Welcome to January, 2024

New Horizons

— 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:

• January Letter From African America:

  • New Horizons

• 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:

  • Invisibility serum?

• Song of the Month:

  • Lonely Woman by Ornette Coleman

Letter From African America (January, 2024)

Dear readers,

I started this newsletter in an effort to become a more specific human being, and by golly I think I’ve done it! A truly bizarre amount of time an energy went into figuring out how to format these updates as well as my life. And as weird as it’s been explaining to people why I’m suddenly a newsletter guy, I’m glad I went through the process.

Honestly, I was pretty creatively lost in 2023, floating in a well that I wasn’t certain I could climb my way out of. Sure, the strikes were a part of what pushed me into it. But there was a deeper culprit. Accessing my “voice” became difficult, old goals started to dissolve, and I couldn’t discern whether the blame for such things belonged to the state of the world or my own state of mind.

I’m turning 35 on the 13th of this month. Something about the fives always get to me. 20 freaked me out because it was five years away from 25. Then 25 freaked me out because it was five years away from 30. 30 crept up and freaked me out because I was five years away from my mid-30s. Now, the freakout is about being that much closer This Is 40 starring Tim Barnes. Maybe I can avoid it by sneaking into the theater instead of purchasing a ticket.

Luckily, I have a few things I’m excited about. I’ve written a new pilot script that I love in a way I’ve never loved a piece of my own writing before. Like, I’m just happy to know its there even if it never gets pitched or sold. I’m making good strides in some of my extracurricular sci-fi prose writing over at

Alternate Timeline

(my alternate newsletter). And I’m launching a new podcast later this month Called You Are The Genre that’s all about being creative without falling into the trap of brands and labels.

For 2024, I hope that you create things, and love them in a way you’ve never loved something you created before.

Best,

-Tim

last month right now! (best jokes)

I took a few weeks off of my Five Jokes updates last month, but there are still a few that made it onto this list!

FRIDAY : 12-1-2023

• Woolly mammoths haven't been seen for 4,000 years, but if scientists are successful, they could be walking around Alaska in just five years. “Incredible!” Said one excited Alaskan. “Now, bring back my dad.”

[read the other jokes from that day here]

TUESDAY: 12-5-2023

• Florida’s government argues that school districts have a First Amendment right to remove LGBTQ books. But after many attempts at defining “LGBTQ literature” the state will likely avoid books with letters altogether (despite growing concern that odd numbers are… you know… funny).

[read the other jokes from that day here]

FRIDAY : 12-15-2023

• According to a new poll, Americans agree that the 2024 election will be pivotal for democracy, but for different reasons. 60% believe a new Trump term will speed us down the road to fascism, while the remaining 40% think it’ll be a slower ride with frequent stops at McDonald’s.

[read the other jokes from that day here]

stuff you might’ve missed

• Over at

  Alternate Timeline
  (my alternate newsletter) I released a new short story titled Method about a human who looks exactly like a digital actor that was designed before she was born. I also posted issues 9 and 10 of Sci-Fi Fuel!

• There are two new text interviews! One with writer/animator DeAngelo Edwards (who created the cartoon face you see in these newsletters) —

  A [TWITTER DM] Conversation With Artist DeAngelo Edwards of "Hats Off Media"

  — and the other with comedian/filmmaker Melody Kamali (who I met in the “trenches” of Chicago comedy circa 2012) -

  A [TEXT MESSAGE] Conversation With Comedian / Filmmaker Melody Kamali

  They’re both a good time!

• Books On My Shelf That I Hope To Finish In 2024:

  Books On My Shelf That I Hope To Finish In 2024

• My 12 Favorite Scripted TV Shows of 2023 (And Their Corresponding Foods & Beverages):

  My 12 Favorite Scripted TV Shows of 2023

current obsessions

SOUNDS:

• PODCAST: In Our Time “Edgar Allan Poe”

  I recently watched the Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher. It’s an imperfect series with some really powerful acting moments that make it worth the watch — and it rekindled my love of Edgar Allan Poe’s work, which struck my brain with metaphorical lightening when I started reading stories like The Raven and The Masque of the Red Death in middle school. What I love about In Our Time is the speed with which it moves. 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.” Thanks to this episode I know that Poe was likely quite racist, yet also developed a prose style that Frederick Douglass and other Black writers emulated. Fascinating!

• PODCAST: Shedunnit

  Listening to the In Our Time podcast above about Edgar Allan Poe sent me into a spiral of wanting to learn more about the writer and how he tackled genre. This led me to the wonderful Shedunnit podcast hosted and produced by Caroline Crampton, which unravels the mysteries behind classic detective stories.

SIGHTS:

Follow me on Letterboxd here!

• FILM: God’s Time

  Writer/director Daniel Antebi made one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. It’s funny, intense, and meta in all of the best ways. While watching, I kept repeating to myself “I forgot you could make movies like this!” It feels like one of those perfect accidental rentals from back when video stores were a thing. Specifically, it reminded me of renting the movie Pi. Remember the movie Pi?

• YOUTUBE: An Interview With Former Star Wars Modeler Lorne Peterson

  I’m a sucker for any behind the scenes movie content. Especially conversations with the people like Lorne Peterson, who’ve been in the industry before and after the rise of CGI. Adam Savage is a great host, and this interview made me click the subscribe button on his YouTube channel.

• FILM: Batman: The Movie (1966)

  I was delighted to see this movie pop up for me on MAX. And after watching it for the first time in years, I’m convinced this is the greatest Batman movie ever and that Adam West the greatest Batman of all time. I’ll expand on this soon in a post for paid subscribers.

somethin’ else

I was recently in this short sketch from the mind of Hoff Matthews!

song of the month

No lyrics, just great improvisation. Years ago, I attended an Ornette Coleman performance in Santa Barbara. It was weird. So is life.

🎶…🎶

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