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2021 Diary of Culture

1/1/2022

1 Comment

 

2021: The Year It Got Real(ity)

For the past 8 years I've kept a diary of all the culture I take in during a year: TV, film, books, podcasts. Loosely inspired by Steven Soderbergh's annual lists, which are insane.

This year was weird. The first half of the year, we were expecting a baby; the list is full of pregnancy books, parenting books, and a bunch of TV and film as we a) tried to relax and bond and b) tried to cram in a lot of things before le bebe arrived. The second half does a lot of the same, except now I'm up with a baby at 5am looking for something to keep me awake. Partly as "research" for a "project," I started watching reality competitions, particularly Survivor. Turns out you can watch a lot of seasons of Survivor while your baby sleeps on your. shoulder.


Highlights
Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado - excellent and surprising short story collection.
Les Vampires - classic series of French silent films following a newspaper man out to stop a criminal gang. Fantastic and available on YouTube.
I Think You Should Leave - we discovered this series about 6 weeks before the baby arrived and watch an episode the night we went into labor (I'm pretty sure we could blame the timing on a particular sketch). About a week into baby's life, we had a date night while the Grandparents took care of the baby, and we sat together in bed, eating popcorn and watching three episodes of the second season. One of my favorite nights of the year.
The Birth Partner - speaking of baby, I finished this How To on my way home from work, the day we went into labor. Excellent timing!
New Teeth by Simon Rich - fantastic stories to read and laugh at early in the morning as a new father. But also this made me seek out Miracle Workers, which is a tremendous delight as well.
Patricia Highsmith's Ripliad - I burned through all five of her Tom Ripley novels, never having read them before. A real treat.
The Velvet Underground, by Todd Haynes - Gorgeous. Not to be seen without a fantastic sound and video set up.
Daniel Craig Retrospective - I'm a Bond nerd; One of my earliest memories is waking up in the middle of the night and finding my grandfather watching YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. In the lead up to the release of NO TIME TO DIE, I watched all of DC's 007 appearances leading up to the new one. I watched them early in the morning as my child slept on my shoulder. B won't have memories of this, but I will.


RULES
- I don't track food or music, unless I experienced them with cultural intention. Meaning: getting take out doesn't count, going to a restaurant doesn't count; but going to a restaurant with the intention of trying something spectacular, does. Same with music.
- I similarly don't track news, one-off articles, or short reading, unless it's with specific intention. 
- This is not a place to differentiate between live theatre, filmed archival theatre, zoom theatre. If the author's medium is theatre, it's theatre as far as this list is concerned. 

LEGEND
Film.                            Screenplay (Read)
Play (seen live)      Play (read)
TV (watched)         TV (read)
Book / Publication
Podcast.                   Museum / Art Gallery

Music.                        Food

January 1    This is Love: Something Large & Wild
            Killing Eve 3.2
January 2    The Plague Year by Lawrence Wright
            Ken Burns Masterclass Ep 11-13, 16-22
            Killing Eve 3.3
            Schitt’s Creek 2.2
January 3    Ken Burns Masterclass Ep 23 - 25
            City Hall, dir Frederick Wiseman (1:45 minutes)
January 4    John Warren’s Writing the Scene, Module 1 - 5
            City Hall, dir Frederick Wiseman (next 1:15 minutes)
January 5    John Warren’s Writing the Scene, Module 6 & 7
            City Hall, dir Frederick Wiseman (finished)
January 6    John Warren’s Writing the Scene, Module 8
            The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
            History of Swear Words: Fuck, Shit
            Schitts Creek 2.2
January 7    John Warren’s Writing the Scene, Module 9
            History of Swear Words: Bitch
            Killing Eve 3.4
January 8    Beetlejuice dir. Tim Burton
January 9    FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
January 10     Schitt’s Creek 2.3, 2.4
January 11    The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Fred Armisen
            The Bechdel Group Overnight 10 Minute Play Readings
January 12    The Talented Mr. Ripley, w/d Anthony Minghella
January 13    Fosse/Verdon 1.1
January 14    Killing Eve 3.5
January 15    Pretend Its a City Ep 1 & 2
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: JB Smoove
            Killing Eve 3.6
January 16    Edward Scissorhands
January 17    Noble Blood: Marie Antoinette’s Second Death; Charles II; The Claimant
            Killing Eve 3.7
January 18    Noble Blood: Ever Dearest Cousin Nicky
            Pretend its a City, Ep 3 & 4
            Killing Eve 3.8
January 19    Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
January 20    Fosse/Verdon Ep 2+3
January 21    Schitt’s Creek 2.5
January 22    Blown Away 2.1 and 2.2
January 23    Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story
            Blown Away 2.3
January 24    Noble Blood: Until We Meet Again
            Pretend It’s a City Ep 5, 6, 7
            The Happiness Lab: Self Compassion
            Blown Away 2.5
January 25    Noble Blood: What Eye has Wept for George IV
            The Office 1.1 (British)
            10 Years with Miyazaki pt. 1: Ponyo is Here 
            Blown Away: 2.6
January 27    Low Life by Luc Sante
            Dramatist Magazine July/August 2020
            Belle Reprieve by Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver 

            10 Years with Miyazaki pt. 2 Drawing What’s Real
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Mike Birbiglia
            Noble Blood: the Maybe Queen Arbella
            Blown Away, 2.7, 8, and 9
January 28    Noble Blood: The Butler in the Bedroom with the Sabre
            Noble Blood: The Marquise and her Poisons
            10 Years with Miyazaki pt. 3: Go Ahead, Threaten Me
            Blown Away, 2.10
January 29    10 Years with Miyazaki pt. 4: No Cheap Excuses
            Mall Murder Madness
January 30     The Theater and Cinema of Buster Keaton
            The Trip to Greece

January 31    Noble Blood: Let Him Be Hanged There for a Lamb
            Noble Blood: The Wedding Ended in Blood
            Noble Blood: The Ice Queen
            The Railrodder (with Buster Keaton)
            Blown Away 1.1, 1.2
February 1    Buster Keaton’s The Playhouse
            Buster Keaton’s Cops

            Blown Away 1.3, 1.4
February 2     Blown Away 1.5, 6, 7
February 3     Wild and Crazy Guys, by Nick de Semlyen
            The General, w/d Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
            Blown Away, 1.8
February 4    Dramatist Magazine, Sept/Oct 2020
            Blown Away 1.9, 1.10
February 5    Dramatist Magazine Nov/December 2020
            Making’ It 2.1
February 6    Dramatist Magazine Jan/Feb 2021
            Noble Blood: The Neck and the Necklace
            Noble Blood: The Swan King Went Mad
            Making It 2.2
            Dick Johnson is Dead
February 7    Buster Keaton’s One Week
            Noble Blood: Today We Leave for Mexico
            Noble Blood: Catherine the Great and Her Husband the Mediocre
            Making It 2.3
            Super Bowl
February 8     Vanity Fair March 2021
February 9    Making It 2.4 and 2.5
February 10    Fosse/Verdon EP 4 + 5
February 11    Making it 2.6
February 12    Expecting Better by Emily Oster
            Writer’s Digest Sep/Oct 2020

            Making It 2.7
February 13    Making It 2.8 Finale
            Framing Britney Spears
February 14    Writer’s Digest Nov/Dec 2020
            Roman Holiday, dir William Wyler
            When Harry Met Sally, dir Rob Reiner
            Pretty Woman, dir Garry Marshall
            Music and Lyrics, w/d Marc Lawrence

