Open Thread - Let's Chat About Monday

illustration by Adrian Tomine

Being a Monday person is like being a morning person - it's utterly alien to me. That said, I'm always up before six am, probably because I'm older and need less sleep. Before I know it, I'll be fighting the other seniors in the buffet line for the last bowlful of creamed corn.

Here's a much smarter man with some words about growing old. Perennial Nobel long-lister and occasional short-lister, who emphasizes he does not want the Nobel Prize ever, because he perceives that as the end of his career:

What I find strange about growing old isn’t that I’ve got older. Not that the youthful me from the past has, without my realizing it, aged. What catches me off guard is, rather, how people from the same generation as me have become elderly, how all the pretty, vivacious girls I used to know are now old enough to have a couple of grandkids. It’s a little disconcerting—sad, even. Though I never feel sad at the fact that I have similarly aged.

I think what makes me feel sad about the girls I knew growing old is that it forces me to admit, all over again, that my youthful dreams are gone forever. The death of a dream can be, in a way, sadder than that of a living being 

~ Haruki Murakami, "With The Beatles", February 17&24 issue of The New Yorker

Once asked if he ever read his own novels, he replied that he did, but only in translation, never in Japanese.

Since spaced99 brought up the new movie based on his short story, I tried to look up how many Beatles-related titles he had written. There's Norwegian Wood, the shorts - "Drive My Car" and "With the Beatles", but I immediately got sidetracked by an article on Open Culture about Murakami's radio show which was supposed to be a one off, but it ended up being a semi-regular show based on his personal choice of musical theme, one of which was Beatles Covers. (sorry for the run-on) It's here:

https://nico.ms/sm35751644

It's about an hour long, but it's a soothing listen, if you like imagining it as inter-dimensional radio. I hope your Japanese is better than mine. Also the video images. Murakami as a cat, Murakami sitting between a ram and an otter?

screenshot from niconico video

If you just want to listen to some of the tracks he chose, Peter Cat Official has you covered.

I was blathering again. People don't actually read the OT posts, right? Just tell us about your day. How'd it go? If you want, post your favorite Beatles cover below.