The Apple TV Peanuts Selections Are My New Comfort Watches

Obviously, everyone loves Peanuts. A Charlie Brown Christmas is part of our holiday tradition, as well as the Thanksgiving and Halloween specials. I think the rest of the Peanuts canon is just starting to get lost to time, because until Apple TV became their new home, I forgot that there were other television specials and movies featuring our favorite beagle and friends. So when I discovered a bunch of the old Peanuts on Apple TV, I was filled with joy. 

Read more »

journal, the telly

I Want to Be Someone Who Lounges in a Park

Spring is finally here! It was such a brutal winter, and I worked outside for all of it, I know who brutal it got. Now that it’s nice to be outside again, we can all go back to the park.

I love going to the park. My preferred form of exercise is walking through the park and finding new paths to take, and new places to sit while I take my breaks just to extend my time outdoors. But, as I go on my walks, I see all these people with their picnic blankets, and books, and whatever else they've got with them to pass the time.  

I wish I could be one of those people. I tried. I bought a very nice picnic blanket that has a very cute patchwork floral pattern. I brought a book with me and my very nice water bottle, found a spot in the shade. But I just could not relax. I kept putting the book down, readjusting my position. In retrospect, I should've brought something to make some sort of pillow, that maybe would've helped that part. But even then, I couldn't relax and turn off the outside world. I felt the same way laying on my blanket in the park the last time I tried to take a bath to relax. 

But it’s something I want to able to do. To turn the brain off and feel the fresh air and take a deep breath. So this season, I’m gonna try to lounge in the park, let go and relax. Maybe pick up some food, bring my book, maybe listen to some music or a podcast, just be.

journal

My First Experience at the New York Film Festival

I've been living in New York a few years now and I had never been to the New York Film Festival. I can fully blame it on my working schedule for most of it, but I also think to check for screenings of movies I'd like to see way too late and they'd all be sold out. 

But this year is the first year where I heard about their trivia nights. I love trivia, and I know so much useless stuff, a lot of which is pop culture related. Now, I'm not a bar person, so I don't go to bar trivia nights, which is a shame. Mainly because I've never had the chance to compete in a public forum and put my trivia brain to the test. 

There were a bunch of different trivia games played, and the one I volunteered for was a game called Filmography. You and your opponent go back and forth naming films in an actor’s filmography, and you go until one of you blanks and then the other person has to name one more to seal the win. The actor I got was George Clooney. And lucky for me, I spent this past summer watching ER, and sometimes when I’m watching a new to me show, I go to the actor’s Wikipedia pages and look at what else they’ve done and look for future recommendations, so I had looked at Clooney’s filmography quite recently, on top of me having actually seen a bunch of his movies. As the game was going along, I felt like I was getting non-obvious picks in. I remembered Good Night and Good Luck, which I have seen, thanks to the new play, and Midnight Sky, again thank you Wikipedia. I also got in Return of the Killer Tomatoes because I've seen enough interviews of him bringing it up, and my brain stores information like that for seemingly no reason other than trivia. So, I ended up winning this game. And the prize for this round was a free ticket to the first screening of Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly, starring George Clooney, at the fest. 

Then the final game of the night, where everyone who wanted to could compete, was a game of Movie-Actor. You're given a card with an actor's name and a movie of theirs, and then the next person has to pick another actor in that movie, then the next person has to pick another movie of that actor's, and the line keeps going until someone breaks, that person is eliminated, and you keep going like that until only one is left standing. I managed to make it to the last two people, and I had to name an Elle Fanning movie, and just went blank. Somewhere was my lead in for her so I couldn't say that, and then I kept seeing two different characters of hers but I just could not pull out a title. So I came in second place. My consolation prize was a free ticket to a screening of Richard Linklater's Nouvelle Vague. 

And then going to the screenings and getting to go to the actual festival was so cool. To be in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and see all the NYFF signs around, it felt like more than just seeing a movie at my local AMC. It felt like it was a special thing. I loved it. I can't wait to go back next year.

cinema, journal

I've Had a Great Run of Seeing Theater The Last Couple Months

Now, I usually see 2-3 shows a year. Obviously, I would always like to see more, but there are things called time and money that can put limitations on things. I have a whole rant on ticket prices, not just for theater, but in general, that I could go on, but I'll save that for another time. And I never win lotteries. I enter them, never win.

However, the same could not be said for my sister the last couple months. It seemed like the only lottery she couldn't win was the one for Oh, Mary. In the last two months we saw The Notebook, Our Town, and Gypsy (in previews). That's a pretty good run. The Notebook really is a notch above most of the other movie to musical adaptations we've been getting lately. It changed enough from the movie, especially how the flashbacks to Young Noah and Allie were told to us, to make it feel like it's own little thing. Our Town is Our Town. I had never seen it before and now I can say I have. And now I can say  I've seen a Kenny Leon directed show, too. 

But the grandmommy of them all was Gypsy. I got to see Audra on stage for the second time, and my sister got to see her for the first time, and what an introduction for her. It's such a staggering performance. This production better be filmed for PBS Great Performances or something because it's a great revival that makes such smart choices. I want to see it again. And I need the cast recording so I can listen Audra's "Rose's Turn" on repeat.

