Welcome to September, 2024
Welcome to September, 2024
The Cycle Continues + The Top Jokes of Last Month & more!
— This is a longer post than usual, so if you’re reading this via email, you might want to hop on over the the web version here to read the full thing! —
Paid subscribers get early access to this monthly update!
Table of Contents:
September Letter From African America:
The Cycle Continues
The Top Jokes of Last Month!
You Are The Genre Episodes + Yub Nub & more!
TV, film, audio, and text recs!
Tim on The Tonight Show
“Mind Power” by James Brown
Letter From African America (September, 2024)
Dear readers,
This time last year, I was gearing up to get married, mourning the death of my mother’s father (my pawpaw), and staying hopeful amidst one of the longest writers’ strikes in American history.
And much like the cycles referenced in my October 2023 letter, emotions tethered to those events have circled back around, a year older and a year wiser. Here I am, preparing for my one-year anniversary of marriage, mourning the death of my mother’s mother (my granny), while also seeing some of that hope I kept tucked away during the strike manifesting into something you’ll all get to experience likely next year.
When it comes to granny —
Words don’t come to mind so much as sounds…
Expressions more than embraces…
Quick smiles and laughs that halted as swiftly as they began…
Bus rides…
Practical questions like, “Did you eat?” …
Blinds, peeling back from her apartment window…
Eyes, watching to be certain of our safe departures…
A hidden language known only to herself in full, and in fragments to those around her…
The understanding that people’s faces tell more than the words coming out of them…
Her ease in the silence that makes so many others uncomfortable…
How grateful we all were, that she at least kept the TV on.
She watched PBS and British dramas, cartoons like King of the Hill, and science fiction procedurals like Star Trek: The Next Generation.
I’d watch her watching them, not quite sure of the parameters of her enjoyment, nor the many words she clearly thought yet never spoke out loud.
But there was joy to be found, wandering like a detective through the endless potential of what they could be.
A puzzle always on the cusp of being solved…
A mystery cemented in her face whenever she looked down from that apartment window, and likely is now…
Thinking, possibly, a thousand I love you’s, or something else, or something more.
It’s been a weird dance with mourning lately, as other aspects of my life have finally started to gain some positive momentum.
I hosted and performed at my first live show in a long while at the Queens Central Public Library and despite being oddly anxious about it — the event it turned out to be a great, weird time. So good that I’ll be conducting an interview for the library with Kirsten Miller about her latest novel Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books later this month.
It’s refreshing to know that the comic part of me can still kick into gear when it needs to, even in times of emotional strife. And the upcoming interview fulfills one of my major goals of the year — which was to become a professional conversationalist.
I love conversations even though they drain me. And solving small mysteries within the lives of others with well-timed question.
I hope you’ll all solve a mystery or two in the month ahead.
Best,
-Tim
last month right now! (best jokes)
Each weekday, I email five jokes and subscribers vote on the ones that make them laugh the most! Here are your favorite jokes from July, 2024!
FRIDAY : 8-2-2024
Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday will be celebrated with a musical gala at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre. Performers will be announced closer to the event pending their aliveness.
[read the other jokes from that week here]
THURSDAY: 8-8-2024
A Texas man has been accused of placing 'pressure-activated' fireworks under toilet seats in bathrooms — but according to the police report, nothing compares to the explosive material provided by the first person who sat on one.
[read other jokes from that week here]
WEDNESDAY: 8-14-2024
Starbucks has named Chipotle Chief Executive Officer Brian Niccol as the coffee chain’s new CEO and chairman. Personally, I think that’s too much power. This dude knows too much. No one man should have all them beans.
[read the other jokes from that week here]
FRIDAY : 8-23-2024
The biggest diamond in over a century has been found in Botswana.
Leaders worry it will inspire Lil Uzi Vert to install it as a replacement for his entire head.
[read the other jokes from that week here]
THURSDAY: 8-29-2024
The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crashed during an attempted landing on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. Amazing how times change. Years ago that would’ve been the opening line of a groundbreaking science fiction novel. But today, it’s just another random fact in the same reality where “Hawk Tuah girl” and “Trump-style ear bandages” are a thing.
[read the other jokes from that week here]
stuff you might’ve missed
Listen to the latest four episodes of You Are The Genre!
Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you get podcasts!
[Christopher Jason Bell] Is The Genre: How Christopher Jason Bell went from playing bass guitar in an emo band to directing films that bridge fiction with reality.
[Dr. Mahogany L. Browne] Is The Genre: Finding points of connection between Dr. Mahogany L. Browne's career as a journalist and poet.
