25 recs + my Halloween livestream! 👻
We're keeping it 5x5.
I have BUNDLES OF DELIGHT to share with you this week, starting with ... Â
*WATCH MY HALLOWEEN LIVESTREAM!*Â
You heard it here first: On Saturday night (Oct. 31) at 9 ET/6 PT, I'll be on "Halloween Squares," a live game show featuring tons of fun folks 'n' friends like cartoonist Dean Haspiel, singer Jill Sobule, writer Jonathan Ames, actress/writer Stoya, writer Iris Smyles and other surprise guests! Comedian Matt Champagne hosts. Watch live via YouTube or Facebook. I'll also put the link on my Twitter/Instagram/etc. Hope to see you there.
FIVE MOVIES!
THE PLANTERS looks wonderfully weird and follows a woman who leaves buried treasure for strangers ... Watch new trailers for Alex Winter's Frank Zappa doc and the David Bowie biopic STARDUST ... TOYS OF TERROR might scratch your Halloween horror itch ... And the homemade-looking indie ATTACK OF THE DEMONS is described as "SOUTH PARK meets THE EVIL DEAD."
FIVE PODCASTS!
Dave Letterman, Miranda July and Danny McBride have all appeared on Busy Philipps's podcast recently ... THE L WORD'S Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey dropped by Tig Notaro's podcast ... I adored Conan's conversation with Willie Nelson ... I'm eager to hear DEAD AND GONE, the new podcast about missing/murdered Grateful Dead fans ... And Paul F. Tompkins and Janie Haddad Tompkins released a commentary track for INTERVIEW WITH A VAMPIRE via their podcast.
FIVE SONGS!
This week I added five spankin' new tracks to my Spotify playlist of 2020 music froom Gorillaz & St. Vincent, Hot Chip & Jarvis Cocker, Sigur Rós, Ela Minus and Rhye. Enjoy!
FIVE BOOKS!
I just bought this RAYGUN hardcover and Brian de Palma's new crime novel, ARE SNAKES NECESSARY? ... My studio mate Jon Allen self-published a comic he made during the pandemic ... My 8-year-old is obsessed with the SPIRIT ANIMALS series ... And I love Alex Segura's THE BLACK GHOST, which is about a journalist who becomes a vigilante superhero after she loses her job (aka my life story).
FIVE MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS! Â
Adult Swim kicks off a Halloween marathon tonight ... I was moved and inspired by this obituary for Edith O'Hara, a kickass theater owner who died at age 103 ... Cameron Crowe interviewed Joni Mitchell for the Guardian this week (Thanks, Paul) ... UNHHHHH posted a Halloween episode ... And I'm not sure how "Table Full of Stuff" hasn't gone viral yet.
A QUESTION FOR YOU!
Are you dressing up for Halloween this year? Send me a pic of your costume, and I may throw it in next week's newsletter.
Have you read my comic HEARTBREAK SWEATER? It's on Instagram, Patreon and Medium. Thanks to everyone who has said nice things!
Happy Halloween, and don't forget to turn back those clocks on Sunday! Send missives and musings to whitmath@gmail.com. And please eat some candy.
Like disco lemonade,
Marcy J. Playground
"Livin' is hard. It'd be easy to die. I can't do it to myself, 'cause that's against everything I stand for. And all these songs--all that hard work I did--would be just goin' down the drain. So I'm probably gonna live forever, whether I want to or not."
- Billy Joe Shaver (R.I.P.)
Reach out! Find me on Twitter, Instagram and at whitmath@gmail.com.