My Year of Media 2016
Nothing says that you have your finger on the pulse of everything like posting a list of all the movies and TV shows you watched, podcasts you listened to, books you read and concerts you attended in 2016 nearly 10 months after the year ended. And yet, here I go. This wholly unnecessary list was inspired by acclaimed filmmaker Steven Soderbergh’s http://extension765.com/soderblogh/30-seen-read-2016.
1/1 - The Asphalt Jungle (1950); Fargo Season 2, Episodes 9 & 10
1/2 - For Your Consideration (2006); HBO Boxing: Crawford vs. Jean
1/3 - Legend (2015); HBO Boxing: Jennings vs. Ortiz; Indie Film Hustle Podcast Episode 31 with Linda Seger
1/4 - Mr. Robot Season 1, Episode 1; The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugatz Podcast Episode 1/4
1/5 - Making a Murderer Episode 1; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 44 with Cousin Sal
1/6 - Master of None Season 1, Episode 1
1/7 - Nathan for You Season 2, Episode 8
1/8 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 46 with Chuck Klosterman
1/9 - Being Evel (2015); Nathan for You Season 2, Episodes 6 & 7
1/10 - The Revenant (2015)
1/12 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 48 with Cousin Sal
1/15 - The Dan Le Batard Show with Strugatz Podcast Episode 1/13
1/16 - Cliffhanger (1993); Nathan for You Season 2, Episode 3; The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugatz Podcast Episodes 1/14 & 1/15
1/17 - Mad Max: Fury Road (2015); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 50 with House, JackO & Bill’s Dad; Madam Secretary Season 2, Episode 12
1/18 - Things to Come (1936); HBO Boxing: Krusher Kovalev vs. Jean 1; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 49 with Malcolm Gladwell; Indie Film Hustle Podcast Episode 37 with Scott McMahon; Rusillo & Kanell Podcast 1/15
1/21 - Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 52 with Wesley Morris; Workaholics Season 7, Episode 1
1/22 - Workaholics Season 7, Episode 2
1/23 - Beetlejuice (1988); Wonder Boys (2000); The Office Season 7, Episode 16
1/24 - The Martian (2015); A Day in the Death of Donny B (short); Mike Tyson Mysteries Season 2, Episode 10
1/25 - Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee Season 7, Episode 2
1/26 - Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 55 with Cousin Sal
1/27 - Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 56 with Charles Barkley
1/28 - Highly Questionable Podcast Episode 1/28
1/29 - The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugatz Podcast 1/29
1/30 - HBO Boxing: Krusher Kovalev vs. Pascal 2; Real Sports Season 22, Episode 1; Workaholics Season 7, Episode 3
1/31 - Whitney Cummings: I'm Your Girlfriend; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 57 with House
2/1 - Cartel Land (2015)
2/3 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 59 with Cousin Sal; Around the Horn Podcast 2/3
2/5 - The Best of Rusillo & Kanel Podcast 2/3
2/6 - Heat (1995)
2/7 - Dial M for Murder (1954); American Crime Story: People vs. OJ Simpson Episode 1; NFL Matchup 2/7; Super Bowl 50
2/9 - Hannibal Buress: Comedy Camisado; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 60 with House & Michael Rapaport
2/10 - American Crime Story: People vs. OJ Simpson Episode 2
2/12 - The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugatz Podcast 2/9
2/13 - The Magnificent Yankee (1950); Around the Horn Podcasts 2/10 & 2/11
2/15 - Vinyl Season 1, Episode 1
2/16 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 1; The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugatz Podcast 2/12
2/18 - Hooper (1978); American Crime Story: People vs. OJ Simpson Episode 3
2/19 - Elementary Season 4, Episode 13; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 65 with Robert Smigel & Jack-o
2/20 - Patton (1970); Stories from the Influencer Economy Podcast Episodes 5 & 6
2/21 - Workaholics Season 6, Episodes 5 & 6; Stories from the Influencer Economy Podcast Episodes 30 & 31; Fantasy Focus Baseball Episodes 1/28 & 2/3
2/22 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 2
2/23 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 66 with House & Alan Sepiwall
2/25 - American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson Episode 4
2/26 - The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugatz Episode 2/24
2/27 - Workaholics Season 6, Episode 7, The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 67 with Cousin Sal, Wesley Morris & Robert Mays
2/28 - Judgement at Nuremberg (1961); Tom Jones (1963); 123 Film Easy Podcast Masterclass with Editor Cindy Mollo
2/29 - Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 2/16
3/1 - Breaking Away (1979); Around the Horn Podcast 2/29
3/2 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 71 with Bryan Curtis
