Disclaimer: I only rank shows that I watch and I’m not a TV critic. Also, there are some spoilers. Read at your own risk…
I did not get to a lot of the shows I usually watch. I haven’t yet watched this season of Transparent or started The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. I have to finish Girls and I stopped shows I had been watching, like Nashville and Once Upon a Time. It’s been so hard to find time. But here are the shows I did watch (or am almost finished watching).
I saw 7 movies this year. This is one fewer than last year, which had been a major drop from the previous year’s 18, which had already been a major drop from the previous year’s 25. What more could I expect, though, since I basically stopped going to the movies. I did make a bit of an effort this year, but that didn’t result in much.
This year, the majority of films I saw were new films (6 out of 7). 1 was part of a film festival, and 2 were at Film Forum. Last year I only saw 3 new movies. The older movie I saw this year was part of my company’s Movies for the Mind series. Of the 7 I saw this year, I saw all of them for the first time. Last year, that count was 7/8.
Last year I saw 69 shows, which was the lowest my count had ever been. This year I saw 76! I’m on the upswing! It’s still not as high as other years (two years ago I saw 89 shows), but I’ll take it. Apparently three years ago I saw 73 shows, so I’m pretty much at average. I’m accepting that my show count should be in the 60s and 70s, so 76 feels good.
Credit: Michael J. Cohen
Celebrate my birthday with me at the Duplex Cabaret Theatre this Sunday! I’ll be singing songs I wrote and other songs I want to sing.
This post originally appeared on Crazytownblog on 9.11.11. That blog is no longer in existence, so I am re-posting it here:
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The closest I ever got to the WTC. May, 2001.
I’ve been anticipating the 10th anniversary of September 11th for years– the day when I wouldn’t feel I was the only person thinking about it. Everyone around me always seemed to be going about their day as though it were any other day. One year, I was walking in downtown Manhattan at about 11pm, and two girls looked up, saw the blue 9-11 lights and said, “Oh my god. Today is September 11th.” Really? You just realized? I’ve been thinking about it all day.
But after years of wanting 9-11 to be a non-working day of reflection, this year I longed for it to be just like any other day. For some reason, when I thought of everyone observing this anniversary, I thought they’d be doing it privately or in small, intimate groups. Instead, there were more articles than I had time to flag for later let alone read, and every person and their dog was talking about how we’ve all changed.
Yet “How have you changed?” is the one question I don’t want to answer because, after all these years, the answer is still: I don’t know.
Tonight I am super excited to see the second preview of Miss Saigon. I’ve been waiting to see this revival for years and already have tickets to return two more times. But you will probably be surprised to know that Miss Saigon is not my favorite musical. I don’t even consider it in my top tier of favorite musicals. Sunday in the Park with George is one of my favorite musicals, and it is also in what is supposed to be an amazing revival, which I’m seeing in a few more weeks.
Days of Rage will be part of New York Theatre Barn’s Choreography Lab on Monday, February 20th at 2pm.
4 choreographers explore dance from 4 different moments of the new musical Days of Rage, a musical inspired by the activities of the Black Panthers and The Weather Underground in the late 60s/early 70s. Currently in development with New York Theatre Barn, Days of Rage is written by Shoshana Greenberg and Hyeyoung Kim.
2.20.17 | 2PM @ The Cell | 338 W 23rd St., NYC
Tickets: $10 in advance / $15 at the door
Purchase Tickets
Disclaimer: I only rank shows that I watch and I’m not a TV critic. Also, there are some spoilers. Read at your own risk…
Just as it was last year, almost all of these shows have a woman as the main character. The ones that don’t are the family shows which have good mother and daughter characters. Also, THREE of these shows have Jewish female leads.
1. The Americans
The Americans has been my number one show for the past two years, and I’m happy it has maintained its status. The show manages to be both about the characters’ interior lives and the external events of the early 80s (now relevant again). A lot happened this season, but what sticks out is Martha, Paige and Pastor Tim, and Elizabeth and Philip’s slow descent into questioning their actions and choices. I always tell people they must watch this show, and now it’s on Amazon Prime so one can catch up. So, watch this show.
I saw 8 movies this year. This is a major drop from last year’s 18, which had already been a major drop from the previous year’s 25. Last year I said that I kind of gave up on movies, and this year I really saw the effects. Without the movie series we do at my company (Movies for the Mind), I would barely have enough films to warrant an end-of-year list (I don’t really have enough as it is). I usually see movies at MoMA–this year I saw none. I was only in a regular movie theater 4 times this year, but surprisingly that’s one more time than last year (last year I went to MoMA way more). With everything I do, something had to go.
I saw 3 new movies this year, all in a regular movie theater. Last year it was 4 new films. In total, I saw 0 films (both old and new) at MoMA (6 less than last year) and 4 at my company’s Movies for the Mind series (4 less than last year). Of the 8 movies I saw this year, I saw 7 for the first time.
Last year, I read 12 books! This year I read 11, but the drop is due to only reading 1 A Series of Unfortunate Events book with my babysitting charge this year instead of 2. I’ve still read 10 books on my own, like last year. I’m glad I’ve kept up my reading pace.
