Some Things My Brother Duncan's Been Into Lately

Self Portrait by Duncan McNairnay

I have an older brother named Duncan. He’s a photographer. You can see some of his work at his collective’s site here and on his flickr here. Duncan and I both like talking about big (and small) ideas. I think we have a general knowledge of what each other’s interests are and where these intersect. Because of that I think we’ll always grow closer. Here’s a list of things I think Duncan’s been into in his life, he only talked about one of these things:

-Columbia Record Club
-Bikes
-Donald Trump & Money
-Photography
-Enneagrams

Duncan’s a life-long learner. And now that I think about it, that really only means he’s enthusiastic generally. Our dad’s the same way. This enthusiasm came through when I suggested Duncan tell me about some things he’s into. Then I accidently didn’t record the interview. So despite the sad sad realization that the recording didn’t work, here’s some things I remember we talked about. (there's links throughout in grey, they get lighter when you hover over them)

1. Bicycles

And in particular fixed gears and bike couriers.  For Duncan, the bicycle is a transgressive and truly urban form of transportation. It represents freedom – agency and ownership, speed and at times danger. Like this:

The height of cycling for Duncan is building his own bike. A bike you build belongs to you not only when it works well but when you fix it and keep riding. The most attractive thing about a bike? “having the freedom to come and go on my own terms – being stuck in a social situation past when I’d like to leave is kind of a nightmare.” If you know Duncan, that sounds about right.

Ira Glass from This American Life

2. Podcasts

As soon as Duncan put podcasts near the top of his list, I thought of his baking days. I remembered him mentioning different books on tape he’d listened too while working early mornings and asked him if this was the predecessor of podcasts to him. “no” he answered “not wanting to read was the predecessor.” Listening to someone talk about their ideas means you don’t have to read their book. At first, he listened mostly to ideas and Tapestry but lately he’s fallen in with the NPR crowd – Radiolab and This American Life in particular. When I asked what it was about these podcasts he liked, or why he chose them over books on tape, he said there was something about the format that drew him in, “how they both weave different stories together with one underlying theme.”  And after talking about them – we realized a big part of listening to them is that you can talk about those ideas with other people later.

3. Stylish People

Don Draper from AMC's Mad Men

I guess because Duncan was pretty prepared for this, he announced this next one by saying “next, stylish people. You can put a picture of Don Draper beside that one.”

Coming up in a city like Winnipeg, where its hard to under dress for anything, a well tailored suit means something more – not to be worn everyday, that would be a little insincere in this place – but to have for special occasions. To Duncan, style is this very calculated image you present to people. It’s the character sketch you create of yourself.

For Duncan, Don Draper represents that whole early 60s era. He shows me this line from a designer he likes, called the Hedonism line (from indochino) . As I’m scrolling through the look book he says “The hedonist is Draper’s architype. Its also mine.” In Mad Men, the characters are very indulgent but at times excited about that chance to indulge. For him, well tailored suit represents that indulgence.

4. Washing Dishes

Above any other kind of cleaning. Liking “the feel of hot water” is an amelie-style factoid about Duncan. According to him there’s two kinds of people in the world: the cook and the dish-doer. And couples seem to find their other half.

The Clash

This wasn’t a big surprising revelation for Duncan – that this was music he liked, just that it’s the album he’s listening to right now. To him The Clash – their music, style, image – represent things duncan’s interested in - the era, the genre, the nationality.