3/4 - Workaholics Season 6, Episode 8; Fangraphs Fantasy Baseball Podcast aka The Sleeper and the Bust Episode 315, Highly Questionable Podcast 3/3
3/5 - Young Frankenstein (1974); HBO Boxing: Terence Crawford vs. Lundy; American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson Episode 5; Real Sports Episode Season 22, Episode 2
3/6 - House (1977); HBO Boxing: Ortiz vs. Thompson; The Sleeper and the Bust Episode 311
3/7 - How to Make Money Selling Drugs (2012); Last a Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 4
3/8 - The Sleeper and the Bust Episode 308
3/9 - Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 3/7
3/10 - American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson Episode 6; The Sleeper and the Bust Episode 309
3/12 - Workaholics Season 6, Episode 9; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 73 with Dan Wetzel & Bill’s Dad
3/13 - Changing (1971, short); Booked for Safekeeping (short); The Rainbow Pass (short); Seinfeld Season 4, Episode 10; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 75 with Jon Favreau & Dan Pfeiffer
3/14 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3 Episode 5; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 74 with House & Greg Cosell
3/15 - The Hammer (2007); Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 3/10
3/16 - American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson Episode 7
3/18 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 76 with Chuck Klosterman & Jonathan Abrams
3/19 - 25th Hour (2002); The Decline of Western Civilization II: the Metal Years (1988); No Way Out (1950); The Fight Game with Jim Lampley Season 5, Episode 1; Workaholics Season 6, Episode 10; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 77 with Jim Lampley
3/20 - What’s the Point Podcast Episode .35; Stories from the Influencer Economy Podcast Episode 83; Indie Film Hustle Podcast Episode 055
3/21 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 6
3/22 - Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 3/18
3/23 - Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 3/15
3/25 - The King of Comedy (1982); The Uninvited (1944); Real Sports Episode Season 22, Episode 3
3/26 - Tommy Boy (1995); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 80 with Mike Tollin; American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson Episode 8
3/27 - A Man Escaped (1956); The Art of Organized Noize (2016); Legacy on the Line: From Bradley to Pacquiao; HBO Boxing: Ward vs. Barrera; Just Suppose (1948, short)
3/28 - Game of Thrones Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2; 123 Film Easy Podcast with Rose Chatterton
3/30 - The Driver (1978); Fantasy Focus Podcast 3/28; Around the Horn Podcast 3/29
3/31 - Around the Horn Podcast 3/30; Fantasy Focus Podcast 3/29
4/1 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 84 with Keith Olbermann
4/2 - Cries and Whispers (1972); Bad Santa (2003); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 82 with House, Andy Greenwald and Chris Ryan
4/3 - Midnight Special (2016); HBO Boxing: Pacquiao vs. De La Hoya
4/4 - Louie Season 1, Episode 11; HBO Boxing: Pacquiao vs. Hatton
4/5 - American Crime Story: the People vs. O.J. Simpson Episode 9; 123 Film Easy Podcast with Bradford Young ASC
4/6 - Last Week Tonight Season 3, Episode 7, The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 87 with and Chuck Klosterman & David Shoemaker
4/7 - 123 Film Easy Podcast with Jenny Beavan, Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 4/6
4/9 - Un Chien Andalou (short); American Crime Story: The People vs. O.J. Simpson Episode 10; Under the Lights: Pacquiao vs. Bradley (2016)
4/10 - Vice Season 4, Episode 5; The Simmons Podcast Episode 88 with Willie Geist and JackO; Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 4/8; What’s the Point Podcast Episode.38 with David Rushkoff; Stories From the Influencer Economy Episode 83 with David Nihill; Stories From the Influencer Economy Episode 22 with Brian Koppleman
4/11 - Galveston (book); Around the Horn Podcast 4/11
4/12 - The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Podcast 4/11
4/13 - Last Week with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 8; Around the Horn Podcast 4/12; 123 Film Easy Podcast with Mark Mangini
4/14 - Shoot Like Scorsese (book); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 89 with House
4/15 - Around the Horn Podcast 4/14; Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 4/14
4/16 - The Bottle and the Throttle (1968, short); Keeping up Appearances Season 3, Episode 6; The Fight Game with Jim Lampley Season 5, Episode 2
4/17 - The Dropout (1962, short); Face Off with Max Kellerman: Canelo/Khan; The Your Name Here Story (short)
4/20 - Small Potatoes: Who Killed the USFL (2009); Around the Horn Podcast 4/20
4/21 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 92 with Louis C.K.
