Kareem's Weekend Boost (Feb. 4-6)
What to Watch, Read, or Listen to This Weekend
Every week the world rains down a hailstorm of troubling news. The Russians are threatening to invade Ukraine, Facebook lost $230 billion in stock value, COVID-19 is still sending thousands to hospitals. I like to think that my Weekend Boost is a warm shelter from the storm, a respite where we can muse about art in popular culture. Where we think about achievements that delight and inspire us. It’s like the feeling you get on a good-hair day (which for me is every day).
Although it’s Black History Month, I wanted to take this Boost to celebrate three Jewish writers: Paul Simon, Budd Schulberg, and E. Lockhart. We all need to celebrate each other, every month.
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WATCH (TV)
Resident Alien (SyFi)
Man, this show is funny. It’s also clever, charming, and suspenseful. But mostly it’s very funny. Based on a comic book, the show features the amazing Alan Tudyk (who played my favorite character in the Firefly series). In Resident Alien, he’s an extraterrestrial who comes to Earth to destroy it. However, he’s forced to shape-shift into human form, pretending to be a doctor in a small community, while finalizing his evil plan. Of course, the more he gets to know humans the more he’s conflicted about destroying them. But his clumsy attempts to blend in with humans create some hilarious scenes. This is easily one of the funniest shows on television.
This is a reader-supported newsletter. Both free and paid subscriptions are available. The best way to join the community and support my work is by taking out a paid subscription.
LISTEN (book/music)
Miracle and Wonder: Conversations with Paul Simon by Malcolm Gladwell and Bruce Headlam
Drop whatever you’re doing and get this Audible book. This is not a biography, though there are biographical elements, it’s a meditation on the creative process of one of the great musical geniuses of our time. The interviewers take Simon through some of his greatest creations—including ”The Boxer,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Sound of Silence”— and many musical influences that went into the creation of each of these works. What is especially interesting is how similar Simon is to great athletes. He keeps experimenting with sounds, ideas, lyrics, often rejecting fifty missteps to get the one giant step. He’s willing to take the shot and miss, over and over again, until he makes it. This has allowed him to incorporate so many genres into his work—jazz, gospel, folk, rock, country—until the blend is his original voice. In many ways, this is a reflection of America itself sampling its many diverse cultures but creating a unique voice that honors all of them.
While Simon’s musical talents are enormous, his lyric writing is incomparable. “Graceland,” “The Boy in the Bubble,” “America,” and dozens of more songs read like a Rorschach of the American consciousness. Only Joni Mitchell matches him for depth of thought, poetry of language, and breadth of subject matter. To listen to Simon discuss these songs is to be transformed forever.
Here’s Simon & Garfunkel performing “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Simon discusses in the book why it took him nearly 50 years to be able to sing it himself.
For an extra bonus, this is Aretha Franklin singing her famous gospel-infused version.
Get Audible book here.