This is Geistlist.
The Newsletter about Things for People by Jacob.
Like Facebook Events without the other people, nor the Facebook.
Now with its own domain: geistlist.email. Share tastefully.
¶. Imminently: Open VCR Night
Conveniently the Nth Monday of every month, tonight is the sophomoric Open VCR Night 7–10pm Eastern at Wonderville.
Simultaneously everywhere else: the powerless livestream, with chat moderated by historian of ephemeral video Matthew Hawkins of FORT90.
Imagine a deranged talkback at Spectacle with a indie film director who didn't show up, moderated by a HAM radio guy except he's that way about video.
I will be bringing u m a m i’s Interface on VHS and inserting it aggressively every 30–45 minutes wearing disguises.
¶. Thursday: Intergenerational Fight Song Club
The first Thursday of every month is Generate (née Millennial/Boomer Dialogues).
This Thursday: a special performance of fight/protest/love songs written by Lynn’s wife¹ Ellen, and performed with Noah Wilson.
¹ life partner/roommate/neighbor, it's a serious jealousy-provoking setup they've got there on W Houston
¶. Til June 5: BIRD SHOW
My solo curatorial debut now has an end date: June 5. Come by the Reliquary on weekends and see it before then. We'll be having a closing party of some sort.
Just scheduled: No-Binoculars Beginner Birding with local minor birding celebrity and rooftop DJ Gabriel Willow. In McCarren Park on May 21, 5:30-7pm. Details to come but pencil it in.
¶. Epochally: COVID Material Culture Museum
Some of you know I've been building this collection for two years now, with the plan always being to document + exhibit these wildly strange but oddly normal artifacts. Wild how the "trangressiveness" of some of the things has changed over the months.
thecovidmuseum.org has been silently online a while, so call this email a soft launch: every smart restaurant opens unannounced except to friends & family for a few days before the public "grand opening."
It's still a little too default-looking and unfinished, but people I have learned to trust have told me putting unfinished things out like this can help make them become finished, eventually.
~50 more artifacts to photograph, ∞ more to acquire, a better templating engine to code, typography to tweak ad infinitum. But the skeleton is there.
If you ever see me with my backpack, ask to view the Portable COVID Material Culture Museum. If you ever see me in my apartment, note the grammatical and stylistic P&Q-type differences between the MTA & NYC Parks Department circa-2020 Keep This Far Apart signs.
∞. Reading List
One rare flowy joy in life is when a medium you feel you understand² (narrative gaming) is discovered and explained back you—entirely differently—by a genius in a medium you chronically do not (theater).
I believe I can take credit for introducing non-Euclidean theatermaker Yannick Trapman O'Brien to The Stanley Parable, which then become one of his punctual looked-forward-to monthly Patreon Reading Excerpts.
Hope he doesn't mind me sharing the Patreon-exclusive joy of metanarrative discovery.
Of note: TSP was just massively updated/rereleased and I hope a new generation finds it confusing & reaffirming as I did in like 2014.
Next up Yannick (I know you are here): The Beginner's Guide, probably secretly my favorite mostly unknown and highly unsettlingly soothing video game (INSIDE being my favorite mostly known one).
² narrative gaming
³ theater