Letters, basketball and other things
So far, my last letter has appeared in Washington, Texas, and Connecticut newspapers. I can’t really think of a fresh angle for my next one, so I’m probably going to borrow from my recent Christian-focused article. If you would like some tips on writing your own letters, give this a read:
Anyway, it’s time for (Cell) Culture Talk. Here are some of the things I’ve been playing, watching, listening to and reading.
Game — Magic: The Gathering Arena. At the end of each month, they knock you down a few rankings. So I’m working on getting back to Mythic from Platinum tier 1. It was impossible at first, when I was playing against all the other formerly Mythic players. But as they moved on, it got a little easier.
This made me question whether recent changes I made to my various decks were actually improvements or whether as the month progressed the competition got less fierce. In particular, despite winning at the end of December, I think my Big Green Robot deck has gotten worse. I took out too many of the small artifact creatures which made it work.
As you get higher up in the Standard ranks, the decks look more and more similar. It’s clear some people have ‘solved’ the current version of the format. I’d probably do a lot better if I hued closer to their example, but creating my own decks is half the fun for me, maybe more.
Sports — Knicks beat Rockets, 108-88. In the first half, it looked like this might be a repeat of the San Antonio game, in which an injured New York squad lost to a bad team. Thankfully, the Knicks were able to put things together in the second half. I appreciated Alan Hahn’s Encanto reference.
Sports — Knicks beat Suns, 102-83. New York had a dominant performance with Jalen Brunson back in the lineup. Also, Julius Randle received some MVP chants! It’s wild how much his standing with fans has changed since last year. He deserves all the praise.
Sports — Knicks beat Spurs, 117-114. The game was too close for comfort. I’m not sure why the bottom-dwelling San Antonio seems to be giving New York so much trouble, but one thing is for sure. The Spurs aren’t tanking. They are a young group playing hard.
Sports — Knicks beat Raptors, 112-108. Toronto gave New York a scare in the final few minutes. Thankfully, the Knicks were able to hold them off. Apparently, this was Tom Thibodeau’s 100th win as New York’s coach.
Podcast — The Big Picture. I really only listen to the movie draft episodes. Their latest one is for 2019. I haven’t seen a lot of the films they’re talking about, but I think Chris Ryan’s slate is my favorite, with Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and Avengers: Endgame, among others.
Meditation passage — Setu Prayer by Eknath Easwaran. It’s interesting. For all Easwaran’s perennialism, the only passage of his own he recommends is about reincarnation, a concept specific to Eastern religions.
I can get on board in a limited sense. If you are somehow able to stop identifying with your own individual experience, and instead identify with the larger whole, which Easwaran calls God, then you could say there is no death.
I can also see how, if you believe every being contains the same divine spark, then every birth is a rebirth to a certain extent. That might not be the classical Hindu understanding of reincarnation, but it’s the most I can accept now.