February 15    Writer’s Digest Jan/Feb 2021
February 16    Puccini’s Tosca, dir. Mark Lamos (2000)
            Schitt’s Creek 2.7 and 2.8
February 17    Fosse/Verdon Ep 6
            Schitt’s Creek 2.9
February 18    The Secret Life of the American Musical, by Jack Viertel
            Skitch Henderson 80th Birthday Celebration, NYC Pops
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: David Spade
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Dave Grohl
            Fran Lebowitz: Public Speaking, dir Martin Scorsese
            Schitt’s Creek 2.10 and 2.11
February 19    2046, w/d Wong Kar Wai
February 20    Funny Face, dir Stanley Donen
February 21     Noble Blood: Divorced
            Noble Blood: Beheaded
            Schitt’s Creek 2.12 and 2.13
February 22    Arrested Development 1.3
February 23    Lizzie Borden, by Jack Beeson
            Preacher 1.1
February 24     Confessions of a Window Dresser by Simon Doonan
            The Ventriloquist’s Wife, by Charles Ludlam 
            The Enchanted Pig, by Charles Ludlam 

            Arrested Development 1.4
February 25    Faster Pussycat! Kill Kill!
February 26     The Kid From Brooklyn (finished)
            Arrested Development 1.5, 1.6
February 27    I Care A Lot
February 28    Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Kenan Thompson
            Noble Blood: Died (Jane Seymour)
            Monty Python and the Holy Grail
March 2         Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
            Final Table 1.1: Mexico
March 3        Fosse/Verdon 1.9
March 4        Home Game, by Michael Lewis
            Puccini’s La Boheme (Live at Lincoln Center 2001) - finished
            Final Table 1.2: Spain
March 5        Final Table 1.3: United Kingdom
March 6         A Night at the Roxbury 
March 7        The Bluest Eye, by Tony Morrison
            Final Table 1.4: Brazil
March 8        Jerry Seinfeld: 23 Hours to Kill
            Final Table 1.5: India
March 9        Final Table 1.6: USA
March 10        Final Table 1.7: Italy
March 11        Arrested Development 1.7
March 12        Final Table 1.8: Japan
            Final Table 1.9: France
March 13        The Expectant Father by Brott and Ash
            Final Table: Finale
            Arrested Development 1.8
March 14     Valley of the Dolls
March 15         Bluebeard, by Charles Ludlam
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Jane Lynch
            Murder Among the Mormons, Part 1
March 17        Murder Among the Mormons, Part 2
March 18     Arrested Development 1.9
March 19     The Business of Being Born
            Murder Among the Mormons, Part 3
March 20    Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter
            Night Stalker Ep 1
March 21        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Angela Kinsey & Jenna Fischer
            Night Stalker ep 2
            Arrested Development 1.10
March 22    Vanity Fair Hollywood: April 2021
            The Adventures of Prince Ahmed, w/d Lotte Reiniger
            Arrested Development 1.11
March 23     Night Stalker ep 3
            Arrested Development 1.12
March 24    The Codebreaker: Elizabeth Smith Friedman
            The Blacksmith, w/d Buster Keaton (Short)
            Writer’s Digest March/April 2021
            Night Stalker pt 4
March 25     Arrested Development 1.13-1.15
            Imposter by Philip K Dick
March 26     The King of the Elves by Philip K Dick
            Arrested Development 1.16
March 27     Breakfast at Tiffany’s 
            Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

March 28    The First Wives Club
            Werner Herzog MC: 1 - 4
            Arrested Development 1.17
March 29    Marty Feldman: Six Degrees of Separation
            Arrested Development 1.18 and 1.19
March 30    Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
            Arrested Development 1.20 and 1.21
March 31     Jack and the Beanstalk, by Charles Ludlam
            Medea by Charles Ludlam

            Arrested Development 1.22
April 1         Kind Hearts and Coronets
            Shirley, dir Josephine Decker

April 2        The Last Blockbuster
            Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado
April 3        Be Kind Rewind w/d Michel Gondry
April 4         Instant Hotel 2.1
April 5         Vanity Fair April 2021
            Werner Herzog MC: 5, 6, 7
April 6         Instant Hotel 2.2, 2.3
April 7         Instant Hotel 2.4
April 8        Les Vampires 1: The Severed Head dir. Louis Feuillade
            Les Vampires 2: The Ring that Kills dir. Louis Feuillade

            Instant Hotel 2.5
April 10        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Adam McKay; Seth Myers
            Instant Hotel 2.6
            This Is a Robbery Ep 1
April 11        The Happiness Lab: Reconnect with the Moment
            The Happiness Lab: Feed Yourself Like You’d Feed a Loved One
            This is a Robbery, Ep 2: Vipers in the Grass
            This is a Robbery, Ep 3: We’ve Seen It
April 12        Les Vampires Ep 3: The Red Cryptogram
            Les Vampires Ep 4: The Spectre

April 13        This is a Robbery Ep 4: $10Million Reward
            QAnon: Calm Before the Storm
April 14        Les Vampires Ep 5: The Corpse’s Escape
            Les Vampires Ep 6: The Eyes That Mesmerize

April 15        QAnon: Do you Believe in Coincidences
April 16        The Grand Tarot by Charles Ludlam
            QAnon: Disinformation is Real
            QAnon: Panic in D.C.
April 17        Mark Dery and Peter Neumeyer in Conversation
            QAnon: Game Over.
            QAnon: The Storm
April 18        The Adjustment Team by Philip K Dick
            Foster, You’re Dead, by Philip K Dick 

            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Bob Odenkirk
            Planet of the Grapes LIVE, Peter Michael Marino
            Legally Blonde
April 19         Upon the Dull Earth by Philip K Duck
            Camille by Charles Ludlam

            Les Vampires Ep 7: Satanas
April 20        Autofac by Philip K. Dick
April 21        Les Vampires Ep 8: The Lord of Thunder
            Arrested Development 2.1
            The Minority Report, by Philip K. Dick
April 23        Arrested Development 2.2 and 2.3
April 24        Precious Artifact by Philip K. Dick
            Todd London Creativity Workshop
April 25        A Game of Unchance by Philip K. Dick
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Abbi Jacobson
            Arrested Development 2.4 and 2.5
April 26        We Can Remember it For You Wholesale by Philip K. Dick
            Les Vampires Ep 9: The Poison Man
            Master Class: Werner Herzog, Pt 8 & 9
            Arrested Development 2.6 and 2.7
April 27        Aeschylus and Athens, by George Thomson
            Generation Hustle: Hollywood Con Queen
April 28        Master Class: Werner Herzog, Pt 10
            Les Vampires Ep 10: The Bloody Wedding
            Arrested Development 2.8
            Tao Te Ching
April 29         WTF Podcast: David Letterman
            Arrested Development 2.9
April 30        Generation Hustle: Anna Delvey
May 1        Arrested Development 2.10
May 2         When No One Was Looking, by Alyssa Cole
            WTF Podcast: John Waters
May 3        A Long Way Home, by Steve Bogart
            WTF Podcast: Steve Coogan
            Arrested Development 2.11
May 4         Vanity Fair May 2021
            WTF Podcast: Robin Williams
            Generation Hustle: Prince of Fraud
May 6        Master Class: Werner Herzog, Pt 11
            Arrested Development 2.12, 2.13
May 7        WTF Podcast: Conan O’Brien
            Sons of Sam Ep 1
May 8        Sons of Sam Ep 2
May 9        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Eric Andre
            Sons of Sam Ep 3
            Baby Cobra, Ali Wong
May 10         Chuck Jones: Extremes and InBetweens
            Sons of Sam Ep 4
May 11        Arrested development 2.14, 2.15
May 13         Quincy
            Arrested Development 2.16
May 14         We Play Ourselves, by Jen Silverman
            Evil Genius Part I
            Hard Knock Wife, Ali Wong
May 15        Evil Genius Part II
May 16        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Seth Rogen
            Song Exploder: Losing My Religion
            Song Exploder: HURT
May 17        Arrested Development 2.17
May 18         The Gift by Lewis Hyde
May 20        Too Funny to Fail: The Life & Death of the Dana Carvey Show
            Mr. Tiger Goes Wild, by Peter Brown
            Dinosaur Vs. Mommy by Bob Shea
            A Sick Day for Amos McGee, by Philip and Erin Stead

