The Sunday Digest 009
Forget about those melting icecaps, we're doing the best with what we've got.
Welcome to The Sunday Digest — a free Sunday newsletter featuring long (and some short) reads, original columns, things I’ve saved over the last week, relaxing playlists, episodes releases, exclusive product drops, and more. Yes, you can reply to this email. I’d love to hear from you. Or, if podcasts are more your speed on Sundays, we’ve got that too.
Weekly Listen: Bloc Party — Sunday (Live on KEXP)
Have more perfect Sunday lyrics ever existed? I know Bloc Party was somewhat shamed in the recent The Cut piece that we broke down on this week’s Retail Therapy, but they’re a band that will always take me back to 2005 in all the best ways.
When I recently began going through my third Bloc Party infatuation, the lyrics to “Sunday” simply couldn’t have been more delicately written.
Heavy night, it was a heavy night
Feels like we've come back from the dead
Heavy night, it was a heavy night
I cannot remember what I said to anyoneIf we get up now, we can catch the afternoon
Watch the under-15's playing football in the park
Let's sleep in St. Leonard's on this alcoholic day
We're doing the best with what we've gotI love you in the morning
When you're still hungover
I love you in the morning
When you're still strung out
I love you in the morningI work hard all week, and so do you
We deserve to let off some steam
Less orthodox creeping
We need to rage through this lifeThere might be ones who are smarter than you
That have the right answers, that wear better shoes
Forget about those melting icecaps
We're doing the best with what we've gotWhen I'm with you, I am calm
A pearl in your oyster
Head on my chest, a silent smile
A private kind of happiness
It still doesn’t top “Two More Years” or “Like Eating Glass” as a top Bloc Party song for me, but it’ll get there soon enough.
Sunday Read: When in Doubt, Roast a Duck
by Helen Rosner for The New Yorker
Perhaps you’re new to the Sunday Scaries parts or perhaps you simply don’t listen to many podcasts, it should come as no surprise that I’m a supporter of a nice Sunday night duck dinner. How I got on that kick, I’ll never know (but it was probably because of a Frasier episode).
Much to my delight, I was recently forwarded this piece with the simple note, “This reminds me of an old Sunday Scaries episode! You did it first!” As far as I’m concerned, however, we’re all winning if duck is on the menu.
An excerpt from this week’s Sunday Read:
Dinner parties aren’t real, of course. In the fantasia of adult domestic life, they’re right up there with a romantic meet-cute at the ice rink, or finding an under-market apartment worthy of a Nancy Meyers movie. It’s what we hope for. It’s what we deserve. But it almost never really happens. Empires have been built on the dream of glamorous nonchalance: flowers in a vase, glittering conversation, an enchantingly odd little wedge of cheese, a table littered with spent wine bottles. Conveniently left just outside of the frame: the pots piled so high in the sink that you can’t refill guests’ water glasses, the lights too bright or too dim but never just right, the clash between expectation and execution, the creeping sense of having fallen short.
And yes, she does include her proprietary recipe for anyone looking for dinner plans tonight.
New Episode: Negronis, Sick Day Guilt, and Law School with David Ruff
This week begins with a dissection of the guilt you always seem to feel during sick days before diving into a history of the classic Italian cocktail, the negroni. To round things out, David Ruff joins the program to discuss all things law school — reasons for going, reasons for not going, good and bad law school habits, and more.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else podcasts are found.
Oh, and next week is the first episode of the month which means it’s time for some listener questions. If you’ve got one of your own, don’t hesitate to respond to this email.
Things I Saved This Week
The Sunday Haiku: Coffee with the Lads
Any soccer on?
Yeah, but it’s just Wolves-West Ham.
Better than nothing.
In Case You Missed It: Retail Therapy 003
Retail Therapy is now three episodes in and we’ve had a blast doing each of them. After shuffling our schedule these last few weeks, we’ll be resuming bi-weekly episodes beginning this Wednesday.
Enjoying it? We want to hear from you — shoot us a message with any ideas, topics, or questions you’ve got.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else podcasts are found.
See you next Sunday.
— Will