4/23 - Z (1969); HBO Boxing: Golovkin vs. Wade; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 9; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 93 with Chuck Klosterman, Wesley Morris & House
4/24 - Real Sports Season 22 Episode 4; 24/7 with Canelo/Kahn: Part 1; 123 Film Easy Podcast with Wes Ball; The Goldbergs Season 3, Episode 19; Film Forum Podcasts with The Coen Brothers
4/25 - Triple 9 (2016); The Big Lebowski (1998); Boxing News Podcast Episode 128; The Sleeper and the Bust Podcast Episode 336
4/26 - Glengarry Glen Ross (play); Around the Horn Podcast 4/25
4/27 - 123 Film East Podcast with Blye Pagon Faust
4/28 - Fantasy Focus Podcast 4/27
4/29 - 123 Film Easy with Ellen Pfirrmann
5/1 - Soylent Green (1973); 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Indiction Ceremony; 24/7: Canelo vs. Kahn Episode 2; Saturday Night Live Season 41, Episode 2
5/2 - 123 Film Easy Podcast with Lesli Linka Glatter
5/3 - Flight of the Conchords Season 1, Episode 1; Silicon Valley Season 3, Episode 2; Stories From the Influencer Economy Episode 87 with Hrishikesh Hirway
5/4 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 95 with Chris Sacca
5/5 - Woman in the Dunes (1964); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 96 with Michael Rapaport
5/6 - The Big Short (2015)
5/7 - God Told Me To (1976); Inside Amy Schumer Season 4, Episode 2
5/8 - Chariots of Fire (1981); Six Men Getting Sick (short); The Alphabet (short)
5/9 - Stories From the Influencer Economy Episode 88 with Seth Godin
5/10 - Around the Horn Podcast 5/9; Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 5/6
5/11 - Around the Horn Podcast 5/10
5/12 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 10
5/13 - 123 Film Easy Podcast with Padraic McKinley; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 98 with Craig Kilborn
5/14 - The Art of Smart Football (book); The Fight Game with Jim Lampley Season 5, Episode 3, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 11
5/15 - Waking Up with Sam Harris Podcast “Behind the Gun”, “Final Thoughts on Chomsky” and “Through the Eyes of a Cult”; 123 Film Easy Podcast with Sam Painter; The Ringer NFL Podcast Episode 2
5/16 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 12; The Sleeper and the Bust Podcast Episode 344
5/17 - Bullseye with Jesse Thorn Podcast with Chuck Klosterman
5/18 - Indie Film Hustle Podcast Episode 073
5/19 - Around the Horn Podcast 5/18; Fantasy Focus Baseball Podcast 5/18
5/20 - Rollerball (1975); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 100 with House & Jack O; Stories from the Influencer Economy Episode 76 with Chris Yeh
5/21 - HBO Boxing: Canelo vs. Khan; Review Season 1 Episodes 3 and 4; The Best of the Dan LeBatard Show Podcast 5/17
5/22 - Magnificent Seven (1960); Keeping Up Appearances Season 4, Episode 5
5/23 - Review Season 1, Episode 5
5/24 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 13; Review Season 1, Episode 6; 123 Film Easy Podcast with Jeremy Woolsey
5/27 - Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast 5/26/16; Stories from the Influencer Economy Episode 89; Around the Horn Podcast 5/26
5/28 - Review Season 1, Episode 7; NBA Playoffs: Golden State vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Game 6; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 103 with House; 123 Film Easy Podcast with Michael Shaw; The Herd with Colin Cowherd Best of Podcast 5/5/16
5/29 - Book of Eli (2010); Sports Reporters Season 5/29; Boxing News Podcast Episode 129
5/30 - Zero Dark Thirty (2012); Review Season 1, Episode 8; American Cinematographer Podcasts with Edward Lachman ASC, Fred Murphy ASC
5/31 - Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast 5/30/16
6/1 - American Cinematographer Podcast with Sean Bobbitt, BSC
6/2 - The Best of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugatz Podcast 5/31; Around the Horn Podcasts 5/31 & 6/1
6/3 - Governor’s Ball Music Festival featuring Father John Misty, Beck, Bloc Party & The Strokes; Meet the Filmmaker Podcasts with David Fincher & Jesse Eisenberg “The Social Network”; Joel & Ethan Coen “True Grit”; The Ringer NBA Podcast Episode 9; Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast 6-2-16
6/4 - Seinfeld Season 8, Episode 19; Muhammed Ali vs. Sonny Liston II; Around the Horn Podcast 6/3
6/5 - The Seven-Ups (1973); The Sports Reporters Season 6/5
