iPhone Therefore I Am
The timing was perfect. My iPhone was old. The battery barely held a charge. The camera was a little wonky. So I took a deep dive into the question of the moment: Which smart phone should I get? And just as I signed the paperwork and poured the contents of my life from one glowing slab of silicon to another, Zadie Smith and Ann Patchett offered a reason to pause.
Zadie Smith not looking at her phone. Photo by Gabriela Herman.
In a wide-ranging and enlightening interview with Ezra Klein, I learned that Zadie Smith doesn’t own a smart phone.
”I had one for three months in 2008, when it came out. Other people’s opinions matter to me, as I’m sure they matter to everybody. The thought of being exposed to those opinions every second of every day, of having to present my life to other people in some other form than it exists every day, like a media presentation — I cannot imagine what my mind would be, what my books would be, what my relationships would be, what my relationship with my children would be.”
A few days later, the New York Times published Ann Patchett’s gentle reflection on the joys and travails of email:
“The connection it provides here in Tennessee, where I live, far away from many of the people I feel closest to, stands in place of conversation….[But] I do regret email. Even though I’ve turned off the ping that once heralded every new message, I regret how susceptible I am to its constant interruptions. I regret all the times I look, only to find there’s nothing there. I regret the minutes it takes for my attention to fully return to other work at hand after stopping to check.”
She adds, quite off-handedly, that she has never owned a smart phone and doesn’t have any sort of cell phone today.
Two of my favorite writers—brilliant writers!—have never drunk the Kool-Aid. But it was too late for me. After a considered, self-reflective pause, I stared down at the new shiny screen that darkly reflected my suspicious gaze. “Thanks a lot, Mr. Jobs. That’s why I never became a best-selling, critically acclaimed novelist! Curse you and all your Silicon Valley minions!”
Of course, I’m never going to give up my iPhone. Podcasts and audiobooks get me through long drives or tedious sessions on the elliptical. It feeds my crossword puzzle habit. It plays music through my morning routine. I use the notepad to occasionally jot down ideas and musings (yes, the germ of this essay-ette started there). It helps me find the best route to take across town. Yes, I own a phone, and—in a few ways—my phone owns me.
So the war is lost, but I strive to win a battle here and there. I dutifully unsubscribe from any new unwanted mailing lists that attempt to colonize my inbox. On occasion, I deliberately leave it behind while I take walks or run errands. I adjust my “settings” to minimize the chimes and bleep-bloops it throws into my days. I try to use it rather than have it use me.
The greatest temptation, of course, is the ever present information highway. I resist the impulse to—as my father-in-law puts it—“ask the Google.” Sure, I would love to recall who won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1957. Or settle a friendly dispute about Tiger Woods’ lifetime PGA victories. But I try to resist the itch to power up and fill up the search bar. I’m not sure exactly what this achieves. Perhaps it gives my corroded brain a chance to recall it myself—a little mental aerobics before someone blurts out the answer. Or perhaps I just want to be reacquainted with the space—growing more strange in the new information age—of not knowing. Maybe that’s just playing dumb, but I’d rather call it an invocation of the Medieval mystics or Sufi sages. I may need to know the capital of Turkmenistan, but for now, let me dwell in The Mysteries.
Have I Got News For You
Roy Wood, Jr. Photo by Duane Cole.
After Trevor Noah left The Daily Show in 2022, the host chair became a revolving door. First outside “guest hosts” (Wanda Sykes, Charlamagne tha God, and others) took weekly turns as the show looked for a permanent replacement. Producers were set to announce a new guest host in September, 2023, but then the writers’ strike struck, and the show went on hiatus. When it returned, a handful of correspondents—Jordan Klepper, Ronnie Chieng, Michael Kosta and Desi Lydic—took turns in the chair, with an occasional appearance by good old Jon Stewart.
Roy Wood, Jr., who had his eye on the permanent host job, wasn’t happy with this arrangement. He left the show in October to pursue “other projects.”
And so we have CNN’s Have I Got News for You, inspired by the BBC series of the same name—the latest installment in the comedy news sweepstakes. Wood hosts an ersatz quiz show that doesn’t pay too much attention to right or wrong answers. Instead, it’s a chance for the host, two permanent combatants (Amber Ruffin and Michael Ian Black) and two guests to go for laughs. And they get them. It’s loose, chaotic and a total blast.
Library Live
With the expanded system of online requests, I keep my stock of library books replenished with a few clicks and a short walk to my neighborhood branch library. There awaits the results of my weekly whims and curiosities. But nothing compares to a physical stroll around the flagship Milwaukee Public Library. Built in 1898, you can marvel at its classical facade (said to be modeled after The Louvre), and take in the bits of history visible around the building. Yes there are books, too! Physical books. Rows and rows of books. A few keystrokes may point you to a book you think you want, but browsing the physical shelves is a rare pleasure, and can lead to surprises and unconsidered treasures.
Of course, when you’ve selected your next book, there’s no better place to read it than the lunch counter at Real Chili, just a short walk away.
Hugh and Emma
Troubled times call for serene escapes, and there is no better refuge than the novels of Jane Austen and their adaptations. Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s 1995 version of Sense and Sensibility—his first film in English—is a good place to dive in. Masterfully acted and serenely paced, it captures the spirit of the novel and relishes all its trimmings. Emma Thompson wrote the screenplay, and when Lee read it, he insisted that she play Elinor even though she was more than 15 years older than the character.
It paid off, as you can see in this scene in which Elinor brings “good news” to Edward. She is in love with him. He is about to be married to his “secret” fiancee of five years. Director Lee shoots the scene in one three-minute take and lets the long pauses sing with the longing between the frustrated lovers. (Don’t worry, it turns out all right in the end.)
Here and There
I jumped on the Pat Metheny bandwagon in 1976, wearing the grooves of his first recording Bright Size Life. A guitar chameleon who has imaginatively experimented with instruments and electronics through dozens of albums, Metheny just turned 70. His latest recording, MoonDial, is a lush, acoustic treasure that features covers and originals. It’s a tribute to his sensitive way with a melody. Here’s a taste.
Have a good week.