Of course, what seems true before a World Cup has a way of getting blown to dust by about the second day of matches. But the 2026 tournament, cohosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada — though don’t mention the cohosting part to Donald Trump — kicks off this week in Mexico City, and in all the years I’ve been covering the event, I’ve never seen a World Cup generate this little advance excitement or this much advance disgust. I’ve also never seen a World Cup whose muted buzz could be so clearly attributed to fans’ exhaustion with the cartoon villainy of the people in charge.
I keep waiting to see if my indifference-bordering-on-disdain will shift into something more positive, but so far, no. This may be the first World Cup in decades that I don ’t watch … or I may end up watching every match I can. The switch could still flip. ⚽️
There are only two conspiracy theories I truly, madly, deeply believe in: that LBJ had JFK killed, and that Gram Parsons wrote “Wild Horses.”
Good haul from Vintage Mio today.
Finished reading: Don’t Call It Art 10 Ways to Create Like a Kid Again by Austin Kleon. Just a terrific book, I think Austin’s best — and exactly what I need right now as I contemplate a big change in my life a year down the road. This will be my guidebook, or rather my anti-guidebook, since if there’s one lesson everyone should learn from this book it’s how sad it is to know where you’re going. 📚
Jeong Seon (1676-1759), Clearing after rain on Mount Inwang. Ink on paper, Joseon dynasty, 1751.
A Day Like Any Other: The Life of James Schuyler by Nathan Kernan is a very good biography, but it (inadvertently I think) raises an interesting question. Late in life Schuyler (a) achieved stability of mind and daily life and (b) became a regular churchgoer. The unasked question is whether those two developments were related, and if so, how. 📚
So strange that the Sagrada Familia is nearing completion — unfinishedness seems so integral to its identity. Much larger version of the photo here.