connections

Apophenia ~ is the tendency to perceive meaningful connections between unrelated things. via wikipedia

My mind is a web of apopheniac non sequitur and I love it. I’m not sure most others do…

I was binge watching my way through The Queen’s Gambit when this word, used by an irreverent reporter negatively in the show, landed in my lap. From my perspective, the tendency toward connectivity in my head is pleasant…

In any case, below are three of my mind’s current, possibly quite stretched, connections.

Phoebe Bridgers’s Moon Song and Michael Chabon’s Amazing Adventures

The entire Punisher album has been on rotation heavily in both headphones and turntable lately. Moon Song is a particularly deep resonance for me, in part due to its connection ~ in my mind ~ with Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Klay.

“Now I’m dreaming
And you’re singing at my birthday
I’ve never seen you smiling so big
It’s nautical themed
And there’s something I’m supposed to say
But can’t for the life of me remember what it is”

~Phoebe

Just the one line ~ ‘nautical themed’ ~ draws an immediate connection in my mind with the party scene in Adventures where Salvador Dali makes an appearance in a full mid-century dive suit.

“The doorman had pointed Dali out to them when they came in, standing in the ballroom, just off the front hall. He was wearing a deep sea diving costume, complete with rubberized canvas coverall and globular brass helmet.”

~Michael Chabon

In my head, Phoebe had that moment in this book in mind when writing her lyric, spectacularly unlikely as it is. Whether or not there is any true connection, or whether M and P just happened upon a similar pool at different times within the ocean of collective unconscious, the circuitous drawn line between is comforting to me.

Rafiki from the animated Lion King and Smrgl from The Flight of Dragons

Both cartoons (originally), both teacher figures. This one requires little stretch of the imagination:

I saw The Lion King at a packed theater when I was 10 years old. In Boston. I was a shy kid, but during the final sequence as Raf gives the hyenas what for, I recall throwing my head back and cackling with abandon.

Smrgl’s scenes in Flight were among the first I recall watching repeatedly, being fascinated and terrified by as a young kid. I always requested accompaniment from a parent to get through the more difficult ones. Particularly Gormley Keep.

Moebius’s Floating City and Urza’s Tower by Brian Snoddy

Though Jean Giraud is now among my favorite artists, I was exposed to Snoddy’s piece for Magic: The Gathering first. His trio of artwork for 9th edition Urza or ‘Tron’ lands is some of my favorite in the entire game.

This one (I think) is self-explanatory.

A triple day delay this week due to challenging mind-weather. Thank you for being here.

Hold on tight all, see you Saturday.