What to Watch
If you haven’t seen “Wormwood,” watch it. Errol Morris. Netflix. The CIA.
Week in Review
This week, I:
Had a Skype audition with a reality TV casting director
Posted more pandemic fictions
Updated this blog daily
Wrote a short story and submitted it to an online publication, which rejected it
Was approached by a producer to create a pitch for a podcast episode, which was rejected
Was rejected for a national fellowship I applied to months ago
Continued reading Jerry Saltz’s How to be an Artist
Started doing yoga again
Posted a series of freelance writing tips to LinkedIn
Worked on a book and a podcast that I can’t talk about yet
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The Umbrella
Lisa Lyon, 1980, Robert Mapplethorpe
Recently, the Getty Museum put out a call for people to select their favorite artwork from the collection and recreate it with three items found around the house. I chose Robert Mapplethorpe’s 1980 portrait of Lisa Lyon.
Me, 2020, Susannah Breslin
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An Important Lesson
Several months ago, I applied for a prestigious national fellowship for a journalism project I’m working on. Earlier this week, I found out that I didn’t get it. This is the second time I’ve applied to this particular fellowship, and the second time I haven’t gotten it. Of course, there’s an important lesson to be learned here. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And sometimes when you try again, you will also fail again.
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The Reality Show
Image via Reddit
Today I had an interview with a casting director for a reality show. It was a little strange. It was on Skype, and part of the process is condensing your life into a series of soundbites. If you want to turn your life story from something that happened into a commodity, leave out the nuances. It’s all about the brand.
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A Pandemic Love Story
From my Pandemic Fictions series with animated versions on Twitter / Instagram.
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What to Watch
Over on my Forbes blog, I wrote about nine movies that offer the opposite of social distancing: intimacy. From hustling strippers to star-crossed lovers, it’s a list that provides a refreshing alternative to the six-foot rule. I hadn’t posted on my Forbes blog in a while, but I’ll be doing so more regularly moving forward. If circumstances change, the best strategy is sometimes a shotgun approach: Just aim and fire.
The Operation (1995)
Arguably the best explicit film ever made, “The Operation” is truly unlike anything you’ve ever seen. Essentially, it’s a porn movie shot with an infrared camera. The effect is haunting and otherworldly. Starring Otto Wrek and Gina Velour and directed by Jacob Pander, this is just about the most interesting thing you’ll see while isolated.
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Me Dot Com
4 Likes, 0 Comments - Susannah Breslin (@susannahbreslin) on Instagram: "😀"
For some reason, I never bought susannahbreslin.com. Then, at a certain point, someone else bought it. Eventually, it ended up in the hands of a company that sells URLs. Not long ago, I bought it. During this same time, I’d been having some issues with my Squarespace site that needed to be fixed. I asked around for a reference for someone who could help me resolve those issues. Then I found Brent & Jo Studio. They were great. Jo helped me set up my new domain and resolve my tech issues. I highly recommend Jo and her team. They’re fast, knowledgeable, and friendly. And now this site, at long last, resides on my name dot com.
[Image via my Instagram feed]
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Sex Work Pandemic
If you’ve not seen it yet, check out my Pandemic Fictions series. You can also see animated versions of some of them on Twitter and Instagram.
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Second Act
Next week, I have a remote audition for an upcoming reality television series. They’re looking for women of a certain age who are ready to pursue their second act. Here’s to hoping they pick me to join the second act-ers.
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Saint Lucy
After buying a few necklaces from Cartography, I suggested that they do a Saint Lucy necklace. Saint Lucy is the patron saint of writers, among other things. As it turned out, they made one, which you can buy now. It’s seen here with my Warrior Woman / Joan of Arc necklace, also by Cartography.
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In the Tub
Image credit: Nikola Tamindzic
My photographer friend Nikola Tamindzic remotely photographed me for his “I Am Here, and You Are Where You Are” series. As he puts it: It’s “a series of portraits of people all over the world during the coronavirus pandemic, most of whom I have never met in ‘real life.’ I am shooting these portraits remotely: me in my apartment in New York City, them out there in the world, using whatever technology we can.”
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The Plague Fables
Image via Amazon
I highly recommend reading Jill Lepore’s latest for The New Yorker: “What Our Contagion Fables Are Really About.” If you’ve not read Lepore before, now would be a great time to read Joe Gould’s Teeth.
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Today
Today I went outside for the first time since last Monday. The air appeared to be fresher, and the smell of blooming flowers in a neighboring house seemed more pungent. There were a few cars driving a few blocks away, and there were a few people walking around, but not many. As I was walking back, I saw a man walking towards me. He was about a half a block away. As soon as he saw me, he crossed to the other side of the street. I guess you could say he was a Pandemic Gentleman.
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A Pandemic Fictions Collection
Los Angeles Colorized
Art by George Townley
I love these renderings of Los Angeles by George Townley. What you see here is a dingbat, an architectural style found across the city that features living spaces above parking spaces. Found via California Sun.
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The Tumor Is Free
What I'm Reading
I’m reading Jerry Saltz’s How to Be an Artist. It’s smart, inspiring, and fun.
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The Empath
Image via The New Yorker
If you’re interested in the toll being a hyper-empath takes on the creator, check out “Fiona Apple’s Art of Radical Sensitivity” by Emily Nussbaum in The New Yorker.
On the day that Jonathan Ames came over, Apple had pondered the exact nature of her work. Maybe, she suggested, she was like any other artist whose body is an instrument—a ballerina who wears her feet out or a sculptor who strains his back. Maybe she, too, wore herself out. Maybe that’s why she had to take time to heal in between projects.
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