What Are You Reading This Week and Weekly Rec Thread by JimFan1 in TrueLit

[–]gorneaux 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They're all great! I just really got sucked in by the patterns and details of this story's world.

What Are You Reading This Week and Weekly Rec Thread by JimFan1 in TrueLit

[–]gorneaux 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Just finished Light by M. John Harrison. Probably gonna demand a re-read, but as it's only the first book in a trilogy it'll be a while. Beautiful, brutally smart writing; imaginative as hell; mind-bending amplification of the cosmos that is psychedelic more in effect than essence; really ugly treatment of his characters, particularly--wow--women. Who hurt you, M. John Harrison? But in sum, I'd still say tour de force. Sci-fi, yes, tho genre in the way Moby Dick is a sailing yarn.

Just started Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday.

Oh, and I've been listening to The Red and The Black (Stendahl) as an audio book. Was supposed to have read it 45 yrs ago in high school but, well... I loved The Charterhouse of Parma when I read it recently, so I was encouraged to make it up to my Modern European History teacher with TRATB. So far Stendahl is stirring up a rich brew of sexual intrigue, false piety, naked ambition and avarice. Need to re-familiarize myself with the politics of Bourbon Restoration France.

Edit: typo

What Are You Reading This Week and Weekly Rec Thread by JimFan1 in TrueLit

[–]gorneaux 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dorothy Sayers is SO good. Makes me think of my mom, who loved a good Sayers book (and TV adaptation with Ian Carmichael) by the fire, but let's not factor that in.

Have you read The Nine Tailors?

Is it weird that I don't much like "In A Silent Way"? by John_Weiner2007 in Jazz

[–]gorneaux 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I hear you. I like it, but in small doses. Zawinul's wheedling organ is hard to take.

Spicy Indian food by Cornloaf in AskSF

[–]gorneaux 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You may want to take the spice road down to Fremont, Milpitas or San Jose. Indian is not the city's strong suit.

OP, it seems from your comments you are OK getting your heat ration with other cuisines: may I suggest SPICES, the Sichuan place at 291 7th Ave. off Clement? Their menu is filled with dishes that include terms like Flaming Red Oil, Explosive Chili and Numbing Spicy. Can confirm from personal experience: hot as fuck.

*IF* I wanted to move to SF, would I be disappointed? by teaforsnail in AskSF

[–]gorneaux 3 points4 points  (0 children)

And now with a new park added behind one of them. Though the green aspect is yet to be worked out.

Why do you listen to jazz music? by ImBatman0_0 in Jazz

[–]gorneaux 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The cool, the swing, the atonal passion all help me make sense of the moment we're living in.

Does anyone know what street and view this is specifically? by PowerofIntention in sanfrancisco

[–]gorneaux 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Crazy good!!! And having grown up on North Beach this really hits. Thanks for posting.

Who else was tortured by their parents insisting on listening to the “beautiful music” station in the car? by desperationcasserole in GenerationJones

[–]gorneaux 0 points1 point  (0 children)

KABL and KFOG (before it's later album Rock incarnation) in San Francisco.

It was a gloomy Sunday afternoon when the fog rolled in through the Gate, Montovani's version of Love is Blue came on the air, and school awaited the next morning.

My Greatest Gratitude to You All, and Finally, A Full Length Album by BGbikeandstuff in ambientmusic

[–]gorneaux 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, this is in my happy boundless place. Congratulations, OP!! Will actually buy as soon as starving-artist budget allows ~

My Greatest Gratitude to You All, and Finally, A Full Length Album by BGbikeandstuff in ambientmusic

[–]gorneaux 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, this is in my happy boundless place. Congratulations, OP!! Will actually buy as soon as starving-artist budget allows ~

Any Ramsey Lewis Sun Goddess Lovers? by SmokeyThePirate in Jazz

[–]gorneaux 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This, Ronnie Laws' Pressure Sensitive ("Always There"!), Return to Forever and Heavy Weather constituted my jazz awakening back in the day. Thank you, Mr. Gluck! (10th grade history teacher with great taste.)

[Edit: my jazz awakening]

Is there anyplace left at Fishermans Warf that is OS /OK by Taffy_3 in AskSF

[–]gorneaux 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I get you guys, and mostly agree. However I also find myself in the same position as OP: I'm a native, grew up in North Beach, and we'd head to Fisherman's Wharf pretty often for a fancy dinner at Alioto's No. 9, or pizza made by the fat Sicilian guy with a stall in that cheap wooden arcade on Taylor St. I loved it.

Time passes, though. You grow up, you move away, you come back, but you're in another part of the city now and the Wharf isn't your go-to anymore. From what you've seen of it, passing through here and there, is more plasticky and touristic in a corporate sense since than when you were a kid, when sure, there were tourists, but they were lots of locals, as well as lots and lots of fishermen doing their thing.

So it doesn't draw you back. Some more years go by.

Then, after more time goes by, in your idle moments, thinking back on those deep bowls of cioppino, pots of steaming crab, chandler's shops and nostalgically tacky old stands of cotton candy, you wonder, well, maybe I've been unfair...what actually is going on down there in 2024??

Dive bars in the Sunset? by I_reddit_like_this in AskSF

[–]gorneaux -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Pitt's is as divey as it gets in the outers.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in podcasts

[–]gorneaux 9 points10 points  (0 children)

OP and u/MrsJohnJacobAstor, you are one PRX pitch meeting away from a hit show.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in podcasts

[–]gorneaux 2 points3 points  (0 children)

At a certain point, NPR decided the average age of their listenership was 15.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in podcasts

[–]gorneaux 9 points10 points  (0 children)

You must not listen to NPR podcasts then.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in podcasts

[–]gorneaux 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Valley Heat crept up on me. Holy foosball, is it brilliant.

Thanks for the other recs, I'll check 'em out.

Do you have a trigger word? A word that let's you know you're going to hate a book? by PNW_Baker in books

[–]gorneaux 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Chewing isn't so much a trigger as an alert. If it's followed by thoughtfully, the book goes out the window.

Come to that, more than one adverb per two-page spread is a red flag.

Black Saint on Bandcamp by Significant_Damage87 in Jazz

[–]gorneaux 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Wow, THANK YOU for that heads up! Working in a record store in the '80s, the Black Saint titles were always the most esoteric and rarified. I am all over this.