums.
I also love the songs “This Guy’s In Love With You” by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, “Girl Of My Dreams” by Donny Benet, and “Controversy” by Prince.
Movies: In order to escape the Boston heat, my friend Lizi and I went to see Nope at the Coolidge Corner Cinema. It wasn’t what I was expecting, but I really enjoyed it, and found myself thinking about it for a long time afterwards— particularly about the subplot with the chimp.
Back in Istanbul, I saw the movie The Doors on a whim at Kadikoy Sinemasi, and it wasn’t very good BUT it was enjoyable anyway, and everyone at the screening clearly loved the movie— I could feel the audience tapping their feet every time the music cued up.
Podcasts: I didn’t listen to many podcasts in August, but I always look forward to Cautionary Tales, and the end of their Race to the North Pole trilogy was chilling.
The Film Files
Whenever I’m in NYC with Alison, we always have some kind of photo project day. This year, we decided to play with our Holgas, the plastic toy cameras that make blurred and often double exposed square images. It was a good excuse to take the camera out, the images are so often evocative and lovely.
Ephemera
I became really obsessed with Dall-E mini (also known as Craiyon), the knockoff AI image generator, and also had a chance to play with the real Dall-E 2, thanks to Alison. Besides being a great way to make my cousins and sister giggle, it got me thinking a lot about AI image generators, the implications for artistic and moral… interesting stuff!
Upcoming
Most of the upcoming has come up, since I am again posting this so late, but September’s post will touch on a trip to Kaş and potentially another short trip out of Istanbul.
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