
Admittedly I was positively biased going into it in that I LOVED her book Wild.
Alan Bennett: The Uncommon Reader: A Novella
A really interesting book about the premise of the Queen becoming an avid reader. (***)
Dave Eggers: A Hologram for the King
Super easy read that was engaging. (***)
Dennis Lehane: The Given Day: A Novel
Gripping book with awesome character development. It's always amazing to read people who can easily fit into other frames of reference. (****)
Julie Orringer: The Invisible Bridge (Vintage Contemporaries)
It's definitely depressing at points and a bit long winded but it's overall a good story. (***)
Mindy Kaling: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)
Must read for dads with daughters and maybe even more must read for the daughters. (****)
Patti Smith: Just Kids
I'm not much of a fan of either of the artists featured (Patti Smith and Robert Mappelthorpe), but the book is very compelling taking me into a new world and time that I was not really aware of. (***)
Colum McCann: Let the Great World Spin: A Novel
A wonderfully gritty, compelling set of interwoven stories told by a gifted author. (*****)
Stieg Larsson: The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage)
A quicker read than the first installment, but the end of it was very unsatisfying. I suspect it's meant to get me to read the next one. (***)
Stieg Larsson: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
An interesting and well written book. (****)
Pat Conroy: The Prince of Tides: A Novel
An absolute must read. (*****)
May 08, 2023 in Life, Love, Parenting | Permalink | Comments (0)
April 19, 2023 in Love, Parenting | Permalink | Comments (0)
I watched the Netflix series Wednesday over the weekend and it’s fantastic.
TL;DR (and this is long!): Wednesday is a compelling, fun series touching on crucial dy
namics of teenagers. For any dads of daughters, I suggest watching it (I bet your daughters already have).
Wednesday Addams (played by the magnificent Jenna Ortega) goes to a school of outcasts and even in that school SHE is an outcast.
Her character has an unwavering commitment to truth and is unafraid to speak about what she believes.
Ortega is special because she plays the character’s commitment perfectly (along with her dark sense of humor). She also plays the moments when Wednesday is vulnerable.
A friend in the show says she admires that Wednesday doesn’t seem to care about what others think. She responds beautifully “Maybe I should care more”.
What makes her so compelling is her facial expressions which emote the complexity of who Wednesday is. It made me feel like I felt her and resonated with her emotionally.
Wednesday commits herself to solving a series of crimes committed by a “monster”. The series has that attractive trait that at one point I think I know who is guilty, only to think it is someone else.
The outcast school has teenage boys and girls all of whom have some kind of special power that allows them to transform or activate that power. That TOTALLY feeds my nerdy Dungeon and Dragons side.
I’m not surprised that the writers/creators of the show also created the series The Shannara Chronicles (based on Terry Brooks magnificent series of books starting with The Sword of Shannara (a lighter version of the Hobbit). I read all of his books like 5 times when I was a kid).
The outcasts’ school is adjacent to a town of “normal” people with complicated pasts.
The writing in the show is exceptional. I love how it both portrays the outcast social dynamics of young men and women. And I love how the show handles Wednesday’s transition from outcast to accepted.
I also love how the writing delves into the tension between the outcasts and the normal teenagers in town. It’s an innovative way to portray Wednesday as an outcast among outcasts at school then an outcast as part of the outcasts in the town.
One thing I didn’t expect which I loved was how the show explored parental tension with the kids (both at the school and in the town). It explores things like:
How to handle parents who want be or do something like them when the children want to blaze their own path
How parents try to control who their children hang out with regardless of their desires
And, most importantly, moments where the teenagers stand up to their parents
Wednesday has a roommate that is the exact opposite of her. Enid (played by Emma Myers) is a bright, bubbly, colorful young woman who works really hard to connect with Wednesday.
Myers is wonderful in how her face and demeanor emotes her happy go lucky self.
The show, directed by Tim Burton, shows their shared dorm room. One half is super colorful for Enid and the other half is dark for Wednesday.
Enid is a werewolf who hasn’t “wolfed out” yet, meaning she hasn’t transformed ever fully. Her conflict with her parents is really compelling. Enid felt stressed that she hadn’t wolfed out and therefore was a disappointment to her parents.
On “Parents Day” at Nevermore (the school) her mom puts a lot of pressure for her to wolf out, creating conflict. Her father is silent until the very end of the visit.
After Enid stands up to her mom who leaves, she has moment with her Dad. He said to her:
“I’m proud of you kiddo. You do you”
Yep, I cried at that point. Nothing like a good father daughter moment.
While Enid was a seemingly unwavering cheerleader for Wednesday I really liked how at one point she draws a boundary and leaves her temporarily. When Enid admits why to Wednesday (standing up to her) it’s a powerful emotional moment.
I LOVED how the script deftly portrays that when Enid finally stopped worrying about what other people thought (maybe from Wednesday) she wolfed out.
There is quite a bit of chatter online that it’s meant to be a comp to “coming out”. That may be partially or even fully true. I think it’s broader than that (while still including that).
It feels weird to say this but Thing (a severed hand) is the next most compelling character. The way Thing communicates and reacts to Wednesday is so fun and sweet.
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Thing seems to be the one character who can call Wednesday out (although others eventually do).
