EPISODE 622: ONCE AGAIN PLEASE, BUT THIS TIME SHOUT AT THE DEVIL LIKE YOU MEAN IT
Lightning and Thunder and Space Exorcisms, Oh My.
POP CULTURE SPIRIT WOW
Another wild week here in the land of make believe, starting with the realization earlier this week that after eleven years of living without storms or really any kind of weather, thunder and lightning kinda freak me out.
I’m not even talking about the scary kind, where the lightning cuts across the sky like god has a shaky hand and a steak knife, or “tear the roof off” thunder. I heard just a little rumble the other night, and still it shook me in a sort of “If thunder can exist what other scary things might be possible” kind of way.
I was so surprised by own reaction I started posting about it on social media, and was very quickly told about “thunder coats” that dogs wear, which I then wanted – because how could you not want something called a “thunder coat”? Then people wanted my address to send one for my dog (which I do not have).
We were having weather here this weekend on the way toward Hurricane Henri, which by the time it got near to us was reduced to a tropical depression, which feels like the story of my writing career and I just want Henri to know it doesn’t matter what people call him he’s a writer if he believes he is, goddammit.
It didn’t amount to much of anything here but a little rain and some flashes of light. One of the guys I lived with relayed the story of a Maureen Dowd column pretty soon after 9/11. A hurricane was supposed to hit over a weekend, so all the stores had been closed down and everyone stayed home. Then instead it was a gorgeous sunny day, and New Yorkers were wandering around furious that no place was open.
Dowd’s take: New Yorkers know exactly how to handle a crisis. What they can’t handle? Inconvenience.
I get that!
My other funny story for the weekend: a friend of mine is a script writer who creates fiction-based podcasts. And he’s been working on a scifi series that involves a priest.
So, he says to me some months ago, how would you like to try out for the part? Sure!
(Have I mentioned that this year I am trying to say yes as often as I can and see what happens? I’m not terribly good at it, but I am trying. So far, it’s been fun.)
So he sends me the script, and it involves among other things, an exorcism. Fine fine fine. 11 Years Ago Me would be surprised to hear this, but at this point I’ve interviewed so many exorcists and written enough scripts or pitches involving them that this is weirdly familiar territory.
Auditioning for the part involves me recording the lines he’s given me, then he’ll cut them together and send them off to the casting people or director or something. We were going to do that recording tomorrow, but this afternoon he asked if I might have some time today.
So I practice a bit, then set up shop in my closet, because the clothes will muffle any echo. I Zoom him, and off we go.
It all seemed fine, until he was saying to me, “Okay, do it again, but louder...and again... and again...Okay, and now the next line...again, same way.” And the walls in our community are not that thick, and I’m realizing it’s late Sunday afternoon, so you can count on a lot of guys are probably home, some of them maybe taking a nap, and I’m shouting “COME OUT OF HIM EVIL ONE” at the top of my lungs over and over again.
If next week I’m writing you from a hermitage in Connecticut or Maine, you’ll know why.
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Someone asked me afterward, So is your room demon-free now? And I was like, You know I still live there, right?
THIS IS THE SECTION OF THE NEWSLETTER WHERE I PRAISE SOMETHING IN POP CULTURE THAT YOU ALREADY KNOW ABOUT LIKE IT’S BRAND NEW
Did you see the Hulu show Fosse/Verdon? It came out a while ago now--okay it came out in 2019--and won some awards too—(ahem, Emmys).
For some reason it never registered on my radar, despite having Michelle Williams, who is just so damn good at everything; and Sam Rockwell, who has got such moves, wow.
But now that I live in New York and have gotten kind of obsessed with show tunes – my most exciting read right now is a book of interviews between John Kander and Fred Ebb (who wrote Chicago, Cabaret, Zorba and other things)—I checked it out. And oh my God is it good.
I don’t just mean it has a great story, either, although it does. There’s so much great dance in it, and some musical numbers, too. It’s only a slight overstatement to say it’s sort of a secret musical. The opening scene, which is Fosse choreographing “Big Spender” from Sweet Charity, is just dynamite.
(If you’ve seen it, here’s a great little piece on how the creative team put it together.)
Here’s a great moment from the second episode.
Also watching: WHITE LOTUS--rich white people go to an exclusive Hawaiian resort; based on the buzz I expect craziness to ensure. Not sure about it yet, but we’ll see…
One other pop culture tidbit this week: suddenly everyone who has ever written a comic book is doing a Substack newsletter. A couple weeks ago some comic heavy hitters announced they’d been paid a boatload of cash to publish on Substack, which is a thing that does not readily make sense. How exactly do you do a comic on Substack? And why?
So far it’s been pretty weird. A lot of talk about what they’re going to do with much in the way of actual “here it is!”, or creators who’ve decided no, they’re not going to do comics on a newsletter platform, instead they’re going to use the platform to teach or share behind the scenes stories. Which is cool, but am I going to pay $8/month for that? (I am not.)
I’m thrilled for the creators themselves, and the opportunity the money gives them to do what they want and to help others do the same. But I’m intrigued to see whether it proves to be the beginning of something interesting and sustainable or instead is at best an interesting short term experiment and at worst kind of a self-pie in the face. Personally, the more of these newsletters I check out, the more resistant I get to paying out anything. It feels like a bunch of big kids just showed up in our playground and are now demanding we pay money to use our own swingsets.
I’ve thought about trying out a tip jar for this newsletter. Some day maybe I will, a drop some shekels if you care to kind of a thing. But personally the whole Come-pay-for-this-newsletter business feels like a betrayal of the fundamental concept. Don’t get me wrong, it’s real work doing this, even for someone like me who is mostly telling stories and looking for some fun things to suggest. I certainly understand anyone trying to make a living from one.
But I’ve always thought of newsletters as messages in a bottle, little letters that we throw out into the ocean for other people like us to find. Ways of feeling connected in a crazy universe.
You don’t sell those. You give them away, and hope they find the people they’re meant for.
THREE TWEETS
I absolutely cannot handle this.
When they say don’t pet the animals, they frickin’ mean it.
Yep.
If you’re looking for something to read this week, here’s a beautiful piece from The New York Times about a little town in Wyoming. And a great profile in The Hollywood Reporter of Michael Keaton, who just keeps making interesting choices.
May they say the same of us!
Have a good week.