today is today

next time is next time

Apr 15, 2024

Hey folks,

Well, it’s Tax Day and, if you’re a paid subscriber to Pillow Fort, I’m 90% sure you can write-off your subscription as either “Educational” or “Charitable” depending on how these posts are hitting.

Ok, 60% sure. Maybe just flip a coin before you file? To be clear: I have an accountant and I have no idea what I am talking about.

It’s been two weeks since our last dispatch and since then, the moon blotted out the sun, Chicago had a taste of summer weather, I got my first jury summons, and I’ve had to recharge my bike light because of so many lovely night-cycles.

What’s new and what’s next?

Cat Huck and I had a conversation that ended up on
HITMAN
. We mention how much we’re both digging
The Claire McFadden Monthly
which, by tagging it here, officially completes the circle.
This Wednesday (4/17) I’m doing some improv with Caleb Fullen at Real Angels - Logan Square Improv at 9:30pm. This is my favorite show! Come see why!
I did a bit at Freshly Waxed where I was a stressed out Headspace intern who needed the audience’s help to re-record a guided meditation I had accidentally deleted.
Hart Lang
of
HART’s Substack
(check it!) was there and can vouch in terms of whether or not this hit. Sound off in the comments, please. Last show on the books is this Saturday (4/20) at The Den if you wanna swing by! I have a single comp but many codes so please, and I can’t stress this enough, hit me up.
We released the Heartache Visual Album a couple months ago and are starting to hear back from Film Festivals who have selected some music videos from the project. Very cool! Screenings in NYC and Los Angeles are both on the books for this summer with more deets coming soon! If you simply can’t wait, you can always check those out on the Color for Colors YouTube page.
We’re screening a short episode of POST at The Davis this Tuesday night for the cast & crew. I have a handful of extra seats now that we’ve gotten our RSVPs back, so if you’re a Pillow Fort-er, shoot me a message and I’ll save you a seat while supplies last! The evening will include a sizzle reel we produced for our TV show alongside a tasty selection of Chicago shorts to wrap up the night.

Ok, that’s what’s going OUT and here’s what I’ve been taking IN:

THREE MOVIES

Abby and I watched the Wim Wenders film PERFECT DAYS on a perfect day a couple of weeks ago. We’d attempted to catch it at the theater, but it was sold out so we watched a different Wenders flick about the painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer (in 3D?!) instead.1

In some ways these films couldn’t be more different. ANSELM grapples with heavy themes of war and art and memory against this massive backdrop of an abandoned industrial warehouse (turned artist’s workshop), while PERFECT DAYS follows the day-to-day routine of an older man (Hirayama) cleaning public toilets in Tokyo.

I’m particularly grateful to PERFECT DAYS for giving me the Japanese word komorebi, which describes the shimmering of light and shadows created by leaves swaying in the wind. If you’re a komorebi-head like me, I think you’d love PERFECT DAYS. The word helps me to hold on to something that exists only for a moment...although maybe hold on to is the exact wrong way of thinking about it. As Hiryama says in the film, “Now is now. Next time is next time.”

My feeds were overflowing with komorebi on the day of the eclipse as we all paused, looked up, borrowed glasses, and let our jaws collectively drop for a breath.

The eclipse washed over me in Graceland Cemetery, the final resting place of some of Chicago’s famous architects, and there was something really resonant about experiencing an intrinsically fleeting moment amidst the graves of people who spent their lives working with steel and stone. The stones are also slowly wearing away, so I guess it’s all a matter of perspective and timescale. My favorite thing about Graceland is that it is the home of a coyote who, without fail, makes me feel like this whenever I see him:

Speaking of wild animals…

I simply cannot recommend the film HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS highly enough.

I went with a group of pals to a sold-out screening with 700+ other people and it was hands down one of the best movie going experiences of my 32 years. So smart, so dumb, exquisite slapstick, entirely original, and an absolute delight.

Also, gotta drop in the brag that childhood pal Bobb Barito (who features prominently in this satirical retrospective I made about my oeuvre five years ago) sound designed it and it blew my socks off. See it in a theater if you can (or buy the flick on Apple TV or Prime and have yourself a good old fashioned movie night with as many friends as can fit in your movie-room of choice.

Do not, under any circumstance, invite any woodland critters.

PILES AND PILES OF BOOKS

Sulzer Library is dangerously close and now I’m surrounded by STACKS. I’ve really been enjoying hardcore literary grazing and cross pollinating lately2 — creating my own little spongey algorithm by following an improvisational syllabus that keeps changing. For example, I try to keep my brain on its toes (?) by waking up and reading twenty pages of DESTINY DISRUPTED: A HISTORY OF THE WORLD THROUGH ISLAMIC EYES, another chapter of EVIL EYES SEA, hop over to BUILDING A SECOND BRAIN to clean up my digital clutter/anxiety, and then garnish it all with a handful of poems from SURVIVAL IS A STYLE (a book by Christian Wiman that my mom brought me a week ago).

DESTINY DISRUPTED is the most flavor-forward of my samplings at the moment. I just got to the Ottoman Empire (no spoilers!) and I’m loving it. My exposure to hundreds of years of Islamic history growing up was virtually non-existent in the classroom and only really showed up in a game called STRONGHOLD CRUSADER that I bought for $10 from a Wal-Mart bargain bin as an Arkansan teen.

Currently, I’m getting some interesting resonance between historical empire building (GLOBAL) and all the current self-impove-y /productivity fads that push for a different kind of order and control (PERSONAL). The spark of a connection, but I’ll let it steep a little longer and see how it tastes in another few weeks.

Whatcha reading? Anything I should add to my brain soup?

And a Little Bit of The Internet

I’ve been a big fan of Bianca Giaever since encountering her short THE SCARED IS SCARED like a decade ago. She’s doing a month long project in NYC so, if you’re in NYC and need help, you should give her a call.

biancagiaever