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You may have noticed it’s been a little quiet recently on the blog/newsletter. That’s because I’ve been busy gearing up for an intense time of my life: Hosting three weekly podcasts at once (Write Along, the Slashfilmcast, and now with the premiere of Game of Thrones, A Cast of Kings). A surprisingly large amount of prep has gone into this season of A Cast of Kings and I’m both nervous and excited to go through this final step of the journey with all of our listeners.
Given this schedule, for the next few weeks I’m going to take take steps to maintain my mental health and likely slim the blog/letter down, perhaps keeping it mostly to a list of recommended links.
We are about to enter a consequential time in pop culture history. In April and May, we’ll see the conclusion of Game of Thrones and the end of the first few phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. These are both epic stories — breathtaking in scope, sprawling in ambition, and unequaled in their respective mediums.
I find myself experiencing a lot of emotions as I contemplate these stories wrapping up. While I’m obviously a fan that has considered both of these works worthy of analysis and debate, I’m also a commentator with a modest following that has been podcasting/blogging/vlogging since they began.
I’ve looked back on the past decade and considered all the things I’ve devoted my time to. And I’ve started to turn my eye towards the next decade, and begun thinking about how I will take what I’ve learned to create valuable work that can stand on its own. Hopefully, I’ll have more to share with you soon. Hopefully.
In the meantime, here are a few things I’ve been working on recently:
- I appeared on one of my favorite NPR shows, “All Things Considered” with my Cast of Kings co-host Joanna Robinson to discuss the upcoming season of Game of Thrones and run down all the details you need to know to be ready for the season premiere. Listen to it here.
- I was happy to be quoted in this article in the San Francisco Chronicle that profiles my Cast of Kings co-host, Joanna Robinson.
- I was pleased that the /Filmcast was able to host not just one, but two crossovers with the Blank Check podcast: Our 20-year Matrix retrospective with David Sims and our Shazam! review with Griffin Newman (the latter was an episode led by my co-hosts Devindra and Jeff). Blank Check is one of the best, funniest movie podcasts on the internet, so it was delightful to be able to share in their halo for a bit.
- On YouTube, I did a spoiler-filled discussion of Shazam! with Matt Singer from Screencrush.
- On Periscope, I broke down Disney’s announcement of its new Disney Plus streaming service with Peter Sciretta.
- On the Write Along podcast, I spoke with Cargill about getting out of the Second Act Slump.
Some more interesting links from the past week or two:
- I appreciated this piece by Jeremy Smith where he talks about how he writes about film.
- I finished the FX original series You’re the Worst and the series finale of the show really wrecked me. Here’s a piece from Todd VanDerVerff at Vox about how this show stuck the landing.
- Joe Pinsker asks: Why do schools give so much homework? In fact, why give homework at all?
- Jason Schreier wrote an extensive investigative piece about what went wrong with Bioware’s big-budget flop Anthem. It’s a fascinating peak at some of the issue endemic to the gaming industry right now.
- Rebecca Traitster has written the definitive takedown of Joe Biden, and why he’s not the answer to Democrats’ electoral ills. It’s a damning examination of Biden’s political life and I hope people will consider it.
- Nathan J. Robinson tries to figure out what kind of leader Pete Buttigieg would be, mostly from reading Buttigieg’s biography. Not sure I agree with the methodology, but some of Robinson’s points are worth considering as Buttigieg’s star continues to ascend.