Welcome to February, 2024

The Year of Independence + The Top Jokes of Last Month! + Sci-Fi Fuel + Text Interviews + A New Short Story! + New Podcast Episodes & Recommendations!

— 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! —

Table of Contents:

• February Letter From African America:

  • The Year of Independence

• Last Month Right Now!:

  • The Top Jokes of Last Month!

• Stuff You Might’ve Missed:

  • Sci-Fi Fuel + Text Interviews + A New Short Story!

• Current Obsessions:

  • Recommendations galore!

• Somethin’ Else:

  • That Time God Interviewed Me

• Song of the Month:

  • Lonely Woman by Ornette Coleman

Letter From African America (February, 2024)

Dear readers,

What a month January was! Full of massive layoffs, political twists and Oscars snubs. It was also the month that I turned 35. And… I surprisingly feel nothing about it. Is this the sweet non-sensation of growth? Or simply my anxiety saving all its energy for a 40-year surprise?

I typically send these updates on the first week of a new month. But this one is a bit delayed for two exciting reasons:

1) I just (independently) launched a podcast called You Are The Genre!

🎨: Madhuri Shukla

2) I recently started working part time in my local (independent) bookstore, Taylor & Co. Books! Which, if you blur your eyes a little, kind of fulfills my lifelong dream of working in a video store. ← You might remember my interview with the owner.

— doing both of those things while actively writing and pitching projects has been a lot to adjust to. But I’m doing it!

And with the wave of cancellations and consolidations in all industries, it seems independence is the theme of the year. A previous version of myself would feel embarrassed revealing “non industry work,” but somehow that type of thing doesn’t bother me anymore. Perhaps it’s the glow of 35.

Before I go, I want to highlight my friend Freddie Nunez, who wrote and sings the You Are The Genre theme song. He has a country record out called Trains of Faith (and you’ll hear him in an upcoming episode):

And, if you decide to check out the podcast AND enjoy it, please leave a nice review and rating wherever you listen.

Here’s to a month of embracing the fact that you are the only genre that matters.

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 January, 2024!

WEDNESDAY: 1-3-2024

• As it becomes harder to buy houses, Wall Street has started building neighborhoods of family homes where everybody rents. And as an added bonus, each neighborhood is constructed around a factory where tenants have a guaranteed chance to work for an exciting new thing called “factory-bucks” — which happens to be the sponsor of this joke. Factory-Bucks: It’s Like Regular Money, Except You Can Only Use It On One Of Those Houses. 🎵You Are In Luck! With Factory-Bucks! It’s Technically Not Slavery ‘Til The U.N. Says “Yuck!”🎵

[read the other jokes from that week here]

THURSDAY: 1-11-2024

• A Florida school district has pulled three dictionaries which define words like “sex” off of library shelves. Most students reacted with, “I already know what sex is, but what the heck is a library?”

[read the other jokes from that week here]

• After FX’s The Bear won the “best comedy” Emmy, many are debating whether it’s a comedy at all. Comedy bears Fozzy, Ted, and Cedric have all issued statements voicing their disapproval of the show’s entrance into the category.

  

[read the other jokes from that week here]

stuff you might’ve missed

• My new podcast You Are The Genre has arrived! Check out the first four episodes:

  Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you get podcasts!

  • How watching 'Kill Bill: Volume 1' with his uncle helped Saturday Night Live writer Steven Castillo embrace his own genre:

    [Steven Castillo] Is The Genre

  • How ‘Late Night with David Letterman,' ‘The Twilight Zone' and the work of Stephen King helped Mike Sacks become his own genre:

    [Mike Sacks] Is The Genre

  • How queer television, criticism and comedy helped Ashley Ray become her own genre:

    [Ashley Ray] Is The Genre

  • How princesses, 'The Twilight Zone,' and 'The Daily Show' helped writer/filmmaker Eliza Cossio embrace her own personal genre:

    [Eliza Cossio] Is The Genre

• Over at

  Alternate Timeline
  (my alternate newsletter) I released a new short story titled The Assistant about a courthouse robot. I also posted issues 11, 12, 13, and 14 of Sci-Fi Fuel!

• Dillon Stevenson joins my pantheon of text interviews! We talk about Harlem, comedy, pampers, the internet, & starting from scratch.

  A [TEXT MESSAGE] Conversation with Dillon Stevenson

current obsessions

SOUNDS:

• PODCAST: Visitations “

  I stumbled upon this gem of a podcast hosted by Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah. You hear them enter the domains of writing, directing and acting legends — and, much like the podcast art, it has the vibe of something I’d actually purchase on vinyl. The two-parter with Guillermo del Toro is one of the best interviews I’ve ever heard with with the filmmaker.

• PODCAST: TCM’s The Plot Thickens (Season 4) “Here Comes Pam”

  Can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this earlier but this podcast documentary about the life of Pam Grier featuring exclusive interviews WITH Pam Grier is fantastic. That woman has lived a LIFE!

• PODCAST: Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend - Jordan Peele

  Conan learns how Jordan Peele navigated his career from comedy to film while pointing out the similarities between the comedy and horror genres.

SIGHTS:

Follow me on Letterboxd here!

• DOCUMENTARY: Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project | HBO

• SERIES: Carol & The End of The World

  A series so good, it’s actually kind of hard to explain why!

  But my pal

  Mike Sacks
  gets some great insights from the creators in this episode of his podcast:

• NEWSLETTER: Fareeha Khan’s

  Let's Get That Bread

  I’ve really been enjoying the comics that

  Fareeha Khan
  has been posting on her newsletter. I mean, talk about people who are the genre!

• SHORT: Eyes on the March - Dead Signals of the Sea

  My friends at Grimy Ghost released their first short film that mixes found footage with a creepy sci-fi narrative. You won’t be able to stop thinking about this one.

[Director/Writer/Editor - Jarred Endres, Luna Lavender - Cricket Arrison, Dr. Moon - Rosko Lewis, Director of Photography - Steven Morel. Audio Engineer - Jake Robinson, Analog Glitches - Claire Levinson, Composer - Adam Fligsten]

• FILM: To Sleep With Anger (1990)

  I’d been meaning to watch this film every since I watched the Criterion interviews that Robert Townsend conducted with the film’s director Charles Burnett. I am totally amazed by it as a document of Black life in Los Angeles in the late 80s. Many of the sights and sounds fill me with nostalgia. Every character is fleshed out regardless of age. And the build is incredible. I’ve never seen a psychological horror mixed with a family drama quite like this.

  

somethin’ else

Remember when God interviewed me?

song of the month

I heard Khruangbin’s Time (You and I) for seemingly the first time on my first day at the bookstore. A true earworm that hasn’t quite left my head and never fails to put me in a good mood. May this earworm bring you good vibes as well.

🎶That's life / If we had more time / We could live forever🎶

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