In reading another substack, I came across an idea of 3 and 3. I’ve done some lists before here, and I enjoy how they make me think about focusing my feelings and ideas into things that actually illuminate a bigger idea about who I am. It feels like the underlying idea behind a lot of writing. To figure out a way that you are being specific about a character in a way that lets more and more people relate to that character. So what is “3 and 3”? It was to pick 3 albums and 3 movies that define you. Or something like that. I wrote down the note about it when I read it, and I’ve lingered over the note. “3 and 3, movies and albums, define?” I know I had a “?” after “define” because it didn’t hit quite right. That felt limiting for some reason in the moment I considered it. And I’m not sure about albums or movies. Again, for my own reasons. Albums as a collection of an artist’s vision seem to evoke the past a little bit. People listen to music differently than they used to. It’s not that artists don’t make albums, it’s just not the default way a lot of us interact with music at this point.
I’ve also scrolled past the online challenges that are along the lines of, “Post your last five songs listened to on your music app.” An instant confessional that reveals who you are to others and requires little thought, only honesty. On Spotify that list would include “Mirada” by Ivan Cornejo, “God’s Own Drunk,” by Jimmy Buffett and “Summer Breeze,” by The Isley Brothers. Not sure that defines me as something, other than someone who has eclectic tastes. And begs the question of why do this, again? Do we need a game or a metric to have a conversation or to engage with one another? Instead of “define,” what if we said “joy.” And instead of album and movie, let’s pick TV Show and Song.
“What’s a TV Show and a Song that is giving you joy right now? That seems fun and worthwhile. And right now doesn’t have to make it all time, or anything so broad in scope. I listened to “God’s Own Drunk,” because I was having a conversation with someone an we were talking about longest songs on records and I kind of remembered that as a long ass song (12 minutes and 39 seconds long). Okay, I’ll go first.
“What We Do In The Shadows,” gives me joy. It looks like a show that was made by people with joy. If you’ve seen it, you know that it takes chances and writes itself into some corners and then has fun trying to get out of those corners. It’s not so much about season ending cliffhangers as it is, “Let’s finish off the season with an event that seems like there’s no way to come back from. And then we can have fun figuring out how to do the episode after that when we start back up.” The show finds a concept or story idea and turns that story idea as many times as they can before it breaks. The episode that starts off as a parody of a home improvement show gets odder and odder and mixes styles and jokes and murder. The episode where an undercover disguise is a toothpick and a really dumb accent, but it works. Just a bunch of inspired joy and chance taking.
“People of the Sun,” by Rage Against the Machine gives me joy. A protest song, sure. Some anger, also hell yeah. But there’s this lyric in the middle, “This is for the People of the Sun/It’s Coming Back Again.” The song is reminding us of the things done by conquerors. To stay vigilant and not be fooled. Keep our wits about us in the maelstrom of modern life. But then it says, “This is for the People of the Sun/It’s Coming Back Around Again.” People of the Sun. The indigenous. The people that belong to the land. This is who the song is for, and a call. It’s coming back. There’s going to be another chance to get it right. Hell yeah. That’s what I want. I think it’s what we all want. Another chance to get it right.
Ask me next week, and maybe I’ll have a different show, and a different song. Spending time considering joy and considering the art that gives it to me helps me as a writer to let things wash over me, not always needing to analyze and break them down into parts. Not to have to figure out how it works. Just let it wash over me and let me feel the joy of it. That’s an important part of being an artist. Feeling the feelings of letting art hit you. Go out and do some of that. Promise it will help.
And speaking of joy, let’s talk about students. I love writing. I love teaching. There are lots of other things I do that I don’t love. I do those other things to set me up to write and to teach. And today was the first day of classes. And I met my students, we talked about ideas, and we talked about assignments and policies and the syllabus and all kinds of things you need to talk about. And then I got to tell them all about how Desi Arnaz invented the way of shooting a comedy with multiple cameras and a live audience so that his genius wife Lucy could have the energy of an audience boost her performance. About how Desi Arnaz invented the idea of a rerun, and the idea of syndicating TV shows. Then we watched a couple of clips of I Love Lucy. And I could see light bulbs going off over their heads as that ancient past rocketed forward into shows they knew that were shot the same way. Big Bang Theory, Friends, Seinfeld and Wizards of Waverly Place. Yeah, some students mentioned that show. I don’t know if they were sucking up to teacher or if they’re the right age to have grown up with that show and love it as much as I loved Taxi and Cheers when I was their age. But from Desi Arnaz we ended up discussing how comedy shows give them joy and comfort and joy. Yeah, I said joy twice. Why? I like it.
Now before we all rush off to the rest of our Friday (if you read these on the day they come out) and think, “Wow, that guy is too full of it. No way he can be like that all the time.” Let me close with a big giant ball of trouble that I see on the horizon.
It’s about AI.
There’s this new tool that is on everyone’s mind. I only want to speak about as an artist. The fuel of that tool is in gathering up a lot of art and work of other artists and using vast amounts of that to create off of that. So we worry about how that works? Does it make me replaceable? If not now, soon? And alongside that worry is this one.
Getting Lost. Struggling to figure out a chapter or a scene, and in that struggle, walking away to go hike, or eat some pie. Those aren’t the only things you can do when you’re stuck. But they are the best two. That’s science. Letting your mind wander for a bit, and letting a solution to your problem occur to you later on is what could happen. Or writing a whole script where the only two things you love are these two side characters in the middle twenty pages. Use AI to fix it? Or maybe in that struggle, you realize what you have is the beginnings of a much better script about these two side characters as main characters? Don’t forget to get lost. And be okay being lost. Good things happen while being lost. It’s how I found the best newsstand of all time in Evanston, and the best sandwich in NYC (The Number one on a roll at Lenny’s deli, RIP). In fact, there’s a whole song about it, “Let’s Get Lost,” by Chet Baker. Maybe that will be the song that gives me joy next week.
A number of you email me directly or message me about how you are enjoying these. Go ahead and comment here on the post about it, if you don’t mind. I know other people would love to continue the conversation in the comments. What are the song and TV show that is giving you joy this week? Tell one person about this substack if you like it, word of mouth is a great way to grow things. The next part here is for subscribers only, and if you want to read on, go ahead and hit that button.
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