February Favorites

"Juice", Lizzo: This song is a certified bop! Lizzo's lyrics are straight-up fire, and the groove that is laid under them is infectiously funky. This is one of those songs that I have to hit repeat for at least twice every time it comes up on my shuffle.

To Dust: If you’ve ever watched The Frisco Kid, with Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford, and thought “I’d like to watch another Jew-Goy buddy movie that is funny, sad, touching, and distressing all at once", To Dust is the movie you’ve been waiting for. It features lots of very dry, absurdist old-school Jewish humor and Matthew Broderick as a total mensch. It is not like any movie I have ever seen, other than its tonal similarities to The Frisco Kid, and I spent much of the film in awe of how someone came up with the concept and script for this film. While there are a few CSI-esque graphic moments of decomposing bodies, To Dust excels at capturing the uncomfortableness and uncertainty that accompanies mourning, as well as the idea that comfort can come from the most unlikely and unexpected people and places.

Rowing to Latitude, Jill Fredston and Eiger Dreams, Jon Krakauer: I read these two adventure books back to back, and, even though I'm not an outdoorsy person, I found them engaging and inspiring. In Rowing to Lattitude, Jill Fredston writes about her adventures kayaking with her husband in Alaska and other arctic locales. while such excursions would never appeal to me in real life, I still enjoyed getting a glimpse into Fredston's life and passions. She does a wonderful job weaving technical details, naturalist viewpoints, and personal stories into a cohesive narrative. Eiger Dreams is a collection of essays that Krakauer wrote on climbing, mountaineering, and cayoneering for various periodicals. This book has been in my TBR pile for a while because I liked James Salter's Solo Faces so much and because The Eiger Sanction is a great Clint Eastwood movie; it turns out that Krakauer references both of these seminal climbing-related works in his essays. Both Fredston and Krakauer truly bring to life the vast and awe-inspiring landscapes they have encountered with vivid and detailed descriptions, meaning these are perfect books for the armchair adventurer.

Bonnie's Last Flight: This play about a flight attendant's last day of work before retiring is set on a plane, and thus the theatre was set up to resemble an aircraft cabin. The actors even handed out Biscoff cookies in the the middle of the performance, and the selection of-in flight movies was top-notch. Bonnie's Last Flight is both absurd and thoughtful -- as well as wholly original. This play is fresh, creative, and joyful due to its fusion of traditional theatre with technology and low-touch audience interaction (i.e it's "interactive", but not in an obnoxious or uncomfortable way). I left the theatre feeling refreshed and delighted, while also ruminating on the power of friendship and the meaning of family.

A Futile and Stupid Gesture: This is a Netflix movie, and though I think it may have been in cinemas for a hot minute last year, I didn't get a chance to see it at that time. Thankfully, I have friends who have Netflix, so I was finally able to cross it off my list. Though just a day after seeing it, I wanted to watch it again. This film is so rich with detail and stacked with a phenomenal cast. Will Forte and Domhnall Gleeson are both fantastic as National Lampoon founders Doug Kenney and Henry Beard, respectively. Gleeson, especially, disappears into his role. A Futile and Stupid Gesture captures and recreates the manic and infectious energy of the 70s comedy scene in New York, as populated by the personalities associated with National Lampoon, and then Saturday Night Live. Today, Doug Kenney is not as well known as collaborators such as Chevy Chase, Ivan Reitman, Christopher Guest, John Belushi, Harold Ramis, and others, yet he was the one with the vision to connect all of these great comedic talents and provide them with material like Animal House and Caddy Shack. This story of Kenney's life is clearly influenced by his sensibilities. The film celebrates his talent while also acknowledging his flaws, and then pays homage to its muse by wrapping the whole story in a feeling of nostalgia for the anything-goes sensibility of 70s and early-80s comedy.