MARSEILLE DISPATCH 04
"you know i've told you before that you hold me too tight"
Once again, I’m writing to you at 4AM…
Today we cover MANY Julia Jacklin songs (I love her), how I’m ruining the cultural fabric of Marseille, freezing and thawing sick people for later, and figs!
WHAT I’M INTO
Press Play: “Someday” by Julia Jacklin (Strokes cover performed for Triple J)
Sometime in 2022, SDM + I chatted with a stranger at Doris so we could take over his table. I forget the details, but he shared one of his playlists before heading out. And I still listen to it sometimes. Many songs are cheesy, but it does include some Bon Iver hits. Lately, I’ve gone into the playlist to replay this Julia Jacklin cover of Someday (The Strokes) on repeat. She tames a wonderfully rambunctious song into wistful reflection. Someday: All Grown Up. I see alone we stand, together we fall apart. I think I’ll be alright…
I love watching her sing this live, and it’s a good introduction if you’ve never listened to her classically trained voice. Of her originals, my favorites include:
“Head Alone” about running through a field, idk
“Less of a Stranger” about not knowing your mom as well as you’d like!
“Be Careful With Yourself” about wanting a loved one to adopt healthy habits so you can live and love each other longer….okay a public health queen
“End of a Friendship” about passion, a wine-fueled fight, unmet expectations, self-soothing, and well…the end of a friendship
Borrow from ur public library: Cinq dans tes yeux by Hadrien Bels
My French teacher asked us if we knew any Marseillais slang this week. I shockingly did, thanks to this book. It is only published in French, but Cinq dans tes yeux is beginner-friendly. Bels tells the tale of Stress, a child of the 1990s born in Le Panier quartier of Marseille, who effectively disparages Marseille transplants and gentrification. It names NAMES (bio boulangeries, bars, and streets). By employing a nostalgic lens about pre-gentrification Marseille, Hadrian helps readers appreciate the unique beauty Stress yearns for. It’s easy to join him in mourning the Old Marseille (even just the version I knew in 2018). The decline of African + Arab influence in Marseillais culture/identity is a recurring theme. There’s no real plot—just kids doing hoodrat shit with their friends. It reads like a Marseillais literary version of mid90s, but with loads more disdain. Am I part of the problem? Maybe.
Anti-algorithm news: “Startup Brings New Hope to the Pursuit of Reviving Frozen Bodies” by Ashlee Vance (Bloomberg)
I alluded to this story in a tweet yesterday. Laura Deming, a literal genius and child science prodigy (also Peter Thiel Fellow……….) knows the longevity market well. She’s invested in it for many years. Now, she’s launching Cradle Healthcare, which is looking to close a major cryonics market gap: reversible cryonics. The idea is that we can freeze sick people and revive them when we have cures for their diseases. But the question is: how do we freeze and thaw people without destroying them? The top cryo companies aren’t focused on the “reviving” part. Really cool stuff.
WHAT I’M UP TO