Media Diet

Today is a sunny Monday hopefully at the end of Fool’s Spring, the period of March where we have like three days of nice weather, everyone busts out their picnic baskets, and then it goes back to being 40 degrees for another two weeks while we all shiver and say “heh heh, isn’t it supposed to be spring” to each other. I’ve also heard this called “Spring of Deceit”, which is a term I like and have been using interchangeably. I have been doing my best to live in defiance of nature by wearing a light jacket as much as possible, convincing myself that it will get warmer later in the afternoon (it won’t). I sincerely hope True Spring is upon us so that I can stop worrying about the health of the daffodils lining my street. Can they survive in fluctuating temperatures? Who is taking care of them? I sure ain’t!

In breaking from the pattern established in my (checks notes) one post I’ll introduce the first in a recurring series of sharing thoughts on what I’m reading/seeing/listening to/eating/playing/etc. I’m calling it Media Diet until I come up with a better title.

Now Playing

Bergman Island (2021)

This is a movie I kept hearing about when it came out but never got around to seeing it. I’m trying out Mubi (its great) and they have a few of Mia Hansen-Løve’s films up right now. I love me some Vicky Krieps so over the weekend I fired up the TV, punched my ticket to Bergman Island, and had a lovely time. It’s about a couple who are both filmmakers taking a trip to the Swedish island of Fårö to stay in Ingmar Bergman’s house and write their screenplays. I had eaten a big pasta dinner before watching and was not feeling my sharpest mentally, so on one level I was enjoying the film’s examination of the lines between art and real life getting blurred and on another level I was like “damn, that’s a good looking island. A Bergman Island, some might say.”

Now Reading

Blood in the Machine

Brian Merchant’s book about the Luddite Rebellion had been on my list since it was published last year and I recently snagged a copy at The Word is Change. My understanding of the term “Luddite” had long been that it was a pejorative term used to describe someone who was afraid of / hated technology. Also for some reason I thought it came from the Bible? In any case, the Luddites were actually groups of workers from the cloth/textile industry in England who were being displaced and impoverished by the factory owners who were replacing them with machines. The power looms (and other similar machines) could do the work of five or six men while operated by a half starved, orphaned indentured servant, and they produced a cheap, inferior product compared to the work of the skilled tradesmen. Drawing their name and inspiration from the apocryphal story of Ned Ludd, who destroyed the machine his boss employed to replace him, the Luddites would break into factories under the cover of night and smash the new equipment, eventually under penalty of death. They weren’t anti-technology, in fact, they supported advancements that didn’t come at the expense of the worker or the quality of the finished good. It was more so that they were pro worker. Fascinating read so far!

Now Listening

Now…Performing???

That’s right I’m plugging a damn show. I’ve been performing intermittently with a team of folks from across the NYC improv landscape called Woodstock and this Saturday at 8:30 we have a show at Brooklyn Comedy Collective on the main stage. It’s a great group of old salty dogs and I have a blast playing with them. We’ve been working on the Soundtrack form, which is considered a rare delicacy as far as improv forms are concerned. Tickets here!