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Everyone’s reading Highly Transmissible these days, even my mom. You wouldn’t want your friends and family to miss out, now would you?
Let’s face it: It’s been a hell of a week. My dreams are coming through as video chats, and I literally got excited to go to the laundromat today. We don’t even have March Madness to enjoy. (That said, horse racing is alive and well if you’re into that sort of thing. Hat tip to friend and reader Stephen Straub.) And I don’t know about your apartment, but there’s nothing going on in this joint except making grilled cheese.
The interesting thing about not being able to go out is that it makes you really appreciate going out. I have WBGO on this afternoon, as I do most afternoons, and they just played a blues set that was recorded on a Friday night at the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, Calif., and I would literally donate a pint of blood and a kidney to be in the tap room right now listening to some sick jams. C’est la vie.
The great thing about being quarantined in 2020, though, is that we have access to literally decades of films and television, not to mention the entire internet, video games and video chat. We’re actually living in a moment of incredible cultural wealth, and technology is helping to keep us connected.
On Thursday nights I typically meet with a small group on people on the Upper West Side for a few hours of Dungeons & Dragons. It’s essentially collaborative storytelling and is something that I do purely for fun. Obviously, people can’t gather in groups under the current coronavirus restrictions, but that didn’t stop us last night from continuing to play our game using an app called Roll20 which displays video feeds and and a shared game board. It wasn’t quite the same as in-person play, but it came pretty close. And if you think about the fact that Gary Gygax created D&D back in 1972 because he and his friends needed something to do to get through the tedium and isolation of winter in Lake Geneva, Wisc., there’s something oddly poetic about thousands of people around the world gathering online to play a cooperative game.
And HEY, it’s Friday night, and just because the whole world’s got a cold doesn’t mean you can’t watch someone else play a saxophone next to a barrel that’s full of fire. In fact, that’s just about the single best thing you can do with your night.
Just don’t try to recreate this scene yourself—the hospitals have got their hands full already.
TODAY’S RECOMMENDATION: “THE LOST BOYS” (1987)
So that half-naked guy with the saxophone and the barrel of fire? Yeah, he’s a bit player in “The Lost Boys,” an absolutely bonkers horror romp from director Joel Schumacher. It’s the perfect kind of movie for a Friday night just as the weather is starting to turn nice. There are vampires, comic books, bumbling adults, motorcycles, bad hair, Kiefer Sutherland, Corey Feldman, and like every teen movie from the late 1980s and 1990s, it takes place in California and involves a divorce as backstory. To quote today’s youths, this movie slaps.
Perhaps the most gratifying thing about “The Lost Boys” is that despite all of those elements, it’s not stupid. In fact, it’s actually pretty good. It’s the kind of movie you might watch at a drive-in movie theater on a sultry summer night in upstate New York. Or, if you’re trapped in your apartment during a pandemic, consider rolling a joint and turning the TV up loud. It’s pure Friday night escapism and straight-up junk food. There’s nothing nutritious about “The Lost Boys,” but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. In fact, the whole reason it works is that it unironically, unabashedly embraces what it is: A story about teenage vampire hunters in a small beachside town in California zooming around while they destroy the undead and learn about love and life.
“The Lost Boys” is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
WEEKEND LIST
Since we’re going into the weekend, I don’t want to leave you hanging. I won’t be publishing on Saturday or Sunday, but I’ll leave you with a couple of other recommendations to get you through to Monday.
To Watch:
“Toy Story 4” just won the Oscar for Best Animated Film, and honestly, while it wasn’t my favorite animated film from last year, it definitely was worthy of the prize. It’s streaming on Disney+ and may make you cry.
“Missing Link” was actually my favorite animated film from the past year. The animation is incredible, the story is unique, and it succeeds in being a heartwarming adventure. Currently streaming on Hulu.
“The Dwarvenaut” is a charming and surprisingly well-made documentary about an odd-ball artist dedicated to creating elaborate Dungeons & Dragons miniatures. Even if you’re not into that kind of thing, the real life characters and their struggles are compelling viewing. Streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
“Cats” is available to stream on a variety of services, although you will have to pay full freight for it. This is one for Saturday night if you want to get wasted and yell at the screen. If you decide to do that, just keep in mind that Universal Pictures had to hire a visual effects specialist to create the “butthole cut” and remove all of the anatomically correct cat butts from the movie. No joke.
To Read:
The Topeka School was my favorite book last year, and it made it onto a lot of “best of” lists. It’s about high school debate, psychoanalysis, New York and the Midwest. Huge thanks to reader and friend Becca Caine, who helped edit the book, for putting it in my hands and telling me to read it.
The New York Times did a great profile of national treasure and radio host Brian Lehrer. If you love WNYC and New York, give this a read.
Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next week, along with some posts from exciting guests! Don’t forget to sign-up for the newsletter and share with friends and family.