Extending a mitten

Also: Send Qs for our current book club author

Happy Friday and sending love to all of you who live/have loved ones in the Los Angeles area. Here’s a guide to many places where you can donate to support those affected, including the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and GoFundMe’s Wildfire Relief Fund.

my orange morning

r.e.m. book club: got a question for the author?

It’s not too late to join me in reading THE NAME OF THIS BAND IS R.E.M., which we’ll be discussing via Zoom on Jan. 26. Please RSVP to the Zoom if you wanna participate.

Also, next week I’ll be speaking with author Peter Ames Carlin. If YOU have a question you’d like me to ask him, please stick it in the comments or email it to me (whitmath@gmail.com) by Jan. 14 at 6 p.m. ET. Thanks, and stay tuned!

chest face

Congrats to my creative co-conspirator Dean Haspiel on his new comic, CHEST FACE. Dean is currently mailing hundreds of these books to his Kickstarter supporters, and he’s also selling it via Venmo (@Dean-Haspiel) and PayPal (dean.haspiel@verizon.net) for $20. If you grab a copy, look for my face in a crowd scene. (And yes, this really is a story about a guy who has his face on his chest. When he’s not dodging bad guys, he works as a … standup comedian.)

bob, babygirl

I watched tons of new-ish movies over the break and loved them all, particularly A Complete Unknown, which I saw completely alone, because many of my friends are snobs who think you can’t possibly make a good Bob Dylan movie. Well, ol’ Timmy Chalamet pulls it off, and it makes me wanna rewatch the all-time-great doc Dont Look Back (now streaming on Max and Criterion) and Scorsese’s Rolling Thunder Revue (Netflix). Dylan’s 1978 film Renaldo & Clara, which blends live footage and semi-scripted scenes, is over at the Internet Archive. This scene with Bob ‘n’ Joan has been making the rounds on social media lately, your heart’ll thump at the end:

I also loved seeing Babygirl with a sold-out audience that appeared to be 92% perimenopausal women. (The second-best film of the season is a pastiche of conversations overheard in the women’s bathroom after a Babygirl screening.) For semi-related flavor, read Mary Gaitskill’s “Secretary” (a Google will lead you to it, or just buy the book Bad Behavior). In 2023 Gaitskill continued the story with another piece called “Minority Report.”

Another highlight of Babygirl is Esther Rose McGregor, who plays the teenage daughter of Nicole Kidman’s character. In real life, Esther is the daughter of Ewan McGregor.

links, etc.

• “We don’t always have to fade away”: You gotta love the roadies ages 70+ who are still rockin’ coast to coast. (New York Times)

• Speaking of not fading away, congrats to Ilise Harris for making her first film at age 66. (Oldster)

• This year I’m trying to cut waaaaayyy back on my phone usage. In a long podcast interview, writer Jia Tolentino discusses phone addiction, privacy and surveillance. (Talk Easy)

• Kim Gordon talks to Kim Deal. A collision of cool Kims! (Interview)

• Read an excerpt from Naomi Watts’ new memoir about menopause. (The Times)

• The Criterion Channel has a good interview with Ethan Hawke for its new series, The Craft of Acting. (Criterion)

Thanks for reading/subscribing, and try to stay sane and inspired this weekend.

with icy earlobes,
whit
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