Are you having an invincible summer? I’m trying over here — just visited my folks in Virginia, gonna touch sand in the Hamptons this afternoon. I’m also trying to wrap up a big writing project and, you know, pay the rent, avoid disease, etc. etc.
I was psyched to see Rocky Horror Picture Show on Broadway, which surpassed my monstrous expectations and put deep smile lines on my face. It’s held at Studio 54 (perfect venue!), and the mind-blowing cast includes Rachel Dratch and Luke Evans, who wraps his stint as Frank-N-Furter on Aug. 23. See it! Dream it! Be it!
In my last post I talked about what I was reading/wanted to read, so here’s an update: I tore through The Easter Parade by Richard Yates, which follows two sisters: one in a bad suburban marriage, and one sluttin’ it up in New York. Fifty years after it was published, it’s just as relevant! The book opens with a visit to a newspaper, so I was hooked by page 3.
I also started reading Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel, the 700-page collection of his New York reporting from the 1940s-60s that reads like the best short fiction. Here’s how one of my favorite stories begins:
Mitchell loved a real-life character, as do I. I also started reading Brawler, Lauren Groff’s new short-story collection; and Dean just loaned me Katie Skelly’s new graphic novel, Heaven. And I keep being told I need to read Ann Patchett, so I guess I’ll be getting on that train soon, too.
Did you know that Ikea hangs fake movie posters in its staged rooms? This one cracked me up:
I was so sad to hear about the death of Dave Kendall, host of MTV’s 120 Minutes. That show had a massive influence on countless cool curious outcasts, including myself.
Singer Glen Hansard died this week in a motorcycle accident. He was only 56.
Springsteen, Morrissey, Grohl and many others appear in If These Walls Could Rock, a new doc about the Sunset Marquis hotel:
Literary gossip is my favorite kind, especially when Natalie Portman is involved.
Luke Evans says his Rocky Horror corset is so tight it affects his breathing. I appreciate his sacrifice (but also it’s OK to loosen the laces, it’s just theater!).
The Scout, which follows a location scout, looks like my kind of indie:
Here’s a trailer for Whitmer Thomas’s new comedy special:
David Lynch’s Dune production archive is going on sale.
Colonel Sanders’s estate is for sale.
A ton of Allee Willis’s stuff is being auctioned.
It might be time to reread Catcher in the Rye, which I’m sure hits differently when you have a teenager. The book is turning 75.
“A new study states that theatergoing, along with going to the movies or a museum, could contribute to the body's well-being.”
John Cusack says he wrote a graphic novel because he wanted to make something with “no committee.”
My school library banned Stephen King books when I was growing up — something that recently happened in Utah — and, as a result, I read A TON of Stephen King books when I was growing up.
Here’s a trailer for Digger, where Tom Cruise looks like a lot of men I see in line at CVS:
Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer write about “César Aira’s Art of Not Editing.”
Salon profiles musician/writer Lenny Kaye.
Vulture profiles Matt Johnson, who has gone from last year’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie to Tony, the upcoming Anthony Bourdain biopic.
Heads-up that all episodes of The Prisoner are now streaming on Criterion.
Thanks for reading — now please return to your regular summer programming! Say hi if you wanna.
touch-a-touch-a-touch-a-touch me,
lady olga
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