by Quentin Lewis

Weeknotes: 03/07/26-03/13/26

weeknotes goodthings teaching movies museum family

This Week:

  • In MUST204, we talked about how to photograph objects for cataloging purposes, and started talking about the history of collections management. I also had them help me lock down Poe’s head (or at least, a foam and clay bust of it!)
  • I spent a lot of time working on our upcoming Spring Break Arts Camp. Yikes! There’s a lot to do.
  • On Thursday, we screened “Toby Dammit” at the Museum, with remarks and commentary by the wonderful Dr. David Cody. The film is strange and surreal and humorous, with all kinds of post-modern touches. And David’s commentary showed how many of the striking images in the movie reference Poe himself and the images that other illustrators made of his work in the Golden age of illustration.
  • Good Things:
    • I listened to a ton of David Bazan this week, after purchasing “Curse Your Branches” at last week’s Bandcamp Friday. “Branches” is great, with its themes of trying to escape all fetters (whether they are religion or addiction) in favor of an embracing and unconditional humanity. But I also went back and listened to earlier Pedro the Lion records, especially “It’s Hard to Find a Friend." The songwriting is simpler, but Bazan’s astonishing voice carries all the loads of the weary and hopeful characters he sketches.
    • As a treat for finishing the exhibit, I ordered myself a copy of the legendary “Real Book”, a dubiously legal collection of musical charts for jazz standards. It’s been fun to wrestle with weird chord shapes and chordal melodies on the guitar.
    • On Friday, the kiddos had a day off, so we went to Binghamton and threw tons of tokens into Robot City Arcade, at lunch at New York Pizzeria, and took a spin through the Discovery Center in Ross Park.