Another Week
About this blog …
I used to really enjoy Twitter — but when Twitter accepted Elon Musk's offer to buy the company in April of 2022, I quit Twitter because I wanted no part of creating content for a platform owned by Elon Musk. For good measure, I also quit Facebook, which had always felt to me like creative servitude.
Eventually, I decided to contribute my two cents on my own internet platform — this website. I launched Another Week on January 1, 2023.
Every week, I post an update, with assorted items that I've encountered over the previous seven days — movies, TV shows, songs, books, websites, products, news stories … whatever.
Meanwhile, events keep unfolding:
- During Week 4, I used artificial intelligence to illustrate a Bob Dylan song.
- During Week 8, my youngest sister, Lori, died of leukemia.
- During Week 23, we learned that my wife's breast cancer had metastasized to her meninges.
- During Week 35, my wife and I took our last walk together.
- During Week 56, Amy died.
- During Week 79, Joe Biden looked completely lost at his presidential debate.
- During Week 98, national hemorrhoid Donald J. Trump was elected President of the United States of America for a second time.
- During Week 113, a house exploded a few blocks from me.
- During Week 159, federal agents executed an American mom on a residential block in Minneapolis.
And so on.
In between, I have listened to music and podcasts, watched sporting events and old movies, read a few books, and done some gardening.
Tell your friends.
Another Week: Number 82
I have petunias and salvias, but where are the hummingbirds? Also: the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
Another Week: Number 81
A steamy, sticky week: ‘Kinds of Kindness’ (2024), women’s tennis at Wimbledon, yard work, the St. Lucy Festival, shrimp cocktail, and Donald Trump shot in Pennsylvania.
Another Week: Number 80
Fourth of July fireworks out of Apocalypse Now, Jewel on WTF, Presidential immunity and a sense of doom, the Tour de France and Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy.’
Another Week: Number 79
2024 is half-over — and sixty-four years after Kennedy-Nixon, the presidential debate tradition has deteriorated into utter absurdity.
Another Week: Number 78
The June heat wave, Trump in Racine, a drive-by shooting, and tornados. Plus, ‘Call Northside 777’ (1948) and ‘Black Narcissus’ (1947).
Another Week: Number 77
Summer is already passing — a high school graduation, Harry’s memorial, live music from Ivy Ford in Kenosha, and ‘Billy Elliot’ (2000).
Another Week: Number 76
Birthday party for my mom — plus Mitchell School construction, walking in slippahs, WNBA, and John Hiatt’s “Dust Down a Country Road”
Another Week: Number 75
These beautiful last days of spring are steeped in bleakness underneath. Plus: ‘Do the Right Thing’ (1989) and ‘Little Women’ (2019).
Another Week: Number 74
Time itself is the puzzle I’m grappling with — maybe calendars will help. Also: a Washington Post subscription offer I could not refuse.
Another Week: Number 73
A bird looks in the rearview mirror. Plus: ‘One Life’ (2023), ‘Apple Music Live: Kacey Musgraves,’ Billy Strings and Mark Ruffalo on ‘WTF with Marc Maron.’
Another Week: Number 72
I have amnesia, my country has constipation, and President Biden visits Racine. Also: ‘Brigsby Bear’ (2017) and ‘The Color Purple’ (2023).
Another Week: Number 71
White-crowned Sparrows have stopped by for their annual visit. Plus: ‘STEVE! (martin) a documentary in 2 pieces’ (2024), and ‘Sergeant York’ (1941).
Another Week: Number 70
My backyard continues to occupy my mind. Plus: “How Fascism Works,’ by Jason Stanley, and ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere,’ by Warren Zanes.
Another Week: Number 69
Gardening decisions get finalized: I’ll plant salvias and petunias to attract hummingbirds. Also, Alejandro Escovedo on ‘WTF with Marc Maron’ and Bruce Springsteen night on my TV.
