How To Follow Your Mood In A Long Winter

Plus: Positions, The Queen's Gambit, and What's Making Us Happy by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when ... I mean, you know what week it was. But it was also the week when the Bachelorette [broke The Bachelorette]( by actually finding someone she liked. It was the week when we learned that they're doing [a Family Ties reunion](. And it was the week when we found out that Tenet is, in fact, [coming to your living room](. Let's get to it. Opening Argument: How To Follow Your Mood In A Long Winter I wish I thought we didn't have a lot of isolation and distancing left. I wish I saw us going back to theaters soon -- both movie theaters and live theater, and music performance spaces and readings and all those things. It doesn't look like that's imminent. It looks like we've got a way to go. To some degree, winter is always a time of covering up and blanketing yourself and putting on slippers and sitting by fires. But not like this. So let's talk about strategy -- not overall strategy, which obviously has to include your health and finding ways to stay in contact with people safely and managing what I know are enormous challenges for parents with kids in school; I am not the person to advise about that. But let's talk about how to deploy the art and the entertainment that you love in the best way you can. Please don't take this to mean I assume everyone has free time: Plenty of people do not have free time right now. But even the busiest of people -- like doctors and nurses and exhausted parents -- have told me in recent months that they need their stories, their music, their things to read. So let's talk about it. My first suggestion is not to be afraid to revisit things that you've loved for a long time, particularly if you haven't already done that in the last eight months or so. Very often, I find that if I return to a movie or a book that I loved, it seems really different to me, and it sometimes helps me map some change in what I care about or notice or relate to. I think a lot of people try to optimize their cultural intake, and I completely get it, and obviously I spend a lot of time on discovery myself. But I also believe that every decision takes a certain outlay of mental energy, and sometimes that energy just isn't there for finding the new thing. However! My other suggestion, which is complementary and not in opposition, is to use any time that you do find you have to discover some of the stuff you've filed under "I'm not going to get to that." I recently started making my way through The Leftovers, which just never made it into my weekly rotation. It's a cliche among TV critics to say some shows get better as you go along, and I am not really a fan of investing ten hours in trying to get yourself to start to like something. But the fact that something didn't spark with you in the first moments you encountered it doesn't mean it won't now. I tend to rely a lot on friends and fellow critics for this: When a lot of people I trust are describing something in a way that makes it seem like I'd like it, I try to push a little harder to see if I can latch onto it. And I often do -- it's happened with everything from Friday Night Lights to Breaking Bad. It happened this week with Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso, which I resisted a couple of different times until I stuck with it enough that I raced all the way through it. (Watch for an upcoming PCHH episode!) Also: Your mood may be really ... volatile. Mine definitely is. Sometimes, I just want something sweet and nice and romantic to watch, like a holiday movie. (You'll be glad to know there are ... many of those to watch.) Sometimes, I want to watch 20 consecutive YouTube videos of experts making fun of how their jobs are portrayed in the movies, or I want to follow the video journey of a woman making authentic Victorian underwear. Sometimes, I'm in the mood for one of those deeply serialized dramas, or I want to read a great nonfiction book, or I want to listen to the audiobook of a memoir. My point here is that if you find your head is a little all over the place, you're not alone. Just follow it gently from point to point, don't judge it, give it lots of choices. (Your head, I'm saying.) And before I get off this topic, let me say a kind word about hobbies. Specifically, about making stuff. You can tell people have been embracing crafting by how hard it is to get certain kinds of crafting supplies right now (try to buy a highly recommended basic sewing machine at the moment). But this is a really good thing to add to your options. (It obviously does not have to be sewing.) My choice has been papercrafting of various kinds, learning to make greeting cards. I know that might sound weird given how few people send mail anymore, but let me tell you: When people don't send mail very often, you get a lot of points for sending mail. People are pleasantly surprised! We're going to keep talking about it. For now, find what you love, be good to yourself, and get some sleep. --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message --------------------------------------------------------------- We Recommend: Are you a warm-hearted animal-story person? I mean, who isn't? Be aware that CBS All Access has a Richard Linklater-produced series called That Animal Rescue Show that is ... exactly what's advertised. Lots of animals, lots of helpful people, lots of good feelings. (A note: I found out after I initially wrote this recommendation and while the newsletter was in editing that this show is currently sponsoring our podcast. Seriously, I never hear those spots (on purpose) and had no idea, but it's a thing we should note.) This is a good week to reread [Jelani Cobb's profile]( of Stacey Abrams: organizer, activist, and romance novelist. Don't forget that we have a show coming up about The West Wing. Return to it if you like, and send us a voice memo asking a question you'd like to hear wrestled with at [pchh@npr.org](mailto:pchh@npr.org?subject=). What We Did This Week: [Comedy Recs PCHH image]( Lacey Terrell/Netflix What a busy week! On our Monday show, Stephen and Aisha [talked about Ariana Grande's new album]( Positions. But! Also on Monday, [we brought in our pal]( Chris Klimek to talk to Glen about some iconic Sean Connery performances. On Tuesday, Glen and I welcomed Sam Sanders and Kat Chow to talk about a few [Election Day distractions]( which it turned out were useful all week. On Wednesday, in a marvelous moment of serendipity, I was joined by [Tiny Desk Contest winner and chess champion Linda Diaz]( to talk about Netflix's The Queen's Gambit. (We also [wrote up some notes]( on this conversation if you'd rather read than listen, because that's how much we liked it.) The great Brittany Luse [returned to PCHH on Thursday]( to go over The Vow, Seduced, and ways of telling complicated stories. And on Friday, Daisy Rosario and Ronald Young, Jr. [joined me and Glen]( to offer up a few recommendations for comedy specials. I also [wrote this week]( about the terrific Steve James documentary City So Real, which is available on Hulu and covers the 2018-19 Chicago mayoral race. Over at NPR Music, [Stephen wrote about]( Tracy Chapman's late-night performance of "Talkin' Bout A Revolution" as well as [Arcade Fire's performance]( of what he calls 2020's "first big post-election protest anthem." And filling in over at [one of our favorite podcasts]( Bullseye, I got a chance to talk to actress Cristin Milioti about her work in the new film Palm Springs with Andy Samberg, plus Broadway, How I Met Your Mother, and our respective dogs. What's Making Us Happy: Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: - Glen's comedy special pick: [Shelf Life from Gianmarco Soresi]( on Amazon - Daisy's comedy special pick: [Michelle Buteau: Welcome to Buteaupia]( on Netflix - Ronald's comedy special pick: [Jason Weems: Unknown]( on Amazon - Linda's comedy special pick: [Sarah Cooper: Everything's Fine]( on Netflix - What's making Glen happy: [Truth Seekers]( on Amazon - What's making Daisy happy: Watching old Halloween cartoons, [including Garfield and Friends]( - What's making Ronald happy: [SNL's "Strolling the Polls" sketch]( - What's making Linda happy: [The Hallmark Movie Checklist app]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. --------------------------------------------------------------- What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [pchh@npr.org](mailto:pchh@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? 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