Media way stations from the summer that refuses to end.

Escape hatches you can use to parachute out of your life if you’re feeling underwhelmed, overwhelmed, or somewhere in between.

This has been the longest summer of my life — and I mean that in the negative. Historically, I’m a summer apologist. I love the heat and the humidity. Give me afternoons playing tennis in air that’s so thick it feels like you’re swimming and sunsets after 8:00pm. But this year, the vibes are off and I’m counting down the days.

To be fair, the Never-Ending Summer™ was mostly self-inflicted (I’ll save the details for a future midweek dispatch). Somewhere in the middle of this three-month stretch that has really felt like ten, a few pieces of media became way stations to completely dive into and turn my brain off when everything else felt up in the air.

View these as escape hatches you can use to parachute out of your life if you’re feeling underwhelmed, overwhelmed, or somewhere in between.

1. Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1989)
It’s been years since I stayed up till 3 a.m. reading, let alone followed it up with a multi-hour Reddit hole. Hyperion is a space opera modeled after the structure of the The Canterbury Tales (sorry to trigger your AP English PTSD). It follows seven pilgrims (a priest, soldier, scholar, poet, templar, consul, and detective) on a religious journey to a distant planet, each telling their story en route. It’s sci-fi meets horror meets theology meets philosophy. I can hear how that sounds as I’m writing this - but i promise you, Simmons nails it.

It’s weird and haunting while having more to say about faith, grief, and technology than anything else i’ve read in the last 5 years, all the while somehow avoiding veering into pretentious territory (don’t let the John Keats themes scare you off).

During my Reddit deep dives I learned that apparently it’s long been a favorite in Silicon Valley circles. Flash forward to last week - Meta announced that they named their new mega data center Hyperion. Which, if you’ve read the book, is not super reassuring.

“In the beginning was the Word, then came the f---ing word processor, then came the thought processor. Then came the death of literature.”
*(The irony of ChatGPT spell-checking this article is not lost on me.)

2. The Weekly Dish – Andrew Sullivan
You might know him most recently from some appearances in the pages of the Free Press but he’s cycled through a few career iterations in the last three decades: journalist, cultural commentator, author, Catholic contrarian. He’s a tough guy to pin down politically given that he’s been writing in a public way since the 90’s.

Andrew’s on my list of public figures I lean on when I want to get an initial gut check on an issue (it’s always a coin flip whether his take is going to tick me off or reinforce my initial opinion). Anyway - if you like slightly mercurial commentary and a willingness to speak to anyone left, right or center, his substack is worth a follow (the podcast he puts out is accessed through the platform too). Friendly warning, to say he can be a bit of a contrarian is an understatement. Here are two recent-ish standout episodes:

Nate Silver On Gambling And Politics

Mike White On Transcending Identity

3. Snipe Hunter - Tyler Childers

This album coming out has been the final push that got me through the tail-end of July. In the middle of the never-ending summer I was also unfortunately in the middle of a music drought.

I was skeptical when it was announced that Rick Ruben had signed on to produce (no judgement if you bought the Creative Act - live your life) but I can gladly confirm that my drought has ended. Even the impossible- to- please editors over at Pitchfork gave it a solid 7.8

I missed his pop-up at Turkey and the Wolf in Nashville (tragedy), but I’m trying to catch his Nashville show later this fall.

Standouts: Oneida, Snipe Hunter, Cutting Teeth, Biting List.
Caveat: “Down Under” is polarizing. Proceed with caution.

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Cheers to the beginning of the end of the never-ending summer. The Relay crew would love to hear what media you’ve been loving lately - drop ‘em below!

Thanks for reading — or for mega scrolling all the way down here.

The internet is an overwhelming mess of headlines, ads, and mid takes from the worst people you know. Big Tech owns our attention spans. Everything is content. Nothing makes sense.

We’re not here to “fix discourse” or “build a better internet.” Relay is just our attempt to riff on what we’re already talking about at happy hour without feeling like we’ve been hit by a content truck. Some analysis, some memes, call it a day.

You might like it. Tag along.