Current Obsessions: 'Hacks,' 'Bob Dylan,' 'In Our Times,' and 'Pee-wee As Himself'

Things move so fast these days. It’s nice to sit down and track what you’ve been focusing on.

To answer your questions…

Yes, I’m still watching episodes of Becker in my free time.

No, I have not yet seen the new season if Pokerface despite loving the first season.

And, yes, I can’t believe I forgot to mention season 2 of Light & Magic docuseries —

— in addition to the documentary about the making of A Goofy Movie titled Not Just a Goof in previous installments.

But that’s why I send these updates. It’s my faulty method of trying to mold the sludge of content I consume into a presentable sculpture. Things move so fast these days. It’s nice to sit down and track what you’ve been focusing on.

And this week, I’ve obsessed over…

• FILM: Hacks (season 4)

  

  To get the rhyme out of the way — I’m enjoying watching Hacks on Max. The show’s focus on late night this season feels like its first true dive into the format of a “behind the scenes” comedy (my favorite genre), yet it manages to bob and weave its way out of the norms that such shows tend to dwell in. And, for the record, I’d love to have anything to do with a spinoff about Dance Mom.

  P.S., put

  Merrill Markoe
  in more shows!

  My Life as a Fictional Character

• SONG: Quit Your Low Down Ways by Bob Dylan

  You know, I sometimes feel like my formative years were in some land stripped from time an space. It’s what Ian and I tried to highlight in our short film, Inland Empire — and I suppose I mention this to try and explain the intensity of my Bob Dylan phase. Why the hell was I, the summer after high school listening to music from the likes of Bob Dylan and The Band to and from my job at JCpenney instead of… I dunno… Lik Wayne? Anyway, due to my consistent reflections on Sinners, this Dylan track has been on my mind. I would listen to it on repeat. Sing along to it even. Is… is there something wrong with me?

• PODCAST: In Our Times “Typology”

  I’ve mentioned this podcast many times, but its just so damn good. As mentioned in a previous post:

  Host, Melvyn Bragg, reminds me of the Major Partagaz character in Andor —

  

  This is a picture of Major Partagaz, NOT Melvyn Bragg.

  — only instead of demanding quick updates on the state of the empire, he seeks information about things like “The Theory of the Leisure Class.”

  And this episode on typology is filled with nuggets of information about Christianities formative years that have always been quite mysterious to me.

• DOCUMENTARY: Pee-wee As Himself

  Great for a laugh and a cry, the recurring theme of this two-part documentary is the need for and loss of control. All artists attempt controlling that which can’t be tamed, and this is the definitive glimpse into the primordial soup of pop culture that Pee-Wee stepped out of.