Music is great, Starbucks is great...

Early in the week for this, right? But I've got quite the back end to my week, including an elementary school concert in the wilds of Shell Lake, Wisconsin, Shane Torres at Acme, and then a day with Duse and Stephanie so gotta give my book movie report and then talk about this other thing, which I will talk about first...

( Mothers, Cards, and Grief (the sequel to Mother, Jugs, and Speed?) )

Saw The Piano at Trylon on Sunday night. ( The Piano! Feminism! Harvey Keitel! )

Oh, and Holly Hunter is just all-time the greatest. I miss you, Arpy.

In keeping with the theme, I saw Misery for the first time in, oh, maybe 25 years, last night as a part of a short Stephen King series at The Parkway. Next up are Carrie and The Shining. What, no IT/IT 2 double-header?( Misery! Liberace! Stephen King! )

... on two different ends of St. Paul. I am learning more about the Twin Cities as a whole, instead of sticking to my side of the river! Growth! (Beleagured sigh). One nephew is in a youth hockey final at the Charles Schultz Area (gotta use my OG icon) at noontime; then another nephew is in middle school finals at a Catholic church technically in St. Paul but near Roseville. Don't worry: I'm already planning to scope out the fish fry situation.

My dad and I went to fish fry at a golf course in River Falls on Friday. My aunt, 70 years old as of December, works there as a prep cook. She's my mom's sister. Growing up she asked we call her Crazy Aunt Shirley. She was "institutionalized" for a time in her teens; I imagine she has a combination of bipolar depression and good ol' PTSD, just like my mom. I imagine it was hard living growing up with a WWII vet who survived his ship going down in the Pacific and who was a raging drunk for the entirety of their youth (and, frankly, most of their adult lives). Anyway, Aunt Shirley made the creamy cucumbers that my Grandma Winnie used to make every summer. It was something else seeing a big bowl of those sitting adjacent to the salad bar. Ran into my cousin Cathy while there. That's the joy and pain of moving back to this area; the anonymity of Chicago has seeped away.

It was a very solid week, culinarily speaking. On Wednesday, Mel, Joe, Johan, and I went to El Sazon for Winter Restaurant Week eats. I had a birria croquette (technically there was no consomme, but I don't want to be a pedantic dick to the fine people of El Sazon, who made a very nice shredded beef croquette) to start,  then lovely salmon with a nice spice crust with some beurre blanc and delicious rice slurry and finished with churros and cajeta (I learned this is a TYPE of dulce, so it was okay to keep calling it dulce). Nice lead up to fish fry, which were all the flavors of my youth: starch, underseasoned vegetables and potatoes, and tartar sauce. You know, white food for white people.

On Thursday Mel and Amanda and I went to Boom Island Brewery to play trivia with a bunch of cutthroats. After round 1, I was confident we'd be in the top 3, as we'd only gotten 2 wrong... only to discover three teams tied for first with perfect scores. Damn. Trivia is always fun, and it was made more fun by a Girl Scout cookie pop-up. Got some Caramel Delites, had them with my bespoke root beer. Was very angry I could not think of GO WEST (THEY SANG KING OF WISHFUL THINKING GODDAMN IT I KNEW THAT).

Yesterday Amy G and I went to Origin. It's astonishing. The movie has such a unique look that I can't wait to find an article about how Ava Duvernay shot it. I've never seen a movie that, at times, felt like a sweater but was also about the crushing history of humans finding ways to subjugate one another. I think I have to make an effort to see Poor Things before I can be declarative but Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor delivers one heck of a performance, perhaps The performance of the year. Amy G has read the book, of course. I will put my hands on it at some point and try my best.

