Hello friend(s) - I cannot believe it's been over a year since we last corresponded. Nothing much going on other than our country's quick and certain descent into hell in a handbasket. (By the way, I have no idea what that phrase means - I mean, why a handbasket?) Somebody should tell N. Korea to not waste their time and money on long ranch missiles, cuz we can destroy ourselves on our own fine, thank you. I really just want to crawl into a hole most of the times to escape all the noise and tweets and Russian drama. But maybe we deserve the leader we got, because our culture is so vapid and devoid of anything resembling real humanity. Sure, there are exceptions - Jimmy Carter has cancer and is in his nineties, and last year was hospitalized from dehydration while working on a Habitat for Humanity worksite and went right back to it the very next day. But folk heroes are not what we as a nation value anymore. All we care about is our superficial, curated, hashtagged lives on Instagram. We are obsessed with ourselves. Everything we do is driven by our ego. And ego is what will drive us straight to that aforementioned hell...So with that out of the way, let me get back to what has been occupying me in the last year:
- Master Of None - Two seasons of pure art. Initially I was just happy to see intelligent and funny Asian representation on tv. But then as the series progressed, I realized I was in the hands of two masterful artists - Aziz Ansari and Alan Young. What I had thought was just a smarty-pants, hipster comedy turned into one of the best surprises of recent memory. It had shades of the Before trilogy, and that Thanksgiving episode is amongst the best episode of television I have ever watched.
- The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - The third coming of Gilmore Girls (the second being Bunheads) is set in the 1950's and stars the truly marvelous Rachel Brosnahan as a housewife whose huband leaves her. Her life falls into disarray and she ends up pursuing a career of stand-up comedy. The setting, the costumes, the supporting cast, the dialogue are all dreamy perfection. Not sure when I will get to revisit the Gilmores and Stars Hollow again, but for now, Midge Maisel in 1958 New York is a more than satisfying substitute.
- Spider-Man Homecoming, Black Panther, and Infinity War - Homecoming was the most enjoyable superhero movie I had watched in a long, long time, probably because it's the most grounded and it's just about a teenage boy trying to find his place rather than about some mystical super-villain trying to destroy the entire universe. Tom Holland is joyous perfection. And Marisa Tomei is way under-used. But then Black Panther came along and blew the world up with its cultural significance and positive message about one's place and responsibility in the world (not to mention it showed off African heritage and pride in such a shiny new way). Black Panther is the movie and superhero this divided country sorely needed. Wakanda Forever indeed. And finally Infinity War is an epic, exciting culmination of the MCU first phase. It's impressive how they managed to juggle so many characters in a single movie and not have one of them get lost in the shuffle. It goes to show how wonderful a job MCU has done over the years to establish their superhero characters. By the way, my favorite has always been Chris Evans' Captain America. I get somewhat verklempt knowing that the next movie will be his last.
- Sufjan Stevens - He is ubiquitous on my playlists - from his contribution to the soundtrack of Call Me By Your Name, to the outtake and remix compilation The Greatest Gift, to the solar system-themed Planetarium, to the live recording of his Carrie & Lowell tour, to his last single Tonya Harding (a rejected track for the movie I Tonya). The masses can have their Taylor Swifts and Beyonces; I've got my Sufjan, and it's all good.
- John Mayer - Chi Young's favorite. I agree that The Search For Everything is my favorite album from the last year. The guy knows his way around a melody, and the lyrics to In The Blood crush me everytime.
- Defenders and The Punisher - With the exception of Iron Fist (ugh), the Marvel superhero shows on Netflix are extremely binge-worthy. Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and the Punisher are all compelling characters. The problem with all these streaming shows though are, you wait for damn long for them to come back, and then you finish them in a week or less. And I am talking to you, Kimmy Schmidt!
- Timeless - One of the last of the major three Network shows that I watch, and they went and canceled it after a most enjoyable season two. #NBCsucks
- New Tax Bill - Have a nice life and get richer, rich people! Screw you and your health care and your future and your environment, anybody-who-is-not-rich people!
- The Me Too Movement - First Harvey Weinstein, and then pretty much every man in Hollywood, politics, tv, news, sports, etc. Yup, shocking that men of power engaged in sexual misconduct.
- Hurricanes and wildfires and volcanoes - We are mere mortals living on borrowed land and borrowed times. It is clearly Mother Nature's call.
- New Madonna and Vampire Weekend and Robyn - My three favorites (aside from Sufjan and James Blake) are all supposed to be coming back with new albums in the second half of 2018!!! I am particularly nervous for Madonna, since I will root for her forever, and not that she has anything more to prove, but I want her to really put out another masterpiece to just shut people up about how old and past her prime she is. When you listen to her playlist, from Everybody to Hung Up, it's amazing how many brilliant hit songs she's produced. Most artist will be revered for life and can live off of even a tiny fraction of Madonna's hits. It's just a mind-boggling run that will forever be unparalleled. Yes, her last three albums have not been able to hit those heights - either commercially or artistically, but I remain hopeful because she is Madonna and you don't count her out, ever.
- Anthony Bourdain's recent suicide - Rest in peace. Thank you for showing me world destinations and parts unknown and telling me their stories.
- Immigration - I am an immigrant. I will always be an immigrant. I remember as a little kid what an immigrant's life is like. I remember how my mother was berated by not only the social workers at the government welfare offices but also by her own sister who sponsored us here. I know in my blood why people sacrifice everything to move their families to another country, legally or illegally. The border wall, separating children from their parents and housing them in cages, parading around families whose relatives were killed by undocumented aliens to justify this country's inhumane anti-immigration policies, the campaign manager going "wah wah" when questioned about a child with down syndrome, the first lady wearing a jacket that says "I really don't care, do you?" when visiting border facilities, the director of Homeland Security going to a Mexican restaurant the day after she held a press conference touting zero tolerance - this is not the American that my mother, as a single parent with two small children, had dreamed of many years ago. Maybe the America that my mother dreamed of never quite existed, but the America at this very present time, under this current administration, would never even inspire such dreams and hopes. Not that we care - we are not about dreams and hopes anymore. Wah wah.
Sincerely,
Your Absent Friend
