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From The Desk Of The Rentals’ Matt Sharp: Hazel Rowley’s “Tête-À-Tête: The Tumultuous Lives And Loves Of Simone De Beauvoir And Jean-Paul Sartre”

The multimedia Songs About Time is an ongoing project from the Rentals, the revolving-door band founded 15 years ago by then Weezer bassist Matt Sharp. Songs About Time finds Sharp and Co. collaborating with a cast of about 50 filmmakers, designers, producers, editors and artists. They began this year-long experiment January 1 and have since made a new black-and-white film every week, not to mention documenting the process with a daily photo diary and recording three mini-albums. (All of this content can be found on the band’s website.) As if Sharp wasn’t busy enough, he is also guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read his introduction.

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Sharp: A friend of mine sent me Tête-À-Tête years ago, and I never took the time to thank him for it. I still feel guilty for not thanking him, but maybe it’s so far past that awkward point now I could actually pick up the phone and say, “Hey, do you remember that book you sent me three or four years ago?” Anyway, it took me so long before I actually took the time to read it. Usually, it takes me a very long time to read any book. It takes me almost as long to read as it does for me to write, which MAGNET will tell you is a mighty long time. But once I started this book by Hazel Rowley, I could not stop reading it. This is a biography about the relationship between French philosophers Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre. I swear to you, this book will make you smile and even make you laugh, all while it simultaneously tries to challenge the fundamental way you look at love.