Well, it's been a few months.
I feel I have some legit excuses:
-My dishwasher gave out just before Xmas. So, had to deal with that while working a job and the holidays. Still finished a very long Xmas letter full of links, which I felt good about.
-Then, just after the new year, my ceiling sprung a leak. It turned out the landlord of my upstairs neighbor had not installed a faucet into her refrigerator, and water had slowly leaked into her floor and my ceiling…for about five years. And now, there was black mold!
-Long story short, homeowner’s insurance covered everything, but I spent nearly two months working out of an Airbnb that, while nicely appointed, was small and not really designed for working. Which was not good as I was doing a 40-hour-a-week job (still doing) and was teaching an online class.
- I finally moved back home…where it turned out the restoration people weren't as done as I’d been led to believe, and I again found myself without a dishwasher, or washing machine, or most of my plates and utilities, which were packed away. THAT just got fixed, and now all I have to do is figure out where my belongings used to go, and what to purge for space reasons.
-While all THAT was going on, my 98-year-old Grandma was on her last legs after several years of constant hospitalization and went from home care to palliative care to hospice to…well, you know how that sentence ends. I still need to write up a tribute to her.
SO: Had some stress. Felt a mite burnt out. Tried a short vacation. I’ll share stories of THAT later.
I feel pretty good that I’ve gotten through all this without any major meltdowns, tho I came close when I couldn't figure out how to hook the Internet back up at my place right away after I'd already set my work computer back up, and also yesterday when I still didn't have access to my kitchen and couldn't find the Triscuits I’d gotten to go with some fancy cheese from the grocery store for my break time. I’m not accusing the workmen of anything but WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GO…oh, turned out they fell in an empty garbage can. Sorry.
So: I do relaxation exercises, try to set reasonable goals, and get away from screens whenever my left eye starts twitching. One day at a time.
Also, I’m told that you can understand that people in Ukraine and other places have it so much worse but still acknowledge the effect of stress and upheaval on your life and seek outlets for that. Perspective cuts both ways!
Anyway — newsletter!
Throughout all the madness, I never stopped gathering links and things. Many of them are now, as they say, dank. So, I’ll edit them into a couple of installments. I need to start slow and not overwhelm everybody, or myself.
…actually, there are many links here in draft mode and I need to inspect all of them. I’ll just limit things to 10 links for sanity’s sake and do another newsletter tomorrow. Consistency!
A PLAYLIST I CURATED:
So, here’s a YouTube playlist I made after Stephen Sondheim passed that includes several recordings of rare productions, and some interviews, and some acting appearances, and some other things.
A PROBLEMATIC BUT GORGEOUS PSYCHEDELIC PICTURE BOOK:
Here’s an Instagram post featuring some highlights from POCAHONTAS IN LONDON, a historically-inaccurate picture book that perpetuates numerous harmful myths about the famed Native American, but has absolutely stunning psychedelic illustrations by John Alcorn, who did film titles for Fellini and illustrated Beatles lyrics and other amazing things.
REALLY DEEP CUTS:
After Betty White passed, I recalled she won one of her Emmys playing a psychotic version of herself on THE JOHN LAROQUETTE SHOW that riffed on SUNSET BOULEVARD with a Golden Girls musical. Several of the people who wrote it went on to be the creator/producers on ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT and it shows.
OH BOTHER, I STILL NEED TO SEE THIS:
The saga of NEW YORK NINJA, a lost and only-recently-finished so-bad-it’s-good movie.
AGAIN, THESE ARE DANK LINKS:
An amazing review of the “Worst Michelin-Starred Restaurant Ever” and more details including the restaurant’s response
THIS ONE IS SEVERAL YEARS OLD:
I finally got myself a new mattress (LITERALLY TWO DAYS BEFORE MY CEILING STARTED LEAKING) and was reminded of this fascinating piece from a while back about the bizarre turf wars of online mattress merchants and mattress review blogs. The guy at the store said he remembered that one!
AN AMUSING MOVIE SYNOPSIS:
YET ANOTHER DEAD CELEBRITY
So, shortly after Peter Bogdanovich’s passing, I found he had a YouTube channel where he recommended movies.
Here’s a picture of us in 2006 when I met him at a Tom Petty concert he was filming for what became a four-hour documentary. As I walked back to my seat, several people stopped me to ask who he was. The explanations that connected were, “He was Dr. Melfi’s therapist on THE SOPRANOS,” and “He used to date Cybil Shepard.”
AN UNSETTLING POEM ABOUT A SANDWICH I SAW ON INSTAGRAM:
AND FINALLY:
Okay, this makes 10. Kind of speaks for itself. So to speak.
Why You Can’t Hear Modern Movie Dialogue
Okay, that’s enough for tonight. I’ll try and do another one tomorrow, which should have some bizarre Atari ads and a genuinely unfortunate 1940s comic book villain.
It’s good to be back!