Letters, Magic, and Otis Redding
It was a bad week for letters. So far, I haven’t seen my last one pop up anywhere. I was a little surprised. The previous time I did a religious-themed letter, it did better than average. My next one tries to appeal to politicians’ desire to leave a lasting legacy. If you would like to write your own letters, check this out:
Anyway, let’s do (Cell) Culture Talk. Here are some of the things I’ve been playing, watching, listening to and reading.
Game —Magic: The Gathering Arena. Two decks I’ve been seeing a lot of, and give me the most trouble, are built around Voice of the Blessed and Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim. I was frequently going up against Portal to Phyrexia decks, but not as often now. They wreak havoc on my Big Green Robot deck, but don’t have as much to work with when I use my Reinforced Ronin one.
The current version of my Reinforced Ronin deck includes four copies each of the titular card, Iron Apprentice, Leech Gauntlet, Dragonspark Reactor, Oni-Cult Anvil, Patchwork Automaton, Symmetry Matrix, Dollhouse of Horrors, and Goring Warplow. Of course, there are mountains and swamps in there too. I finally made it back to Diamond tier in the Standard rankings.
I still want to figure out my Big Green Robot deck, but it feels a little bit like I’m trying to make fetch happen. Nobody plays mono green in the current Standard. I’m thinking about getting into the Historic format, which includes all the cards ever released on Arena. So maybe I could build a more successful version of it there.
Sports — Knicks lose to Bucks, 111-107. Ugh, I really wanted the win here. Jalen Brunson was phenomenal, with a career-high scoring night, but it wasn’t enough to save New York from Milwaukee’s fourth-quarter resurgence.
Sports — Knicks beat Pacers, 119-113. I wish New York was a little better at holding onto a lead, so we didn’t have these constant nail-biting finishes, but all’s well that ends well, I guess. It was good to get RJ Barrett back from injury. He didn’t look too rusty. Obi Toppin returned in the previous game.
Sports — Knicks beat Wizards, 112-108. They highlighted some comments during the broadcast from Kristaps Porzingis, suggesting he missed playing for New York. I don’t think a reunion is actually on the table, but if it was, I’d be skeptical based on his injury history. I also could see him butting heads with Tom Thibodeau.
Music — The Very Best of Otis Redding by Otis Redding. I’d heard him before, but what really got me to seek out Redding’s music in college was the use of “My Lover’s Prayer” in The Sopranos. The standout here is, of course, “Try a Little Tenderness.” It makes me want to dance around a record store like Duckie from Pretty in Pink.
I don’t pretend to be a Redding expert, but this compilation is missing a bunch of my favorites, like “Cigarettes and Coffee.” That said, at 44 minutes, it’s a lot more manageable than The King of Soul, which clocks in at 4 hours and 36 minutes.
Meditation passage — You Are Christ’s Hands by Saint Teresa of Avila. I like this because it’s action focused. As is almost always the case, the passage was recommended by Eknath Easwaran. The only one of my own choices I’ve memorized so far is the Peaceable Kingdom lines from the Bible.