Thursday Theatre - Kevin Pollak's Chat Show

I've been really into long-form interviews for the past few months, and now I can't go back to the regular old TV ones, which seem really stale. Talk shows and even shows built around discussing issues with guests are almost always so wooden and short these days that they're useless for actually finding out anything about a person's background.

Kevin Pollak's Chat Show is kind of a stripped-down Charlie Rose with snark, a little bad language, and charmingly low production values. It reminds me of early MTV mixed with some Johnny Carson and a dash of Bob Hope. Stand-up comedian and actor Kevin Pollak (The Usual Suspects, A Few Good Men) uses his show-biz contacts to bring in all kinds of people for really long, funny, touching, and wonderful talks. You can start up an episode and wander in and out of the conversation as you go about your domestic business, or you can sit down and watch it straight through while doing a little sewing or ironing, maybe. It comes in both video and podcast format, and you can get episodes on the website for free or on iTunes and Amazon for a few bucks.

Pretty much all of the interviews are really interesting and good, but I particularly recommend the episodes with the hilarious Hank Azaria (of The Simpsons fame), the lovely and entrepreneurial Felicia Day (The Guild), and the surprising Rob Riggle (The Daily Show).

Thursday Theatre - Bill Cunningham New York

I enjoy both fashion and quirkiness, and so for today's Thursday Theatre I'm going to recommend a film called Bill Cunningham New York. I'm a big fan of The New York Times' style section, and although I always marvel over the wonderful pictures in its "On the Street" column, I must admit that I didn't know anything about the photographer.

I won't try to summarize the whole film or Bill Cunningham's life, but I will say that he's a delight. He's so taken with the artistic side of fashion, and he gets as much enjoyment out of photographing a random person's visually engaging t-shirt as he does from attending the couture shows in Paris. He's quite a character, and the film is full of his gorgeous work. He turned 80 years old during the filming of the documentary, and he still has more energy than I've ever had in my life.

If you have a Netflix subscription (still a great value in my opinion, despite recent craziness), you can stream the movie or get the DVD. If not, you can buy it on iTunes for $9.99. It also pops up in artsy-type theaters occasionally, so check the film's website for that.

Introducing Thursday Theatre

When I clean, cook, sew, or do most any domestic task, I really like to have something happening in the background. My taste ranges from the driest documentaries to the most mainstream hits, and I've taken in quite a lot of information and culture while puttering around the house. I once learned all about the Cuban Missile Crisis while hemming a skirt, I sometimes work on my French listening comprehension while I clean, and I recently hung out with Hunter S. Thompson while making some marinated lamb over coconut rice.

This sort of thing is good for developing what my amazing high school English teacher used to call "cultural literacy" and it helps the work go more quickly. A lot of people tell me that they don't do various DIY projects because they get bored or distracted by something more interesting, so this is sort of an incentive to stick with it. You don't "have to" clean the bathroom; you "get to" listen to a new podcast!

Because various kinds of media and entertainment play such a big role in the way I practice the domestic arts, I want to share things I really like with you. I'll try to choose things that are either free or cheap, because being smart with money is part of domestic science! On Thursdays, I'm going to post little blurbs about things I think are great, and I hope you'll check them out and like them too!