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Mood: Here for It, #359

R. Eric Thomas

• 6 min read

Hi! It's R. Eric Thomas. From the internet?
Hi!

First up, hello to the new readers brought by Emily Flake's very generous shoutout in The New Yorker Magazine's "Funny This Month" newsletter!

I've loved Emily's work for years and years--I first started reading it in the Baltimore City Paper. Oh my God, my kingdom for the return of the alt-weekly–a big ole chunky paper full of concert listings for bands I am not cool enough to know and scrappy, saucy, sometimes profane reports about local politics and, of course, brilliant comics that make you think "Oh, wow, what a wonderful thing to be developing taste!"

I was once featured in the City Paper for a play I wrote and, girl, you couldn't tell me I wasn't famous. I was like, "Oh, I can't be out in these streets. I can't go to the Safeway anymore. They gon be out here mobbing me like I'm Connor Storrie, a person who at this time has not yet been born."

I believe the headline was: "REPORT: LOCAL MAN TO SPEND THE NEXT 20 YEARS SEARCHING FOR THIS HAIRLINE." It's a cold case!!

Here's the very kind thing Emily wrote:

And to be mentioned in the same sentence as SAMANTHA IRBY?! The preeminent newsletterer. (Here's where I segue into my impression of that one video of Oprah talking about Gayle.) She is the newsletterer I never had. The humorist everybody would want. I don't know a better writer. I DON'T 👏 KNOW 👏 A BETTER WRITER.

Anyway, hi, how are you?

It's 42 degrees here in Philadelphia but the sun is ALL THE WAY OUT with that intensity that happens on the first non-gloomy, non-frigid day at the tail end of winter and it's causing the most ebullient psychosis in me.

Me, harmonizing with my houseplants.

Like, it's actually still brr out there (technical term) and yet this was me walking into the coffee shop this morning. "Yoo hoo gals! Guess whose serotonin came back!"

The sun, she's out! My WINDOWS ARE OPEN!

This is a very East Coast-coded sentiment, I know. I do a lot of work with people in LA and every time we Zoom they're like "how's the weather?" and I'm like "well, we had 12 inches of snow yesterday and I've become an Instant Pot soup." And they're like, "hm. Okay. Sounds great." And then they go back to eating their lunch from the GOOP Kitchen in a sun-dappled room.

Oh, to live a permanently sun-dappled life!

But the reason I like living on the East Coast, besides getting to watch awards shows at a normal nighttime time, is that I sometimes forget to be happy about change. It's like the Baker's Wife sings in Into the Woods, "oh, if life were only moments! Even now and then a bad one. But if life were made of moments, then you'd never know you had one."

Tea, sis!

Stephen Sondheim, like me in the Baltimore City Paper, you will always be famous.

This is the kind of weather switcheroo, that has me acting up! Cutting up and CARRYING ON. Pleasantries? I'm exchanging 'em!

Me, doing absolutely too much during a small talk conversation in the building elevator.

Okay, can we actually talk about this for a second? This still is from the music video for Luther's "Never Too Much", which is actually very apropos for a day like this.

I would kill for that sateen jacket Luther is wearing.

The video is comprised of shots of beautiful, happy folks sauntering around in the sunshine, listening to music on their Walkpeople, being the main characters in their own stories.

This is me walking through the farmer's market, blasting Sister Sledge on my headphones and examining a single peach.

YES I BROUGHT MY OWN TOTE! I am the MAIN CHARACTER!

The whole thing is just an incredible vibe. I'm going to say it: vibe-wise it's in my top music videos of all time.

Music Videos with the Best Vibes (a flawed but also unimpeachable list)

  1. "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" - Celine Dion. Vibe: appointment at the haunted medspa
  2. "Call Your Girlfriend" - Robyn. Vibe: your friend's solo show is actually very good
  3. "Never Too Much" - Luther Vandross. Vibe: Yoo hoo, gals. Guess whose serotonin came back?!
  4. "XO" - Beyoncé. Vibe: Degree commercial but as a romcom (complimentary!!!)
  5. "That Thing" - Lauryn Hill. Vibe: Gordon Parks photography exhibit

Honorable mention: "Work from Home" - Fifth Harmony. Vibe: IN THIS ECONOMY?!

In other news, according to my site analytics (a page I never check because the metrics of my career are none of my business), a lot of people this week randomly read this diatribe I wrote in 2020 about one trying-on-clothes montage from the movie Wonder Woman 1984. IDK, sis!

Is Fake Steve Trevor in ‘WW1984’ a Good Dresser?: An Investigation
One Chris Pine costume montage; one thousand questions.
Here for It w/ R. Eric ThomasR. Eric Thomas

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Pleasantries? I'm exchanging 'em!,
Eric