May 21        WTF Podcast: John Oliver
            Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop
May 23         These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
            Evil Genius Part III
May 24        Clementine, by Sarah Pennypacker
            Evil Genius Part IV
May 26        Arrested Develpment 2.18, 3.1
May 27        This American Wife, by Fake Friends
May 31         Mare of Easttown Ep 1
June 1        Mare of Easttown Ep 2
            Arrested Development 3.2
June 3        Mare of Easttown Ep 3
            Arrested Development 3.3
June 4         Mare of Easttown Ep 4 and 5
June 5         Mare of Easttown Ep 6 and 7
June 6        WTF Podcast: John Mulaney
            Arrested Development 3.4
            Don’t Fuck With Cats Ep 1
June 7         Arrested Development, 3.5
            New York New York New York by Thomas Dyja
June 8        Fosse/Verdon EP 8
            Arrested Development 3.6
June 9         Vanity Fair June 2021
            The Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

            WTF Podcast, Stephen Colbert
            Arrested Development 3.7
June 10         Ivy & Bean, by Annie Barrows
            Broken Record: Brian Eno
            Arrested Development 3.8
June 11         Kid Sheriff and the Terrible Toads, by Bob Shea and Lane Smith
            Mother Bruce, by Ryan T. Higgins

            Arrested Development 3.9
June 12        The Adventures of Nanny Piggins by R.A. Spratt and Dan Santat
            Don’t Fuck With Cats, Ep 2
            Arrested Development 3.10
June 13        DIA: Beacon
            Don’t Fuck With Cats Ep 3
            Arrested Development 3.11
June 14        What’s Opera Doc?
            One Froggy Evening

            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Kathryn Hahn
            Arrested Development 3.12
            Balanchine’s Elegie (Stravinsky; with Warren Laffredo)
June 15        Arrested Development 3.12
June 16        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Jon Krasinski
June 17        Hacks, Ep 1
June 18        Hacks Ep 2
June 19        The Vow, Ep 1
June 20        Trapped in a Video Game, by Dustin Brady
            The Curious Garden by Peter Brown

            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Jake Tapper
            A Quiet Place pt 2, w/d Jon Krasinski
            Hacks ep 3
June 22        The Wild Robot by Peter Brown
            Hacks Ep 4
June 23         Hacks ep 5
June 24         Squids Will Be Squids by Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith
            Dog Man by Day Pilkey

            The Vow, ep 2
June 26        The First Forty Days, by Heng Ou
June 27        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Desus & Mero
            Broken Record: Jeff Tweedy
            Bo Burnham: Inside
June 28         Hacks Ep 6&7
June 29        Hacks Ep 8&9
June 30         The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Bill Burr
            Julian is a Mermaid, by Jessica Love
            The Tub Grandfather, by Pam Conrad / Richard Egielski