6/6 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 14; Meet the Filmmaker Podcast with James Gray “Two Lovers”
6/8 - The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugatz Podcast 6/7
6/9 - Review Season 1, Episode 9; The Right Time with Bomani Jones 6/8; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 104 with Malcolm Gladwell
6/10 - Silicon Valley Season 3 Episodes 3 & 4, Key & Peele Season 3, Episode 6 & Season 4, Episode 10
6/11 - The French Connection (1971); Free Will (book); HBO Boxing: Lomachenko vs. Martinez; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 105 with Joel Solomon, Brendan Lynch & Pat Barker
6/12 - Everest (2015); Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014); Fantastic Lies (2016); Vice Season 4, Episode 15; Silicon Valley Season 3, Episode 5
6/13 - Last Week with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 15; Seinfeld Season 5, Episode 8
6/14 - The Right Time with Bomani Jones 6/13; Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast 6-13-16
6/15 - Silicon Valley Season 3, Episode 6; KCRW’s The Business Podcast, Episodes with Terence Winter, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu & Richard Linklater; The Sleeper and the Bust Episode 355
6/16 - Silicon Valley Season 3, Episode 7; The Sleeper and the Bust Episode 356; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with George Miller
6/17 - Silicon Valley Season 3, Episode 8; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Seth Meyers & Adam McKay Episodes
6/18 - Ace in the Hole (1951); After Dark, My Sweet (book); KCRW’S The Business Podcast with Louis C.K.; What’s the Point Podcast Episode .50
6/19 - The Nice Guys (2016); The No Film School Podcast Episode “How a Cinematographer Production Designer Collaborate to Set a Look”
6/20 - HBO Boxing: Vargas vs. Salido; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 16; KCRW’s The Business Podcasts with Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, Tim Miller & Simon Kinberg Episodes; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 106 with Jimmy Butler, Stories From Influencer Economy Podcast Book Launch Talk Episode
6/21 - Ballers Season 1, Episode 1
6/22 - The Best of The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 6/20/16; The No Film School Podcast: Indie Film Weekly 6.9.16
6/23 - KCRW’s The Business Podcast with John Landgraf
6/24 - The Best of the Right Time with Bomani Jones 6/23/16; The Sleeper & the Bust Episode 357; Indie Film Hustle Podcast Episode 080
6/25 - Trojan War (2015); Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 1; Showtime Boxing: Thurman vs. Porter; Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel Season 22, Episode 5; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 107 with House & Kevin Clark
6/26 - Neon Demon (2016); Black Panther #1 (comic book); The Right Time with Bomani Jones 6/24/16, Hours 1 & 2; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Benicio Del Toro; Any Given Wednesday Extra 01 with Charles Barkley; NFL Live with Will Arnett; The Sleeper & the Bust Podcast Episode 358
6/27 - KCRW’s The Business Podcast Episodes with Tom McCarthy, James Ponsoldt & Jason Segel
6/28 - Spotlight (2015); The Right Time with Bomani Jones 6/27/16
6/30 - Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 2; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 19
7/1 - The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 6/29/16
7/2 - After Dark, My Sweet (1990), Whiskey Tango Foxtrot; Penny Dreadful Season 1, Episode 1; Nathan For You Season 3, Episode 3
7/3 - The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? (2015); All Things Must Pass: The Rise and Fall of Tower Records (2015); Showtime Boxing: Joshua vs. Breazeale; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 108 with House; KCRW’s The Business Podcast “Orson Welles’s Last Movie”
7/4 - Midnight Cowboy (1969); Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016); Silicon Valley Season 3, Episodes 9 & 10 7/6 - The Right Time with Bomani Jones 7/5/16
7/7 - FiveThirtyEight Elections Podcast “The FBI Weighs In” 7/5/16; Planet Money Podcast #575
7/8 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 109 with House; Planet Money Podcast #709
7/9 - The Conversation (1974); Paths of Glory (1957); Planet Money Podcast Episode #710;
7/10 - Terence Crawford: My Fight; Keeping Up Appearances Season 5, Episode 2; Planet Money Podcast Episode #463; The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 7/8/16
