This Has Been A Long Month
Reading and writing updates, election anxiety, and a no-brainer presidential endorsement this month.
The Jewish holidays during the past month were extremely productive for reading—not so much the case for writing. It certainly wasn’t helped by the fact that I found out just before Yom Kippur that I would be on a very short trip to Los Angeles during Chol Homoed Sukkot. Between press screenings and junket interviews coming out of the chagim, I’ve not found time to write book reviews of the four books I have finished reading, dating back to late September.
Shabbos aside, baseball is taking up my evenings through the end of the World Series. I’ve gotten some work done during Game 5, mostly because of interviews and press conferences already transcribed and such. Those pieces should be running on Awards Focus soon. I expect to have more interviews running there throughout this awards season.
Much like four years ago, I do have election anxiety and I think that’s definitely a factor in not getting as much writing done on the newsletter front. If I didn’t have a press screening on Monday night, I’d probably watch Airplane or a Mel Brooks movie that night. I still might watch one on Tuesday. Some pieces that could have been a newsletter ended up being a piece on SATM because of the larger reach through being featured on Google News. I responded to Trump’s MSG rally by watching a reviewing Nazi Town, USA.
I wrote about my visit to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures on Monday, mainly about the Hollywoodland: Jewish Founders and the Making of a Movie Capital permanent exhibit. It was my first time back since the Glass Onion LA premiere in November 2022. Much of the museum has changed with several new exhibits now open. I also won a new Oscar at the Oscars Experience, this time without a mask.
Having saved a few film reviews for later in the week (including Juror #2) and writing during the World Series, I decided to write my presidential endorsement of Harris-Walz for Tuesday morning. One can look at it as my response to several major newspapers opting not to endorse a presidential candidate. I’m sorry but when it comes to choosing between democracy and fascism, we cannot stay silent. The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and Gannett are all sitting this one out. Are they really that threatened by Trump?!?
Tuesday evening was really productive. I drafted a review during the World Series. Afterwards, I took Jon Stewart to task for defending a racist bigot. He’s very consistent on that front—defending transphobic and antisemitic comedians or giving them a free pass. I’m sorry but hate has no home in comedy. Furthermore, I really let it rip after seeing three transphobic ads being shown during Tuesday night’s coverage of the World Series. Unfortunately, they’ve been shown during every night of the Fall Classic. I hope the Los Angeles Dodgers win tonight so I don’t have to see those ads again.
On the music front, Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band is streaming on Hulu. Music by John Williams launches this Friday on Disney+. My interview with filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau will run shortly on Awards Focus. We spoke for about 15 minutes but could have easily spoken for more than an hour.