2024 (in inspiration)
Here are a few sources of inspiration, introspection and joy that accompanied me through a year filled with challenges, celebrations, whiplash and just chipping away at it.
In reading, I finally picked up Herman Hesse’s Siddhartha, twenty years after I first saw my college roommate reading it. What stuck with me, among other things, was the prevailing sentiment of - you have to live something to learn it.
I also slowly made it through Bel Canto by Ann Patchett, and I gratified my need for “finishing things” by reading short novels and graphic novels - Monica by Clowes, Small Things Like These by Keegan, and a surprise shot of nostalgia in “Sublime: $5 at the Door.” In nonfiction, The Extended Mind by Annie Murphy Paul held my attention to the end, and Meditations for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman was thoughtfully inspiring.
Newsletters were a way for me to engage with current events without having to wade through the nonsense and clickbait that most news sources are now filled with. Ed Zitron, George Saunders, Freddie deBoer, Austin Kleon, Sarah Kendzior, and as always, Bob Lefsetz kept me opening my emails.
Through all of it, the Readwise app/service was one of the few pieces of technology that actually felt like it added some value to what I was doing.
I didn’t make a lot of time for movies or TV, so when I did, I needed it to be really good - Civil War was beautiful and terrifying, American Fiction was a hilarious kick in the nuts, and Ghostbusters Frozen Empire and Gladiator II were both stupidly satisfying.
I don’t even remember watching any TV (aside from my Washington Football Team rising from the ashes, and the constant background din of Paw Patrol and Wild Kratts…)
Music is my heartbeat - it’s always there, keeping me alive. This year in concerts, Khruangbin, and Sublime with Jakob Nowell were true highlights. A random video of the Deftones performing at Lollapallooza reignited my dormant love of that band, and based on the ticket prices I’m seeing for their 2025 tour, I guess every member of Gen-Z decided to discover them too.
Crumb and Mt. Joy were newcomers to my yearly top ten listening statistics, and the James Brown Christmas recordings picked up heavy rotation in December. My favorite album of the year was probably the BADBADNOTGOOD / Baby Rose EP.
And there you have it, folks, my 2024 in inspiration consumption.