•  I managed to lock myself out of my house for the first time here in Minneapolis. I did it once in Chicago. I was/am blessed in both cases to have had spare keys with reliable and close-by folks, but there is this momentary shameful and oddly worrying moment as a grown-ass adult who has been solo and independent for many of her adult years having stranded herself, cut off from that most Maslowian of needs, her shelter and safety (and cats). Maybe between a parent's suicide and a global pandemic I haven't managed to wear myself out on existential dread, because I stewed in one for about 10+ minutes while holding an umbrella, gloveless, and missing Miller's Crossing. Anyway, what I discovered is we're all alone in this world but in the end you also have friends who have keys who let you back into your house and your cats. It feels like there's a lesson there a little bit.
• My lease is finally renewed. Resolution grew from making a phone call. I refuse to learn a lesson from that. THEY SAID USE THE PORTAL. ALL HAIL THE PORTAL. OFFER BURNT SACRIFICES TO THE PORTAL. Also: phone calls suck. Millennials are right. (Duse and my dad get a pass; they are not millennials and have both always favored talking over texting.)
• Watched the season premiere of Ghosts US. I'm wondering if I should have waited to start UK until the US one has run its course because I'm finding myself doing the usual tiresome snob thing of comparing their overall quality and finding US really lacking. And I was really enjoying it until I watched the original! And I know the characters aren't one to one comparisons but: Robin really just is better than Thorfinn, comedically, in any scene. Also it is my hard opinion that Nigel sucks. I wish he'd been sucked off along with Spoiler.
• Watched the new Laurie Kilmartin special Cis Woke Grief Slut. Some of the set I'd seen when she was at Acme in July last year, and some was new. Laurie always does a smidge of crowd work (like, real crowd work, not Tik Tok Generation crowd work), which is always wild to see in a recorded special. Laurie works a lot bluer than a lot of comedians I'm enthusiastic for, but I love her razor-sharpness and her fearlessness when talking about grief or patriarchal bullshit.
• Valentine's Day came and went without an OFMD pickup somewhere. I really did have myself convinced that the recent spate of articles and interviews about the FX head of programming were leading to it. It just turns out he's the one programming or network head who talks about making television or programming in a way that makes me feel hope. Hard to not conflate hope with OFMD season 3.
• Finally made my way to The Heights and saw Bonnie and Clyde for the noir festival. The Heights is up there with the Music Box in Chicago in terms of glory-days-of-old single-screen theaters with organs. Being there made me have this nostalgic rush of melancholy about the Music Box. Second only to my childhood theater, the Falls Theater in River Falls, Wisconsin, no other movie theater comes close to holding my heart in its hands. The Music Box has real butter for its popcorn, AND you can buy a hard cider if you're so inclined. And I saw the usual fare you'd kind of expect me to be all bonkers about--I saw What We Do in the Shadows for the first time at the Music Box, I saw White Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life with organ pre-show AND Santa at the Music Box, I saw a Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz double bill with Q&A by Frost, Pegg, and Wright at the Music Box. Most importantly, every July, Music Box participated in the Southport block party, opened its doors for 3 hours, and showed Looney Tunes shorts for FREE.

But I also saw so many interesting and surprising things there: I saw Karyn Kusama's The Invitation, which made me feel like I was having a panic attack for 80% of its run time; I saw a film by a queer Portuguese director, The Ornitologist, because my fave film podcast told me too, and it was obtuse and weird; I saw David Lynch's The Elephant Man for the first time, and it broke my heart, and I cried about as hard as I cried during Remains of the Day or Brokeback Mountain or Moonlight. I saw an RSC or National Theatre or some British shizz of The Crucible starring Richard Armitage, which reminded me Arthur Miller is not my jam, and The Crucible is longgggggggggggg af. Most importantly, I saw a French pastoral film with annieeats and her husband, and at the end of said film, I went to look at my phone, and an old bag of bones behind me shamed me for looking at my phone during the credits, and I never stopped bringing that up to Ann after that happened because I love a bit AND I love being resentful.

