Alan & Jono's Watching/Reading List: November 2022 (Patreon)

Alan:

Hey Heroes!

November has been a bit more chill! I’m actually caught up on work for the most part for the first time in… 2 years? That being said, Megan and I also really started diving in on writing Homestead, our next feature film!

What I’m reading!

• A WWII biography called Inferno about Snuffy Smith, the first airman to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was an enlisted B-17 gunner and did some pretty wild stuff, like throwing boxes of ammunition out of a hole that melted in the side of his plane to keep them from exploding in the fire he was fighting… By wrapping parachute silk around his hands and hitting the flames (again, that melted aluminum) because his fire extinguishers had run out. Also, he was a huge jerk, so he’s a great character to read about.
• I’ve been listening to The Shining on audiobook. As part of my lean into horror the last couple years, I’ve finally started reading Stephen King books, and welp. I guess you don’t sell 350 million books by being a crappy writer. The Shining is messy and sweaty and makes me feel itchy inside my own skin. In short, it’s a masterpiece.

What I’m watching!

• I re-watched Stanley Kubrick's The Shining from 1980. I watched it once like 20-25 years ago, and I remember being underwhelmed. Well. I think I was right. It changes a lot from the book that makes it significantly less effective (Stephen King is famously not a fan.) It’s long and ponderous. And the resolution is, frankly, pretty stupid. Technically, it’s nearly a masterpiece (the sets!!!) but as a film-watching experience, it’s kinda meh, imo. Of course Lee Unkrich (director of Toy Story 3 and Coco, editor of SO MUCH GREATNESS) thinks it's the greatest film of all time. So what do I know?
• We re-watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a family over Thanksgiving. And wow. Guys. Three perfect films. I don’t know what else to say. These movies are literally the reason, the biggest chunk of why I’m a filmmaker. Even 20 years later (geez, how old am I now) they recapture the magic that made me think, at 21 and 22, I could make movies for a living.

What I’m playing!

• Still playing Jedi: Fallen Order on PlayStation. It got really frustrating for awhile. The difficulty ramped up faster than my skills tree unlocked, but now I’m starting to catch up and it’s getting fun. Starting to really feel like a Jedi. Which is basically why I play video games!
• Also been playing Control, a really fun horror shooter, that is kinda like an SCP video game, almost? But more nightmare-ey. I only play that one late at night when the family is asleep already. Which means I’m going through it really slowly, because I like going to bed relatively early.

And…

Watch Movies! (And television, and read books, and play video games)

Jono:

Right now I just came off a marathon of the Rocky and Creed films. Eight movies with a definite formula. You'd think I'd be sick of them... NOPE! I feel so fired up and inspired for life right now! I'm going to be getting into Bridgerton here in a little bit after I finish my Friends full-series watch.

As for what I'm reading, Tuesdays with Morrie was a sensation back in the '90s that deserves to be rediscovered. It's about a sportswriter who reconnects with his college professor; the latter is dying of cancer and shares his best wisdom with his former pupil. Life-changing book.

What have you been watching and reading this month?