Among the other actors I liked Catherine Zeta Jones as her mom. I LOVED (and was a bit surprised by) that Luis Guzman played her dad. He’s one of those actors that I get excited for when he’s in the show (after just having seen him in Shameless!).
Fred Armisen did a GREAT job playing Uncle Festus. Christina Ricci was meh as a the only normie teacher at the school.
In general, all of the other performances were suitable but not outstanding.
One last thing. In one episode Wednesday dances to the song Goo Goo Muck by the Cramps. It is transcendent. It surpassed Pulp Fiction’s dance scene for me.
Once again Ortega feels it fully and lets it rip while dancing.
For any Dads out there a huge percentage of girls/teen girls are probably watching this series. (my daughter is) It’s worth watching because it’s entertaining and compelling.
It’s a must see because it’s a great look into social dynamics of boys and girls and a GREAT platform to talk about the show with your daughter.
#wednesdayaddams #wednesday #wednesdaydance
January 03, 2023 in Life, Love, Parenting, Television | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 30, 2022 in Life, Love | Permalink | Comments (0)
Every year I do a list of things I think on my birthday. I've been swamped and I finally got to it. Enjoy!
54 thoughts on my 54th birthday
1. I’m a playwright because I wrote a play
2. Since the Chiefs won the Super Bowl I’m so laid back….until I watch the Chiefs on TV
3. Unwillingness to listen openly to another pov is crushing us. Sometimes I think it’s not a matter of willingness, it’s matter of capacity to do so.
4. Redemptive stories work…every time
5. We are still in the golden age of television, the courageous and unapologetic writing is remarkable it’s given us The Bear, Abbott Elementary, The Old Man and many more
6. Everything, Everywhere, All at Once is the best Mother Daughter film I’ve ever seen
7. I can’t find a cologne that really works for me, I’ve been wandering confused since I can no longer by Tiffany sport cologne
8. Self forgiveness is incomparable to any other skill I have for myself and it only worked for me when I was ready, not before
9. I’m the age today that my parents were when they called me to tell me my brother was found at the bottom of a ravine near a cliff
10. I’m certain Leave it All to Me from iCarly will once again be a top 10 song listened to on Spotify for me
11. I can’t believe I’m still hooping at 54
12. Family is family and a recurrent bad dream at times
13. I see I’m letting Zoe run her life unless she wants my help
14. My relationship with God has never been stronger
15. Getting laid off is a total bummer
16. Working in the wine industry for 10 years was a total bummer
17. It’s not who I trust, it’s how I trust
18. Football is the peak of live theater
19. Doing comedy is fun
20. Writing and performing plays is my calling
21. The Father Daughter Dance can be a really successful brand
22. Jerrod Carmichael’s Rothaniel and Sam Morril’s Same Time Tomorrow are beyond superb stand up comedy viewing
23. I’m going to see Louis CK next year and I don’t care what anyone thinks about it, he’s hilarious
24. Cancel culture is as damaging as the mistaken “patriot” designation
25. Having 10 high schooll guy friends still in my life and 25 college guy friends in my life is awesome
26. It’s disheartening we all have said for decades teachers are underpaid and nobody has solved it
27. San Francisco is still the perfect city for me
28. The mistaken widespread belief about our city is the equivalent of what I thought about Egypt before I went and what I was like when I did
29. Mental Health is a global imperative
30. They did the best they can should be context not an excuse and there’s FAR more nuance than that blanket statement
31. I’m confused by how much my daughter loves cats
32. This world is not in the hands of my age, it’s in the hands of the young people
33. “And these children that you spit on while you try to change the world” by Bowie still rings true today
34. Pre op Trans women are the most overtly emotionally and physically discriminated against today
35. I LOVE that I have a skin care regimen and I hope more guys do it
36. Learning something new every day has opened my world
37. I’m finally reconnected fully with my curious, creative and imaginative young child/adolescent
38. Irrational risks are sometimes worth taking
39. There’s no such thing as a normal person
40. New Age is a horrible term for expansive spiritual thought/art, who came up with that?
41. I want us to preserve nature and I have no interest in being in it
42. The closest I come to camping is asking for an extra fern in my hotel suite
43. Science is expansive which means what’s understood today could be different than tomorrow
44. I’m so proud of me doing a second season of my podcast
45. Every issue with social media have been issues for centuries
46. I don’t care one bit of Twitter implodes, I kind of want it to
47. My text typing skills have eroded dramatically
48. I hate that I have to auto correct ducking so often
49. Sex HAS to come out of the dark
50. I judge a person by who they are in the world if they happen to have different perspectives so it is
51. I deserve a reality show
52. I already have my next one person play ready to start writing
53. The “love yourself” narrative is destructive
54. I’m happier and more peaceful than I ever have been in my life
November 22, 2022 in Life, Love | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 22, 2022 in Life, Love | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 21, 2022 in Life, Love | Permalink | Comments (0)
November 20, 2022 in Love, Parenting | Permalink | Comments (0)
My one "dad" play The Father Daughter Dance premiers Nov 11 & 12 in San Francisco.
November 04, 2022 in Life, Love, Parenting | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 08, 2022 in Life, Love, Romance and Relationships | Permalink | Comments (0)