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molly, who doubles as a book critic for the nyt, writes in a tone that is funny, sharp, and buoyant. i always learn from her newsletters (which she refuses to send out), and i always laugh. i'm grateful that she types.
Jan 23, 2024
Related Recs
meaghan garvey is our decade’s hunter s. thompson. with origins / a focus in music journalism, she seems to just float through chaos and writes really well about it.
she inspires me to talk to strangers and get into a little trouble every now and then
Mar 12, 2024
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I don’t personally know Alissa Bennett, but I think she is a brilliant and funny person who has clearly lived a vibrant life. A friend of mine once said about himself, “I’m not a journalist; I just live this shit.” I think this mantra (with the tweak, “I’m just really interested in this shit”) applies to Bennett’s writing and various projects — from her burner IG @regret_counter and podcast, to the next-level zines she publishes. Those zines though, wow! The writing is so intimate, confident, and, well, perfectly imperfect (sorry, sorry…).I like that every other paragraph has a typo, that she will frequently and flagrantly use cap-locks, and that she essentially unpacks the indiscretions of fringe tabloid figures in order to exhume her own demons and make sense of her past and present. It’s got a very “warts and all” vibe, and I respect that she’s willing to air her own dirty laundry in service of establishing a spiritual connection to the subjects of her texts. That’s not to say she goes easy on them, but it all feels empathetic instead of exploitative or solipsistic. Rarely do I audibly laugh while reading, but Bennett’s work consistently makes me LOL. Generally, I prefer when people write the way they talk. Her essays feel like the coolest girl at the bar is whispering (and occasionally shouting) a very good story directly in your ear, but she also doesn’t really care whether you like the story or not. She already knows it’s good.Start with “Bad Behavior,” which is a series of essays/love letters to various semi-public figures who engaged in specific, scandalous acts. Then hit “Pretend You’re Actually Alive.” Most of the zines are sold out, but I’m sure she’d send you a PDF if you ask nicely. There’s also a new one on the way.
Sep 8, 2022
Top Recs from @onemikey
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Not the only one to rec this (obviously if you’re scrolling), but it’s one I’ve looked to a lot while working on some heist movie scripts. I think it’s perfectly structured, and I have a whole email in my archives where I break down exactly how it operates for reference. I even own a DVD
Mar 4, 2024
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The great filmmaker/critic/historian Peter Bogdanovich worked on this podcast. On it, he talks to contemporary filmmakers about dead filmmakers he interviewed when he was much younger. You get to hear clips from the old interviews interspersed with the new interviews as people like Guillermo Del Toro and Tarantino and Greta Gerwig discuss Hitchcock and Don Siegel and Howard Hawks. Sadly there are a couple episodes without Peter as he died before he was able to finish -- his ex-wife and Guillermo and Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach carried on the mission though. I knew Peter a minuscule amount when I was a kid working on an updated version of his documentary Directed By John Ford, and he was always so kind, remembered my name etc. (not a given). He had a tumultuous life and career but left an indelible mark on film history. Listen to this and watch Last Picture Show, Paper Moon, you can't go wrong.
Apr 1, 2024
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this is an almost 900-page book that i was in awe of, a kaleidoscopic view of the climate crisis, set in the near-future. stephen obviously researched and made his best projections about what is coming, and it is fascinating and catastrophic and cinematic. there's a sequence where la is on fire i will never forget; there's a couple of those sequences really. he doesn't engage with whether or not a super ai will save us or destroy us, but i can forgive him. this is a great book.
Jan 23, 2024