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How’d you guys like that little Oscar-baity bio I wrote about myself last week, eh? I know how one of you felt! (I saw a friend at a party who said “I’ve been reading your newsletter” like I was in trouble. I asked if she liked it and she said “Well I did until you told your life story.” But she was grinning when she said it so I think she’s a reluctant fan.)

Oh well! I’m a live-show producer, not a newsletter mogul! (Unlike co-producer R. Eric Thomas, who has one of the internet’s greatest newsletters of all time. You didn’t know? Now you do.)

Speaking of the Oscars: I did not watch them. It wasn’t a boycott, I just found that I couldn’t summon the interest. Which I can only assume made Timothee Chalamet’s dainty little porcelain Dune-bones tremble in fear that I, the Average Media Consumer, could not be bothered to keep his art form alive. Take THAT, you son-of-a-ballerina.

(Okay, Friend Who Doesn’t Want to Hear My Life Story, time for you to skip ahead in this newsletter)

There was a time when I made a point of seeing every Oscar-nominated ~film~ that I could reasonably afford/make time to see before the awards ceremony. This was when I would have considered myself an ~aspiring filmmaker~. (This was also the heyday of MoviePass. Apparently this company still exists, but now with a financial model that…you know…works.)

There wasn’t a critical moment when I started to care less about movies and the movie industry, at least not one I can pinpoint for myself. But I guess it must have coincided with trying to make my own movies and realizing that it has almost nothing in common with the flash-bang-wow feeling of making a live show. I say that with absolutely no disrespect for people who DO make movies and get the flash-bang-wow feeling out of making them. It just wasn’t for me.

I also started to notice, as a lot of young artists do, that I was trying to mimic what the Winners were making. I’m thinking specifically of a time when Birdman, Foxcatcher, Boyhood, The Imitation Game, The Revenant, Carol, Room etc. etc. etc. were the nominees and winners. The name of the game (as it is today) is MUTED COLOR PALETTES. SAD. SLOW. BROODY. URGENT! IMPORTANT!!!!

Do you know what the least sustainable form of energy is? BROODING. Not to mention it is SO. BORING. Constant meditation on how awful and hard and sad life is (even if it does come with a triumphant ending for the hero. Not Carol, but let’s say Room.) will really drain you of your will to produce enough serotonin to get through the day.

In a world where everything sucks so, so, so bad, I’m not leaping at the opportunity to intentionally subject myself to 2+ hours of The Brutalist or whatever. (I know that’s from last year. I don’t know what was nominated this year except something that rhymes with WINNERS! and something that rhymes with “sharty poo-preme”.)

Profound takeaway: long live a good time in the midst of these bad, bad times.

See you next week!

Chaz
(kind of like “Sean” but with a Z.)

Our Lady of Ladies, Lady, will be at Tattooed Mom on Wednesday, March 25th at 8:00p (doors at 7:00p) as part of the Diapason queer variety show! If you need a little divine intervention in your disappointingly mortal life, get on over there.

Tattooed Momedy returns on Tuesday, March 31 at (you guessed it), Tattooed Mom! A stacked lineup hosted by Joe Bell and Tan Hoang, this installment of the beloved mic is headlined by Mic Nguyen, co-host of the Asian Not Asian Podcast. Non-Asians encouraged to attend!

You know him from Cartoon Club and Tattooed Momedy (see above), but did you know Joe Bell is also a part of comedy video juggernaut group Scrote AND he has a pilot you should watch immediately? Here’s the Scrote video, Kelly’s Boyfriend to whet your whistle, and once the whistle is fully whut, go give them a follow at @scrotevideo on YouTube and Insta. Want to know more about this pilot I mentioned oh-so-casually? Check it out @biggcountyrestorations to stay up to date on your favorite new show you haven’t watched yet!