I barely know who I am right now because last night I attended a 10 p.m. screening of Mission: Impossible, so I didn’t get home until a tragic hour. On the plus side, I believe the only good times to go to movie theaters are early morning and super-late; otherwise, the riff-raff kills the pleasure.
On my mind:
** Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning (Part One) **
I mean, if you’re looking for 3,000 words on Tom Cruise’s ability to clutch precarious objects, this isn’t the place, but I will say I enjoyed this Movie with a capital “M” and gasped with high frequency.
A few things that ran through my head while watching:
I remember when Esai Morales was in Teen Beat all the time, and in fact this is the very poster that made my preteen friends and I laugh hysterically. What a pose! Today I would welcome a gray-haired Esai centerfold.
Isn’t it weird how in a lot of action/thriller franchises women tend to die when they reach a certain age and are then replaced in the sequel with a younger, fresher version?
Simon Pegg is wonderful and maybe I’ll rewatch Spaced; here’s the pilot.
** Directions to Myself by Heidi Julavits **
I treasured Heidi’s diary/memoir The Folded Clock, and her new one bubbles with more midlife navigations and maternal ruminations. What a joy to bob along in her orbit for 300 pages, I wish I’d read at a slower pace but couldn’t help myself.
** Apology (podcast) **
Hosted by Jesse Pearson, this literary podcast has been volcanic lately with guests including Richard Hell, Eileen Myles and André Gregory. Jesse asks great questions and — this is big — he really listens to what guests have to say. The other night I was listening to his chat with Gregory (writer and title subject of My Dinner with Andre), and Jesse asked the 89-year-old if he read poetry. “I haven’t read much poetry, and I haven’t been to China,” Gregory told him. “You can only do so much in a life.”
** Process: The Writing Lives of Great Authors by Sarah Stodola **
Each morning I read a chapter from this book about the routines of famous writers, hoping it’ll ignite inspired productivity. It’s well-researched and full of sharable crumbs, like the fact that Hemingway said he always awoke at sunrise because he had unusually thin eyelids.
** Sharon Olds interviewed in The Paris Review **
Allow me to be Duchess Obvious by saying that those writers at The Paris Review don’t mess around! The current issue has a mighty fine interview with Sharon Olds, a poet I’ve loved since my 20s and who always seems 45 in my mind, but in reality she’s 80 and has lived a thousand lives. Her latest book, Balladz, sits atop my toilet, and there is no higher compliment.
** Joking Hazard **
I fear this email is getting too hoity-toity, so let’s come down with this super-fun, super-offensive party game that my friend Natasha brought over one night. It’s sort of like Cards Against Humanity if the object were to make a funny, dirty comic strip. And yes, the first time we played, I WON, because I’m secretly the most competitive person in the room.
** Jill Sobule **
I adore Jill, especially for playing an all-ages venue so I could bring my 10-year-old. Her autobiographical musical, F*ck 7th Grade, returns to NYC in November. See it!
** Mean Girls **
The other night my kid and I watched Mean Girls together, because it’s on Netflix and apparently every middle schooler is talking about it. Afterward, I pointed out that the girl who plays Regina George (Rachel McAdams) is the same person who plays the mom in Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and it BLEW HER MIND. Aging is wild.
** R.I.P., Sinead O’Connor **
Outspoken women generally aren’t allowed to be famous for too long, especially if they make popular music. Sinead probably knew her career would take a hit if she spoke her mind, and she did it anyway, over and over. Lace up your Docs, dance to “Mandinka” and toast the outlaw with a voice out of time.
I was on a podcast: I talk about Portishead on Songs My Ex Ruined! (And I didn’t throw anybody under the bus — my exes are pretty good people.) Thanks to Melissa and Courtney for having me, it was a blast.
I draw diary comics: Read them on Patreon for a couple bucks a month.
Support Dean’s Kickstarter: My friend Dean Haspiel is trying to get to 10K for his new Billy Dogma comic. I’ve been watching him draw it from across the room, and it’s so steamy I can barely see what I’m typing right now.
Thank you, Nick S.: Much appreciation to Nick for being the first subscriber to this Substack! Nick was a longtime Pop Candy reader and brightened my day with a kind email.
OK, let’s park this van already. Thanks for reading. Holler at whitmath@gmail.com.
too young to be a Golden Girl &
too old to be in a Mission: Impossible movie,
whit