Videos! Podcasts! Games! Books! Hope!
How am I? NOT GREAT, BOB!
But really, is ANYONE doing great right now? Heck, no! So we'll have to make the best of it with clean hands and FaceTime playdates and activities to keep our minds off That Awful Stuff Outside.
Thanks to everyone who has sent me kind words recently. As I shared in this short comic, I haven't been feeling my best lately, physically or emotionally. I'm not at 100% quite yet, but I hope to be there soon.
A few distractions/recommendations:
1. This week I'm honored to be the guest on Gil Roth's VIRTUAL MEMORIES podcast. We talked pre-isolation, so our convo may take you back to a simpler time. Peruse his archive for lots of stellar interviews.
2. I've been watching SCHITT'S CREEK and a ton of UNHHHH, which is exactly what I need right now. I also rewatched YOUNG ADULT, which is streaming on Amazon Prime. (How they got away with making a Teenage Fanclub song the centerpiece is a mystery and a miracle.)
3. Patti LuPone's basement videos are ... well, if I don't have you at "Patti LuPone's basement videos," we might not be meant for each other.
4. Tom Scharpling and Julie Klausner have answered our prayers by starting a new podcast, DOUBLE THREAT.
5. I just started reading DAISY JONES & THE SIX, and judging by my pandemic attention span, I hope to finish it by 2023.
6. Paul F. Tompkins is always a breath of fresh air, particularly now. I loved his appearance on OFF MENU, and he and his wife, Janie Haddad Tompkins, have started a new podcast called STAY F. HOMEKINS.
7. Our trusty pal Bishop--seriously, I think he has been sending me music recs for 15 years!--got in touch with song suggestions to keep our spirits up: "Temper Temper" by Lime Cordiale; "When I Dream" by San Cisco; and "Losing You" by Boy Pablo.
8. I just bought PUNK TACO: VOLUME 1 for my daughter (and myself). It's a marriage of my two favorite things!
9. Our dear friend Boaz Frankel has started a daily morning show on Facebook Live called GOOD MORNING QUARANTINE.
10. Our friend Dean binged DC Universe's DOOM PATROL and dug it. (He has a good newsletter, by the by.)
11. Longtime reader Kristin C. recommends Cozi TV, which has "pretty much every sitcom from the '70s and '80s. Except MR. BELVEDERE."
12. The wonderful Drew Droege reminds us that tons of productions are streaming on BroadwayHD, including his stellar one-man show, BRIGHT COLORS AND BOLD PATTERNS.
13. CBS All Access has made episodes of STAR TREK: PICARD available for free. (Thanks for the heads-up, Herman!)
14. The No Ones just released a record and are indeed someones, because the members include Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey. See their video for "Straight Into the Bridge."
15. In honor of Terrence McNally, AMERICAN MASTERS is streaming this documentary about him for free.
16. Chris M. points us to Billie Joe Armstrong's new cover of "I Think We're Alone Now."
17. I was completely charmed by this animated video from young Australian punks The Chats. The song, titled "Drunk N Disorderly," lasts one minute and 18 seconds.
18. ABE is a charming-looking indie about a boy (played by Noah Schnapp from STRANGER THINGS) who's obsessed with food. It comes out digitally April 17.
19. ABOUT A TEACHER is an indie about an inner-city public high school film teacher. Written and directed by Hanan Harchol, it's based on his own life and arrives on Amazon April 7. Let's support as many independent filmmakers as we can right now.
20. For those with small people at home, my 7-year-old daughter loves George O'Connor's daily "Greekspeak" mythology videos on Instagram and YouTube, the "Sisters Eight" book series, making games on Scratch, this live bird cam and 642 THINGS TO DRAW.
21. Illustrator Wendy MacNaughton is doing live drawing classes for kids on Instagram.
22. Lots of folks have been posting comics this week. I'm particularly fond of these panels from my friend Jon Allen. Buy his new book (with a particularly timely title), THE LONESOME ERA.
23. I'm considering trying online Scrabble and/or Monopoly on Pogo. Does anyone else use this?
24. This Instagram video from Cara Skinner makes me laugh so hard, and I've seen it like 30 times already. This one is also pretty phenomenal.
25. Over on Patreon, I posted a little audio update. Thanks, as always, for your support.
Finally, let's all send love and cash to our favorite small businesses at this critical time. Independent bookstores, comic shops, hair salons, theaters, record stores, music venues ... well, everyone is hurting. Several owners I know are making it purely on gift certificates and mail orders right now, so consider supporting them in any way you can. (If you happen to be one of these people and/or would like to recommend a business that really needs our attention, reach out at whitmath@gmail.com.)
See you real soon.
Thanks for reading--and hang in there, OK? (Note I'll be sending these on weekends for the foreseeable future so that I can focus on childcare, work and losing my damn mind during the week.)
Reach out anytime at whitmath@gmail.com. I'm also on Twitter and Instagram.
Holding on for one more day,
Owen Wilson Phillips
***
“The world is violent and mercurial—it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love—love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.”
— Tennessee Williams