July 1        The Twits, by Roald Dahl
July 3         Hacks ep 10
July 4        Jaws, dir Steven Spielberg
July 5        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Sean Penn
            Starstruck Ep 1
July 6        Starstruck Ep 2
July 7        The Vow, Ep 3
            Starstruck Ep 3
            In the Garden of Beasts, by Erik Larson
July 9.            The Vow, Ep 4
July 10        WTF Podcast: Mike Myers
            The Vow, Ep 5
            Starstruck, Ep 4&5
July 11         Vanity Fair, July/August 2021
            The Vow, Ep 6
            Starstruck Ep 6
            The Enormous Crocodile by Roald Dahl
July 12         My Father’s Dragon, by Ruth Stiles Gannett
            I Think You Should Leave, with Tim Robinson, 1.1
July 13         The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (Live)
            The Vow ep 7
            I Think You Should Leave, with Tim Robinson 1.2
July 14        The BFG by Roald Dahl
            The Vow part 8
July 15         I Think You Should Leave, with Tim Robinson 1.3
            The Witches by Roald Dahl
            Burlesque
July 16        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Weird Al Yankovic
July 18         I Think You Should Leave, with Tim Robinson 1.4
July 20         I Think You Should Leave, with Tim Robinson 1.5
July 21         Broadchurch 1.1
July 22        The Vow part 9
July 23        I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, 1.6
July 24        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Daniel Radcliffe
July 26        I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, 2.1 and 2.2
July 27        I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, 2.3
            The Birth Partner, by Penny Simkin and Katie Rohs
August 1        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, John Wilson
August 3        I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6
August 5     Salut au Monde by Walt Whitman
August 7        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Flula Borg
            The Undoing Ep 1, 2
August 8        The Undoing Ep 3, 4
August 9        The City We Became, by N.K.Jemisin
            The Undoing Ep 5
August 10    The Undoing Ep 6
            Veep 2.1 and 2.2
August 11    Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Cecily Strong
            Veep 2.3, 2.4, 2.5
            Master Class, David Sedaris: 1, 2
August 12    MC, David Sedaris, 3
            Veep 2.6, 2.7
            The White Lotus ep 1
August 13    Master Class, Sedaris 4, 5, 6, 8
            Veep 2.8
            The White Lotus ep 2
August 14    Master Class, Sedaris 8, 9
            Veep 2.9, 2.10
August 15    Master Class, Sedaris 10 - 13
            The White Lotus ep 3, 4, 5
August 16    Veep 3.1
            New Teeth, by Simon Rich
August 17     White Lotus 6
            Veep 3.2
August 18     Veep 3.3, 3.4, 3.5
August 19     Veep 3.6, 3.7, 3.8, 3.9
August 20    Veep 3.10
            Nine Perfect Strangers 1
August 22.     Nine Perfect Strangers 2
August 23.      Nine Perfect Strangers 3
August 24    Veep 4.1, 4.2
August 25    Veep 4.3, 4.4, 4.5
            Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Michael Keaton
August 26    Veep 4.6, 4.7, 4.8
August 27     Veep 4.9, 4.10, 5.1, 5.2
August 28    Veep 5.3, 5.4
August 29     Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Hannah Einbinder
            Veep 5.5, 5.6, 5.7
            American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750 - 1804, by Alan Taylor
August 30    Veep 5.8
August 31     Veep 5.9, 5.10
            Only Murders in the Building 1&2
September 1        Only Murders in the Building 3
September 2        Veep 6.1, 6.2
                Instant Hotel 1.1
September 3        Veep 6.3
September 4        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Joel McHale
September 5         Instant Hotel 1.2
September 6        Veep 6.4
September 8        Veep 6.5
September 9         Instant Hotel 1.3
                Veep 6.6
September 10    Veep 6.7
September 11        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Kristen Schaal
                 Instant Hotel 1.4 & 5
September 12     Instant Hotel 1.6
September 13     Instant Hotel 1.7 and 1.8
September 14     Instant Hotel 1.9 and 1.10 
                Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
September 15     Instant Hotel 1.11
September 16     Instant Hotel 1.12
September 17     Only Murders in the Building 4&5
September 18     Miracle Workers 1.1, 1.2, 1.3
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Conan Talks about Norm MacDonald
                The Chair 1.1, 1.2
September 19     Miracle Workers 1.4, 1.5
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend; Alan Yang
                The Chair 1.3
September 20     Good Moms Have Scary Thoughts, by Karen Kleiman 
                Miracle Workers 1.6, 1.7
                The Chair 1.4, 1.5, 1.6
September 21     Miracle Workers 2.1, 2.2, 2.3
September 22     Miracle Workers 2.4, 2.5
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Melissa McCarthy
                Only Murders in the Building 6
                Veep 6.8, 6.9
September 23     Miracle Workers 2.6, 2.7
                Veep 6.10
                Astronomy Club 1.1
September 24     Miracle Workers 2.8, 2.9. 2.10
                Awake 1.1
                The Big Flower Fight 1.1
September 25     How To with John Wilson 1.1, 1.2
                Kitchen Nightmares 10.1
                Survivor: 20.1
                WTF: Steve Buscemi
September 26    Survivor 20.2-8
                The Big Flower Fight 1.2, 1.3
September 27    Survivor 20.9-13
                The Big Flower Fight 1.4, 1.5
September 28     Survivor 20.14
                Vanity Fair September 2021
                The Big Flower Fight 1.6
September 29     Survivor 28.1-4
                The Big Flower Fight 1.7, 1.8
September 30     Survivor 28.5-7
                Only Murders in the Building Ep 7
                How To Improve Your Memory, with John Wilson
October 1         Survivor 28.8 - 12
October 2         Vanity Fair October 2021
                Survivor 28.13
                Awake 1.2
                We Are the Champions: Cheese rollers
October 3        We Are the Champions: Chili Eaters
                We are the Champions: Fantasy Hairstyling
                Alone: The Arctic (7.1)
                The Mole 1.1
                We are the Champions: Yo Yo
October 4        Micromegas, by Voltaire
                The Circle 1.1-2
October 5        The Circle 1.3
                The Mole 1.2
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Tiffany Haddish
                Only Murders in the Building Ep 8
                The Circle 1.4
October 6        The Mole 1.3-4
                The Circle 1.5
                How To With John Wilson: How to Cover Your Furniture
October 7        The Mole 1.5-9
                We Are the Champions: Frog Jumping
                Nailed It, 6.1
                Zadig by Voltaire
                The Circle 1.6
October 8        The Circle 1.7-12
                The Challenge 1.1
October 9        Made to Explode, by Sandra Beasley
                The Mole 2.1-2.11
                We Are the Champions: Dog Dancing
October 10        The Mole 2.12, 2.13
                The Challenge 1.2
                Casino Royale dir Martin Campbell
October 11        Quantum of Solace, dir. Marc Forster
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Jake Gyllenhaal 
                Based on a True Story, by Norm Macdonald
October 12         Skyfall dir. Sam Mendes
                Only Murders in the Building: Ep 9
October 13        The Council of Animals, by Nick McDonell
                How To with John Wilson: How to Split the Check 
                How To with John Wilson: How to Cook the Perfect Risotto
                Wellington Paranormal 1.1
October 14        Spectre, dir. Sam Mendes
                How to Make Small Talk with John Wilson
                The Frick Museum
October 15        What We Do in the Shadows 3.1-3
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Anderson Cooper
October 16        What We Do In the Shadows, 3.4-6
October 17        What We Do in the Shadows, 3.7-8
October 18        Floor is Lava 1.1
                Ink Master 1.1-6
October 19        Ink Master 1.7-8
                Bowery Boys: The Shuberts - The Brothers Who Built Broadway
October 20        Ink Master 2.1 - 10
                Only Murders in the Building, 1.10
October 21        Ink Master 2.11-13
                America’s Next Top Model 3.1-4
                Vanity Fair October 2021
October 22        America’s Next Top Model 3.5-7
October 23        America’s Next Top Model 3.8-11
                Forged in Fire 6.1
October 24        AFF: On Comedy
                AFF: Scott Frank
                AFF: Mike Schur
                America’s Next Top Model 3.12-13
October 25        The Velvet Underground, dir Todd Haynes
October 26        Count me In, dir Mark Lo
                Metal Shop Masters 1.1
                Dave 1.1 - 2
                Insecure 5.1
October 27         AFF: Writing and Development at Pixar
                Ripley Under Ground, by Patricia Highsmith
                American Museum of Natural History
                The Other Two 1.1
October 28         AFF: The Creative Career
                What We Do in the Shadows 3.9
                Dave 1.3
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Daniel Sloss
                The Other Two 1.2-3
October 29        What We Do in the Shadows 3.10
                America’s Next Top Model 3.1-2
                The Other Two, 1.4-5
October 30        Dave 1.4
                Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell 1.1
                America’s Next Top Model 3.3
                What We Do in the Shadows 1.1-3
                The Other Two 1.6
October 30        America’s Next Top Model 3.4-5
October 31        America’s Next Top Model 3.6-8
                What We Do in the Shadows 1.4
November 1        America’s Next Top Model 3.9-11
                Ripley’s Game, by Patricia Highsmith
                The Other Two 1.7-8
November 2        America’s Next Top Model 3.12-13
                Cuddlebug, by Jenna-Marie Warenecke
                The Other Two 1.9
November 3        Dave 1.5-8
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Elvis Costello
                The Other Two 1.10
November 4        Dave 1.9-10
November 5        Either/Or by Kim Marcelino (Pilot Script)
                Audentes Fortuna Luvat, by Larissa Kruesi (short film script)
November 8         Insecure 5.2
                The Other Two, 2.1
November 9         Dave 2.1-3
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Rachel Dratch 
                The Other Two, 2.2-3
November 9         Dave 2.4-5
                The Other Two, 2.4
November 10         Dave 2.6
November 11        The Other Two, 2.5
November 12        The Other Two, 2.6
November 13        Witch by Jen Silverman, dir Rebecca Bradshaw
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend, Live with Will Arnett
                The Other Two 2.7
November 14         The Other Two 2.8
November 16         The Other Two 2.9
November 17        Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami
                Smartless: Jerry Seinfeld
                The Other Two 2.10
November 18         Survivor, 16.1
                Smartless: Zach Galifinakis
                Insecure 5.3
November 19        Survivor 16.2
                Dave 2.7-8
                Insecure 5.4
November 20        Dave 2.9-10
                Smartless: Conan O’Brien
                What We Do In the Shadows 1.5
November 21        Survivor 16.3-5
                What We Do In the Shadows 1.6
November 22        The Minotaur Takes a Smoke Break, by Steven Sherrill
                Survivor 16.6
                What We Do In the Shadows 1.7
November 23        Survivor 16.7-12
November 24        Survivor 16.13-14
November 25        What We Do In the Shadows 1.8
November 26        The Woman in the Window
November 27        Strangers on a Train
                What We Do In the Shadows 1.9-10
November 28        Joe Pera Talks to You 1.1
                Smartless: Dave Grohl
November 29        Master Class - Werner Herzog - Camera Techniques
                Master Class - Martin Scorsese - 1-5
                No Time To Die, dir. Cari Joji Fukunaga
                Joe Pera Talks With You: 1.2
November 30        Master Class - Martin Scorsese - 6-9
                Joe Pera Talks With You: 1.3
                Kiss and Make-Up by Catherine Durickas
December 1        Master Class - Martin Scorsese - 12, 15, 16, 18, 25, 26
                Joe Pera Talks With You: 1.4
December 2        Master Class - Martin Scorsese - 19-21, 23, 27-30
                The Boy Who Followed Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
                Joe Pera Talks With You: 1.5
December 3        Master Class - Ken Burns 24-26
                Master Class - Spike Lee 2 - 4
                Joe Pera Talks With You: 1.6
December 4        Master Class - Spike Lee 6-7, 9-11
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Ellie Kemper
                Smartless: Tom Hanks
                What we Do In the Shadows 2.1
December 5        Master Class - Spike Lee 12, 16-17
                Survivor 37: 1 - 6
                Joe Pera Talks With You: 1.7
December 6        Survivor 37: 7-12
                Joe Pera Talks With You: 1.8
December 7        Survivor 37: 13-15
                Smartless: Stephen Colbert
                Joe Pera Talks With You: 1.9
December 8        Ripley Under Water, by Patricia Highsmith
                Survivor 7, 1 - 3
                What We Do In The Shadows 2.2
December 9        Survivor 7: 4, 5, 7 (6 not available?)
                Hear the Wind Sing, Haruki Murakami
                What We Do in the Shadows 2.3
December 10        Survivor 7: 8-11
                Joe Pera Talks With You 2.1
December 11        Survivor 7: 12 - 15
                Pinball 1973, by Haruki Murakami
                Mr. Big by Woody Allen
                Smartless: Julia Louis-Dreyfus
December 12        Survivor 10: 2-5 (No ep 1 on Hulu)
                What We Do in the Shadows 2.4 - 2.5
December 13        Survivor 10: 6-14
                What We Do in the Shadows 2.6
December 14        Survivor 13: 1 - 3
                What We Do in the Shadows 2.7
December 15        Survivor 13: 4-9
December 16        Survivor 13: 10-14
                Smartless: Will Forte
                What we Do in the Shadows 2.8
December 17        Survivor 13: 15
December 18        Survivor 15: 1 - 7
                The Last Man On Earth, Ep 1
                Vanity Fair: Dec 2021 / January 2022
                What we Do in the Shadows 2.9
December 19        Survivor 15: 8-9, 11-14
                What we Do in the Shadows 2.10
December 20     The Last Man On Earth, Ep 2-3
                Inside the Actor’s Studio: Steven Sondheim
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Quentin Tarantino
December 21         The Last Man On Earth, Ep 4
                Smartless: Woody Harrelson
                What we Do in the Shadows 3.1
December 22        The Last Man on Earth Ep 5 (2/3 - done with this)
                Black Death 1.1-2
                Malcolm X Playboy Interview by Alex Haley
                What we Do in the Shadows 3.2
December 23        Mel Brooks Unwrapped
                Sway: Neal Stephenson
                Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again
                What we Do in the Shadows 3.3
December 24        Survivor 33:1-2
                What we Do in the Shadows 3.4
December 25        Survivor 33: 3-5
December 26        Survivor 33: 6 - 9
December 27        Survivor 33: 10 - 13
                All About Me! By Mel Brooks
December 28        Survivor 33: 14
December 29        Baskets 1.1
                Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Jim Gaffigan
                What we Do in the Shadows 3.5
December 30        Baskets 1.2
                Smartless: Barry Sonnenfeld
                What we Do in the Shadows 3.6
December 31        The Incredibly Strange Film Show: Russ Meyers
                Smartless: Sandra Bullock
                Miss Congeniality, dir. Donald Petrie 
                Down With Love, dir. Peyton Reed
                It’s Complicated, dir. Nancy Meyers
                Crazy, Stupid, Love, dir. Glenn Ficarra and John Requa
                Trainwreck, dir. Judd Apatow
1 Comment

