Shoshana Greenberg

Last year, I read 12 books! This year I also read 12, although, like last year, 2 of them were A Series of Unfortunate Events books that I am reading to my babysitting charge. I’m glad I’ve kept up my reading pace.

Overall, I read 2 fiction books,  6 non-fiction books (1 feminism book, 2 journal/memoir books, 2 business books, and 1 regular non-fiction/data book), 3 Children/Young Adult series books,  and 1 book of poetry. All were by American authors. 3 I read for my company book club. 1 was by an author I work with. 1 I read because it related to something I was writing. 3 were women authors. 3 were by the same author (Lemony Snicket). These stats are fairly similar to last year’s. I still didn’t read one non-American author, but I did add more fiction books. I did not read a biography this year, but I needed a bit of a break from biographies. Next year: Continue with this variety–make sure to read 1 poetry book a year and 1 feminism book a year–but make sure to read a biography. Also, try to read at least 1 more fiction book for a total of 3 and more women authors. 3/9 is too low.

I also read 10 New Yorkers (3 more than what I read last year) and 10 New York magazines (2 more than I read last year) in between each book, plus the New York Times and various other magazine and website articles. Plus, every Time Out New York. Next year: Continue with these numbers.

My favorite book(s) of the year:
Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions by Gloria Steinem
The Signal and the Noise by Nate Silver

Worst book of the year:
I didn’t read any bad books this year, although I can’t say I truly love the business books. They’re at least informative.

The List:  Continue reading →

Hello, and welcome back to the blog section of my website. Here is an update on what I was up to this summer. I did a lot of work, and none of it was seen! That’s because I was mainly working on my musical with composer and co-bookwriter Hyeyoung Kim, Days of Rage, and putting together the demo for that show.

Some people did see the work we did–the awesome folks who helped us out with our table read. In order to hear our show (and work toward a deadline), we invited 11 awesome actors to read through our script in early August. Not only did we get to hear the show out loud but we received TONS of valuable feedback from those actors.

New musicals need demo recordings, and we put ours together in this August as well. We recorded nine songs–three of which are brand new, never before heard even by us until this recording. The demo is a lot of work, and I’m lucky to have a collaborator who rocks in the studio and at organizing everything leading up to the studio, as well as an amazing engineer. The tracks are still being finalized, but soon we will have a polished demo to share and submit.

Don’t worry, my summer wasn’t ALL work. I spent a few days down the shore, went to a friend’s wedding, and, oh yeah, was mentioned in The New York Times.

Now that this busy summer is coming to a close, I am looking forward to fall, which will also be busy, just with a different combination of projects. Check back here for updates on my fall writing activities, and I promise to post more (said every blogger ever).

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…

1. The Americans
The first season of The Americans was good but not memorable enough to make last year’s list; the second season, although it aired in the spring, never left my head. The story arc was broader and it dug deeper. Every character, even the children, who in a lesser series would just be bratty teenagers, had more of a role, and the themes of marriage and parenting were stronger while maintaining their subtlety. The Americans is also the first show I’ve watched that successfully portrays a compelling female anti-hero without attempting to make her overly sympathetic. The season two finale set up a great story for season 3, and, if the writing remains strong, this next season could be even better.

2. The Middle
The Middle continues to bring me so much joy, even in its 6th season. I cry at almost every episode (it’s like the sitcom equivalent to Parenthood) because the characters and situations are so hilarious yet familiar and real. My favorite character has always been Sue, who is now navigating the college admissions process and confronting the reality of both her family’s finances and her own limitations, but through it all she remains the overly optimistic Sue. The highlight of the year was the season 5 finale in Disney World, where through some mishaps the family receives an expensive suite for the night free of charge. After freaking out over every amenity, they oversleep because they’ve never slept in sheets so soft.

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I saw 25 movies this year. This is up 4 films from last year’s 21, but my count used to be in the 30s, so this is still a sad number. However, I have accepted that with all the theater I see and all the TV I watch, I’ll never have time to see enough movies.

Obvious Child

I am again counting the movies I saw at MoMA (both old and new), as well as the operas in HD (although I didn’t see any this year), the film programs a the Paley Center, and other museum programs and events. I am also counting (and this was a large source of movies this year) my company’s Movies for the Mind series, which I help run.

I saw 12 NEW movies this year. That is 1 more than last year! Of these 12, 4 were in regular movie theaters (5 less than last year… wow I did not go to the movie theater that much), 1 was at the Paley Center (1 less than last year), 1 was at Barnard’s Athena Film Festival (my first time attending), and 6 were at MoMA (I didn’t see any new movies at MoMA last year). Of the 4 I saw in a regular movie theater, I paid full price for 1 of them and used passes or got discounts for 3 of them. In total, I saw 12 films (both old and new) at MoMA (8 more than last year!), 1 at The Paley Center (1 less than last year), and 7 at my company’s Movies for the Mind series. Of the 25 movies I saw this year, I saw 23 for the first time (a high percentage compared to previous years).

My rating system uses stars and equates as follows: 1=bad, 2=ok 3=really good 4=great.

My favorite new movies (4 stars) this year were:
Obvious Child
Stories We Tell

Runners up (3.5 stars):
The Bling Ring
American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
Veronica Mars
Boyhood
Into the Woods

My favorite old movies I saw for the first time:
Europa Report

My favorite old movies I loved seeing again:
Gravity

Some Extra Fun Favorites:
Barnard’s Athena Film Festival

Worst new movie:
None

Worst old movie:
Sunshine (not awful, just not great)
The Lady from Shanghai (Could be good but fell asleep)
MASH (Not a bad film, just weird with mean characters)

The Big List:

Continue reading →