Hey there,
I'm not going to lie to you, it's been a tough week. If you feel like you're the only one who's struggling as the world collapses, I'm right there with you. Not everyone is taking advantage of this time to do pushup challenges and bake perfect loaves of bread while finally finishing their novel. (Although, shoutout to all the books that we're going to read in the next few years with gratuitous and uncomfortably sensual descriptions of face-touching!) As for me, I'm doing my best to read the news less frequently and cling to a few routines at least. Like this newsletter! It's a thing that differentiates my Saturday from the blur of other quarantined days.
Upcoming Events
LIVESTREAMED SHOWS:
- COME ON DOWN, YOU'RE ALREADY HERE! I'm hosting a live-streamed game show where audience members from around the internet get the chance to compete for prizes with celebrity guests. Tuesday, March 31st at 6 p.m. PDT / 9 p.m. EDT https://forms.gle/71r3HFEvjpU1pEG47
- MONSTER MASH! Carley Moseley's night of food-themed improv and comedy takes over the Internet. I'll be doing a bit on this show, which is always so fun. Wednesday, April 1st at 6 p.m. PDT / 9 p.m. EDT https://www.brooklyncc.com/show-schedule/monster-mash-livestream
This week’s list
GREAT:
Jazmine Hughes is an incredible writer. She has a piece out this week in The New York Times Magazine about learning to swim and figuring out who she is (and who she wants to be). I can't possibly do it justice by describing it, so do yourself a favor and read the whole thing. It's so, so good and about way more than being able to jump into the deep end of the pool. "Self-definition is a grueling, delicious task. To be a teenager is to be a testing ground for the assembly of your person; to be a young adult is to have free rein to make mistakes. At some point, we make a plan that reflects the self-knowledge we’ve accumulated thus far — I am this, I like that, here are my intentions. But a plan is a limited comfort. What would happen if we allowed ourselves to deviate?" Learning to Swim Taught Me More Than I Bargained For
FUNNY:
Eugene Mirman is a comedian, the voice of Gene on Bob's Burgers, and one of the pioneers of "alt-comedy." Rather than just perform in comedy clubs and at big corporate festivals, Eugene has always found ways to make fun of the comedy industry's self-importance. He started his own comedy festival as a joke, which made fun of typical showcases like "Comedians to Watch." At Eugene's festival, that show was called "Comedians You'll See in a Cell Phone or Cream Cheese Commercial in 2-3 Years." But after a decade of running a fake festival, Eugene had inadvertently created an institution. And along the way, his life had taken some serious turns. Julie Smith Clem, a producer/director extraordinaire, who co-founded the festival with Eugene, put together a documentary about the show and Eugene's life. It Started As A Joke
INTERESTING:
The Oatmeal is the brainchild of Matthew Inman. He's drawn wildly successful web comics, created a card game about exploding kittens, and written best-selling books. His work runs the gamut from fart jokes to a moving, emotional story about a plane crash to an ode to the mantis shrimp. All of which is to say that he's not easily put into a box. He's always creating something new. And this week he put together his lessons about creativity, which are very funny and also very useful for anyone who's trying to make something new or break out of a rut. Eight Marvelous and Melancholy Things I've Learned About Creativity
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Keep hanging in there,
Chris