2020 Culture Diary

12/31/2020

1 Comment

 

The Binge Year

For the past 7 years I've kept a diary of all the culture I take in during a year: TV, film, books, podcasts. Loosely inspired by Steven Soderbergh's annual lists, which are insane.

RULES
- I don't track food or music, unless I experienced them with cultural intention. Meaning: getting take out doesn't count, going to a restaurant doesn't count; but going to a restaurant with the intention of trying something spectacular, does. Same with music.
- I similarly don't track news, one-off articles, or short reading, unless it's with specific intention. 
- This is not a place to differentiate between live theatre, filmed archival theatre, zoom theatre. If the author's medium is theatre, it's theatre as far as this list is concerned. 

HIGHLIGHTS
Midnight Gospel - this mad and wild mash up of philosophical / spiritual podcast with dark fantasy animation was the perfect content for me in 2020. It's hilarious, eye and mind expanding, genuinely moving and hopeful.
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga - This Will Ferrell / Rachel McAdams comedy is so dumb we watched it twice. It's a genuine delight, silly and knows it, and the music is genuinely solid (we still put it on).
Beckett Trilogy - After fighting in the French Resistance, Samuel Beckett locked himself in a room for three years and wrote all of his seminal works, including these three minimalist novels in which characters increasingly cannot move, and instead delve deeper to go fishing in their own streams of consciousness. I don't know what compelled me to pick this up in April of 2020 but it was funny, powerful, and eerily timely.
Zack Efron's Down to Earth - Zack Efron travels the world, exploring eco-conscious systems and businesses in Iceland, Costa Rica, and many others. It's light, fun, bro-ey, insightful, and oddly addictive.
​I May Destroy You - I have no words. If you haven't watched this, watch this.
Short Silent Films - I've always loved silent and early films, but this year I took a few tumbles into the weird, particularly the early horror and magic films of Georges Melies, who basically invented the B Movie before there were even movies.

LEGEND
Film.                            Screenplay (Read)
Play (seen live)      Play (read)
TV (watched)         TV (read)
Book / Publication
Podcast.                   Museum / Art Gallery

