Movies & TV
- The Drama — This was a fun one — the tension and moral dilemma created by “the drama” carries the plot throughout and made for an engaging watch.
- I’m Chevy Chase and You’re Not — A good look at the career of Chevy Chase, but it feels like there’s a deeper question to be answered as to why one of the funniest people of his era is so unlikeable, and apparently by choice.
- Cuckoo — I think I need to watch this one again. I was into it but I wasn’t able to connect some of the dots and fully appreciate everything going on.
- Marty, Life is Short — A sweet, heartfelt look at the life of Martin Short. Pairs well with the docos (as the Aussies say) of his amigos Chevy Chase and Steve Martin. He seems like the happiest and most well-adjusted of the 3 despite (or maybe because of) some hard times.
- Mr Inbetween — This was a rewatch, and it held up well. It kind of reminds me of Justified, one of my favorite shows. I’m fascinated by the career of lead actor Scott Ryan. He produced, wrote, and starred in The Magician in 2005, a movie that inspired the series Mr Inbetween from 2018–2021 (which he also produced and wrote). He got a bunch of acclaim for his portrayal of Ray Shoesmith in the show, which became a cult hit, and he’s essentially disappeared ever since.
- Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father — This doco was absolutely gutting. Despite the production quality of a student project, the story is compelling and maddening.
- Spider-Noir — I’m not that into superhero movies or shows, but I thought this was a really creatively done series. The casting was perfect, and they nailed the vibe of Spider Man in 1930s New York. I watched it in black and white — felt like the right thing to do.
Reading
Filed under “a great piece of writing I hope I never need to reference”, I came across Tom Chiarella’s How to Give a Eulogy and found it pragmatic and touching. I suppose the rules he lays out could apply to any speech of consequence one needs to give in front of family and friends.
Music
New albums from a couple of my favorites! Weezer released their 20th (!) album and it’s just as fun and catchy as you’d expect. Say Yes and We Might as Well Be Strangers are great tracks, but the one that feels like classic Weezer to me is Up In the Clouds.
I was also looking forward to the latest from Interpol, and they didn’t disappoint. The song I instantly latched onto and can’t stop listening to is Sudden.
Lastly, I can’t remember how I rediscovered them but I’ve been digging a bunch of the tracks off the album Boundaries released a couple months ago. They sound heavier and cleaner, and I got earwormed by Skies cast amber black.
Podcasts
For the last few months, I’ve looked forward to catching the weekly episode of Dive Club from Ridd. It’s been instructive to hear first hand how designers at some of the world’s most influential orgs are adapting to the rapidly shifting tech landscape. I consider it essential listening as I tackle the same challenges at my day job.
Miscellanea
Sound the horn, there’s a new daily game in my life! I’ve been engrossed with Catalogues over at The New Yorker. Pretty simple setup — you get a list of 7 or so things, and you have 5 tries to sort them in order based on the theme (which you have to figure out based on a cheeky-ass title). Also, you have to figure out what “order” means, because that’s part of the puzzle, too.
My obsession in August, apropos of nothing (or maybe some nostalgia for the unequivocally best decade in history, the 90s), was to complete Super Metroid, one of the greatest video games ever produced. Fortunately I already had OpenEmu set up, and after some thrashing around getting the controller connected, I was up and running. For 2 weeks it was all I could think about — where’s the damn x-ray scope again? I had a hazy recollection of where a lot of the hidden items were but there was a lot of stumbling around and backtracking. And in case you’re wondering, yes, I rescued the animals at the end — I’m not a monster.
