What I had fun with this week

The cast of Psych in a matte green interrogation room for a promo image.
I long for those halcyon days when promos were shot like this.

One thing I would recommend about a daily blog: you get a much better sense of your creative life. I’ve sort of been running myself ragged these last couple of weeks, which I noticed because I haven’t added to my collection since the February 24. That means I’ve still been producing writing, but haven’t fed myself in any meaningful way, or doing the kinds of things that keep me grounded in reality. Which usually happens when I write for the future rather than for me right now.

Anyway, I’ve still found plenty of time for fun. Here’s what I’ve enjoyed this week:

  1. There Will Be Blood. Chronologically I think it’s the first thing I watched this week, and I’ve been meaning to for a while. As for how much I enjoyed it… well I certainly respect and appreciate the movie a lot, but I found it extremely boring. Very high highs (“I drink your milkshake” and “I’m going to cut your throat”), but surprisingly little writing. I almost bailed waiting for the first line of dialogue. Stuck with it, enjoyed it, enjoy that it’s very much a slow descent. Were I a film scholar rather than primarily a writer, I think I’d be smitten. Daniel Day-Lewis was great, of course. Don’t think I’ll write more about it, though, which is why I’m writing about it here. (Oh, only one more thought — it’s a great story about gender!)
  2. Psycho, in preparation for my upcoming Supernormal post. Found it a really interesting watch, and so I expect I’ll definitely write more soon.
  3. Psych (no relation). Emma started watching it appropos of nothing, which tickled me to no end, because I used to watch ever episode of Psych many, many times over. Still holds up. Love a good detective thing.
  4. Poker Face. Speaking of good detective things, we watched the first two episodes and I’m loving it so far! I went in expecting it to be nothing like Knives Out, which was the correct expectation. What struck me most so far is how it reflects waned attitudes towards the police, whereas most whodunnits are very cozy with police.
  5. Geek Out, a very lightweight dorky trivia game. My favorite kind of party game is just good conversation. I also love watching people be good at things. Geek Out is fun because it switches between “who can name the most x” and “how many x can this one person name.”
  6. Idk if it’s kitschy to mention my own stuff, but I had a lot of fun writing my blog post on whether movies will become games.
  7. Learned my favorite coffee shop has decaf espresso, so I’ve enjoyed plenty of long(ish) walks with mochas.
  8. Cooking: lemon chicken orzo, crab fried rice, and I messed around with North African flavor profiles for the first time to great effect.