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How We Spent The Holidays
Dec. 26th, 2023 08:04 amChristmas was a laid-back but quite wonderful affair. I got a four-day weekend from the day job, and we made the most of it! On Friday we ended up playing games and going shopping at the local mall, Valley Fair. LUSH came through with a great present for one friend; and an Italian market called EATALY was our other big find. R. got artisinal meats and cheeses for our holiday party on Sunday, and we got three ready-to-bake pizzas as another Christmas present for our friends.
On Saturday we went to a board-game party with another few friends, the host of which we're considering moving in with next year. The layoffs have taken a toll on everyone this year so the celebration was tinged with notes of frustration and worry. We did offer to join forces to stay in the Bay area next year, but it's not clear how well that was received. It just might not be the time to talk about it, since we're all overwhelmed by the holidays.
Sunday was a different holiday party with other friends. No board games, but there was a poker table in which I came third. Overall I'm happy with my performance there. R., I think, really wanted to show how much he had me figured out but I kept my cards close enough to my vest. I was a bit more adventurous than I had been at previous tables, seeing how far I could go with bluffing based on what I knew about my opponents. It's...interesting to gauge how well you can manipulate people in a relatively friendly setting. It feels a little gross doing it but I'm also surprised by how easy it feels sometimes, if you squint through the right lens.
Yesterday we stayed in and had comfort food. New friend E. came over and got high with us, and we watched a few comedies. "Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar" was very much a Kristen Wiig joint and through it I realized how fond I am of the "two weird friends" sub-genre of comedy. Barb and Star are basically Great Plains Hobbits who love sitting on the display couches at Jennifer Convertibles to talk all day. They've been a little beaten up by life and, in their middle age as all hobbits tend to do, have sought to make a safe and comfortable home for themselves. It mostly works until circumstances force them to take a life-affirming adventure, where they find love and confidence and their "shimmer" that's been missing for years.
There was "Quiz Lady," starring Awkwafina and Canadian national treasure Sandra Oh. Awkwafina is a painfully socially-anxious woman from a broken home and Oh is her "carefree" sister who doesn't have her life on track but wants to help everyone else. You'd think their roles would be reversed based on the persona the two actors have developed over their careers, but they work really well here. Awkwafina is a small revelation as an incredibly-smart, incredibly-sensitive woman who (like Barb and Star) retreated into a safer, more comfortable, invisible life in the face of trauma. And Oh plays the sister like an agreeable hot mess who is surprisingly adept at moving people past the barriers that keep them from their best lives. Special shout-out to Will Ferrell as the kindly, goofy Alex Trebek analog; and Jason Schwartzman as the high-EQ sociopath Ken Jennings stand-in whose 80-game winning streak was meant to be toppled by our underdog duo. Probably the best thing we saw last week.
There was "Jinkx and Dela's Holiday Special," a drag-queen musical-variety show that turned out to be surprisingly thoughtful and funny. The central conflict tugged between the desire for a traditional, nostalgia-fueled holiday celebration and the looser, bawdier, more-secular Friendsmas that tends to be more in fashion in the gay community. I really liked the needle they threaded here, acknowledging the warm fuzzies that traditions can bring us but also gleefully excising the ones that don't serve everyone we've chosen to celebrate with. The songs were fun, the performers were game for anything (including inhabiting uncomfortable aspects of themselves for the sake of the story), and the production used every bit of the budget they had. Really impressive!
Finally there was "Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain". I'm not entirely familiar, but I think "Please Don't Destroy" is the next Lonely Island-style group to come out of SNL. It's another super-weird comedy that I liked quite a bit; the writing was whip-smart, the comedy was fast and silly, and I'm definitely into this group. I'm not sure how many folks will see it since it's on Peacock, but I highly recommend it!
Now, we turn our focus to Kwanzaa and the self-reflection that comes with it. A lot more writing this week, which I'm strangely looking forward to.
On Saturday we went to a board-game party with another few friends, the host of which we're considering moving in with next year. The layoffs have taken a toll on everyone this year so the celebration was tinged with notes of frustration and worry. We did offer to join forces to stay in the Bay area next year, but it's not clear how well that was received. It just might not be the time to talk about it, since we're all overwhelmed by the holidays.
Sunday was a different holiday party with other friends. No board games, but there was a poker table in which I came third. Overall I'm happy with my performance there. R., I think, really wanted to show how much he had me figured out but I kept my cards close enough to my vest. I was a bit more adventurous than I had been at previous tables, seeing how far I could go with bluffing based on what I knew about my opponents. It's...interesting to gauge how well you can manipulate people in a relatively friendly setting. It feels a little gross doing it but I'm also surprised by how easy it feels sometimes, if you squint through the right lens.
Yesterday we stayed in and had comfort food. New friend E. came over and got high with us, and we watched a few comedies. "Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar" was very much a Kristen Wiig joint and through it I realized how fond I am of the "two weird friends" sub-genre of comedy. Barb and Star are basically Great Plains Hobbits who love sitting on the display couches at Jennifer Convertibles to talk all day. They've been a little beaten up by life and, in their middle age as all hobbits tend to do, have sought to make a safe and comfortable home for themselves. It mostly works until circumstances force them to take a life-affirming adventure, where they find love and confidence and their "shimmer" that's been missing for years.
There was "Quiz Lady," starring Awkwafina and Canadian national treasure Sandra Oh. Awkwafina is a painfully socially-anxious woman from a broken home and Oh is her "carefree" sister who doesn't have her life on track but wants to help everyone else. You'd think their roles would be reversed based on the persona the two actors have developed over their careers, but they work really well here. Awkwafina is a small revelation as an incredibly-smart, incredibly-sensitive woman who (like Barb and Star) retreated into a safer, more comfortable, invisible life in the face of trauma. And Oh plays the sister like an agreeable hot mess who is surprisingly adept at moving people past the barriers that keep them from their best lives. Special shout-out to Will Ferrell as the kindly, goofy Alex Trebek analog; and Jason Schwartzman as the high-EQ sociopath Ken Jennings stand-in whose 80-game winning streak was meant to be toppled by our underdog duo. Probably the best thing we saw last week.
There was "Jinkx and Dela's Holiday Special," a drag-queen musical-variety show that turned out to be surprisingly thoughtful and funny. The central conflict tugged between the desire for a traditional, nostalgia-fueled holiday celebration and the looser, bawdier, more-secular Friendsmas that tends to be more in fashion in the gay community. I really liked the needle they threaded here, acknowledging the warm fuzzies that traditions can bring us but also gleefully excising the ones that don't serve everyone we've chosen to celebrate with. The songs were fun, the performers were game for anything (including inhabiting uncomfortable aspects of themselves for the sake of the story), and the production used every bit of the budget they had. Really impressive!
Finally there was "Please Don't Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain". I'm not entirely familiar, but I think "Please Don't Destroy" is the next Lonely Island-style group to come out of SNL. It's another super-weird comedy that I liked quite a bit; the writing was whip-smart, the comedy was fast and silly, and I'm definitely into this group. I'm not sure how many folks will see it since it's on Peacock, but I highly recommend it!
Now, we turn our focus to Kwanzaa and the self-reflection that comes with it. A lot more writing this week, which I'm strangely looking forward to.