Another Week: Number 68
The 2024 solar eclipse as experienced at Petrifying Springs in Kenosha — plus chicken burgers, ‘The Blue Gardenia’ (1953) and Rudy Mancuso’s ‘Música’ (2024).
Another Week: Number 67
Amy’s memorial gathering was held Saturday at Church & Market in Kenosha. I also got a haircut and had three window screens re-screened.
Another Week: Number 66
A week spent mostly in a chair, working on my laptop — on a FotoMagico slide show and Zoho Invoice online billing.
Another Week: Number 65
A late March snowstorm triggers Christmas, Kate Middleton has cancer, ‘Winter’s Bone’ (2010), ‘Hitler,’ by Joachim Fest, ‘Detour’ (1945).
Another Week: Number 64
“You’ll get a smile to your lips before you get a tear to your eye.” Plus: ‘Great Expectations’ (1946), and ‘Mikey and Nicky’ (1976).
Another Week: Number 63
Joe Biden or Donald Trump? Pick one. Four years ago, Trump failed his big test badly. Plus ‘Triumph of the Will’ (1935), ‘Poor Things’ (2023), and ‘The Zone of Interest’ (2023).
Another Week: Number 62
Two new recliners, some poke and walleye. Little by little, I’m sorting things out. Plus: ‘May December’ (2023), and ‘Priscilla’ (2023).
Another Week: Number 61
Emails, photos, contact lists, calendars, credit accounts, closets, drawers, socks, spice jars, shampoos, lotions … plus ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ (2023) and ‘Nyad’ (2023).
Another Week: Number 60
Super Bowl LVIII, chicken pot pie, Valentine’s Day, Kansas City mass shooting, Alexei Navalny, Fani Willis hearing, ‘Past Lives’ (2023)
Another Week: Number 59
Walking is a metaphor. Moving forward trains you to move forward. 66th Grammy Awards, Immediate Family (2023), Apple Vision Pro review at The Verge.
Another Week: Number 58
I am the ghost who haunts this house; Ross MacDonald — Brightwood Press, American Experience: Nazi Town, USA; Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
Another Week: Number 57
Amy has vanished. The ever-tightening restraints have snapped. And a Jackie DeShannon hit is now an Instacart commercial.
Another Week: Number 56
She was reminding me. She was reassuring me. I will never forget it.
Another Week: Number 55
A ‘newer normal’ every day as Amy says she’s dying. ‘Lake of the Shining Arrow: A History of Brown’s Lake,’ by Carol DeMarco, ‘Hunt for the Wilderpeople’ (2016)
Another Week: Number 54
A Mobile Stairlift gets Amy to her surgical procedure, ‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song’ (2021), ‘Lessons in Chemistry,’ ‘Fargo,’ Season 5
Another Week: Number 53
Finishing out 2023 in our living room, ‘Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio’ (2022), ‘Gary Gulman: Born on Third Base’
Another Week: Number 52
Amy’s oncologist is afraid she might be going, ‘Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool,’ ‘Maestro’ (2023), ‘Like a Rolling Stone: The Life & Times of Ben Fong-Torres’ (2022)
Another Week: Number 51
Rose-colored glasses on and off, ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022), ‘The Fablemans’ (2022), ‘Barbie’ (2023), ‘American Symphony’ (2023)
Another Week: Number 50
Amy too weak on Wednesday after Monday chemo, ‘The Thing About Pam’(2022), ‘Hard Knocks: In Season With the Miami Dolphins,’ ‘The Year the Earth Changed’ (2021)
Another Week: Number 49
Amy now on Piqray and attempting finger-sticks, ‘Marcel the Shell with Shoes On’ (2021), ‘The ABC’s of Book Banning’ (2023), Trump calls for government crackdown on the free press, ‘Kyle Kinane: Shocks and Struts’
Another Week: Number 48
Thanksgiving week: Amy starts new Piqray chemo, Samsung Portable SSD T7 Shield, ‘The National Dog Show,’
