I tend to read, watch, and listen to an awful lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a link roundup like this one.
PS This roundup will probably be too long and digitally dense to show up in full in your email. Click on the title to read the whole thing on the web.
RIP 97-year-old legendary comic Shecky Greene. - at People, Brenton Blanchet reports.
RIP 88-year-old jazz pianist and singer Les McCann. - at Pitchfork, Nina Corcoran reports on his passing.
“We are all the ages we have been. And maybe even some we haven’t.” - in the Guardian, actor/columnist Rhik Samadder writes “Getting older is one thing, but growing up is another altogether,” as he turns 43.
“At 97, Monti is animated and unstoppable. She runs Santa Maddalena as her personal passion project...” - I want to go to Santa Maddelena, the Tuscan writers’ retreat run by nonagenarian baroness Beatrice Monti della Corte! At NYT Books, Laura Rysman writes “A Tuscan Retreat Where ‘Literature is the Primary Value’.”
“I talked to two guys on the phone weekly who had dementia when I was preparing for this, and you would almost never have known they had dementia…” - 52-year-old Peter Sarsgaard talks to the Associated Press’s Krysta Fauria about preparing for his role in the film Memory, in which he plays a man with early onset dementia—which I’m looking forward to checking out.
“Actually, your impending fine lines may be doing you a favor. They may be reminding you that comparison is the death of happiness; that the future is unpredictable, which is why it’s critical to be present for now; that there are few things you can control—and though your appearance as you age may be one of them, that has less to do with Botox than with a life well-lived...” - at
, Oldster Magazine Questionnaire-taker responds to a letter from a 30-year-old feeling pressured to start getting “baby botox.”“In 1900, gerontologists considered ‘old’ to be 47. Today, you’re considered ‘youngest-old’ at 65, ‘middle-old’ at 75, and at 85, you are a member of the ‘oldest-old.’” - in his popular newsletter, political commentator
asks “How Old is Too Old?” (Among other things, he is talking, of course, about presidential candidates.)
“We know by a certain age the great palace lies of the culture — if you buy or do or achieve this or that, you will be happy and rich. Nope. Love and service make us rich.” - in the Washington Post, 69-year-old Anne Lamott, one of my favorite authors, writes, “The dressing-room encounter that made me get real about aging.”
Have you seen Maestro? I have criticisms, but overall enjoyed it. At Time, Leonard Bernstein’s daughter, Jamie Bernstein, writes, “How Bradley Cooper Wove My Parents’ Truth into the Fabric of Maestro” and notes that Cooper included bits from her memoir, Famous Father Girl: The Intimate Memoir of Leonard Bernstein and His Family That Helped Inspire the New Movie Maestro
On her Instagram account, 63-year-old actor Valerie Bertinelli says she would appreciate it if people would stop scrutinizing her beauty, hair, and photo-filter choices.
At AARP’s The Ethel vertical, novelist
backs Bertinelli up, writing, “6 Things Women Over 60 Are Told They Shouldn’t Do — But They Should.”“Ignore the hyperbaric chambers and infrared light: These are the evidence-backed secrets to aging well.” - in the New York Times, Dana G. Smith writes “The 7 Keys to Longevity.”
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That’s all I’ve got! Thanks for subscribing and reading, and being part of Oldster Magazine’s growing community. It’s great to have all of you here!
-Sari
I know parasocial relationships with celebrities are generally a one way street, but I would throw hands at someone being mean to @wolfiesmom
The Baronesa! Loved that article. And if there is heaven on earth, I'm confident it can be found at her writer's retreat...