To be honest I forget a lot of last week, which means it probably didn’t feel too significant even as it was happening. It was a short work for me and the main thing I got done was writing a blog post for the Collections website (inquire within for details). It felt good to write something and I was pretty happy with how it came out! I’m going to push myself to start writing again. I have a hard time keeping motivation up unless I have a deadline, but whenever I actually finish writing something I always feel really accomplished.
On Friday after class, I went to Ford’s Theater with my friend Laura. We were talking about how we never really thought about Ford’s Theater as being a real place in Washington DC, even though it makes sense that Lincoln would gone to the theater in a place close by, so it felt a little surreal to actually visit a place that seems like it should only exist in history textbooks. It’s pretty much right between the National Mall and the White House. Right around the theater are a bunch of touristy Lincoln-themed gift shops and restaurants - like Abe’s Vietnamese Cafe or Lincoln’s Waffle Shop (I’m sure it’s how Lincoln wanted to be remembered).
The theater is still a running theater too. They have a museum part in the lower level under the mainstage (which we found out after walking through was actually the route that John Wilkes Booth took when he was sneaking around the theater that fateful April night). But then you can go into the theater itself and they had the set for Fences, the show they’re currently doing, up onstage. And then when we were leaving we saw that they’re doing Guys and Dolls in the Spring. I don’t think people are allowed to go into the actual box where Lincoln was shot (it looked like they had ceremonial flags covering it) but I still feel like it must be a little odd to go to a show there.
Anyway, other than that, life has been pretty typical! I will leave you with some pop culture musings~
Recent Media Reviews:
The Politician: A new Netflix original series starring Ben Platt from Pitch Perfect and Dear Evan Hansen (I think? I don’t know Broadway very well). To be honest, this show is kind of all over the place and I think there are too many characters that the show attempts to give a storyline only to barely flesh it out because there just isn’t enough time in 8 episodes. That said, it’s pretty entertaining. It’s about a high school election but all the characters treat it like it’s life or death (because they’re over-achieving wealthy kids thinking about their future political careers). It’s kind of fun in the way that Riverdale is (“you don’t know the epic highs and lows of high school football), and also like Riverdale, it has its fair share of musical moments. It made me remember the Assassins musical exists and for that I am very grateful to it. But I still found it a very flawed, often messy story so 5/10 I’ll probably watch season 2 when it comes out though.
“Unworthy of Your Love” from the Assassins musical: Thank you to The Politician for making this song the only thing I listened to all week. A beautiful duet between John Hinckley, Jr. (Reagan’s attempted assassin) and Squeaky Fromme (Manson family member and Gerald Ford’s attempted assassin). Listen to this song and think about how sweet it is and not about how Squeaky Fromme is currently a free woman who still claims to love and support Charles Manson and is married to a man who still supports Manson. 11/10
Parasite: I saw this at the movies on Sunday. I had watched the trailer going into it (I have mixed opinions about watching movie trailers before going to see them, but I have to be economical about what I’m going to spend money to see in theaters so...it is what it is) but it was not at all how I was expecting it to be. I was expecting it to be a comedy-thriller but to lean much more on the thriller aspect of it, like most horror movies: a perfectly pleasant beginning that quickly descends into chaos and dread. Instead, Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite offers a film that leans heavily on its sense of humor but somehow manages to seamlessly transition back and forth between ironic jokes, suspense, some truly scary moments, and a broader kind of existential uncertainty about the future that underlies even the lightest moments of the film. In all, this movie was incredible! 10/10 I truly think this is a perfect film. There’s not a shot, line of dialogue, or breath in this film that doesn’t feel perfectly placed. This won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last month and (knock on wood) I’m already making my bets on Best Foreign Language Film come February.
What’s this mysterious collections blog post all about? And that’s exactly my sentiments towards accomplishing anything. It gets harder and harder to do things intrinsically for me but I’m trying! Lincoln’s waffle shop?! Love that. That’s also neat that it’s still a theatre Ben platt from pitch perfect: great performance in pitch perfect starring Anna Kendrick. Watch the performance from pitch perfect 3 of toxic I’ve never heard of assassins :-0 Wowee you’re a good movie reviewer. I’m just like... uhhh I liked this movie But I agree with your review of parasite!!! Incredible stuff
I love all the joker memes that there have been lately, it really butters my biscuits :’))