On the Line: WNBA, Cicadas, More

▰ GAME ON:

“The elements I love most about basketball are grounded in the bare physical nature of the sport: forced air, its sound shaped from a mouth, after a particularly powerful dunk or a devastating chase-down block; sneaker squeaks on hardwood; the expressions of strain-to-triumph in a tricky sequence.”

That’s Katie Heindl writing in The Believer. 

. . .

▰ BUGGED OUT:

“With their bulging red eyes and their alien-like mating sound, periodical cicadas can seem scary and weird enough. But some of them really are sex-crazed zombies on speed, hijacked by a super-sized fungus.”

Often the best drama is in the business section and the best horror is in the science section. Speaking of the latter, that’s the Associated Press’  Seth Borenstein on the modern cicada problem.

. . .

▰ LISTEN UP:

“I always try to notice what my first reactions are, but I don’t privilege them too much, because music is a repetitive form. I guess these days you can 'repeat' most anything. But with music, I think there’s an invitation to repeat. I’m interested in how my thoughts and feelings continue to evolve through multiple listens.”

That’s essayist Carina del Valle Schorske, interviewed by Merve Emre, in The New York Review of Books. The topic in this instance is delaying judgment when hearing music.