Jordan

I’m a few days into my third (third) round of covid. I’m actually really bitter about it but luckily it’s the mildest bout I’ve had. I wake up around 8 a.m. with completely new symptoms (no scratchy throat anymore, replaced with a mild stuffy nose), but I feel mostly fine after I take a shower and clear my sinuses. I spend the whole day inside my house, obviously, so I’ll track my day by the media I consume while I keep a safe distance from everyone:

10 a.m. Los Campesinos! — All Hell

I’ve been listening to the new Los Campesinos! album so much over the last few days. I will probably inevitably associate it with the novel coronavirus but I do think it’s good enough to hopefully transcend it. It’s extremely satisfying to me when a band that’s been around so long creates something that sounds so vital, so in tune with the moment. Bonus points for when it sounds a lot like the mid-2010s emo classics. My favorite song of the year might actually have the title “To Hell in a Handjob.” Thanks to this band for that.

11 a.m.  Joyce Manor — Never Hungover Again

Everyone online is talking about how this record was released 10 years ago today. I listen and reminisce about playing “End of the Summer” over and over again on my drives too and from my restaurant job, before I moved to Philadelphia and became a person who does not have a car.

12 p.m. Liz Moore — The God of the Woods

Okay here’s something Philadelphia related — to cheer me up, my boyfriend Jonny went to Head House Books at 2nd and Bainbridge to pick up a copy of Liz Moore’s new book The God of the Woods for me. I really liked her previous novel Long Bright River, which I read in a class about Philadelphia literature and film a few years ago. I’m a graduate student in English and right now I’m supposed to be working through a 100+ book reading list in preparation for my comprehensive exams. As a result I am always looking for excuses to read literally anything else. I’m calling this a “sick day” so I let myself read the first 80 pages of this thing. The opening narrative, about a girl who goes missing at a summer camp, feels both familiar and compelling as the novel roves through a few different perspectives. It’ll be fun to steal a few chapters here and there while I reluctantly read the things I’m supposed to be reading.

2 p.m. Leonardo Sciascia — The Day of the Owl

I’m teaching an online asynchronous course this summer about crime fiction. I’m working a few weeks ahead of my students, who just finished The Talented Mr. Ripley in the third week (imo this book totally slaps; some of my students disagree which is surprising to me). I read the introduction to the final novel for the semester, The Day of the Owl, which is a detective novel that kind of gets into the silent, existential effect of organized crime on Sicilian society in the ‘60s. I spent a lot of time this summer reading crime novels to prepare for this course, often in Dickinson Square Park near my house, but obviously today I am just in my house. It is, as I tell my students, not a bad way to spend the end of the summer.

3 p.m. A New Leaf

Jonny has an enormous movie collection — he pulls a big stack of them for us to watch today (from opposite sides of the room). We start with Elaine May’s 1971 film A New Leaf, which is kind of like a dark romantic comedy in which a dumb rich guy schemes to marry a sweet and kind of goofy woman he does not like so that he can keep being rich. He then thinks about murdering her (and almost does) for the remainder of the film. Elaine May wrote, directed, and starred in this and she’s really funny. I read afterwards that she intended for the movie to more closely follow the plot from the Jack Ritchie story it’s based on, which is a lot darker. I did feel kind of heartwarmed by the ending they ended up with however. Hollywood got me again.

6 p.m. Mikey and Nicky

We decide to put most of the original stack aside and just have an Elaine May marathon. We watch Mikey and Nicky next. I liked this one a lot too — just two dudes who are buds who are kind of just fighting the whole time (sounds like The Banshees of Inisherin). Okay, this movie was definitely shot in Philadelphia but I wonder the whole time if it’s supposed to be set in Philadelphia? Maybe in the covid fog I missed when they actually said it or not. The characters ride old SEPTA buses (there’s one scene where they fight with the bus driver because they refuse to exit through the back door) but they also call it “14th street” instead of Broad St. and also refer to a “Broadway.” I guess it’s supposed to be ambiguous but I love to see Philadelphia in the ‘70s here. Jonny and I talk about how we love movies that take place in one night like After Hours or Before Sunrise. My dog Nick (kind of a mix between a greyhound and a boxer) falls asleep on top of me.

8 p.m. The Heartbreak Kid

We round out the Elaine May marathon with The Heartbreak Kid. This is a film about a guy who is a total dummy and a jerk! Another good one.

10:30 p.m. Friends

So I watch Friends at night to help me fall asleep, what are you gonna do, sue me? Although it’s getting into the whole Joey has a crush on Rachel part of the series which is still a flop plotline to me. I fall asleep and hope the novel coronavirus has left my body by the next morning (it won’t).

Jordan is a graduate student and writer who has lived in Philly for 8 years. @jordalsh