Media diet - December 2023
It’s the last day of December, and this is my last opportunity to ramble about what I’ve been watching, reading, and listening to. You ready? I’m not. Let’s go.
📺 TV
I watched a bit of SNL, some Peppa Pig, old Seinfeld reruns, and a solid amount of contemporary commercials while visiting Houston.
The SNL episode I caught some of was the one with Adam Driver as host. A lot of the sketches had kind of weak premises, but Adam’s stone-faced commitment saved it.
As for the other shows, I’m too old to have an opinion on Peppa Pig, and reviewing Seinfeld in 2023 is like reviewing sedimentary rock—who cares?
🎵 Music
I listened to a lot of the same records as I did last month, so refer back to that if you’re interested. However, I did branch out a bit, even if it was largely revisiting familiar territory. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve been listening to.
STRUGGLER by Genesis Owusu
I first heard the opening track, Leaving the Light, from Matthew Perpetua’s flux blog back in June, and loved it, but only got around to buying the full album this month.
I’m finding it a really compelling debut. Genesis weaves lots of genres together—Twitchy Hip-Hop, Psychedelic Soul, Cinematic R&B, Uneasy Devo-ish electronic—finding something new in the melting point between them, instead of a simple collection of disparate parts. I found it most successful in the higher energy, dance-adjacent tracks, although some of the mood-pieces are intriguing.
Owusu repeats lots of confrontational cockroach imagery, in service of explaining the harshness of the life he lives. He also has some wonderfully evocative lines, like Better run, there’s a God, and he’s coming for me.
.
I think the first track, Leaving the Light, is the strongest track by a good margin, but that isn’t to disparage the rest of the album. I’m excited to hear what Owusu does next.
Aja by Steely Dan
It seems like when white men reach a certain age, they are obligated to enjoy the smooth jazz-pop of Steely Dan. I never thought I’d be one of those white men, but I must somberly admit defeat.
While I was in Houston, my friend Andy took me to see a great Steely Dan cover band, and I had a blast. There’s something about seeing a great band live to make you a believer.
I’ve actually been listening to several Dan albums, but I picked this one to feature because it’s widely regarded as their masterpiece, and because the it’s maybe the only Steely Dan cover isn’t hot garbage.
Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age
This is one I was pretty into in my youth, but haven’t revisited in years. I have had opening track You Think I Ain’t Worth A Dollar But I Feel Like A Millionaire regularly stuck in my head for the past 15 years, though.
Does it hold up? Eh, it’s pretty uneven, and too long, especially in the back half, and sometimes I really don’t want to hear anything Josh Homme touches for whatever reason, but there’s some fun stuff here. When the opening track kicks in though, and again with the false ending…that’s what keeps me coming back.
Jaime by Brittney Howard
Revisited this gem from 2019 for the first time since it’s release. There’s so much experimentation here, so much exploration, but all in service of the song and the groove. Don’t miss it (or get on it if you did).
Powerage by AC/DC
Yet another youth revisit. This is one I had in heavy rotation in my 5-CD/tape/radio/speaker combo. The AC/DC album for the heads.
Outlaw by Mammoth
I haven’t highlighted a single song here, but I’m breaking my own (questionable) rule. I listened to this song a lot. Not just this month, but since the summer. It’s a modern garage rock tune, with a few space noises thrown in. It does nothing new. It’s such a derivative, sweaty throwback, that every time you listen to it your life expectancy decreases.
I love it.
You can listen on Soundcloud.
Random Access Memories by Daft Punk
Masterpiece.
📚 Books
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
I wrote about this one last month, as I’d read about half of it. There’s a twist that took me by surprise, and I’m not sure it was fully earned. The tone certainly took a turn, and the narrative had to spend an awkward middle period in an exposition dump, which contrasted sharply with the restrained unease of the first part. Still, I think the novel recovered well, and while the style of the post-reveal was less appealing to me that the before times, I still enjoyed it.
Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Andy had this in the guest room he and Meg set up for me, and I’d never read it. I started reading it before bed, having been on a bit of a Vonnegut kick, and thinking I could finish it inside the one and half week span of my stay. Turns out I could not; I got about half way through. Thankfully, I was able to borrow it on Libby, so crisis averted.
The book is great, kind of the Ur Nuclear/Human Nature Nihilism tale, that manages to refrain from the saccharine or the self pity (and it’s funny!). I also wanted to read it because it mirror’s my improv team’s name.
Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
I bought the John Scalzi Humble Bundle this month, and dove into the series that launched his career. It was super fun! Starship Troopers riff, quippy, ironic one-liners, and plenty of action, all wrapped around a core adult love story. And I do mean adult, these characters are in their 70s, and believably so. I’m currently reading the sequel, so I’m all in.