Then my family sees a show together every Christmastime, and this year's selection was Sunset Boulevard because that was the one my dad was most interested in seeing. Thank god he's not a Gypsy fan, or otherwise we would've been out of luck when they had their flu outbreak. It's a great production no doubt. With multimedia becoming a trend on Broadway in recent years, this seems to be the only show that it really felt essential to the telling. But I'm still not an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan.

And there's so much theater coming this spring that I want to see. 

I still need to see Death Becomes Her. That looks like a freaking blast of musical comedy. I want to see Maybe Happy Ending because I've heard nothing but good things, and if we want original musicals on Broadway, we should go see the ones that make it to the Great White Way. I want to see BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical. And now I'm blanking on what's coming but I know there will be more. There will always be more.

journal, the theatre

Trying to Utilize YouTube Playlists More

When I watch videos on YouTube, even if I like a video, I very rarely hit the like button. So when I want to go back and watch one again, I have to scroll through my history to try and find it, and it's finding a needle in a haystack. 

Read more »

journal

I Think I'm Actually Going to Leave The Bad Place (Twitter)

I'm actually doing it, this is not an empty threat. My biggest obstacle in the past has always been me never deleting the app off of my phone, and I actually did it. it's no longer. 

I’ve just become a rat that keeps pressing the button. It’s the first thing I check in the morning, and I check it frequently, and just scroll. And scroll. And scroll. Even as a write this, I go to my phone and click the app that is now taking up Twitter’s spot.

I joined Threads when it first launched, and just today I joined Bluesky, so I am still on a social media platform like Twitter, but since I haven’t developed the habit like I have with Twitter, it might be easier to wean myself off the platforms.

We’ll see how long this lasts.

journal

Just Numb Right Now

How the hell is this happening again? Honestly I don't have anything else. We'll probably have a better picture in the next couple of weeks how this happened once every vote is counted and all the data is analyzed. Though I do have theories that I'm not brave enough at this moment to share. 

We have four more years of fighting like hell in front of us. But right now, I'm just numb.

journal

After the Madness of March, I’m Going to Try to Watch More Women’s Sports

 The WNBA draft is upon us, after an electric and record breaking Women’s March Madness. This was the first year I really paid attention to the tournament, after only watching last year’s championship. I watched as much of this year as I could, watched both Final Four games. I didn’t end up watching the final because I had tickets to the final performance of Spamalot on Broadway. I contain multitudes.

Read more »

journal, sportsball

The Allure of the Days of Analog

I miss the days before tech took over our lives. I know I only got to experience the tail end of that time, but I keep running the thought experiment in my head. 

What really started it was when streamers decided that they were just gonna remove their own movies and television shows from their platforms, and just not release completed projects. (Justice for Batgirl!) That got me interested in building up my DVD collection, and now I've got a Google Doc two pages long of suggested titles I wish I had the disposable income to purchase every single one of. A lot of them from the Criterion Collection. It also had me rediscovering network tv, and actually watching it as it airs, or at least the magic of the DVR if I missed the original airtime. 

But it's also things like picking up an issue of a magazine, watching the news on tv. And when I'm finding articles online, I go directly to publication's sites and not just scrolling Twitter and looking at links the people I follow share. I'm also trying to read more books, but that's been a separate battle. 

It's missing the water cooler, where no one was watching things on their own schedule and we were all participating in a lot of the same conversations about it. And just flicking channels and catching a movie or watching a marathon all day while you do chores or work. The simpler times. 

So, while the studios still won't come to reality and give the WGA and SAG-AFTRA what they want and need, I will keep looking at the way I watch art and read about it. 

journal, thoughts

My Style Crisis is Never Ending

It's been about a year since I first noticed my inability to buy new pieces for my wardrobe. At the time I didn't worry about it because all I was really wearing day in and day out were jeans and a t-shirt. Working on a cold and dusty soundstage all day didn't really want to wear things I cared about getting filthy. But, doing that for over a year has really ruined my personal style.

I don't know what it is anymore. I go into stores and nothing grabs me. I try things on and they don't feel right. I try to put an outfit together with I have and inevitably go back to the staples in my closet. 

One thing I haven't brought myself to do is a closet purge. Just get rid of the stuff I don't really wear anymore. I could probably take them to H&M and take advantage of their clothes recycling program and get my good human points for the day. Also, I think there's some sort of discount you can use at the store if you bring in your clothes, so that's a plus.

My hope with the purge is that I can figure out my personal style and figure out what I have that fits it and I can get rid of what doesn't. It's just, I have this fear that if I do it, it won't solve my problem of actually buying clothes. I go and try things on and they don't feel right, and I don't know how to work past it that's not just continuing to try things on, and it's really ruining my enjoyment of shopping.

I could shop like no other. I used to be able to spend hours at the mall, just browsing and trying things on. My mom and sister are not shoppers. They are more in and out of the store kind of people, so the fact that I'm becoming more and more like that is annoying. 

Obviously, one of the other things hampering the actual purchasing is money. Building a whole new wardrobe is expensive, so whenever I do figure things out, I won't be rebuilding all in one go. It'll be spread out over time. I take donations. Kidding, of course.

Can the Sabrina the Teenage Witch opening credits be my life? That always looked like fun!

journal