7/12 - Around the Horn Podcast 7/11/16; Stories From the Influencer Economy Podcast with guest Brent Bushnell
7/13 - Cheap Seats Boxing Show Podcast Episode 182; The Sleeper and the Bust Podcast Episode 364
7/14 - Don’t Blink - Robert Frank (2015); Smokin’ Aces (2006); The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 7/12/16; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast Episodes with J.C. Chandor & Oscar Isaacs, Colin Hanks; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Norman Lear
7/15 - The No Film School Podcast: Documentary Cinematography Tips; The Ringer MLB Show Podcast Episodes 5 & 9
7/16 - Dillinger is Dead (1969); Doc & Darryl (2016); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 110 with Wesley Morris & Bill’s Dad; The Right Time with Bomani Jones 7/15/16
7/17 - The Naked Spur (1953); Nostradamus and the Queen (short); The Planet Money Podcasts #712 & #711; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Noah Hawley; What’s the Point Podcast Episodes .54.1, .54.2; How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episode 110
7/18 - What’s the Point Podcast Episodes .54.3, .54.4, .54.5
7/19 - The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 7/18/16
7/20 - Vice Principals Season 1, Episode 1; KCRW’s The Treatment with Richard Dreyfuss; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 111 with JackO; The Planet Money Podcast #689
7/21 - The Stepford Wives (1975), Around the Horn Podcast 7/20/16
7/22 - Medium Cool (1969); Louis CK (live comedy show); HBO Boxing: Crawford vs. Gamboa
7/23 - Joy Ride (2001); Dating Do’s and Don’t’s (short), Summer of ‘63 (short); How Did This Get Made Podcast Episodes 85 & 108; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 113 with Cousin Sal, Brendan Lynch & JackO; The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast Episodes 7/21/16 & 7/22/16
7/24 - Black Mass (2015); Signifying Rapper (book); Stranger Things Season 1, Episode 1; What’s the Point Podcast Episode.54.6
7/25 - Whiskey, Words & a Shovel II (book); Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 18;The Sleeper and the Bust Podcast Episode 367
7/26 - No More Excuses (1968); Keep Off the Grass (short); Vice Principals Season 1, Episode 2; Stranger Things Season 1, Episode 2; The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 7/25/16; Planet Money Podcast Episodes 699 & 713
7/27 - Stranger Things Season 1, Episode 3
7/30 - Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 5; Stranger Things Season 1, Episodes 4-8
7/31 - Scarecrow (1973); We Work Again (short); The Night Of Episode 1; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 114 with House and JackO; KCRW’s The Business with James Schamus; The Right Time with Bomani Jones 7/29/16
8/1 - How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episode 132
8/2 - John Oliver Season 3, Episode 19
8/3 - Revisionist History Podcast Episode “Hallelujah”
8/4 - The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 8/2/16
8/5 - How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episode 64
8/6 - Jim: The James Foley Story (2016); Vice Principals Season 1, Episode 3; Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 6; Decker Season 4, Episode 3
8/7 - Everybody Wants Some!! (2016); Red Oaks Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2; How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episodes 19 & 45; The Writer’s Room Podcast Episode 1
8/8 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 20
8/11 - Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 7
8/13 - NYSF: SD: SUV Season 3, Episodes 1 & 2; The Carmichael Show Season 1, Episode 1, Superstore Season 1, Episode 1, The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 116 with Chris Ryan, Travon Free & Joel Solomon, Sarah Tiana & Pat Barker; Bullseye Podcast with Danny McBride & Miroslav Vituous
8/14 - Stunts (1977); Fargo Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2; Sports Reporters 8/14/16; Bullseye Podcast Episodes with Chuck Klosterman & W. Kamau Bell, John Oliver & Larry Whitmore
8/15 - Fargo Season 1, Episode 3
8/16 - Fargo Season 1, Episode 4; The Right Time with Bomani Jones 8/15/16
8/17 - KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Jerrod Carmichael
8/18 - Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 8
8/20 - Tootsie (1982); Fargo Season 1, Episodes 5 & 6; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 117 with James Andrew Miller
