Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
What an odd year for consumption of media. Hardly any theatre-going, disruptions and/or breaks in normal commuting routines, general, suffocating anxiety: all made for an outlier of a year. For me, that meant not as much podcast listening (it’s funny how certain content types become entrenched with certain activities, like a morning journey to the office), and more… livestreams? Sure, why not, I’m home anyway. What follows is a memory book of a collection for a curious year.
Jam Band Quarantine Streams
By April we were hunkered down, starved not for content itself, perhaps, but rather for shared communal experience. Musicians were the first to wade into the livestream waters, from unannounced Instagram live sets to scheduled-in-advance, fairly high production value affairs like the Grateful Dead’s Shakedown Stream. The series, which ran through the spring and summer, featured a different long form video from the band’s extensive archive—some previously unreleased—as well as live pre-show with Dead experts and luminaries as official archivist David Lemieux, Sirius XM host Gary Lambert, and even Bob Weir himself. For many deadheads, these Friday night get-togethers were lifelines to normalcy, if not transcendence. (See also: Phish’s wondrous Dinner and a Movie series).
'The Speed Cubers'
A number of short films moved me rather deeply this year, none more than The Speed Cubers, a 40 minute documentary that follows Australian Feliks Zemdegs and American teen Max Park as they compete at the highest levels of global Rubik’s cube solving. Thoroughly heartwarming, with zero negativity, this was the feel good doc of the year.
'Ted Lasso'
Speaking of zero negativity, what more can I add to the discourse surrounding this endlessly smile-provoking fish-out-of-water series besides a special shout out to Brett Goldstein, perfect as the surly and aging midfielder Roy Kent.
'Dave Chappelle: 8:46'
Recorded less than a fortnight after the murder of George Floyd, and released on Netflix’s YouTube channel a week later, 8:46 finds Dave Chappelle at his socially aware and succinct (27 minute runtime) best.
'John Was Trying To Contact Aliens'
Ostensibly the story of a Michigan man’s decades long quest to make contact with extra terrestrials, John Was Trying To Contact Aliens is more meditation than documentary, weaving a heartwarming path to a wondrous and warm conclusion. And fantastic music, too.
Folklore - The Long Pond Sessions
If Taylor Swift’s surprise album release was one of the major musical events of the summer, then this visual companion, a live performance of the album by Swift and her co-conspirators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff, is a more casual and fire-warmed cup of inspiration.
David Byrne's American Utopia
Perhaps the most unique concert experience in years, David Byrne’s American Utopia was first a national tour before settling into a Broadway run. Directed by Spike Lee, the film captures the joyous spirit of the shows, resulting in a document that rivals the Jonathan Demme-directed Stop Making Sense by his former band Talking Heads.
(And while we’re on the subject of music, these albums were some of my favorites of the year: Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple, RTJ4 by Run the Jewels, Rough and Rowdy Ways by Bob Dylan, Royal Green by Royal Green, and Bonny Light Horseman by Bonny Light Horseman.)
Dune (The Novel)
In preparation for the forthcoming Timothee Chalamet-starring film, I decided to re-read Frank Herbert’s classic original Dune, which I hadn’t picked up since I was a teen. The dreamlike genius of the prose only improves with age, and acts as a perfect appetizer for next year’s release. (I also finally watched David Lynch’s 1984 Dune. It’s excellent.)
Hannah Gadsby: Douglas
How does one follow the genre-busting Nanette? With an equally unique and brilliant piece that again stretches the confines of a stand-up special. Truly stunning.
We Are The Champions
A kind of Wide World of Weird Sports, Netflix’s We Are The Champions spotlights little known competitions (a steep downhill footrace in England; a chili pepper eating competition in South Carolina), treating them with the respect and skill reserved for a Game 7 or a Sunday at Augusta.
HONORABLE MENTIONS OF THE YEAR: My Octopus Teacher, An American Pickle, The Crown (of course), The Mandalorian (of course), Knives Out (didn’t see it until this year), Captain Underpants on Netflix, Song Exploder‘s “Losing My Religion” episode, D’Amico Coffee in Brooklyn, NY, buying newly released cassettes, some great podcasts: The Webb Chatham Report, Good Ol’ Grateful Deadcast, 36 From The Vault, Before The Stream, A Sip Of Positivitea, The Daily, Nice White Parents, The Trap Set, the FlightRadar24 app, the PacMan 256 app.
Finally, as Harry Morgan’s Col. Potter says in the classic Season 9 Episode 6 M*A*S*H episode “A War For All Seasons”: ‘Here’s to the new year – may she be a damn sight better than the old one.’
Hear, hear.
