Elvis Costello is a more perceptive, skilled and thoughtful writer than ever

And I did write another record that was just a literal representation of a transition in my life that took place about 17 years ago. People were deeply shocked by how plain-spoken it was and didn’t like it. A lot of people didn’t like it because it wasn’t tricky and ironic and all these things that I had become supposedly known for. The couple of times that I spoke directly to people, they kind of stepped back, not cause the songs were bad, but because they don’t like truth. I’m that guy that’s got the smart-arse line you know but that’s not really me, that’s them, that’s what they’re hearing. You know I have no control about the way people listen to my songs, I have to write what I honestly think is the right story.

17 years ago was 2004/2005. EC released "The Delivery Man" in 2004, but that was well received. "North" was released in 2003 and wasn't as successful but it was a piano ballad album and I doubt folks were turned off by the lyrical content. I wonder if he's referring to 2002's "When I Was Cruel"?

Washing the Dishes and Clothes by Thich Nhat Hanh | Spirituality & Practice

Wash the dishes relaxingly, as though each bowl is an object of contemplation. Consider each bowl as sacred. Follow your breath to prevent your mind from straying. Do not try to hurry to get the job over with. Consider washing the dishes the most important thing in life. Washing the dishes is meditation. If you cannot wash the dishes in mindfulness, neither can you meditate while sitting in silence.

Thank you Thây for all you have given me.

The Quiet American (1958) **

Not sure why this film was made since it completely upends the source novel, but Mike Redgrave is good and the script is sharp.

Peter Bogdanovich Dead: Last Picture Show, Paper Moon Director Dies

Recalling a conversation he had with Welles shortly before the Citizen Kane director died in 1985, Bogdanovich seemed to be looking back on his own life: “I said, ‘Jesus, Orson, I feel like I made so many mistakes.’ And he said, ‘Well, it does seem difficult to go through life without making a great many of them,’ which was our way of rekindling our friendship. That was the last time we spoke.”