‘Austin City Limits’: Foo Fighters
Another Week: Number 47
Amy’s anemia and a bedroom fall, ‘Austin City Limits’: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, ‘Good Eats’ is streaming on Max, ‘JFK: One Day in America’
Another Week: Number 46
No chemo this week because Amy is anemic; ‘Quiz Lady’ (2023), ‘American Symphony’ trailer, ‘Austin City Limits’: Margo Price/Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway, ‘Albert Brooks: Defending My Life’ (2023)
Another Week: Number 45
Trying to balance all the effects and side effects of Amy’s cancer, ‘Now and Then — The Last Beatles Song,’ ‘Bosch: Legacy’ (Season 2), ‘Feud: Bette and Joan’
Another Week: Number 44
Amy’s meager diet; Chicago Bears 30, Las Vegas Raiders 12; ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark’ (2019), Nile Rodgers & CHIC: Tiny Desk Concert
Another Week: Number 43
Amy’s an outpatient with low platelets and edema; ‘Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe,’ ‘We Don’t Talk About Leonard,’ ‘Renfield (2023),’ ‘The Insurrectionist Next Door (2023),’ ‘The Descent (2005)’
Another Week: Number 42
Amy in the hospital all week: low platelets and edema replace headaches and vomiting; Tracy Morgan: ‘Takin’ It Too Far,’ Neal Young: ‘Comes a Time.’
Another Week: Number 41
Cornered by cancer, ‘Children of Men’ (2006), Jason Isbell: ‘Southeastern,’ Live at the Bijou Theatre 2022, ‘Sleepy Hollow’ (1999), Chicago Bears 40, Washington Commanders 20
Another Week: Number 40
Harvest Moon afternoon at Brown’s Lake; ‘Frank’ (2014), ‘When We Were Kings’ (1996), ‘Savior Complex,’ CNN Max: Live news from CNN without cable
Another Week: Number 39
Some uplifting cancer results, ‘Dark Winds‘: Season 1, ‘Daisy Jones & the Six,’ ‘Theater Camp’ (2023), Dua Lipa in Conversation With Patti Smith, Author of ‘Just Kids’
Another Week: Number 38
Our cancer Habitrail continues, Bears lose to Packers, ‘Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words (2015),’ ‘Shiva Baby’ (2020), ‘Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap: Every Song Tells a Story’ (2014), ‘By Design: The Joe Caroff Story’ (2022)
Another Week: Number 37
The beginning of fall, the Rolling Stones hype ‘Hackney Diamonds,’ Mehdi Hasan vs. Vivek Ramaswamy, ‘Under the Covers’ (2002)
Another Week: Number 36
‘Oppenheimer (2023),’ ‘Telemarketers,’ ‘BS High’ (2023), ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’: Season 2, ‘Scarface’ (1983), ‘How to Blow Up a Pipeline’ (2022
Another Week: Number 35
Our rollercoaster existence, ‘My Old School’ (2022), ‘Windy City Rehab: Alison’s Dream Home,’ ‘Reservation Dogs’: Season 3, ‘Full Circle’
Another Week: Number 34
More chemo treatments, Jason Isbell’s guitar collection, ‘Justified: City Primeval,’ ‘How To with John Wilson’: Season 3, ‘The Donut King’ (2020), ‘See How They Run’ (2022)
Another Week: Number 33
The end of summer; the Wisconsin State Fair jingle and “Warm Love”; ‘American Experience: American Oz’; Lahaina burns to the ground; ‘The Storytelling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human,’ by Jonathan Gottschall; ‘Game Night’ (2018)
Another Week: Number 32
Amy released and sometimes headache-free; Bluetooth earbuds: soundcore by Anker Space A40, Trump indicted for conspiring to steal 2020 election, ‘The Quiet Girl’ (2022), ‘Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi,’ ‘Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed’ (2023)
Another Week: Number 31
Caged for a week; Celsius Sparkling Orange caffeinated water; superseding indictment of Donald Trump, ‘Jim Gaffigan: Dark Pale.’