Anyway, I have a history with The Heights too. I went there a few times during my post-college era when I worked in Minneapolis and lived in WI. I saw one of the LotR movies there--don't ask me which--and a 50th anniversary screening of Singin' in the Rain. On Thursday, the organist played "Over the Rainbow" as a finale, and then we saw the face of young Faye Dunaway, which felt a little like looking directly into the sun. Bonnie and Clyde was purpotedly a movie about the spirit of the counterculture posing as a period piece about Great Depression-era criminals, and sure, I suppose, but I was astonished by how much of it was about Clyde Barrow's sexual trauma. When I think of Warren Beatty, I don't neccessarily think vulnerability, but his big handsome mug was full of uncertainty and fear and confusion... all scored to "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." And my vague high school memory of the movie did not include the appearance of young Gene Wilder, every moment of his time just weird and hilarious and made me think, maybe for the first time ever, "I should rewatch Young Frankenstein."

I also went to an oddball 1990s film at Trylon, Miami Blues, produced by and starring Fred Ward, but primarily full to the brim with a young, wild Alec Baldwin. I wish the director had told him to stop holding beer bottles the way he clearly was Making a Choice to hold them, but otherwise no complaints about that Baldwin "I Am God" energy running chaotic all over with a young Jennifer Jason Leigh accompanying him.

Today I'm going to see Muppets Treasure Island at The Parkway, then tonight I'm going to see one of the Albert Brooks double feature flicks at Trylon, Real Life. I didn't catch on to Albert Brooks until Defending Your Life and Mother, so it'll be cool to go back to the start.

Clearly I gave up on a bulleted list. Hope you all don't mind. All of you. My many, MANY readers.

I can't tell you how disappointing it is, after last winter's multi-foot snow extravaganza, to have prioritized a snowblower, tricked my dad into buying one for my birthday, and besides a few weak-sauce flurries, it hasn't, like, SNOWED snowed all season. Is it all going to come in March? Is this climate change writ large? One season on, one season off, deedle deedle dumpling? Anyway, I hate it. I hate it all.

Do you all want updates about the house they've been renovating next door? I'm turning into a real elderly here. All weather updates and neighborhood busybodiness.

Speaking of my house: a national management company bought out the local management company that had the contract last spring. This spring? I still haven't gotten a lease renewal, nor a "get out" notice. My neighbor next door received a renewal offer just after New Year's and after 15 years in the neighboring duplex, she told them to kick rocks and is moving out 3/1. She mentioned they sent the renewal "for both properties," which is baffling, but a few baffling things have happened since the national company took over. I've messaged the management company several time and am getting NO information, so my best guess is that the owners of the property are shopping other management companies or they are hung up in negotiations... and I am hung up in the middle. I did look at City of Minneapolis rules, and they have to give me 30 days to vacate, so I'm relieved knowing that I'm at least here through March. I do not want to move, and my hope is that this one of those contractual situations where I'm caught in the middle. Annoying but eventually remedied. I DO hope the owners, who live in California, are not thinking they'll manage this property themselves. I think that's unrealistic.

Enough real life. Here is my media week in review:
1) Watched Sheng Wang's Sweet & Juicy on Netflix. It was very funny, what the kids call "vibes," but also it was a balanced and engaging mix of conceptual bits and personal or observational stuff. It looks like he's touring again. I don't know that I was so into it that I'm willing to pay the theater prices he's certainly pulling these days (though he is doing dates at the club in Madison, so maybe he's still doing comedy exclusive venues sometimes). Anyway very good.

2) Saw Branded to Kill, that 1960s Japanese neo-noir I mentioned last entry (you're all keeping up, right? All 2 of you?). Here's a thing I'll say about arriving in my late middle 40s: I have very much changed my personal philosophy from my early days of being a wannabe intellectual or somebody more than a dilettante and less than a committed cinephile. In my 20s and into my 30s, I believed in CHALLENGING MYSELF. Watching things that Had Merit that I personally found upsetting or distasteful or, god forbid, boring. That young person is no more. And so as I watched Branded to Kill, which was ostensibly about the suffocating and restrictive nature of Japanese culture, particularly for men, but was, on a surface-level, about several snail-pace car chases, bad bullet sfx, enough misogyny to make me long for a feminist reading to skim during the car chases... I don't know, man. I don't think I need to challenge myself as much anymore. I'm full of rich texture like a Triscuit. Sometimes learning something new by experiencing something old or out of my cultural wheelhouse is just... not fun. And annoying.

