CHRIS WELLS
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"...the highly structured format means that tons of writing gets done, so that when the workshop is over you can barely recognize your work, it's grown so much."

COLORS--from The Secret City, March 25, 2018

3/27/2018

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Random, perhaps embarrassing thoughts, insights and opinions relating mostly to popular culture vol. 6

3/21/2018

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--When society achieves a certain level of absurdity, satire loses its power.
--Nan Goldin's art action at the Met Museum inspired the hell out of me.
--As did those teens walking out of school.
--We had a walkout when I was in high school-- think it was about Prop 13.
--Elton John has a radio station on Apple Music. It's funny to think of Elton John working.
--Sza makes music I (mostly) like, but I don't know how to pronounce her name.
--Erykah Badu continues to excite me--her mixtape is brilliant. (But You Can't Use My Phone.)
--Frank Ocean is a young, gay, black musical artist with broad appeal and that makes me really happy.
--The pervasiveness of sugar astonishes me.
--I shot an episode on a TV show and it streamed last week and I still haven't seen it.
--I also haven't seen Hamilton.
--RuPaul's statements about trans people and drag, are lame.
--I still struggle with the they/them/their convention, but it's coming to me.
--Love, Simon is being billed as the first gay romcom--what about My Beautiful Laundrette? Maurice? Others? Maybe they're too fraught with closet issues to be considered 'romantic.'
--Is Edie Brickell still making music? Or did Paul Simon silence her?
--And, what about Beverly D'Angelo?
--Remember when Linda Evangelista said she wouldn't get out of bed for less than $10,000? Remember how outraged people were?
--I listened to a great podcast on early Hollywood on a long drive south last week. Called You Must Remember This, we binged the Joan Crawford episodes. Fascinating.
--Is it true that Janine Garofolo is asexual?
--Someone last week wrote to me about my lists, telling me they thought of me when, as they sat in their car, worrying about Sinead O'Connor, they wondered who else would care about this? She realized: I WOULD CARE! And, I do. In fact, Sinead, in particular, is someone I think about a lot. Her music has made such a huge impact on my life, beginning with the Lion and the Cobra, through Universal Mother and beyond. What an extraordinary artist. What a suffering soul. I've been listening to a great meditation lately that begins by saying we must give thanks for our suffering so that we may know gratitude. I'm not sure about that but I try...I do give thanks, especially for those who've made my life richer. And to those who manage, with their suffering, to still make something extraordinary with their life--HUGE thanks. Here's to Sinead, wherever she might be today. May she know peace.
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Random, perhaps embarrassing thoughts, insights and opinions relating mostly to popular culture vol. 5

3/13/2018

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--I suppose I'm late to the game but I love St. Vincent.
--I don't like the phrase 'late to the game.'
--I love games but am not a fan of organized sports, however this has nothing to do with my dislike of the phrase, 'late to the game.'
--If you discover the work of an artist at any time, and their work moves or inspires you, how can that ever be late?
--However, trends are real and tastes are, too.
--I love the word conundrum.
--St. Vincent's album with David Byrne is brilliant.
--David Byrne is a refreshing example of a popular artist with integrity and expansive creativity.
--I've been listening to a LOT of Sade.
--Back in the day, I would have said, "I worship Sade."
--Some people pronounce her name: Shar Day. This is incorrect and I judge whoever does this.
--I've been listening to meditations to be more compassionate. They work. However I'm still judgemental.
--Someone publicly wondered why Beyonce didn't seem to be able to use her own message of female empowerment in her own life and relationships with men.
--Solange certainly made her mark last year. I love that album.
--I read an article that Bruno Mars couldn't be appropriating Black culture because he's part Puerto Rican.
--The idea of appropriation gets all slippery when you think about art and popular culture.
--Broadchurch is a delicious TV show.
--Humans are fascinated with death stories.
--I enjoyed the parade of powerful women at the Oscars.
--Sherman Alexie has been accused of sexual harassment/misconduct and a friend of mine who's a huge fan says she's giving all of his books away because of this.
--I'm reading an old spy novel and one of the conceits is a character who's a known 'pansy'--therefore corruptible and morally suspect. It's odious. Reading this reminded me that there are new anti-gay marriage laws being introduced in the legislature. What does this mean for folks like my husband and me, who got married in September of last year and wore flowers in our hair, like real fairies? I suppose in another era we would have been called pansies and considered morally suspect. What we really want is beauty and truth and to live lives of meaning, like most people. What's so wrong with a pansy, anyway?

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Random, perhaps embarrassing thoughts, insights and opinions relating mostly to popular culture.

3/6/2018

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--With all of the advances in EVERYTHING, why does hair in film still pose such a problem? We can see the cheap dye, the bad wig--stop it.
--I haven't watched a soap opera in years but I wonder if it's still common practice for a VO to come on to announce a change in casting for a well known character? "The role of Angela will now be played by..."
--Is "Hack!" the worst insult you can fling at an artist?
--I'd kill for one of Judi Dench’s pieces of vulgar embroidery.
--Does Aretha Franklin work out?
--I'm enjoying the latest wave of pop musicians creating names/personae for themselves: St. Vincent, Sia.
--A friend turned me on to a Korean rapper/pop star named CL and I love her.
--I'm troubled by the number of commercials, and the details of them, I remember from my youth.
--What is Sheena Easton doing now?
--I get the impression that Hall and Oates barely tolerate each other.
--Do all country music stars long to go mainstream?
--When is the last time we had a dance craze, the Macarena?
--I think someone should start a non-profit called Piano in the Parlor, designed to bring the family piano back to prominence.
--I'd like to see a musical featuring the lesser known siblings of famous stars: Lorna Luft, Crystal Gayle, Stella Parton.,
--I'm just now realizing what a HUGE influence the B-52s have had on my life.
--I wonder about bands with no article before their name, do they know that people will mostly get it wrong for eternity?: Eurythmics, Smashing Pumpkins, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
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