8/21 - Fargo Season 1, Episodes 7 & 8; How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episode 112; The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 8/19/16; Around the Horn Podcast 8/16/16
8/22 - Planet Money Podcast “We Buy Oil”
8/25 - Planet Money Podcast “The Price of Oil"
8/26 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 118 with Malcolm Gladwell
8/27 - Sanctum (2011); Vice Principals Season 1, Episode 4; Seinfeld Season 9, Episode 1
8/28 - Fargo Season 1, Episodes 9 & 10; Drunk History Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 118 with Michael Rapaport; Planet Money Podcast “How Fracking Changed the World” & “How Oil Got Into Everything”
8/29 - Planet Money Podcast “Imagine a World Without Oil”
8/30 - Party Down Season 1, Episode 1; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Joe Weisberg & Joel Fields
8/31 - KCRW's The Business Podcast with Robert Smigel; Channel 33's "The Press Box" with Terry McDonell
9/1 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3 Episode 80?; KCRW’s The Business with with Todd & Glenn Kessler & Daniel Zelman; Russillo and Kanel Podcast 9/1/16
9/2 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 160 with Tony Kornheiser; Filmspotting Podcast Episode 600 with Chuck Klosterman; Planet Money Podcast Episode 721; Waking Up with Sam Harris Podcast Episode 42
9/3 - The Triumph Election Special Episode 2; CFB: Houston Cougars vs. Oklahoma Sooners ; Planet Money Podcast #532; KCRW’s The Treatment with Owen Gleiberman; KCRW’s The Business with Louis C.K.
9/4 - The Mets vs. The Nationals (live); Vice Principals Season 1, Episode 5
9/5 - I Was A Teenage Zombie (1987); New York Yankees vs. Toronto Blue Jays; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Jean-Jacques Annaud; Indie Film Weekly Podcast 8/25/16
9/6 - Vice Principals Season 1, Episode 6
9/7 - Party Down Season 1, Episode 2; KCRW’s The Treatment with Kenneth Turan
9/8 - Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 9
9/9 - The Right Time with Bomani Jones 9/7/16
9/10 - CFB: Arkansas Razorbacks vs. TCU Horned Frogs; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 122 with Cousin Sal & Episode 123 with House, Rembert Browne & Bill’s Dad
9/11 - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001); Atlanta Season 1, Episode 1; The Sports Reporters 9/11/16; HBO Boxing: Golovkin vs. Brook; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Baltasar Kormakur
9/12 - KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast Episodes with Ryan Coogler, GQ’s Mark Anthony Green
9/15 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 152 with Cousin Sal
9/16 - Planet Money Podcast #724
9/17 - Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002); Traveling the Stars: Action Bronson and Friends Watch Ancient Aliens; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 125 with Mike Lombardi & House
9/18 - It Happened One Night (1934); Vice Principals Season 1, Episodes 7 & 8
9/19 - Vice Principals Season 1, Episode 9; Planet Money Podcast #723
9/22 - Stories of the Influencer Economy Podcast Episode 93 with Kevin Kelly
9/23 - The Right Time with Bomani Jones 9/23/16; Around the Horn 9/22/16
9/24 - KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Trevor Pryce
9/25 - The Warriors (1979); Any Given Wednesday Season 1; Episode 11
9/26 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 127 with Mike Lombardi, House and Chris Vernon
9/27 - How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episode 120
9/29 - Planet Money Podcast Episode #726; Around the Horn Podcast 9/28
9/30 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 128 with Cousin Sal
10/1 - Stonehearst Asylum (2014); CFB: Florida State Seminoles vs North Carolina Tar Heels; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 128 with Cousin Sal; Planet Money Podcast #725
10/2 - Electric Boogaloo: The Wild Untold Story of Canon Films (2014); Bull Season 1, Episode 2; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 129 with Mike Lombardi, House & JackO; KCRW’s The Business Marc Guggenheim & Tara Butters, Rod Blackhurst & Brian McGinn
10/3 - Westworld Season 1, Episode 1; KCRW’s The Spinoff “Creativity Abounds in Fall TV…”
10/4 - Stories of the Influencer Economy Episode 96 with Jenny Blake
10/5 - Cults, Conspiracies, & Secret Societies (book); Around the Horn Podcast 10/4/2016