[Chinisha Scott] Is The Genre: How 'Daily Show' segment director Chinisha Scott navigates the rapidly shifting industry.
[Tananarive Due] Is The Genre: How horror novelist and screenwriter Tananarive Due embraces her true voice and history in her work.
PODCAST: Yub Nub
Over at Yub Nub we’ve ramped up to the season finale of what we’ve been calling The Summer of George! — with episodes about American Graffiti with Connor Ratliff → Dune’s impact on George Lucas → George Lucas’ marketing mind with MacKenzie Green → the life of George Lucas with the author of George Lucas: A Life → and the evolution of George Lucas’ Star Wars vision with Patrick Cotnoir! Subscribe to the Yub Nub newsletter for the latest!
current obsessions
SOUNDS:
PODCAST(s): Justin Simien’s Hollywood Black podcast tour
I don’t have MGM+, so I haven’t been able to watch Justin Simien’s Hollywood Black documentaries in full — but I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole of podcast interviews he’s done about it.
Each one reveals brilliant nuggets of information about the subversive history of Black cinema. Check out his interviews on…
IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit
Baby, This is Keke Palmer
The Business
and Turek Books
MUSIC: James Brown
I’ve been listening to tons of James Brown lately. Mainly because I realized I’ve only really heard his singles instead of full albums. It’s a fun journey starting with his early work where he’s more of a crooner, dabbling in styles that aren’t yet entirely his own. He truly was one of the most transformative musical acts in history — always reflecting times. Though, I will admit, disco disco didn’t suit him very well.
SIGHTS:
YOUTUBE: The Block’s w/ Neal Brennan
Inspired by one of his standup specials, The Blocks podcast/YouTube series centers around Neal Brennan’s search for the mental and emotional blocks that plague his friends in the entertainment industry. It’s the only podcast that I prefer watching over listening to. And I respect its focus on the reality of life as an entertainer, the acceptance of ageing with your career, and just how weird it all is to juggle.
STREAMING: Assembled: X-Men ‘97
Though this making of documentary doesn’t solve the mystery of Beau DeMayo’s firing from the show its a great look into the creation of the original animated series and how that work was implemented in the new one involving many of the original voice actors and others behind the scenes.
MOVIE: Twisters (2024)
I watched this in an immersive 4DX theater and it was a fun time! I expected to hate it, but it really took me by surprise. And there’s a moment near the end of the film in a movie theater that I think about often.
TV: Doctor Who
I wasn’t the biggest fan of Ncuti Gatwa’s debut as the latest incarnation of The Doctor, but I’ve found a lot to love in his first season of the revamped version of the show. First season’s always have growing pains and much like The Acolyte — I think there’s far more to love about this series than there is to hate. Episodes like The Legend of Mad Jack and The Final Countdown are a masterclass in sci-fi writing. And anything I don’t particularly like I brush off and say “Hey, hopefully the kids do.”
STANDUP SPECIAL: Bad Poetry - Langston Kerman
Bad Poetry is one of the rare standup specials that isn’t doing too much. A nice, smooth, casual ride through the life and times of the hilarious Langton Kerman.
somethin’ else
Uh, I dunno. How about one of those times I was on The Tonight Show.
song of the month
The Big Payback is one of the most badass songs of all time, so I was excited to dive into the album that accompanied it. The entire thing is sensational. Apparently, it was originally intended to score the film, Hell Up in Harlem — but was rejected, and became a hit record anyway. This song, “Mind Power” closes the experience — serving as the opposite end of the spectrum from the revenge focused anthem that opens it. There are five or six grooves that develop throughout the track — but most importantly James Brown spits matter of fact knowledge on how to get through life. And that’s what I like about his music. The instruments elevate, but his lyrics ground you to reality.
🎶 — Get hip to yourself, good God, my brother / and get it from the street / If you don't work / You can't eat —🎶
UPCOMING SHOWS
If you’re looking for something to read — perhaps you can try Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books ahead of my live-streamed conversation with the author on Sept. 25! (INFO HERE)
Until next time, remember YOU ARE THE GENRE!
PAST LETTERS:
December, 2022 / February, 2023 / March, 2023 / April, 2023 / May, 2023 / June, 2023 / July, 2023 / August, 2023 / September, 2023 / October, 2023 / November, 2023 / December, 2023 / January, 2024 / February, 2024 / March, 2024 / April, 2024 / May, 2024 / June, 2024 / July, 2024 / August, 2024