Anyway I saw the trailer for Arnold Schwarzenegger's Conan the Barbarian as a part of the upcoming Swords and Sorcery series. So that was a hoot.

3a) Watched a few more S2 People of Earth. It's great. What accent is Peter Serafinowicz doing? Who ever knows? Is it wrong after the many years of excellent work Peter has done, my first thought is always of his guest stint on Parks and Rec when he befriends his American idiot counterpart Andy? Back to People of Earth, gotta make it last. There's only so many episodes left of this bunch. What a great cast and killer writers' room. Then I'll probably pony up for S3 of Ghosts UK.

3b) I am no further in The Sandman. I finished episode 1. What does it share in common with OFMD besides a rabid fandom who likes it when dudes make out? Because it is very, uh, humorless. And mopey. And that guy Dream is very Chalamee-y, which is fine if you like that sort of thing. Anyway probably not gonna keep going. I'll let it sit on the queue a little longer since I just removed Transatlantic (I love Gillian Jacobs, and I love hats, but I'm not in the mood for Sad Serious WWII Business).
 
3c)  A little further along in Moonlighting. Watched the Christmas episode where they literally broke the 4th wall and did a crane shot so you could see the full set and the whole cast and crew sang a Christmas carol and David and Maddie kissed on the lips twice, but not with tongue, so I guess it's not supposed to count. This is the 1980s, when soap opera rules were that you usually had dream kisses or a mistletoe kiss before your first True Love's Kiss. Man, I miss the glory of 1980s soap operas.

4) Ann, I have still not queued up Tar. I'll get there. It's on Prime.

5) I started Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Prime. Almost through ep 1. Odds are higher for this than Sandman.

6) Oh, the whole reason I came here! I saw American Fiction yesterday! So funny and thought-provoking and such a showcase for the tremendous talent of Jeffrey Wright (and the supporting cast, too, of course). I remember being so enamored of Jeffrey Wright in the early seasons of Westworld (or as Amanda called it back then, The Sad Robot Show). He's so great at melancholy, but my very favorite Wright move in American Fiction was how judgmentally exhausted he could seem simply by closing his eyes for a moment and shaking his head. It also really felt like it understood the quiet way you can be a disaster in your middle age while it was also taking apart the literary world and liberal white "enjoyment" of Black cinema and literature. Very glad I saw it in the theater.

Speaking of Chalamee-y, saw the new Dune trailer. Boy, that seems very footnotesy. I saw the David Lynch movie. Is that the same thing? JKJKJKJKJK DON'T SEND THE HERBERT BRIGADE AFTER ME.

 1) Saw Joe Mande do some comedy at The Parkway Sunday night. [annoying hipster voice] I saw him open for John Mulaney at the Chicago Theater when John was shooting what would become The Comeback Kid.

Anyway it was a good set. Laughed a lot. Thought about the final bit callback yesterday in a way where I wished one of my stand-up nerdlinger friends had gone with me so I could Share An Opinion or Say a Thought that someone else might have some interest in. But I know my audience here, as well as the friends who went along (read: citizens). So... I'll just have my thought here on my own.

2) Went to this exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and was moved and learned so much and wished I could've spent more time there with less people and also wasn't right up against my work holiday party deadline (I WAS ON THE HOLIDAY PARTY PLANNING COMMITTEE! As I said to a friendly joke: yes, I was the Angela). This was also a lesson in joining the MiA newsletter and maybe possibly becoming a member one of these days? They do really really great stuff there. The Walker has a mini golf course on the roof AND the cherry in the spoon sculpture. They don't need my money.

