This Can't Be Broccoli

Twitter is a hellscape became my mantra long before the pandemic hit, but now that we're in the midst of it, I'm spending a lot more time on the platform, because I can convince myself that anything is necessary that's actually messing up my mental health, and wasting my life on that 140-word junkpit is no exception. It's funny to see so many people proudly quitting Facebook and even Instagram, but leaving their Twitter account alone when, by far, it is the worst of the bunch. You don't like messed up algorithms? Name a more ridiculous algorithm than Twitter's. I'll wait. You can't. Your platform could never...be this bad. The other day I had to block someone--not because they were bothering me--but because even though I don't follow them I kept seeing their statuses, because other people kept liking those statuses. I don't care what the people I follow like.  I care about what the people I follow post. And you know what I never...

How's everybody doing? I'm all right. I have to admit, I've enjoyed doing the more uplifting interviews and helping people out when I can, but a little part of me also misses doing a deep dive on some theater craziness, so this interview is a little of both. First, you need to read this interview, and maybe you already have:   http://thiscantbebroccoli.blogspot.com/2020/04/theater-and-underdogs.html After I read that, I desperately wanted to get the author of that email (that we're calling a memo, because it's more dramatic) on a call, but unlike many of the people who talk to me, they were wayyyy too smart to do that, so I gave up, because--confession--I'm not a journalist and nobody pays me to write these, so I have to devote my time to more important stuff, like producing Mame in my living room and playing all the parts. But while that was going on, the community in the piece got angry.  Really angry.  And they made a list of demand...

The other day on social media, somebody posted a complaint. No surprise there, right? This particular complaint, however, really got under my skin, and it had nothing to do with politics, so I guess I should be somewhat grateful for the reprieve. This complain was the result of the complainer seeing someone else on social media post about painting their guest room. Yes, you read that right. I had to unfriend them immediately after seeing them post this, but it was something along the lines of "Ugh, can't we all just take a break and stop trying to be productive?" Now, let me start by saying this-- If, at any point during this nightmare, someone has told you to be productive, then shame on them.  You do not have to be productive. That being said, like everything else in the world today, what probably started with the good intention of preventing one kind of shaming has pivoted into another kind of shaming. Now, we've started to shame people who are st...

Last week, I switched things up a little bit and centered an interview around helping out a theater company that needed some financial bolstering. This week's interview hits a little closer to home, since I've known the person I'll be speaking with for a little over a year now. While we've never met in person, I think our friendship shows that connection and geography are not mutually exclusive. Here's the interview: ME:  You reached out to me when I first posted about wanting to take a break from theater. THEM:  I did. ME:  Do you remember what you said? THEM:  I said 'Quit tomorrow.' ME:  Then you messaged me the next day and said-- THEM:  'Quit tomorrow.' ME:  You've messaged me almost every day since then. THEM:  That's right. ME:  But one day you forgot, and then I quit. THEM:  That's because you didn't pick up the phone that day. ME:  That's a lie.  I always pick up the phone when you call. ...

One of the strangest things about our current moment--in addition to the (hopefully permanent) dissolution of Envy Culture--is the struggle some of us are having not flexing. I think we can all feel that the time isn't right to be bragging about anything, but at the same time, it's how we accomplish so much. Flexing has become a way we flesh out our identity, how we promote our businesses, and one of the main reasons we even bother keeping up with social media. A friend and I were talking recently about a celebrity apology (there are so many these days) that included a mention of how many Instagram followers the person has. "Why would they bring that up," my friend asked. I said that for some people it must be like speaking a language, but the better analogy might be like speaking a language and being told you can't say thirty percent of the words available to you from that point on. Either you start watching what you say, or you just keep putting y...

For the past few weeks, I've been talking with theater artists about their struggles and thoughts, but I wanted to take a more active approach, so I spent the past few days on the phone leading up to my interview for today with an Artistic Director who recently made a very difficult decision. Here's the interview: ME:  How are you doing? THEM:  I've been better. ME:  It's weird to do an interview like this one where--usually there's a reason we keep these anonymous, but lately, it's weird, because not having them be anonymous might benefit some of the people I'm talking to, but-- THEM:  But you still want people to talk freely and it helps to know you're anonymous. ME:  Do you like staying anonymous? THEM:  I do. I like it for now. ME:  Okay, we'll keep it for now.  Can you tell me about your week? THEM:  This was one for the books. ME:  In a bad way. THEM:  In a bad way, yeah. ME:  How long have ...

We all have something we'd like to see waiting for us at the end of this godforsaken tunnel we're all in. For me, it's--I'd like everyone to be alive. But if I had to pick a second thing, it would be-- I'd love to see this be the death of Envy Culture. One of my new favorite podcasts recently gave me the best phrase I've heard in a long time in regards to all this-- "Now that we've stripped away everything we use to tell ourselves we have value, let's learn to love ourselves anyway." The hosts of the podcast went on to talk about FOMO and how they don't miss it, but when you really break down what's happened as the result of this crisis, it's this-- We've all lost the ability to make other people feel bad about their lives. I know it sounds really harsh when you put it that way, and I can already hear people who love Coachella screaming at me that their excessive documentation of the event is just...

While we're all staying home and staying safe, I wanted to speak with the theater artists in other communities about how they're holding up and what they think will happen next. Today's interview is with a new friend who has been the Artistic Director of an independent theater for seven years, and also co-founded the theater. Here's the interview: ME:  How are you doing? THEM:  I've been better. ME:  You've been through it-- THEM:  Everybody has. ME:  I can't go into too much of why I think you've been through it more than, uh, some other theaters--without giving away who you are, but I think you've had a few extra dings. THEM:  Things? ME:  Dings. THEM:  Oh dings!  Yes, I've had--yes. ME:  So I'm not going to ask you about plans, because we can't plan. THEM:  None of us can plan.  It's like--I feel like my skin is crawling all the time. ME:  Because you can't plan? THEM:  Specifically that...

Before you read this, I have to confess something. I'm not a big fan of the original High Fidelity . In general, I'm not a huge fan of any movie about a straight guy being a screw-up and treating woman poorly, but like, it's cool, because he loves the Rolling Stones. T he fact that somehow this one particular work of pop culture has existed as a book, movie, and musical is kind of bewildering to me, but I do like Nick Hornby, even though he's the King of Manbabies Behaving Badly, so I was willing to check out the new television iteration of it on Hulu starring Zo ë  Kravitz. And guess what? It's fantastic. Now, here's the thing. It's not fantastic--right away. I know you hear that all the time when someone recommends a television show to you, and normally, I resist watching anything that takes awhile to get going, but I promise that in this case, especially at this time, High Fidelity  is the show worth investing in. For one thing, ever since...