(Pictured: St. Lawrence Market in Toronto, Canada)
Well, it looked a little dicey for a minute, but North America has made it to Spring, folks! We did it!
It feels like time for an update email, so here’s the state of things for me at the moment:
World Gone Wrong
The World Gone Wrong team has been busy; four episodes are out now and a fifth is coming this Tuesday. So far we’ve covered werewolves, the extra hour in every day, space alien replacers, and literal acid rain. What’s next? Sewer gators and Chicago history, of course! I did a ton of research on this episode, and I have a feeling that if you listen, you will learn something. While also being outrageously entertained by the friendship chemistry of Hillary Williams and Michael Turrentine.
Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or by searching for “World Gone Wrong” wherever you listen to Podcasts!
Keep It Steady
At long last, Episode 7 of Keep It Steady is live!
You can listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can read the transcript here. The actors and director did an incredible job, as always, and I am thrilled at how it turned out. We’re also well underway on Episode 8, so hopefully we’re looking at a shorter wait time.
The Strange Case of Starship Iris
I now have a completed second draft of all eight episodes and all three mini episodes. I’m still waiting for some feedback on them, but feeling good overall about where it’s at. If I’m lucky, the scripts could be finalized by the end of May.
Bluesky
Last month, I decided to engage in a little silliness.
To my delight (and admittedly, panic) I found myself having to invent 43 cats. Here now, for posterity, is my list:
- Skumbledunks the basketball cat
- Higgledy Piggledy, the sideways cat. I haven’t decided yet if this is a cat who is always sideways or if she just loves that Paul Giamatti movie about wine, please feel free to weigh in
- Gamgazer Muddle, the cat that is also a noir detective
- Earl Grey, the coffee-loving cat (who is aware of the irony but, much like most cats, did not get to name himself)
- Patches, the therapy cat, who periodically brings the story to a screeching halt in order to stop and explain the scene’s psychological underpinnings
- Lady Meowcbeth, haunted by her sins but she’s a cat so the worst thing she ever did was walk through some flour and cover the countertop in her little pawprints. But now she can’t get the flour out 😦
- Has there been a really really small cat yet? No, like REALLY small. Smaller than that. Smaller than that, even! I’ll call him Ibble.
- Teebeedee, a character added after the movie’s effects department will (justifiably) go on strike. She is a post-it-note with the word “cat” on it.
- Paw Simon, the folk song cat. (I don’t mention “Garfunkel” only because it is already a perfect cat name, no notes)
- “Whiskers,” who is secretly Javert from Les Mis in cat ears, determined to bring Macavity to justice for Macavity’s many crimes
- Purrodox, the time travel cat
- Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. He’s a British shorthair. CATS 2 refuses to break the fourth wall (that is my solemn promise to you) so any possible naming similarities with any real-life person absolutely never comes up.
- Furgig, the android cat, who dreams of computer mice
- Dear Tabby, the famous cat advice columnist, but the impact of her writing is slightly hampered by the fact that cats can’t read
- Predestined Pete, the Calvinist cat. Has CATS tried a religious angle yet? I refuse to find out. This one is awkward for me bc Calvinists burned one of my religious forefathers at the stake in 1553 but I think I can overcome it for Art
- Feline Musk, the absolute worst cat
- Steinem, the second-wave feminist cat. I don’t necessarily agree with all her stances but y’know what, she’s right, cats shouldn’t have to shave their armpits
- Bilvery Bones, the cat that is a dog
- Erik, the Phantom of the Paw-pera. (Step one of my push to start a shared cinematic Andrew Lloyd Webber multiverse)
- Herman Q. Millard. Every single cat in CATS 2 acts like everyone already knows who this cat is. “Herman Q. Millard is on his way, yes yes” the cats all sing, again and again throughout the film. The movie cuts to credits just before he arrives.
- Ferdinand Fluffbutt, the attorney cat, who occasionally pops out of nowhere to remind characters they’re contractually obligated to appear in the movie
- Grichard Martleby, the cat who, every time it comes up that someone never watched Fight Club, says in a loud, surprised voice, “You never watched Fight Club?”
- …I just realized that if I want a shared cinematic Andrew Lloyd Webberverse, I must acknowledge Starlight Express (his musical where everyone is trains), so: Chuggachoo Spot-Wheeler, the cat locomotive and
- Ruby Clattersnatter, the cat caboose
- My sense is that in CATS, some cats have jobs and some do not? I think this is too confusing for modern audiences, so CATS 2 would include Sandra Brindle-Jilliams, a cat unemployment claims agent
- Unnamed kitten with only one line, which is to remind everyone that without taking away from how utterly disastrous the Trump presidency was (and will be?), also George W Bush is a war criminal
- Duke Pumpernickel. I don’t have a joke for this one, I just honestly think it would be a good name for a cat.
- 28 is step three of my push for a shared cinematic Andrew Lloyd Webber multiverse: Mewdas, the cat betrayer. (Don’t worry, I am not gonna take this one any further.)
- Wallowsbury Tummykey, the cat who crawls onto your laptop when you’re trying to type
- The Mackerel Brothers, a trio of cat podcasters.
- Realistically, a CATS sequel would probably need to include a cat who raps but listen, look me in the eye and tell me you want that from me. You do not. So instead, I’ll say Startleby Quiverham, the indoor cat who is afraid of squirrels on the other side of the window.
- Broke down and looked up CATS on wikipedia just now and apparently there’s a magician cat who does like sleight of hand, so in the spirit of sequels upping the stakes, CATS 2 will have Sygorellia, the cat sorceress.
- Clawminic Tailretto, the cat getaway driver. (I guess I haven’t explained yet that the entirety of CATS 2 is a heist movie, but it is.)
- In a misguided attempt to appeal to young people, we need a cat who’s an influencer; there’s really no way around it. Gonna say “Tyffany Lynx.”
- Veronica Purina, an extravagant socialite and heir to the Purina fortune, a cat with more secrets than rubber bands (and she’s hoarded a LOT of rubber bands)
- Adabethell Ratmunch, just a simple farm cat—unless she’s more than she seems?
- Sparky Nibblefuse, the explosives expert for the heist that I’m pretty sure I mentioned this movie is
- There’s a lot of criminals in CATS and CATS 2 so they’ll need a good defense lawyer. RF Hampelsteaderington, attorney-at-claw
- Nosfuratau, cat vampire, who has no lines but is always lurking around malevolently in the background in black-and-white
- Slip Fleetpaw, the cat who’s a pickpocket
- Professor Euphelides Rompler Nubby-Tail Stubbs
- Ronald Cinnamon, the notorious cat embezzler
- Young Fuzzton Mortimallow Esquire, the fancy lad
If this sort of madness sounds fun to you, you can follow me here!
Current
Book – I finished This is How You Lose the Time War and am now reading A Marvelous Light
Song – I’ve been listening to Zoe Keating albums as my writing music for a new project I can’t yet mention here, particularly the soundtrack to Oslo.
Drink – Lemonade sweetened with maple syrup and spiked with bourbon, in a recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
Obsession – Thinking a lot about the nature of history; what gets recorded and what doesn’t, and why, and what that means.
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