8 things I'm into right now

Columbo, Mean Girls, The Cleaners from Venus & more

Oh, hi — may I make you a tasty mocktail to match your eyelids? While you wait, please tell me about your favorite M*A*S*H character. No one ever picks poor Frank Burns.

Here’s a list of things on my mind, aside from the sexy snowfall outside and this large button-down shirt a dry cleaner sold to me for $5 (hope it’s not yours):

1. Columbo: Prescription Murder — Last night the kid and I watched the very first Columbo from 1968, which you can see via Peacock or Amazon Freevee if, like me, you believe Peter Falk will cure your winter blues. One of the stars, Katherine Justice, also starred in a wild-looking movie called The Stepmother in ‘72, which tells “the shocking story of a woman without shame!”

   In related news, trench coats are on sale at J. Crew.

2. Mean Girls — I usually steer clear of musicals and grapefruit, but the update of Tina Fey’s sleepover staple is a good time. Before the movie, my theater showed a trailer for Heathers, which of course made me wonder how you could update that for today’s audiences … and then I remembered that someone did do that, but it came and went and there’s a long Wiki entry if you want to understand why.

3. Also A Poet — Ada Calhoun’s memoir of her relationship with her father, the late art critic Peter Schjeldahl, and their love of poet Frank O’Hara is sad and sweet and beautifully told. I listened to the audiobook, which Calhoun narrates; it includes audio of her father and several interviewees (and even audio of herself as a child).

   Here’s a comic I drew about it:

4. The Cleaners From Venus — I fell for this band via Spotify and need to grab more music and merch over at Bandcamp. Led by Martin Newell, the songs are decades ahead of their time. (The one below was released in ‘81.) Newell’s Instagram notes that “He’s never sold out. No one’s ever asked him to.”

5. Old corporate/industrial films — Last weekend my friend Marlene took me to a screening at MoMA of vintage educational, advertising and industrial movies preserved by film archivist Rick Prelinger. Prelinger introduced and gave context to the shorts; my favorite might be Once Upon A Honeymoon, which is essentially an elaborate advertisement for colorful telephones:

6. K18 Leave-In Molecular Repair Hair Mask — Long story short, recently I experienced a hair emergency that resulted in many tears and conditioning treatments. This little bottle wasn’t cheap, but it’s not like I’m spending my money on jewels or leather skirts or anything.

   

7. Fellow Travelers — Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey shine in this Showtime romantic thriller about two gay men in politics who fall in love during McCarthyism. I’m only on the fourth episode, so don’t spoil. (Also, now I completely understand the cultlike enthusiasm for Bomer. Ohhh, my.)

8. Talking to people — The other night I got on the 1 train and some tourists asked if I lived in New York. When I asked where they were visiting from, they said Murfreesboro, Tennessee — the town where I lived for several years. What are the chances?! Most people (myself included) look at their damn phones all the damn time. But in most cases, human voices feel way better than podcasts or Instagram or whatever it is. And sometimes the person you meet also happens to dig the same barbecue joint that you do.

Gotta go, it’s time for my calisthenics. Also … HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM!

love to you and your commemorative plates,
radar o’reilly

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Aforementioned $5 shirt.