what's good : starting the holiday season
Including my new Friday Thing, which will eventually be on Fridays. Probably.
It’s November and that means the winter holiday season is upon us regardless of our feelings about it. For me, it means Christmas music 24/7 until the end of January, though I keep it to my personal spaces during not-December because I’m not a complete monster. Everyone else can do what they like but I’m going to summon snowy mornings and cozy roaring fires and hot cocoa with marshmallows and smooth-haired crooners snappy their jazzy fingers to lyrics like “I've bought some corn for popping.” That is, when they’re not ending with suddenly morose lines like “I'll be home for Christmas/If only in my dreams.” Oof.
Still, I love all of them. Except Christmas Shoes, unless “performed” by Patton Oswalt. (CW: QUITE NAUGHTY language + imagery)
In books (+ my brain): Inspired by my vast collection of stuff and a book I found when I worked at Barnes & Noble called Taking Things Seriously, I’m going to start writing weekly about a different object in my home. The book is a collection of mini-essays + photos by regular people discussing the significance of their treasured things: a TV-shaped pencil sharpener, a tiny pinecone, a box of fingernail clippings (I suspect this person might also write morbid song lyrics).
This week in the belated Friday Thing is my 2007 Italy wall calendar (shown above). I found it hastily tossed on a shelf at Goodwill a few years ago (well after 2007) and immediately needed it in my life. I’ve never been particularly attracted to Italy - it looks nice enough, and I do love pasta & cheese, but for whatever reason it hadn’t really intrigued me much. But these spare jewel-toned block-like paintings - each month a different area of the country - and the lush, thick paper seduced me. The Marcello Mastroianni of calendars, if you will. It took me a few months to remember not to believe the dates and just enjoy the art but now I look forward to seeing it every morning (it hangs in my bathroom). And, I’ve added Rome to my Life List.
In movies: This week I got free passes to see a screening of “The Holdovers,” the newest film by Alexander Payne starring Paul Giamatti and 1970s questionable fashion choices. I think it might have been shot with the old Nashville Instagram filter - slightly blurry, muted colors - but without the date-stamped faded white margin. I loved it. (That filter, and this movie). The trailer makes it seem much more whimsical that it really was, though there are a number of funny parts. But ‘funny’ isn’t the right word. Like a lot of Payne’s work, the comedy is wry; there is something painful hanging just under every joke or jab. Sometimes stinging, sometimes caustic, always aching. Everyone is struggling, and not just because it was the 70s in America. The story shows how these people can actually begin to see each other and offer support, if not love.
Every actor is perfectly cast to bring the right balance of humor + gravity, but Da’Vine Joy Randolph delivers stunning depth & beauty to every moment; we need the pieces of her story to become a full-length feature next.
Go see when you’re ready to examine all the heavy elements of life: class conflict & elitism, grief and general family sorrow, insecurity, mental illness, longing, loss of identity, fear of the future… But, in a fun way!
In music: In case you missed it, Billy Idol has a Christmas album and you need it in your life. There can be no joy in your holiday season without hearing this man sing “Ohhhh, Frosty” unironically.
In case it isn’t clear, I am 100% serious about this. It is glorious and necessary.
Now go get yourself a comfy sweater & some hot cocoa and have a holly jolly time. Whatever that means…
I love your Friday thing thing. I wrote a post once that imagined how a museum curator would tell our story (my son’s story in particular) through objects - so many pieces in our hoard have things to say about us! Thanks for your book and music recs too!