I’ve been dreaming
in browns and dark blues;
as streaks of light emanate from the windows,
and sound busts out of the television.
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I caught up on last night’s Saturday Night Live this morning; an “At Home” edition. Or Saturday Night Live At Home, if you want the full title.
It was good to see those familiar faces again. Kyle Mooney, Beck Bennet, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, and my new love Chloe Fineman (it only grows).
Lame enough, faces that have (and are fresh to) help me through some tough times in the past few years.
Now, it’s no Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, Jason Sedakis, etc etc. The 2007 cast, essentially. But it does it well enough for me.
Especially with how they came around to try something new with this episode.
I’m reading how a lot of folks didn’t care for their attempt.
Those people obviously don’t care for….having a good time? I don’t know. I had a good time watching it, and I think that’s what matters.
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Now! I wanted to share some other things that made me happy this past week.
Just some stuff that’ll help the time pass, maybe.
First, let’s talk television; outside of SNL, that is. Kristen and I are currently watching the first episode of Plot Against America, on HBO. It’s a dramatic-miniseries about an alternative American history, where we follow a New Jersey Jewish family in a world where Charles Lindberg, a xenophobic populist, and his rise in political fame who becomes president and turns the nation toward fascism.
On top of that show, I’m also managing to catch up on that first season of HBO’s Watchmen. And good god, does that first episode do a good job of dragging you into it right off the bat. Do yourself a favor. Check it out.
For movies, I finally got around to seeing JoJo Rabbit; Taika Waititi’s 2019 film. You might know him for directing Thor: Ragnorok. I first came around to him in 2016 for Hunt For The Wilderpeople, which I also highly suggest. In Rabbit, we follow a young boy during World War 2, as he trains to be a soldier in Hitler’s army while his mother is hiding a girl in their attic.
Waititi plays an over-the-top imaginary Hitler in the boy’s imagination and writes a brilliant script. It’s not for everyone, but the satire and comedy that the script brings to the screen is exactly what I needed during this whole thing.
As for music, we’ve got a few things to digest. Donald Glover released a new album, under his alias “Childish Gambino,” titled 3.15.20. It’s very Glover, and very good. I think my favorite track has got to be 35.31 (the majority of them are titled after when they fall in the album, as it’s best to listen to it all the way through).
Matt Berninger released a playlist that he’s been working on, too, called Social Distancing Distortion. Currently, it is about six and a half hours in length, with names like Willie Nelson, George Harrison, and Bob Dylan, among Earl Sweatshirt, Sufjan Stevens, Deerhunter and Built To Spill. If you need some stuff to just downright vibe out too, go for this playlist. Or the album You can’t go wrong.
So. There’s all that.
I hope it helps.
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Micah Mabey
