Stuff To Do At Home
March 27, 2020 by Rudy PanucciUsually, roughly once a week, I present a round-up of cool places you can go and things you can do here in PopCult.
Obviously, that’s not going to happen this week (or for the foreseeable future).
We are still doing our best to “flatten the curve” and prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus from spreading. There are times, when trying to discuss things like climate change, voting in your best interests and how to best limit the damage from a pandemic that I feel like Jor-El trying to warn the Science Council of Krypton that their planet is doomed. It’s frustrating and tiring, but please, listen to the doctors and scientists and don’t go out unless you really need to do so.
This is the easiest assignment in the world. You can save lives by just not leaving your house for a while.
But there are still cool things in this world which you can enjoy from the comfort of your own home. I’m going to divide it in a a few catagories, so you can take your pick of cool things to help pass the time.
Stuff To Read
thestoryisthething
For a long time I’ve been meaning to plug the blog of Douglas Imbrogno, my original editor at PopCult and the reason you have this blog to read now.
Doug is a terrific writer, videographer and musician, and in his blog, thestoryisthething, you’ll find essays, music, video and — if for some reason you’re a big fan of PopCult, Doug’s take on the genesis of The PopCult Blog and how it led to the revival of Radio Free Charleston were all documented in a recent post of his.
I got to hang out with Doug a bit recently. He gifted me with some cool Pez dispensers a couple of months ago, and he provided pre-show music for the recent production of Titus Andronicus in Charleston in which my wife participated.
His blog is a wonderful collection of the musings and writings of a truly gentle soul who tries as hard as possible to remain positive, which is quite a feat these days.
Douglas also curates the Changing Climate Times Newsletter, to which you can subscribe HERE. That he covers issues of climate change and manages to remain mostly upbeat is a tury remarkable accomplishment in an area where identifying with Jor-El is an everyday occurence.
The Chronicles of Don’t Be So Ridiculous Valley
Last year I included British musical legend Mike Batt’s whimsical illustrated fairy tale for all ages, The Chronicles of Don’t Be So Ridiculous Valley, in the PopCult Gift Guide. This stunned Mike, who had no idea that anybody in American knew who he was, or knew about the book. We exhanged a few pleasant Twitter messages over that.
Now, with the first edition of his book sold out, he has made it available for free, to read online, to help people deal with the world-wide quarantine. You can find it HERE and pass your time enjoying a tale that will take you to a much funnier world, one where slugs long to play the piano, and there’s not a worry in the world…except for the Pigfrogs. But then, what would a good story be without some conflict?
More Cool Blogs
In the past, I’ve recommended a few other blogs, and now is a good time to remind you so you can go catch up.
William Matheny has hooked up with Leesta Vall Sound Recordings for a really cool project. For 25 bucks, you can choose a song from the provided list, William will record it and send it to Leesta Vall, who will custom-press it as a 7-inch, one of a kind record, and they’ll mail it to you. It’s the Direct-to-vinyl Shut-in Session Preorder.
The cutoff date is March 29, so go to the website, pick your song and order now!
And that’s it for this week’s PopCulteer. I hope everybody is doing well and abiding by the recommended hermatige-ing. We’ll do this again next week, with all-new picks.