Austin Kleon - Bored games

Hey y’all,

Happy October. It’s my favorite month in my favorite season. Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:

1. About 100 days ago I announced I was going to start working in earnest on a new book. Here’s how that went.
    
2. Every October I read spooky short stories at night before bed. Last year I read Lafcadio Hearn’s excellent Japanese Ghost Stories, and this year I’m reading Ray Bradbury’s short stories. (I just finished The Illustrated Man.) I’m also reading Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus. (Got obsessed with the creatures after watching the documentary My Octopus Teacher.)
    
3. Virginia Woolf said a writer must have a room of one’s own. In these quarantine days, I’m dreaming of a shed of one’s own.
    
4. Letter of recommendation: Bored games and solvable problems.
    
5. I was not surprised teenage Edward Hopper copied paintings, because copying is how we learn.
    
6. Eye candy: A wonderful look at Dürer’s self-portraits.
    
7. Ear candy: the new deluxe box set for Prince’s Sign O’ The Times is spectacular. I’m also digging Billy Nomates’ debut and working to the ambient beats of Barker’s Utility.
    
8. Homework for every American: Read “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” pay extra attention to the ending, and vote.
    
9. RIP cartoonist Quino.
    
10. How the days of the week got their names.