A May Day Brain Rain: Distractions Galore

The Matchbook | 5.1.26

Reflections of Ireland

Alas we have returned from the Isle of Emeralds. We had an unbelievable time, we photographed a LOT of things, worked our butts to the bones, and washed up on the shores of our Montana bed beyond worn out, but filled with a serious and enduring warmth. What a trip.

Today for your little Matchbook post, I thought I could show you some cool stuff that my weird brain found interesting, exciting, beautiful, odd, or whatever else it found. My love language is, and always has been, “LOOK AT THIS!” so that’s what I’m doing for you here again today.

A quick reminder, these Matchbook posts, and my Sunday Editions, are literally made possible because I have a few paid members that help keep me financially Able to write for you. Without them, I simply would not be able to devote the time and energy required to keep Signal Fire alive. IF you want to pay it back, pay it forward, and help keep this place humming, we’d love to have you join our family.

Onto the Randomities!

• GENER8ION - STORM featuring Yung Lean - Everyone and their brother is probably already talking about this bizarre, beautiful, unbelievably unique song and short film and mix of choreography, music, and art, but who cares, so am I. This combines so many things I love, This Is England vibe with the raw and gritty and film grain look I work with, music, and mesmerizing dance that combine to create something so, so, so much bigger than the sum of its parts. The slightly off-key singing, the slightly gross toxic masculinity that opens the film, and then the complete tonal shift at the end all make this magic. Just watch it, and watch it ALL, even if you don’t like the debauchery and shenanigans at the start. I promise, it’s worth it.

• Puma HardChorus - Similar vibe as above, but I stumbled on this (now 16 year old) video of Tottenham fans getting together for a Puma ad. Hard-scrabble football fans (the real football, not our American nonsense) that absolutely do NOT look like they’d be able to combine voices for something strangely beautiful, doing exactly that. There’s a bleakness to a lot of depictions of the UK in pop-culture, from the darkness it’s often shot in, to the lack of color worn by so many people in those depictions, and so when they lend their voices to one another to make art, it’s magical in a really goosebumpy way. Maybe more so because it’s not perfect. Perfectly imperfect, and I live for that shit.

• Beef Season 2 - I loved, mostly, the first season of the Netflix original Beef, and so far (we have a few episodes left) season 2 has been equally as great. What a strange depiction of what I fear is the common reality for so very, very many relationships in this modern adult world. The delicate art of settling, and the energy required to choose anything but. It’s hard to admit when things are inadequate for what your heart demands, it’s hard to take the steps to change your life when you hit those points, and this show is demonstrating that in every episode. We get comfortable, we get complacent, we change and forget to tell one another, and with that comes the consequences. Add onto all that the insane income inequality that this show highlights, and you’ve got a powerful message wrapped in a very pretty container. Absolutely worth a watch, but don’t expect to feel real good whilst doing so.

• The Antidote by Karen Russell - Just started this, so I cannot fully speak, but it’s absolutely been distracting me. I love the writing, I love the creation of such an intense sense of place, you can feel the sand and grit and ache and forlorn world that the Prairie Witch of this story inhabits. The opening prologue is maybe one of the most beautiful and intensely brutal bits of writing I’ve read in a long while, and it was really, really hard for me to get through because of it, but I’m glad it’s there, as it sets the tone immediately. Excited to read this in full and report back once I’m done.

  

• Chasers of the Light Bespoke Elopements - Self-promotion here, for one reason and one reason only…we just got back from shooting not one but TWO bespoke elopements in Ireland, and I have to just say this: THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY MAGICAL AND EVERYONE WHO IS THINKING OF GETTING MARRIED SHOULD CONTACT US AND WORK WITH US. That’s how strongly I feel. Get this for a stat: In 2026, the average cost for a wedding in the United States has ballooned to a staggering $36,000. That’s average. AVERAGE when you take into consideration all the costs at the end of the (one) day. Insane, and you don’t even get your honeymoon. What we do is different, we literally plan and curate not only your wedding/elopement itself, including me writing you a custom wedding ceremony, me officiating it, and Sarah and I photographing the entire thing, we also make you a full itinerary for your whole wedding trip and honeymoon. We do this wherever you wish to go, not just overseas, and we really, really want to do more in the United States (Hello Route 66 elopement anyone? hello New Orleans, hello Savannah, GA, hello National Park elopements!?) and not just in Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales. We map it out, provide perfect lodging/food/experience suggestions, driving routes, and basically make it a dream trip that will stay with you forever at a FRACTION of the price. We’ll get some testimonials from our clients put together, but yeah, I LOVE this, it’s life-changing, and it’s beautiful, and I really love the pivot we’re making towards more of this. Sorry, just really, really passionate about this.

  

  Kailee + Morgan in Clifden, Ireland

• Fade Into You (cover) by Gregory Alan Isakov and Sylvan Esso - My best good buddy in all the land just released a cover of one of my favorite old songs, Fade into You by Mazzy Star. It’s gorgeous, and the combo of his voice with Sylvan Esso is lovely as hell and just fits perfectly into a slightly cloudy and stormy Spring Day. I love my friend, love his art, and love that I’m alive while he’s making it. Give it a spin.

Hope these tickled your fancies.

I Love you all.

Be good.