“The aesthetic experience is a simple beholding of the object . . . you experience a radiance. You are held in aesthetic arrest.” - Joseph Campbell
Aesthetic Arrest is our weekly dip into the Epicurean pleasures we’ve been enjoying lately. Cheers to that!
This Week’s Apéritif: Amaretto Sours!
Ryan Wildstar’s Recommendations:
Reading: Orlando: A Biography by Virginia Woolf (introduction by Carmen Maria Machado)
To learn more about Public Domain Day 2024, check out this week’s Mid-Week Libation!
To read or download a free version of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (now in the public domain in the U.S.), go to these links at Project Gutenberg Australia: Text --HTML--EPUB--MOBI
Listening: Court and Spark by Joni Mitchell (50th Anniversary, January 1974)
Purchase Court and Spark as part of The Asylum Albums (1972–1975) box set:
Looking: The Art of Hermann David Salomon Corrodi (1844-1905)
Viewing: Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart (1985) directed by Wayne Wang and starring Laureen Chew, Kim Chew, Victor Wong, Ida F. O. Chung, Cora Miao, Amy Hill, and Joan Chen (available at The Criterion Collection)
Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart: Family Style by Brian Hu (via The Criterion Collection)
Tasting: Our 24th Anniversary Wine Tasting!
Castel Faglia Cuvée “Monogram” Blanc de Blanc Brut (Franciacorta DOCG, Italy)
2021 Domaine Henri Bourgeois Sancerre “Les Baronnes” (Sancerre AOC, France)
2019 Kantina CACO “Harmoni” (Grabovicë - Pogradec, Albania) “God made only water . . . but man made wine!”
Ryan Elston’s Recommendations:
Reading: The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara
The Weight in Being Well: The Salt Eaters and the Genius of Toni Cade Bambara (via The Feminist Wire)
Also, to all our L.A./California readers, check out The Salt Eaters Bookshop in Inglewood, CA (which just celebrated their two-year anniversary!) named after the Toni Cade Bambara’s novel! “The Salt Eaters Bookshop is an independent bookstore in Inglewood, CA prioritizing books, comics, and zines by and about Black women, girls, femmes, and gender expansive people.”
Help The Salt Eaters Keep Our Home! (donate to their GoFundMe)
‘Like I belong’: how a California bookshop became a safe space for Black readers (via The Guardian)
Listening: The Music of Les McCann (September 23, 1935 – December 29, 2023)
Read Joe Alterman’s beautiful tribute to Les McCann: “It was like having the most beautiful big brother”: Pianist Joe Alterman remembers his friend and mentor Les McCann (via WBGO)
Official Site of Joe Alterman / Instagram / Bandcamp / Youtube
Listen to a lovely interview here: Pianists Les McCann & Joe Alterman: That’s what friends are for (via WBGO)
Looking: The Art of Cecilia Paredes
Cecilia Paredes on Instagram / LensCulture / Works for Sale (via Artsy)
Precisely Aligned Paint and Fabric Camouflage Cecilia Paredes Amid Lush Botanical Backdrops (via Colossal)
Artist Interview: Cecilia Paredes (via Little Observationist)
Portraits of the Artist as Wallpaper – In Pictures (via The Guardian)
Viewing: Daisies (1966) written and directed by Věra Chytilová (available at The Criterion Collection)
Daisies: Giggling Generals; One and Two by Carmen Gray (via The Criterion Collection)
Tasting: Our 24th Anniversary Wine Tasting!
Castel Faglia Cuvée “Monogram” Blanc de Blanc Brut (Franciacorta DOCG, Italy)
2021 Domaine Henri Bourgeois Sancerre “Les Baronnes” (Sancerre AOC, France)
2019 Kantina CACO “Harmoni” (Grabovicë - Pogradec, Albania) “God made only water . . . but man made wine!”
That’s it for this week! But we want the dinner party to continue! So each week we are asking a “dinner party” question for everyone joining us here at our table. Last week, we asked: “Who's one of YOUR favorite film directors?” Here are some of the great responses from the comments:
Ryan Elston chose Ava DuVernay!
Ryan Wildstar chose Federico Fellini!
Mary Chase chose Alan Parker!
kde chose Jane Campion!
And Del Mar (who couldn’t choose just one) chose David Lynch, Roman Polanski, Jordan Peele, Ken Russell, Nicholas Roeg and David Cronenberg!
Thank you everyone for your wonderful responses! That was last week . . . but we don't want this week's dinner party to end either!
So here is this week's question for the table:
On both this week’s podcast and this Wednesday’s Mid-Week Libation, we talked about Public Domain Day 2024 and the new works from 1928 (like Virginia Woolf’s Orlando) entering the public domain for the first time. We’re especially excited about this because we both love the 1920s!
So, our question for the table this week is:
What's one of YOUR favorite things from the Roaring ‘20s?
A jazz song from Louis Armstrong? A film by Charlie Chaplin? A painting by Picasso? A cocktail from the Prohibition era? Josephine Baker dancing the Charleston?
Tell us your choice in the comments and we’ll share some of your responses on next week’s podcast!
Also, don't forget to stop by The Epicurean Vagabonds Substack on Wednesdays, to check out our revamped Mid-Week Libations! Now with audio segments featuring Ryan & Ryan!
And thank you for joining us for Season Two of Aesthetic Arrest!
Cheers to that!
Share this post