3) Saw Mean Girls: The Musical: The Movie. It was a hoot. The music is still surprisingly forgettable, given how pointed and hilarious Jeff Richmond's songs and bits were on 30 Rock. Tim Meadows? Still got it as Principal Duvall, though I'm sad they lost the Joe Clark bit. Gen Xers all thought that was funny in the OG. And cameo thoughts: ( spoilers )
4) Also saw Bong Joon-ho's Memories of Murder as I continue to work on my noir passport/shoot for free popcorn. I think it was a good workout for my brain. Not just seeing a movie I hadn't seen before, but seeing an early work of a director who made a film I really admired, but also having to struggle a little and be a little less surefooted in a movie's language because I don't have the cultural shorthand. Sometimes things would happen that I thought were funny and then sit in the discomfort of not being very certain if that was the director's intention. I will say it was also a good workout to watch a movie and be incessantly certain the film would follow the Law and Order rules of the road and introduce the killer to us within the context of the movie. And spoiler: it doesn't. You're just left with uncertainty.

Future plans include: American Fiction (maybe), Hard Eight (for my noir passport, and I can picture my unwatched Netflix-by-mail disc so clearly in my mind for this first PT Anderson film), if I'm feeling ambitious THIS?, maybe River Butcher at Acme in February, and DEFINITELY Paul F. Tompkins's Varietopia at the Fitzgerald in June. Oh, and I'm going to Funny Girl this Sunday. [annoying hipster voice] I saw Debbie Gibson play this role in a touring production back in the mid-nineties (learn more about this very solid, good idea of a production here).

OFMD) I'm telling myself that Taika's radio silence on soc med with regards to the Max cancellation means he is working his back channels because he has development deals with Disney/ABC/FX/Hulu/Sheinhardt Wig Company and Apple+. I feel like less cuckoo-birdism saved B99 for another few seasons. I'm holding out hope.

But if it doesn't come together, maybe I'll sit down and write a missing scene fic about a conversation I really wanted to see, the one that results in Stede and Ed staying behind at their inn with the hole in the roof and many dead birds inside. I feel like that return to the captain's cabin after burying Izzy, where the two of them hadn't been together since they'd whimproned the deed, would've been wonderfully romantic and also fraught.

Well, I've finished all 3 seasons of Joe Pera Talks to You. Now what? Watch it all again, you say? Try to unpack how it is both laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes gut-bustingly so, and so emotionally big yet gentle? Okay, I will.

Which episode was my favorite? I still have to say "Joe Pera Reads You the Church Announcements." How much do I love Sarah? So much, even though I know she would be a difficult friend. The fact that she could befriend the loud alcohol-guzzling big hair crew that runs with Sue Melsky shows her fortitude and her sense of community.

I think it's important for us to see at least an animated short depicting the adventures of Kelsey Melsky and her crow (that Joe caught for her instead of a turkey vulture).

Last entry I listed some very good Christmas music I had been listening to. Now I'm going to list some very, VERY bad music I listened to on a lark:

•  En Vogue - you'd THINK it'd be good! En Vogue was a very good R&B group with amazing vocalists. But check this shit out. Especially the terrible Transsiberian Orchestra production on the "rock" numbers
• Hanson - pee-yew... shoulda known when they covered The Beach Boys
• Wilson Phillips - more mawkish than I anticipated! And that's saying something!
• Bryan. Adams. - REGGAE CHRISTMAS, truly a hate crime

Because the talk about Poor Things is so "best movie of the year," I finally got on the stick and watched The Lobster. It was both weird and thought-provoking, often at the same time. I felt like that worked good cinema-watching muscles, so I rewarded myself by watching the George C. Scott A Christmas Carol and Charlie Brown Christmas, as well as the Hannah Waddingham Christmas Variety Spectacular. Oh, last week I watched Relax, I'm From the Future, and that was a lark. Oh, and my dad and I watched Greyhound, a very dadcore movie. My dad, as it turns out, had not seen a clip from Greyhound. He'd seen a clip from Captain Phillips. So I'll probably be watching Captain Phillips in the near future.

