Things To Rewatch When You're Too Tired To Think
Or: phoning it in
We did it! We survived January! *Insert Kimmy Schmidt ‘it’s a miracle’ gif here*
I pride myself on my general lack of being busy because when you’re busy you don’t have time for TV or vacations. This month, however, was not my month. Spread The Vote + Project ID launched in Los Angeles and we were immediately swamped with the overwhelming ID need across the county. Every organization in town from local community groups to government agencies have been chasing us down to partner. And by “we” and “us” I mean me and my mom because we didn’t have any staff or volunteers when we started. Joke’s on us!
Luckily, after a month of total madness we now have three LA field staff and hopefully soon I can have my life back. And by “life” I mean couch time. I am way behind on my movie list and content keeps coming out whether I can keep up or not. But when I’m in a really busy period when I am so exhausted at the end of the day that just picking up sushi is an unbearable but necessary burden, I can’t be bothered with thinking. So I’ve been rewatching some of my old favorite shows, which, now that I think about it, are mostly travel and adventure shows because that’s what I would rather be doing.
I have been obsessed with travel shows forever. I have seen the world with Michael Palin, Jeremy Clarkson and the guys, Dhani as he tackled the globe (a show that deserved way more than two seasons), Ewan and Charlie and Claudio and the bikes, Richard Ayoade- possibly the most adorable travel host of all time, certainly the most quirky- and even these guys who followed Marco Polo’s journey in the 80s. I live for every new show about hyper local sports around the world, rough places to ride motorcycles, and food shows but only when I’m not hungry so that’s not often.
When I’m overworked and haven’t fit in a run, much less an adventure, I love watching my old favs explore the world and fantasize about when I’m finally able to get back out there. So this year so far has been an adventure on the couch, but also a real adventure in the streets of LA. After five years of building a nonprofit that has helped almost 8,000 people get IDs, I am finally able to be on the ground getting IDs myself! I’m really bad at it. No joke, I am constantly asking my staff what to do. They’re the biggest ID experts in the country but I just know how to raise the money.
This month has been a huge learning curve not just about getting IDs and documents but also about how the Homeless Industrial Complex works in Los Angeles and meeting a lot of the incredible people doing their best in an impossible situation, hearing the stories of dozens of the people living in the tents I drive past every day, and really seeing how much more amazing my staff is than I realized. And crashing at night in front of a travel show.
I’m glad that things will slow down this month and maybe I’ll find time for a micro adventure of my own, but if I don’t, at least my travel shows will always be there.
Watch:
The Biggest Little Farm (Hulu)- This is a really great documentary about an LA couple who started a farm and you guys I just really want a farm but without the bugs and hard work.
Flee (Movie)- I saw this beautiful film at Sundance last year and now it’s finally out and everyone should watch it.
Raised By Wolves (HBOMax)- Season 2 is about to start and if you enjoy kind of weird, dark scifi, you’ll enjoy RBW. I didn’t know what to expect and I really got into it but it’s definitely a show for people who have seen Westworld multiple times and then bought the DVD of the Michael Crichton movie and then downloaded the soundtrack. I don’t know anyone like that.
Listen:
I’m not the only person who regularly listens to JFK’s moon speech, right? I thought not. In case you’re one of those oddities who doesn’t, here’s a short cut of my very favorite speech of all time. We choose to go to the moon, not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Sigh. Remember when we did awesome stuff like pay Kubrick to pretend we went to the moon?
Paint The Roses: Larkin Poe Live in Concert- Who doesn’t love a live album by a great folk rock band?
Wild Things (podcast)- Ok clearly I have not been listening to a lot of podcasts lately. I subscribed to this Siegfried & Roy podcast ages ago and haven’t had a chance to tune in yet but, I mean, come on. It has to be great, right?
Read:
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride- I’m currently reading this with one of my book clubs and it’s great. I can’t recommend the book I’m reading with my other book club because I haven’t started it yet.
All of the Moonfall reviews. Seriously, just google it.