Music.                        Food

THE 2020 LIST:
1.1         The Force Awakens
        The Last Jedi 
1.2         The Good Place 4.1
1.3         The Good Place 4.2, 4.3
1.4         The Likeness by Tana French
1.5         The Good Place 4.4, 4.5
1.6         The Good Place 4.6, 4.7, 4.8
1.7         The Good Place 4.9
1.8         Gingerbread Chef’s Choice
1.10         Ready or Not
                Clueless, w/d by Amy Heckerling
        The Good Place 4.10
        Sick in the Head, by Judd Apatow
1.11        What the Dinosaurs Did Last Night by Refe and Susan Tuma
        Conan O’Brian Needs a Friend: Charles Barkley
        Schitt’s Creek: 2.12, 2.13, 3.1, 3.2
1.12        Moby Dick by Dave Malloy
        Schitt’s Creek 3.3, and 3.4
1.13        Monty Python’s Life of Brian
        Schitt’s Creek 3.5
1.14        Animated Shorts: Cinderella by Lotte Resigner
        Little Nemo aka Winsor McCay
        The Sculptor’s Nightmare, D.W. Griffith, 1908
        How Animated Cartoons are Made, by Wallace Carlson, 1919
        Schitt’s Creek 3.6
1.15         Musings with Rabelais by Steven Bogart
1.16        Schitt’s Creek 3.7
1.17         Schitts Creek 3.8
        Faithful Place by Tana French
        Conan OBrien Needs a Friend: Nikki Glaser, 3.9, 3.10
1.18         New Bedford Whaling Museum
        Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez
1.19         We all Fall Down
        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Ben Stiller
           The Kids are Alright
1.20        The Good Place 4.11
        Schitt’s Creek 3.11, 3.12, 3.13
1.21        Tiny Furniture w/d Lena Dunham
        Schitt’s Creek 4.1
1.22        Broken Harbor by Tana French
1.23         The Shadow Whose Prey the Hunter Becomes
1.24         On the Razzle by Tom Stoppard
        Schitt’s Creek 4.2, 4.3, 4.4
1.26        The Good Place 4.12
        SNL: Adam Driver
1.27        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara
        Schitt’s Creek 4.5, 4.6
1.28        Donald And the…; & Donald Has a Difficulty; w Peter F Neumeyer; illus Edward Gorey
        Schitt’s Creek 4.7
1.29        Schitt’s Creek 4.8, 4.9
1.30        Do The Right Thing, w/d Spike Lee
        Gloria: A Life, by Emily Mann
1.31        The Secret Place, by Tana French
        The Good Place 4.13
2.1        Schitt’s Creek 4.10
2.2        Pass Over
        Super Bowl VII
2.3        Schitt’s Creek 4.11
2.4        Schitt’s Creek 4.12
2.5        Monty Python 2:12: Spam
2.6        The Last Catastrophist by David Valdes
2.7        Democratic Debate
2.8        The Trespasser by Tana French
        The Interrobangers by M Sloth Levine
        Serene Jones: On Being
        Schitts Creek: Merry Christmas Johnny Rose
2.9         Beneski Museum of Natural History
2.10         Downhill 
2.12         Endless Night, Agatha Christie
        Schitt’s Creek 5.1
2.13        The Office: 3.16 Business School
        Schitt’s Creek 5.2, 5.3
2.14         Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Keegan Michael Key
        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Sarah Silverman
        TS I Love You
2.15         Sweat by Lynn Nottage
        The Moving Finger, Agatha Christie
2.16        Miss Americana
2.17        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Judd Apatow
        Schitt’s Creek 5.4, 5.5, 5.6
2.18         Schitt’s Creek 5.7 and 5.8
2.19         The Murder of Daniel Ackroyd, Agatha Christie
        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Jessie Eisenberg
2.20     Dance Nation by Claire Barron
        Schitt’s Creek 5.9 and 5.10
2.21        Do the Right Thing: A Spike Lee Joint
        Museum Piece by JJK
2.22     The Subtext: Clare Barron’s Secret Sauce
        Schitt’s Creek 5.11 and 5.12
2.23        Sleeping With Other People w/d Lesley Headland
2.24        The Subtext: Adam Symkowicz on Redefining Success
        Five Little Pigs, Agatha Christie
2.25     Blue Velvet by Michael Atkinson
2.26     Schitt’s Creek 5.13
2.27        The Office Pilot
2.28     Vanity Fair Hollywood 2020
2.29        METG Prelims @ Hanover High
3.1        Parasite w/d Bong Joon Ho
3.2         Vanity Fair March 2020
        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Ali Wong
        Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: John Mulaney
        Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee: Will Ferrell
        Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Welcome to the Hellmouth
3.3        Documentary Now: The CoOp
3.4         Frank Forgot his Wallet, by Keith Foster
        Parks & Recreation: Pilot
3.5        Monty Python 2:13
        What We Do in the Shadows - original Short
        Two Cars, One Night, w/d Taika Waititi
3.6        Babies, 1.1
3.7         Murder is Announced, Agatha Christie
         rEvolution at Boston Ballet
        The Subtext: Crystal Skillman
        Babies: 1.2 (First Food)
3.8         Babies 1.3
3.9         Babies 1.4
3.11         Babies 1.5
        Ordeal by Innocence by Agatha Christie
        Mamàgua by Sebastián Alberdi
3.12        Plata Quemada, Teatro Cinema
3.13        McMillion$ Ep 1 and 2
3.14        Contagion, dir Steven Soderbergh
3.15        Babies 1.6
3.16        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Paul Rubens
        Towards Zero, Agatha Christie
        Will and Grace Pilot 
3.19         The Office 2.1
3.20     Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Will Arnett
        McMillion$ Ep 3
        The Office 2.3
3.21        The Office 2.22
3.22.         Becoming a Man, P. Carl
3.23        The Office, 3.2
3.24        The Office 3.7
3.25        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Whitney Cummings
        Everything But, by Aislinn Frantz
3.26.       The Subtext: Will Arbery’s Guilt Traps
        The Office 3.8
3.27        The Subtext: Chisa Hutchinson
        The Office 3.10
3.28        McMillion$ Ep 3, 4
3.29        McMillion$ Ep 5        
3.30        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Steve Coogan
3.31        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Jim Gaffigan
        Armchair Expert: Rainn Wilson
4.1        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Lisa Kudrow
        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Patton Oswalt
        McMillion$ Ep 6
4.2        Armchair Expert: Ronan Farrow
        Armchair Expert: Kumail Nanjiani and Rob McElheny
        Tiger King ep 1
4.3        Welcome tot he Goddamn Ice Cube, by Blair Braverman
        Armchair Expert: Josh Gad
        Tiger king ep 2, 3
4.4        Tiger King Ep 4, 5
4.5        Tiger King Ep 6 7
4.6        Vanity Fair, April 2020
        The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 3.1
4.7        The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 3.2
4.8        The Office 3.11
4.9        The Office 3.12
4.10.         The Office 3.13
4.11.         Conan O’    Brien needs a Friend: D’Arcy Carden
        Sugar Calling: George Saunders 
        Moonstruck
4.12        The Office 3.18
4.14        Molloy, by Samuel Beckett
        Insecure, Pilot
        Breaking Bad, Pilot
4.15        Friday Night Lights Pilot
        The Office 3.19
4.16        The Office 3.20
4.17        The Office 3.21
4.18        Date Night
4.19        Mallone Dies, by Samuel Beckett
        The Office 3.22
4.20        The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 3.3    
4.21
4.22        The Office 3.23
4.23        The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 3.4
4.24        The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 3.5
4.25        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Kevin Nealon; Ricky Gervais
        The Best Worst Thing That Ever Happened
4.26        The Unnameable, Samuel Beckett
        The Office 4.1
4.27        The Office 4.2
        POP Class: Will Arbery
4.28     the good place pilot
        Veep 1.1, 1.3
        Vanity Fair April 2020
4.29     In praise of Darkness, Borges
        Veep 1.3
        Armchair Expert: Ed Helms
4.30     Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Nick Kroll
        Nosferatu the Vampyre by M. Sloth Levine
        The Book of Sand, Jose Luis Borges
5.1         Shakespeare’s Memories, Borges
        The Office 4.5
5.2        Hollywood Ep 1 & 2
5.3        National Theatre Live: Frankenstein
5.4        Hollywood Ep 3
        The Office 4.6
5.5        Hollywood Ep 4
        The Nanny Pilot Zoom Reading
5.6        The Good Place, Pilot (screenplay)
        Hollywood Ep 5
5.7         Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey, Ed Karen Wilkins
        Hollywood Ep 6
5.8        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Ted Danson
        Hollywood Episode 7