In TV news, I finished the first season of Ghosts UK. I care a great deal for Ghosts US, but I'd call my engagement genial and sometimes-on-phone-y. Ghosts UK packed more LOLs in per episode and is not making me feel ambivalent about my disinterest in romantical ghost pairings. So it's winning. The 'Mount is not winning because they ONLY have seasons 1 and 2. So after I finish 2, I may go back to buy and finish People of Earth.

I still miss Our Flag Means Death. They still have not renewed it. HBO HAS renewed The Gilded Age, an enormously expensive show that most of my friends who watch it say is either boring or dumb or both. Casey Bloys can eat shit. I hate knowing his name, and I hate knowing that one of the reasons he had someone create a fake Twitter account was to DEFEND THE IDOL.

 I finished Broadchurch S1. Spoiler-free reaction: wow, Olivia Colman. She's incredible. ( Then spoilers )

I went to Mean Girls: The Musical on Wednesday, my second time seeing it. I feel like it's one of those shows that I enjoy but the songs immediately fall out of my head the minute I leave. This time I mostly ended up reflecting on what a murderers' row of comedians the movie cast is. Post-The Dropout, I will see genius in everything Amanda Seyfried does--yes, even being proximal to Eddie Redmayne's Kermit the Frog-esque singing in Les Mis: The Atrocity. But the most underappreciated of that murderers' row, the one who didn't get the "I'm a cool mom!" line, is Ana Gasteyer. Perhaps it is my love of American Auto speaking here--mourn you forever, American Auto, you were owed 3 or 4 seasons, but no one wants to commit to comedies anymore, except ABC, I guess?--but her reading of "But you love Ladysmith Black Mambazo!" is A+++. I'm also moving along in People of Earth, and the writing team on that show sure got Ana Gasteyer. Just watched an Emily Heller-scripted ep, and Ana gets a few great one-liners and a rant, which she excels at.

In other David Jenkins-adjacent or OFMD-adjacent news, I watched the movie Yesterday, because it was $1.99 to rent and because it has Joel Fry in it. Yesterday is not very good, despite being directed by Danny Boyle, and it only makes a person daydream about what kind of boss Frenchie will be while you're avoiding the movie's message to be yourself and fame destroys people and whatever. And when you're done daydreaming about Frenchie as captain, then you meander back to your favorite topic, When Will OFMD Get Renewed Already, feat. I Need To Know About Ed and Stede. I'm stewing on whether I should watch Love Birds. I have to say: Broadchurch really took some wind out of my sails. I mean, I started the new season of Fargo with Mel last night, but I'm thinking of transitioning to movies for a bit. More challenging and better than Yesterday, but, like, not too hard and not full of tragedy.

Gotta watch that Hannah Waddingham Christmas variety special while I decorate today, which is any minute now, I'm sure. Definitely not putting it off because I'll have to move the 2-ft tall stack of unread books off my side table, which I'm going to interpret as a massive failure of 2023. I'm also (finally?) getting my COVID booster this afternoon. Went to the wrong dang Walgreens the first time around. Thanksgiving has been so very full of travel and time away from home that my hope today and tomorrow is to not do much of anything. I entertained the idea of going to my nephew's hockey game today, but after coffee and time saying words to the cats, I've now roundly rejected that idea in favor of maaaaaaaaaaaybe going to Target for a few groceries and getting said jab to protect me from lung virus.

1) Yay! The strike is over! Let the OFMD behind-the-scenes content begin to take the sting out of the fact that the content director Mark Hoopdedoo or whatever his stupid effing name is made some mumble sounds about the chances of OFMD being renewed. Cool! I'm sure they will get around to releasing the first two seasons on DVD so that I can have it forever before they cancel it and I cancel THEM. I watched Succession already. Don't really need it for much else at this point.*

*Somebody Somewhere S3, but they don't need to know that.

2) Also with the strike over: CONTINUE FILMING S2 SEVERANCE MY GOD IN HEAVEN.

3) I finally got around to listening to the Comedy Bang Bang ep with Manchester Orchestra, thus kicking off another round of me being obsessed with the music of Manchester Orchestra. They toured with Jimmy Eat World recently, so maybe they ARE for my generation?

