Hey everyone,
No need to say anything about what everyone is thinking about. I’ve got some more substantive posts in the works – not about the US election – but, as is the case for most of us, focusing on anything has been a challenge. So those posts are TBD.
In the meantime, I wanted to share some of the things I’ve really enjoyed lately that may serve as a useful distraction right now.
MUSIC
The frontwoman of the magical Big Thief is also a prolific solo artist. Her lyrics are poetry. Her voice is a melancholy, warm bath. Let this one swallow you for 40 minutes. If you like this one, she has another solo album and several great albums with Big Thief.
“Live Forever” by Bartees Strange
This excellent debut album is unclassifiable on purpose. Bartees Strange – a black artist frustrated with what he’s supposed to be as a musician – bounces around from revved-up rock to acoustic swooning to grungy rap. He does each one so well and manages to put together a surprisingly coherent, brainworm of an album.
TV
The British comedy series immediately empties my head. A panel of comedians compete to perform absurd tasks for very silly prizes. One task places a large block of ice in front of them and asks them to make it disappear as quickly as possible. Another asks them to paint a horse…while riding a horse. It’s all very undignified and humiliating and the comics dive into it head first. It’s stupid, funny, and easy to binge for free on Youtube.
INTERNET FUN
James Austin Johnson’s Trump Impression
It took almost 4 years, but someone finally cracked political comedy in the Trump era. Comic/Trump impersonator James Austin Johnson does a shockingly accurate impression of Trump. No wig, no orange makeup, just uncanny voice work (the key to which he describes as “ambient kind of gross throat noise”) and a savvy understanding of what Trump is like as a public speaker. You’ll probably be confused listening to Johnson’s impersonations, like this one about Weird Al Yankovic. But that’s what makes his Trump impressions so sharp: he doesn’t focus on mocking Trump’s politics (that’s too easy and too tired). Rather, he focuses on Trump’s silliest trait: his meandering diatribes about nothing, because what he says doesn’t matter. He’s Donald Trump and you must listen to whatever he wants to talk about.
BOOKS
Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu
Yu’s novel is like nothing I’ve ever read. Is it a novel? Is it a failed screenplay? You could call it an immigrant story but that would slot it into a cubbyhole it immediately bursts out of. You could say it’s examining the entertainment business, class, and racism but the writing whiplashes you so often that you’re constantly questioning what you’re even reading. Unfortunately, it won’t distract you too long because you’ll read it very quickly.
The Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett
These books – expansive, wandering tales of wizards and mythical creatures that both lampoon and celebrate fantasy writing – fit into a unique place for me. I can pick them up and put them down over long periods of time. I don’t have to pay very close attention to them. But every time I pick one up, it’s engrossing and clever and fun. Beneath his veneer of mockery and buffoonery, Pratchett always manages to sneak in lovely moments of human connection and profound lessons in morality. I started at the beginning with The Colour of Magic and I’d recommend you do too.
WRITING
“An American Education” by Nicolás Medina Mora.
Medina Mora is one of my favorite writers in Mexico. This essay hit me particularly hard. It examines the “good immigrant” myth, the role of ethical journalism, and explains what it feels like to be taken into secondary screening at an American airport. This last piece feels particularly important for Americans to understand: our immigration system has collapsed into such banal cruelty. To what end?
Happy to hear recommendations on useful distractions from all of you in the comments.