5.10        Schitt’s Creek 6.1
5.11        Schitt’s Creek 6.2
        POP Class: Clare Barron
5.12         Schitt’s Creek 6.3
5.13         Schitt’s creek 6.4
5.14        Schitt’s Creak 6.5
5.15         Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Mike Meyers
        Schitt’s Creek 6.6
        Bullets on Broadway (interactive Murder Mystery)
5.16        Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
5.17
5.18        Pop Class: Michael R. Jackson
        The Last Dance Ep 1
5.19        The Last Dance Ep 2
5.20     The Last Dance ep 3
        Schitt’s Creek 6.7
5.21         The Last Dance ep 4
        Schitts Creek 6.8
5.22     Conan O’Brien needs a friend: JJ Abrams
        The Last Dance 5 and 6
5.23        The Last Dance, ep 7, 8, 9
        NT Live: A Streetcar Named Desire
5.24        Schitt’s Creek 6.9
5.25        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Russell Brand
        The Last Dance Ep 10
        Schitt’s Creek 6.10
5.26        What we Do in the Shadows 1.1 and 1.2
5.27        Schitt’s Creek 6.11
5.28        Schitt’s Creek 6.12
5.29        Gray’s Anatomy, dir Steven Soderbergh
5.30     Vanity Fair June 2020
        The Office 4.8
5.31        Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
6.1        Monty Python’s Flying Circus, 3.1: Whicker’s World
        Monty Python’s Flying Circus, 3.2: Mr. and Mrs. Brian Norris’ Ford Popular
6.2        Franklin Park Protest
6.3        I Am Not Your Negro, by James Baldwin and Raoul Peck
6.4        Bob Dylan: No Direction Home
6.5        Woody Guthrie: Ain’t Got No Home
6.7        Schitt’s Creek 6.13
6.8        Schitt’s Creek 6.14
6.9        Nobody Knows My Name, by James Baldwin
        Scitt’s Creek Finale Behind the Scenes
6.10        What we Do in the Shadows 1.3 and 1.4
        Veep 4.1
6.11        What we Do in the Shadows 1.5
        Spinal Tap original Demo
6.12        Dave Chapelle 8:46
        What we Do In the Shadows 1.6
6.13        Insecure 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
6.15        Insecure 4.4, 4.5    
6.16        WWDITS 1.7, 8, 9, 10
6.17         WWDITS 2.1, 2.2
        Diana Oh H8 Letter to the Gr8 American Theatre
6.18         WWDITS 2.3, 2.4
6.19         The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, by Anand Giridhardas
        The Case for Reparations, Ta-Nehisi Coates
        WWDITS 2.5
        Insecure 4.6, 4.7
6.20     WWDITS 2.6 2.7, 2.8
        The Happiest Season, w/d Clea DuVall
6.21        Insecure 4.8 and 4.9
6.22
6.23        Insecure 4.10
6.24        The Office 4.9
6.25        Hillary Ep 1
6.26        Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
6.27        Hillary Ep 2
        Veep 4.2
6.28        Hillary Ep 3 and 4
6.29        
6.30        Midnight Gospel Ep 1 and 2
7.1        Midnight Gospel 3, 4
        Veep 4.3
        A Sense of Occasion, Harold Prince
7.2        Veep 4.4        
7.3        Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
7.4
7.5        Monster in a Box, by Spalding Gray
7.6        Midnight Gospel 6
        WWDITS 2.8, 2.9
7.7        Midnight Gospel 7, 8
7.8        Veep 4.5
7.9        
7.10        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Tom Hanks
        And Here’s the Kicker, by Mike Sacks
7.11         Bullets On Broadway Murder Mystery
7.12         Swimming to Cambodia by Spalding Gray
7.13         Veep 4.6
7.15         Veep 4.7
7.16         Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend: Rob Lowe
        Veep 4.8
7.17        Veep 4.9, 4.10
7.18         Rewrites, by Neil Simon
        Palm Springs
7.20         Down to Earth: Iceland
7.22         Down to Earth: Costa Rica
7.23        Down to Earth: Sardinia
        The Play Goes On, by Neil Simon
7.24        Ole White Sugah Daddy (Zoom), by Obehi Janice
7.25        The Clash: 1977
7.26        Forgetting Sarah Marshall
7.27        Down to Earth: London
7.29        Down to Earth: France
        Vanity Fair July 2020
7.30        Down to Earth: Puerto Rico
        Shonda Rhimes Masterclass (finished)
7.31        Down to Earth: Lima & Iquitos
8.1        Portrait of a Lady on Fire
8.2         The Man With The Golden Gun, Ian Fleming
        I May Destroy You, 1 and 2
8.3        I May Destroy You 3 and 4
8.5         Abingdon Square by Maria Irene Fornes
        I May Destroy You 5 and 6
8.6         Museum by Tina Howe
        I May Destroy You 7 and 8
8.8         Bring Down The House
8.9         Get Him to the Greek
        The Office 4.11
8.10         Goldfinger by Ian Fleming
8.12         I May Destroy You, 9
8.13        I May Destroy You, 10
8.16        The Office 5.1, 2, 3
8.17        The Office 5.4
        I May Destroy You, 11
8.18         The Office 5.5
8.19         The sandman, 1-8, Preludes and Nocturnes
        The Office 5.6, 5.7
8.20        
8.21        The Office 5.8
        Dark Tourist: USA
8.22        End of the Fucking World, Ep 1, 2, 3
        The Office, 5.9, 5.10
8.23        End of the Fucking World, Ep 4
        The Office 5.11
8.24        I May Destroy You, 12
8.25        Big Mouth 1.1
        The Office 5.12
8.26        The Office 5.13
8.27        Zone One by Colson Whitehead
8.28     The Office 5.14-5.15
8.29     End of the Fucking World, 5-8
        Escape from New York
8.30        End of the Fucking World 2.1, 2.2
        The Office 5.16
8.31        End of the Fucking World 2.3, 2.4, 2.5
        The Office 5.17
9.1        Basquiat: Rage to Riches
9.2         You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming
        End of the Fucking World 2.6, 2.7, 2.8
        The Office 5.18 and 5.19
9.3        The Office 5.20
        The Met: In Search of Fashion
9.4        Radiant Child: JMB
        The Office 5.21, 5.22
9.5        The Office 5.23, 5.24, 5.25
9.6        The Office 5.26, 5.27, 5.28 
9.8         The Office 6.1 
        Vanity Fair September 2020
9.9        The Office 6.3, 6.4
9.10        Babies 2.1; The Office 6.5
9.11
9.12         My Best Friend’s Wedding
9.13        Dark Tourist: Return to America
9.14        The Office 6.6
9.15        The Town, dir Ben Affleck
9.16        Inside Man, dir Spike Lee
        Babies 2.2
9.17        Point Break, dir. Katherine Bigelow
9.18        White Men Can’t Jump w/d Ron Shelton
        The Thomas Crown Affair, dir. John McTiernan

9.19         The Office 6.7, 6.8, 6.9
9.20        Thelma & Louise
9.21        Inception, w/d Christopher Nolan
9.22        The Office 6.10
9.23        The Office 6.11 and 6.12
9.24        The Office 6.13, 6.14, 6.15
9.25        Training Day
        The Office 6.16
9.26        Pineapple Express
9.27        The Office 6.17
        Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky
9.28        Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
        The Office 6.18
9.29        The Office 6.19, 6.20
9.30        The Office 6.21, 6.22
10.1        Tom Waits: Under Review
        Underworld (first 40 minutes)

10.2        Zodiac, dir David Fischer
10.3        American Murder: The Family Next Door
10.4        Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
10.5         Mountain, Jake Alexander
        The Office 6.23, 6.24
10.6        The Invitation, dir Karyn Kusama
10.7         The Office 6.25, 6.26
10.8         The Sign of Four, AC Doyle
        Minority Report, dir Steven Spielberg
10.9        My Octopus Teacher
10.10     Weekend with Picasso, w/s Herbert Siguenza
        The Office 7.1
10.11        The Office 7.2, 7.3, 7.4
10.12    The Drowned World, by JG Ballard
10.13    Cam, dir. Daniel Goldhaber
10.14     The Office 7.5
10.15     Vanity Fair October 2020
        The Office 7.6, 7.7
10.16    Sleepy Hollow, dir Tim Burton
10.17     Nightcrawler
10.18     Over the Garden Wall 1 & 2
        The Office 7.8
10.19     Over the Garden Wall 3&4
        The Office 7.9, 7.10
10.20     Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
        The Staircase Ep 1
10.21    The Staircase Ep 2
        Over the Garden Wall 5 & 6
        The Office 7.11 and 7.12
10.22    An American Werewolf in London
10.23     Vanity Fair November 2020
        The Office 7.13, 14 15, 16
10.24    Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Colin Quinn
        My Next Guest…Robert Downey Jr.
        The Office 7.17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22
10.25    The Staircase Ep 3
        The Office 7.23, 24, 25, 26 - END SEASON 7
10.26    Bob Fosse: Steam Heat
        The Staircase Ep 4
10.27     Clue
        The Never List, by Koethi Zan
10.28    SALEM pilot Zoom reading
10.29    My Next Guest… Dave Chapelle
10.30    Dracula, Radio Play
        Over the Gardel Wall 7 & 8
10.31    Bram Stoker’s Dracula, FFC
        The Girl on the Train
11.1        Over the Garden Wall 9 and 10
11.2        The Staircase Ep 5 & 6
11.3        The Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
11.4        Queen’s Gambit, 3 and 4
11.5        The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle
        Queens Gambit Ep 5
11.6         The Adventure of the Engineer’s Thumb
        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Rashida Jones
        Queen’s Gambit 6
11.7         The Adventures of the Noble Bachelor, Arthur Conan Doyle
        The Office 2.7
11.8         The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet, Arthur Conan Doyle
        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Hillary Clinton
        Queen’s Gambit 7
11.9        The Staircase Ep 7 and 8
        The Office, 2.9
11.10     Truth Seekers ep 1
        The Office 2.13
11.11        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: Sam Richardson
        Homo Sapiens: Debby Harry
11.12        My Next Guest Needs no Introduction: Lizzo; Kim Kardashian
        The Office 2.15
11.13        Hooking Up, dir. Nico Raineau
11.14        Gone Girl, dir David Fincher
11.18     The Searcher by Tana French
11.20    Killing Eve 2.1
11.21        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: John Leguizamo
        Homo sapiens: Murray Hill

11.23    Dallas Morning News 11.23.1963 edition
        Sex & Vanity by Kevin Kwan
11.25     Vanity Fair December 
        Truth Seekers ep 2
        Knives Out
11.27    The Bling Wring w/d Sofia Coppola
11.28    There’s Something About Mary, Farrelly Brothers
11.29    You’re Wrong About…The Newsboy Strike of 1899
        Killing Eve 2.2, 2.3
11.30     Creativity: a short and cheerful guide, John Cleese
        Dr. Strangelove… Stanley Kubrick & Terry Southern
        Dr. Strangelove... dir. by Stanley Kubrick
12.1        The Office 2.18
12.2        The Office 2.19
12.3        The Maiden Heist, dir. Peter Hewitt
        The Office 2.20
12.4        Ocean’s Eleven - screenplay by Ted Griffin
        Ocean’s Eleven, dir. Steven Soderbergh

