March 25, 2021

A couple of birdies landed in the bush in front of Phryne's window. Exciting times here this morning. I had a lot of meetings, yesterday, AND I skated at the park. It filled my whole day and I didn't get anything additional done. Being on my routine (finally) has been great, but I wonder what I'd feel like if I let the productivity go for a while. If I just read books and watched movies all day like that character from Tana French's book. That might not be nice for Mitch. He's probably worried a little already that he might be married to a freeloader. 

I've been reading Louis Theroux's book, and Mitch and I watched an episode of his documentaries last night -- the one with the Phelps family.  All Theroux all the time anymore. It's weird feeling, how I had never heard of Adam Buxton (and before that Richard Herring, and before that Susan Calman), and now I know a lot about him, Joe Cornish, and Louis Theroux. This whole mini world of middle-aged British men who have had interesting careers and some celebrity. They feel like a staple of pop-culture, but of course they're not -- at least not for Americans, especially Americans like me who's pop culture is pretty limited. It's one of those instances of when, once I find out about something, I feel like everybody already knows about it, and that anybody who doesn't know about it is hopelessly behind the curve. 

Time to MLog. Although this next one is a documentary. Do I want to start a separate DLog? I don't think so... I don't really watch enough docs to justify that. 

UNITED SKATES (Documentary) 

2018

Directed by: Dyanna Winkler and Tina Brown

Watched: 3/23/21

This doc is about skating culture and notable skating rinks across the US. It follows three main storylines: 1) Phelicia and her five kids (all avid skaters) in Los Angeles that struggle to find places to skate as one-by-one the rinks in LA close; 2) a family of three in North Carolina that’s trying to start a skate night at their local rink to attract black folks (better music, etc.); and 3) a rink in Chicago that’s having to close its doors despite hosting national skate parties, where people come from all over the country to skate. It also covers the segregated history of skating, how (in LA at least) all the musical artists came up through rapping and DJing at the skate rink, and the racism still going on today – cops at the black-coded “Adult Nights,” certain dress codes and wheel restrictions designed to discourage black people from skating, etc. 

The music was great. The skating was incredible. And the storylines were full of pathos. The documentarians did a great job at showing what skating and the skating community meant in the lives of the people it followed. It showed skating as a form of communion, expression, release, and identity. 

Rating: ★★★★