First Quarter Dispatch | 2022

I miss talking to y’all.

2021 was a lot. Work was weighty. The pandemic was still pandemmying. My wife and I bought and then began renovating our first house. And my 3-year-old daughter needed a play partner. I was busy, fam.

But I entered this year on a mission to share more again. To interact. So my first post in forever is a not-so-intimidating account of what I’ve been up to from the top of the year to mid-April. Things I watched or listened to and loved. Family photos. Stuff.

My hope is maybe you’ll share back. Hit me and tell me what you’ve been digging, what you’re playing, where you’re going. As we enter this “post-Covid” world (LOL. Bruh, it’s still wild out here. Be safe.), I’m finally ready to crawl out of my bunker, get regular haircuts and touch the town. Until I see you IRL, here’s my First Quarter Dispatch.

*The Batman*

A stellar take on Batman’s early years. There are so many scenes I still can’t stop thinking about. The tension and excitement created when the Batmobile first appeared? Incredible.

The Weeknd’s Dawn FM

They say the album era is dead in the music business. But The Weeknd continues to pump out audio films, cohesive projects where the ninth track hits so hard because Track 2 set the table for it. By the time Jim Carrey brings it home with his spoken-word piece at the end, I have soaked in umpteen jams and gotten a hearty synth-pop epic with a clear story arc and moral. It will be hard for any other act to nudge Dawn FM from being my favorite album of the year.

Love Is Blind (Netflix) — *Love is Blind* (Netflix)

Deepti chose herself. As you should when dating an asshole.

Lavender vegan ice cream with my girls.

*Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty* (HBO)

I’m not sure if they’re nailing each character as I thought or expected to see them (Jerry West ain’t looking like “Mr. Clutch” early-on.). But I’m enjoying it.

**Started a New Job in March. I’ll Be Getting Dressed This Year.**

When I’m Not Wearing Slides…

Dusted off the old Mark McNairy New Amsterdam loafers | Love to the annual three-week stretch in LA that it’s actually cold enough for boots during the day. Olive Yeezys. | Grace Wales Bonner Adidas on my first day at the OMD office.

He’s a comedian, but this hour isn’t about jokes. It’s more like if Watching a Black Man Unload Mental Baggage and Cope with It in Real Time was a genre. That’s why Jerrod Carmichael’s Rothaniel is special. He’s candid and—even in quiet, tension-filled moments on stage—communicates how coming out as gay has resulted in heaps of family stress, but also a little personal relief. I watched this late at night, alone in my dim living room. It was like I was in the nightclub with him. By the time he revealed what his first name is, I clapped for Jerrod, too.

The Andy Warhol Diaries (Netflix)

Warhol is so intriguing to me because he himself was a deeply layered piece of art. Diaries added much more context to the world he wrote about in his journal entries. So much talent, strength, hurt, fear, and—yes—decadence.

This docu-series was almost perfect. “Almost,” because I wish more people of note—like Cosby’s elite comedic peers and Black leaders—stepped up to speak about him in this forum. Still, We Need to Talk About Cosby is incredible in its nuanced take. W. Kamau Bell sets the table by introducing viewers to the charming funny man most of us loved and then tactfully walks us right into vivid, grim tales of his repeated sex crimes. Several of his victims recall what they remember from some of the worst days of their lives.

I thought this doc was going to be a basic four-part take-down that didn’t acknowledge Cosby’s genuinely awe-inspiring output and feats as a Black man (I wouldn’t blame anyone for taking that route). Surprisingly, it does. It feels like the full truth. The result is a series that makes Bill Cosby’s Great Goods wrestle with his Immense Bads. Some of Talk About Cosby makes you laugh. And some of it—especially as an African American—makes you begrudgingly thankful. Most of all, though: It leaves you disgusted.

Love is a Helluva Drug.

We’re in the midst of a True Crime scammer content wave. I watched *Bad Vegan* and a bit of *Inventing Anna*. But no series, documentary, or film was as gripping as *The Tinder Swindler*. I felt especially bad for Cecilie Fjellhoy, who fell hard for Mr. “My Enemies Are After Me” and his playboy fake-out. At the end Fjellhoy says that she still is on Tinder, still looking for love. Wow, right? Undeterred by the hardship and deception she experienced. Love is amazing in that way.

Auntie Jane!

Breakfast with my other mother.

***Top Boy*** (Netflix)

Damn, fam. I wanted this season to end one way. It did not end that way. And it still hurts.

Play this and feel things. Boy’s got talent and it’s fun to hear him grow.

Ozark, Season 4 (Netflix)

Jonah’s washing money for the opps. This will not end well.

**“Hey! How’s the renovation going?!?”**

Uh, it’s going. Just trying to enjoy the process. Here’s our living room. We’ll be in it by June(-ish). Obviously, right?

Season 2 of ***Euphoria***, (HBO)

**Me before Season 2:** Season 1 was a wild-ass trip. I wonder how this will go.
**Cassie Howard**: (see gif)

“Now I could let these dream-killers kill my self-esteem/ Or use my arrogance as the steam that powers my dream.”
- Kanye West on “Last Call,” from his debut album The College Dropout.

Jeen-Yuhs’ main victory is in its footage, which confirms that it actually was incredibly difficult for Kanye West to become the star he always knew he was. So many who could have boosted the young talent underestimated him or—worse—paid him no mind.

I don’t think I have any haters. But I know most of us have had the experience of sharing a dream or goal with people who respond with either blank stares or mild-to-borderline fake support because they don’t see your vision with the clarity you do. Jeen-Yuhs is fuel for dreamers and hopefully an alert memo for lames: Don’t wait for something or someone to be popular before supporting.

I didn’t finish this one feeling like I know-know Miss Jackson now. I don’t think she was much interested in revealing it all. But I appreciated the unseen home videos. What I’d really love to see now are proper docs on her classic albums. Janet. and Rhythm Nation both deserve two hours. They skated by her albums in favor of the greater narrative. I get it. But damn! More studio and rehearsal footage, please!

Later, y’all.

Journal