#128 Lightning in a bottle
Superpowers. Curry. The Obamas.
Issue #128 Lightning in a bottle
21st August 2024
Hello.
And how is the summer treating you?
I’m back from Bristol now. It was an amazing week of working intensively with an exceptional group of improvisers.
There’s something really special about an intensive. It was 30 hours of teaching - so almost the equivalent of two 8-week courses back-to-back - and yet there’s an alchemy to the intensive format that puts it on another level. Perhaps it’s because there isn’t a week of real life in between each class? Or just the trust and group cohesion that comes with spending so much time together?
Either way, it felt like catching lightning in a bottle.
Which is an apt metaphor for improv in general.
Rule of three
[Comics] The Power Fantasy
Here’s the pitch - in the world of The Power Fantasy there are six people with the destructive capabilities of a nuclear arsenal. They all know each other. If two of them ever fought, that would be the end of the Earth. So this is a comic book about super-powered beings desperately trying not to fight. We’re only one issue in at the moment, so this is the perfect time to jump on board a future phenomenon.
[Restaurant] Dishoom
There are a lot of places to eat in London. That’s the kind of hard hitting truth you get from this newsletter. But if you want to treat yourself, Dishoom offers Bombay-inspired comfort food and it is out of this world. My recommendations would be the Murgh Malai and the House Black Daal but everything is good.
For context, I am going to Dishoom today and I am excited.
[Podcast] Pod Save America
For the first time in forever, I’m able to follow US politics and not feel a deep-rooted sense of existential dread. My favourite way to glory in this newfound wave of hope is to listen to Pod Save America, where a gang of Obama-era aides and script doctors discuss the week’s political news in an engaging and intelligent fashion.
Now … please don’t let this recommendation age badly.
Radio contact
Radio likes to help me fold clothes.
I happen to know someone else with a forearm tattoo of lightning in a bottle! It was designed by the inimitable Craig Kotfas to represent improv at the Out of Bounds Festival, and now I've got it immortalised.