12.5         Which Lie Did I Tell? by William Goldman
        Easy A
        The Office 2.21
12.6        Killing Eve 2.4, 2.5
12.7        The Office 2.4
12.8        The Killing, dir. Kubrick
12.10    Bridesmaids, screenplay by Kristen Wiig
12.11        The City & The City by China Mieville
        Holiday Movies We Love: Elf
12.12    Le Manoir du Diable by Georges Melies
        Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend: John Cleese
        Killing Eve 2.6
12.13     Vanity Fair Holiday 2020/2021
        Killing Eve 2.7 and 2.8
12.14    The Office 2.8
12.16    The Fury of the Demon, Fabien Delage
12.17    The Office 2.10
12.18    STORY by Robert McKee
12.19    ELF
12.20    Le Voyage dans La Lune dir Georges Melies
        Un Homme de Tetes dir Georges Melies

12.21    Gunga Din dir George Stevens
12.23    Defeated Nintendo World Cup Soccer: Tournament
        Ruthless People
        Conan O’Brien needs a friend: Amy Sedaris
12.24    Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam
        You’re Wrong About: Marie Antoinette
        It’s a Wonderful Life
12.25     Happiest Season
         Love Actually

12.26    The Family Stone
12.27    Office Christmas Party
12.28 Killing Eve 3.1
12.29    Killing Eve 3.1
        Ken Burns Masterclass Ep 8
12.30    The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
        Ken Burns Masterclass Ep 9, 10
        The Office 1.5
12.31    Winonathon:
        Heathers
        Reality Bites
        Little Women
        The Crucible
        Girl, Interrupted
        Autumn In New York
        Destination Wedding

1 Comment

Pandemic, Plague, Madness & Sadness

12/30/2020

3 Comments

 
Picture
People keep asking me when I’m going to write about the Plague, and I keep saying “Never.” But I don’t suppose you can live through a thing like this and be a writer and not write on it, even if you do it sideways.
 
This was going to be the year I made money. We’d decided to move to NYC in January. My wife gave notice at work, we gave notice to our landlord in Boston, and I put my nose to the grindstone. Got hired by the Census. Re-upped as an art handler / delivery driver. Studied and perfected a new history tour on Harvard to add to my tour guide repertoire. 
 
These were all part-time but combined – if I hustled as I meant to – I’d be raking in more money come March than I had in recent memory.
 
By March 15 all those jobs were gone.
 
I remember overhearing my mother say, when I was four or five, “John never says anything unless it’s very smart or very funny.” Somehow, I internalized that; I have such anxiety in social situations, sitting quiet – apps running in my brain, siphoning the things to say – until I feel I know my place in the conversation. Some nights I don’t say much. I wonder if it’s this urge to stay useful: only saying something with a purpose.
 
I’ve lived too much of my life that way, prioritizing Achievement, living by what I accomplish. I guess in this Instagram world a lot of us are like that? 
 
So, finding myself suddenly jobless, I got busy not making money.
 
The list that follows is not a brag but a demonstration of the feverish drive I felt, having nothing to keep busy, and desperate to hold on to some sense of worth, to keep from going mad.
 
In March we made a dance song about Not Wearing Pants. 
In April we made a web series about learning to work from home, together. We made 12 episodes; 1 every week for 3 months: writing, filming, acting and editing. 
I finished a full-length play commission by late May, for SpeakEasy Stage.
I wrote a new ½ hour Comedy Pilot: BLOOD FROM A STONE.
Then I wrote another: THE MANNY.
Then I wrote a spec script for WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS.
I submitted my work to over 115 writing opportunities, contests, agents, managers.
 
I’m lucky to have been a freelancer long enough that my motivation is built in. 
 
That, and my equating accomplishment with worth.
If accomplishment is worth, then Zero Accomplishment = Zero Value. 
 
I’m not saying I agree with this, I’m saying it’s how I’m wired, you see? At a certain point, it becomes its own madness.
 
An acquaintance asked me if what I do about writer’s block. Don’t have it – not the way people talk about, not crushing blockage. Sometimes I feel I have life block, which is writer’s block but for living.
 
You see, in all this hustle it became incredibly easy to dissociate from what was going on in the world.
 
My therapist asked me who I was catching up with, now the Pandemic and Zoom made schedules and distance meaningless.
 
No one. I wasn’t talking to anyone. It would be easy to say my pandemic was lonely but the truth is my life has been. I’ve spent so much of life equating my own value with achievement that I was never much of a good friend, a good brother. I valued work over friendship, utility over connection.
 
In August, we moved. Oh yes, because we’d already committed ourselves to moving. We were either going to look for a new home and jobs in Boston – a city we didn’t want to be – or in New York. Pandemic be damned, we moved.
 
Even now I want to give you the list, the good things I did with my time. (I wrote and published short humor. I wrote my first feature screenplay. I discovered home-made lo-fi animation….) 
 
But I was flailing. The newness of the move wore off. October and November were hard. 
 
Not having a job, not having an income for 5+ months, no longer having insurance (which meant no longer having therapy), STILL not being able to go out, all merged with shorter days into something I can’t describe. I was sadder than I can remember being in over 7 years. I was ideating suicide. Which – lucky for me – is NOT particularly achievement-oriented; what I mean is that I’ll have short sharp daydreams – not with intention, just little images flashing: on a walk when a car gets too close, I see it driving through me; on a jog past the cold river, I see myself falling into it.
 
These moments help me breathe better, which I don’t think is their evolutionary cause. 
 
Was my lack of activity finally allowing a deeper experience of the pandemic to get up in me? Was it my 40th birthday approaching, and weighing my accomplishments, my place in life, against expectations of my 4th decade? 
 
I don’t know but it was dark and hard and awful. Just awful. 
 
I wake up 2 – 3 hours before my wife each day and there was a week when I spent that entire time crying in the den, in the dark, before the sun rose. Every day. If you’d asked, I couldn’t say what I was sad about. There was no thing, no cause. Just ever-present sorrow.
 
An article led to a wormhole that eventually flipped a light switch on:
 
I don’t have to value myself by what I accomplish, by material or external ideas of success.
I can value other things if I practice.
 
And so, the last six weeks of the year, I’ve practiced shifting in my values.
 
Every day I’ve practiced a conscious valuing of my health – mental and physical – and prioritizing that. I’ve consciously valued my relationships – with my wife, family, friends – and tried to carve out time to dedicate to those when, in previous moments, I’d too often let a text or email slip by because “I had work to do.”
 
It’s not fast work. We were alone on Christmas; we Zoomed with Family. My wife got many texts from friends and family all day. I got, I think, two. A reminder of how long and how often I have failed to prioritize friendships.
 
The day I started writing this I started ideating again. I felt full, in an awful way. That scene in It’s A Wonderful Life, when the money’s gone and Potter’s turned him down and George yells at his family and kicks over his desk in the corner and feels such immediate shame – that moment: rage, fear, trapped, shame. I feel like that every day.
 
But it’s good work to be doing. Essential, even. The project itself is joy; not dependent on how many people view it or if it gets me a job.
 
This has all coalesced in a nice way with Holiday movies. Because good holiday movies reassert that the most important achievement is our value to one another: not what we can do for one another, not what we can buy or give.
 
But how we make one another feel.

I guess if you look at much of the news this year, there are a lot of people and a lot of systems that value accomplishment and financial success over people and relationships. But there were also lovely things. Ways the people came together. Communities and strangers, families and friends, valuing one another just for being.
 
This has not been particularly funny and – I don’t imagine – very intelligent article. I feel sheepish and dumb coming to these conclusions only now at my age. 
 
But I have been so very sad. And I know you have, too. 
 
And I didn’t want to write about COVID. But there are other pandemics that plague us. 
 
In the New Year, may you be healthy in body, mind, and heart. May your days be filled with connection. May your screen be full of faces, your schedule empty of obligations and full of opportunity, and may your throat be full of meaningless laughter and love.
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