4) I'm debating with myself about going to see Flowers of the Killer Moon at some point... but Next Goal Wins comes out this coming week, so I'll prioritize that. I certainly haven't been prioritizing my other football/soccer related entertainment, Welcome to Wrexham. I think it's more fun to watch it with Kate and Mike.

5) I just PLOWED through Deadloch. What a blast. Funny, including the second funniest use of the the song "The Voice" I've ever seen (now and forever, Hot Rod) And this yet another show that we don't have a S2 renewal for? With that wonderful tee-up to introduce Holly, definitely played by Lucy Lawless? Also: ( SPOILER )
6) Anyway I started Broadchurch. Olivia Colman as DI Ellie already has my heart. Wow, look at Olivia Colman's face! Every scene!

David Tennant drew his beard on with mascara apparently.

1)  Because I am going on a little jaunt "down south" this weekend, I need to put away my Pennywise wreath (mostly because I don't want my catsitter to see it) and to update my mug tree (because I won't be drinking coffee at my kitchen table Sunday morning to do it then and bask in my dozens of IG likes). But instead I'm sitting here writing about how I need to do these things while also not packing my bag.

2) There is a fandom art show happening in November! An artist I discovered during one of my many... many... maaany craft fair visits over the summer will be exhibiting. That artist painted a Taika as Viago that I now have as a print in my office, so who knows what kind of devilish nonsense she will be showing that will be WAY too spendy for me to even think about.

3) My November shows are Company (remember way back right before the pandemic when all I could think about and talk about and dream about was my visit to NYC to see Patti LuPone sing the part of Joanna? Oh yeah you probably don't because I stopped writing at DW around then/maybe only sometimes Tweeted about it) and Mean Girls. Also going to see How Did This Get Made? live for maybe the last time because holy buckets were those tickets spendy. I'm paying less to see Company! On the plus side, we're going to watch a Michael E. Knight movie, which I am hopeful will inspire at least one of the crew to share things about soap operas.

4) I still haven't picked up a book since Martha's Vineyard. I think we can put the blame squarely on Our Flag Means Death. But what a way to be illiterate, eh? I joke, but also, seriously. Between my burning love and my post-series occasional dabblings in reading fic--and I gotta say, while the impulsive 'shippy perv in me maybe thought I wanted to know What Happened When The Sheer Curtain Closed, I have quickly realized maybe the OFMD bit of talking about amazing fight sequences they didn't shoot is onto something. Maybe imagining is better! And more budget friendly! (I KNOW that's gotta be why that gag started.) 

I do still think I'd like to read a more gen story about Stede pitching the crew on Ed's return "for one night" to the ship that devolved into a rice sack onesie and a cat collar. And maybe Ed has to explain what a handy is. JUST EXPLAIN IT.

5) In other TV news, I'm halfway through Deadloch, which I assumed was a riff on True Detective but is apparently about Broadchurch. Despite not being familiar with Broadchurch, I'm having a ball watching it. It's LOL funny and also a compelling mystery. And several times I've laughed thinking about the FotC episode where Jemaine dates a thuggish Australian lass (looks at Eddie Redcliffe).

I'm still watching Lower Decks (yay!) and Bob's Burgers (...it's fine... I think I'm entering my S13 Simpsons era where it's not that it's bad, I'm just maybe tired of it for now). I'm also slowly picking at Moonlighting. Goes to show how strong preadolescent hormones are: young Jessie reveled in Bruce Willis's singing. An older wiser Jessie just looks at him and thinks, "Le sigh. So handsome. Please, please stop singing."

Oh and I finished Fall of the House of Usher, which ruled hard. Flanny fan 4 Lyfe here. It didn't emotionally engage me the way the others did, but it was definitely "a hoot and a half" as Glen Weldon said of it on Pop Culture Happy Hour. And I'll never forgive my friend for pointing out that Henry Thomas is doing Donald Trump Jr as Frederick Usher. I'll never unsee it.