Reading, Watching, Listening 7/11/2025
A few words about variety
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I went to a variety show last night! A live one! It’s not often that I go out to cool, off-beat events like that, only because I’m quite lazy when it comes to seeking these things out. Thankfully, I got an invite to this one, from Ronnie K. of the Reel Love podcast and her co-host Joey Litvak.
The event in question was Corn Puff Records Presents… Today is an Adventure! A Show with Jojo Richard Mitten.
I really had no idea what to expect walking into the small event space at Array Music, and even the small detail I knew—that my friend Alan Jones had made a short film being screened during the show—turned out to be somewhat wrong. There was a short film, and Alan was in it, though he hadn’t made it. But the film was just one small part of a long, delightful show. Hosted by Jojo Richard Mitten, the event was a celebration of Dick Mitten—he prefers Dick to Richard or Jojo—arriving in Canada from the faraway land of Tasmania and out of the clutches of Mother, from whom he was born.
The Andy Kaufman-inflected show was entertaining off the bat, and ended up including musical performances by Noa Bonen and the band Amelia Ear Heart’s Sonic Aviary, a local trio whose music sounded very mewithoutYou to my ear, which I of course appreciated. There was a whole bit with clarinetist Zack Goldstein, plus a video game demo from designer Jack Harrison of Digital Joy, and Dick Mitten sat down for a couple of live therapy sessions with Ronnie K., which led to an emotional breakthrough for the lonely Tasmanian. It was, as the event was sold, an artists showcase, and it was a genuine pleasure to see what a bunch of creative people in the city were up to. I’ve gotta get out to more stuff like this.
No professionally published work this week, but I did write about Adam Curtis’s new documentary essay series Shifty, which is about the last decades of British life in the 20th century, and which has some striking parallels to my beloved 28 Years Later.
Also, don’t forget to toss me a question or two to answer in my upcoming AMA, which I announced this week and will be publishing here on Monday, July 14.
Let's Do an AMA!
Hey hey! I’m going to try something new here. An AMA! That’s “Ask Me Anything,” for those whose internet speak is lacking.
Reading, Watching, Listening
Here are some things I’ve consumed and enjoyed over the last week.
Superman is out now in theatres, and I’ll be seeing it at a late show in IMAX