RECS #1
Because the algorithms don't love you like I do.
On the early 2000s MTV show, Pimp My Ride, host and rapper, Xhibit, was famous for extracting one solitary detail from the show participant’s life, and then running with that detail to the most absurd degree by outfitting a car based on said detail. “We heard you like the ocean, so we put a fish tank in your steering wheel!”
That’s basically how I feel algorithms work.
My Discover Weekly, my Suggested for You, and my Because you liked —, you’ll love — are all absolute trash. “We heard you enjoyed The Bear, so here’s 5 reality cooking shows that also involve people yelling at each other.” “We heard you like James Blake, so here’s James Blunt and James Gandolfini.”
I still favor recomendations from friends and family since the robots just do not understand me. And because the books, films, shows, and records that I ingest are a constant source of inspiration to me, I figured this would be a great place to share some with you. So here’s what my January looked like…
FILM / TV
The fact that Jonathon Glazer wrote and directed The Zone of Interest was enough for me to buy a ticket. Glazer did Under the Skin, which I was fortunate enough to catch in a theater, and I’ll say that his films are definitely the type you want to experience on a big screen with proper sound.
The film follows a German Nazi commandant and his family, who live just outside the Auschwitz camp. Though it’s now seeing a wide release and catching critical acclaim, the film seemed to piss off viewers and critics at first, as many were up in arms over the idea that they believe the film does not visually convey the atrocities of the holocaust. To that, I will say that I don’t think those people were listening to the film, and I would argue that using sound to stir and disturb rather than relying on visuals was even more haunting than any traditional tellings of this historical event.
As far as TV goes, I’m thrilled that True Detective has dialed in all the elements that made Season 1 the greatest season of television (spare me your Sopranos rant). I love this new season. I also found the series, Patriot, last month, which I can’t compare to anything I’ve ever seen. You just have to do an episode and see if it’s your thing.
I also found my way into a 2022 short series, Fleishman Is In Trouble, which I really loved. Having gone through a breakup in 2020, which put an end to a 10 year relationship, it was hard to relate to friends on how strange and lonely becoming a single person for the first time as an adult was. It sort of felt like I was cryogenically frozen and then suddenly thawed out and dropped in the present. I wish I’d found this show during that period, as I think it would have been comforting then.
WORDS
The last few books I read toward the end of the year were a struggle to get through, so I thought it could be fun to go with something classic at the top of the year. I was in the mood for something in the vein of one of the great American novels like Blood Meridian or Gatsby. I asked my wife for a suggestion and she gave me The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. It’s a science fiction book that involves Catholicism, aliens and politics. So…not what I asked for. Maybe I should trust the algorithms.
But it’s good! It reminds me of some of my favorite Vonnegut reads, but without the humor, which sounds bad, but I promise it makes up for it with truly endearing characters. I grew up surrounded by Catholicism and was always fascinated by mysticism and saints. Those themes still seep into my lyrics even after having a distance from all of it, so I think I’ll always have a soft spot for anything even tangentially of that world.
My other suggestion for you this month in the way of the written word is to subscribe to Nick Cave’s Red Hand Files. You don’t have to be a fan of his music to fall in love with his newsletter. The format is simple: Nick Cave answers questions from fans. That’s really it. But the questions he chooses to answer are oftentimes so heavy and his responses so poetic and beautiful that it doesn’t need to be more complicated than that. Whenever I see the Gmail notification for “Red Hand Files”, I stop whatever I’m doing in pure excitement to read.
MUSIC
If you read my post from last week, you already know I recently started a little record club with a friend of mine. Each week, one of us chooses a record, and at the end of the week we get on the phone and talk about it. It’s already been great, as we live on opposite ends of the country, so it keeps us tethered, and it also has me listening to full records again, which is something I shamefully got away from for a while. This past week was Bowie’s Blackstar, and it did not disappoint.
It doesn’t hurt to note that Bowie was in his late 60s when he made this record, which is absolutely insane when you consider how much swagger and attitude he still had at that age. But even without knowing that fact, the record stands on it’s own. “Girl Loves Me” is my go to track. I can not get Bowie singing, “Where the fuck did Monday go?” out of my head.
I suppose a good way to wrap this up is to also include that in case you missed it, I put out an EP a few weeks ago. To those who’ve already listened and shared it with friends, I appreciate you.
And in the spirit of battling the algorithms, I encourage you to leave your suggestions in the comment section. I’m always looking for inspiration.
Thank you.
You mentioning Blood Meridian and the Great American Novel (I can't NOT capitalize that term for whatever reason) immediately made me think of Moby Dick. No idea if you've ever picked it up but I can't heap enough praise on it. I avoided that book my entire life, assuming a snooze fest awaited me but boy was I wrong.
It feels like every aspect of what it means to be human gets explored at some point. It's also just wild to feel so connected to something that's pushing 200 years old and realizing that for all that's changed since then, people are still the same in so many beautiful and terrifying ways.