🍿 Movies
Albert Brooks: Defending My Life
A fun doc about Albert Brooks having a conversation with Rob Reiner about his career. It mostly just made me want to watch his movies.
Dream Scenario
Weird movie, and I liked it. Glad to see Nicholas Cage once again play a frumpy putz. It’s dark, surreal, milking awkward situations to their breaking point, and it has something to say about attention, and men, and social media. I’m not sure it all comes together in the end, and the ending specifically felt a bit shrug-worthy, as I stopped caring about the characters at that point. However, it does have, objectively, the funniest fart scene I’ve seen in a long time.
Sleepless in Seattle
I’d never seen it, and it felt like a fill-in-the-cultural-blanks type time. Wild thought, it’s good. It was also nothing like what I thought it was going to be.
Sure, I knew it was a romantic comedy, so I had some idea of the overall nature, but I literally knew nothing about the plot, so had just been going off a (wrong) assumption about the title. I figured, okay, sleepless in Seattle—it’s about two Emerald City insomniacs who find love blinking over a pot of coffee.
Also, it’s funny that they made future rom com star Bill Pullman the dewy dweeb to be dumped.
Joe Dirt
This sucked. I know the film has at least one noble defender, who, on her, by my count, 95th rewatch, said, i need him (joe dirt) in a way that is concerning to feminism.
And I get it.
Wait, no I don’t. I’m always getting those confused. Yet, there were a few fun moments.
However, man, is this dumb and unfunny. There is also so much homophobic nonsense here, it makes the rest of the ‘90 look tame.
I did watch the whole thing though, but I also ate an entire off hummus sandwich once.
Die Hard
I watched this not once, not three times, but twice this month. The first time was at a Houston Die Hard-themed watch party, where I may have gotten too drunk and talked loudly with someone the entire movie then played the Djembe during a jam session featuring made-up songs also about Die Hard. The second time was on Christmas with a few friends who had never seen it, and I wasn’t drunk and paid attention. Both have their charms.
Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man and the Pool
Birbiglia is always funny, always thoughtful, and his shows always comes together so beautifully. This is no exception.
The Holdovers
What a great little bottle drama. Or is it a comedy? No, it’s not a dramedy, those suck at both comedy and drama. When The Holdovers wants to be moving, it is, and when it wants to be funny, it is, and it never sells out the characters in either mode. Just a charming, well executed film about real people getting squeezed in their lives, and trying to connect (or avoid it). Set in the 70s, and shot like it was the 70s. Give everyone an Oscar, including the film grain.
Dial Code Santa Claus
Also known as Game Over, Deadly Games, or my favorite, Hide and Freak. This 1989 French movie is Home Alone as madcap horror. It’s executed well, with familiar moves, but belies convention. It’s unsettling because you can’t guess what’s going to happen next (or you can, but you’re wrong). And it’s shot gorgeously! Got to see this in the theater at Alamo in a 35mm print with friends. Get on it.
Bullitt
Effortlessly cool gets thrown around a lot, but you’d be hard pressed to find a better fit than Steve McQueen in this one. Judging by the release date, I’d guess it set the template for gritty crime dramas of the 70s and 80s. I couldn’t always follow the twisty plot, but I never once cared.
Poor Things
For my money, this is Yorgos Lanthimos’s best movie, and I should know, I’ve seen 26% of them. I also think it’s Emma Stone’s best performance, and if that wasn’t enough, we get sleaze-bag Mark Ruffalo and mouth fart Willem Dafoe!
Feminism, freedom, and comedy gold by way of dream-scape Frankenstein. Don’t miss it.
Bob and Don: A Love Story
A touching, twenty-minute doc on the life long friendship between comedians Don Rickles and Bob Newhart. If you’re into comedy, give it a shot. Streams for free from the New Yorker’s website.
Josie and the Pussycats
I remember the marketing for this one leading up to its release in 2001, and had vague ambitious to see it, but never got the chance. Learning that it was an infamous bomb, I understand my time to have seen it in theaters was short. I hadn’t thought at all about the movie until this month, when John Scalzi blogged about it. His retrospective review convinced me to give it a shot, and I’m glad I did.
It’s frothy, funny, has a stellar cast, and has the most ham fisted music industry satire I’ve ever seen. But joyously so! That kind of stuff can go left quick, and Josie holds it down. Also, the tunes are bangers.
Wrap it up
That’s about it! Happy New Year everyone, and I’ll see y’all in 2024.