10/6 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 130 with Cousin Sal
10/7 - The Fight Game Season 5, Episode 5; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 131 with Mike Lombardi & House; The Best of The Dan Le Batard Show Podcast 10/5/16; Planet Money Podcast #727 & #521
10/8 - CFB: Texas Longhorns vs. Oklahoma Sooners
10/9 - Roman Holiday (1953); Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975); Westworld Season 1, Episode 2; Planet Money Podcast #728
10/10 - Nothing More Than Murder (book); Superstore Season 2, Episode 1; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Mike O'Malley; Bill Burr’s Monday Morning Podcast 10-10-16; The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz 10/10/16
10/11 - The Ryno Lab Podcast Episode 95 with Max Joseph
10/12 - KCRW’s The Treatment with Michael Weatherly; Around the Horn Podcast 10/11/16
10/14 - Around the Horn Podcast 10/13/16
10/15 - CFB: Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Wisconsin Badgers, Ole Miss Rebels vs. Arkansas Razorbacks; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 133 with Mike Lombardi and House
10/16 - The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976); Bull Season 1, Episode 3; Westworld Season 1, Episode 2; Sports Reporters 10/16/16; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Steven Bochco; Indie Film Hustle Podcast Episode 088; KCRW’s The Treatment with Tyler the Creator
10/17 - Eastern Promises (2007); Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 26; The Indie Film Weekly Podcast 9.22.16; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Ice Cube; Planet Money Podcast #573
10/18 - Bull Season 1, Episode 4; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 134 with Cousin Sal; The Right Time with Bomani Jones 10/17/16
10/19 - War Room (1992); What’s the Point Podcast Episode 0.65; The Indie Film Weekly Podcast Episode “Friction is Where the Good Stuff Comes”; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Jack Riccobono & Chris Eyre
10/20 - How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episode 106
10/21 - Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 14
10/22 - E.T.: the Extras Terrestrial (1982); Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 13; Planet Money Podcast #731; The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Podcast 10/21/16; Ringer University Podcast Episode 9
10/23 - Groundhog Day (1993); How I Met Your Mother Season 2, Episode 3; How I Built This Podcast with Vice’s Suroosh Alvi; What’s the Point Podcast Episode .64; Planet Money Podcast #730
10/24 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 27; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Rebecca Hall; Planet Money Podcast #566
10/25 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 136 with Cousin Sal
10/26 - What’s the Point Podcast Episode .66
10/27 - The Best of Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz 10/25/16
10/28 - Planet Money Podcast #387; Around the Horn Podcast 10/27/16
10/29 - CFB: Florida State Seminoles vs. Clemson Tigers; Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 15; How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episode 137; The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Podcast 10/28/16; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 137 with Mike Lombardi, House and Robert Mays
10/30 - Westworld Season 1, Episode 4; KCRW’s The Business with Thomas Kail and Sterling K. Brown; Ringer University Podcast Episode 12; Planet Money Podcast #732
10/31 - KCRW's The Business Podcast with Adam Irving
11/1 - Westworld Season 1, Episode 5
11/2 - Around the Horn Podcast 10/31/16
11/3 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 138 with Cousin Sal & Mike Lombardi
11/4 - Questioning Darwin (2014); Planet Money Podcast #413; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 139 with JackO, Kevin O'Connor and House
11/5 - CFB: Oklahoma State Cowboys vs. Kansas State Wildcats, Florida Gators vs. Arkansas Razorbacks; Real Sports Season 22, Episode 10; Planet Money Podcasts #671 and #555
11/6 - My Fight: Kovalev vs. Ward; Planet Money Podcast 733; The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz 11/3/16; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Pablo Azato, Jonas Cuaron, and Gael Garcia Bernal
11/7 - The Golden Years (short, 1960); Westworld Season 1, Episode 6; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Jeff Nichols
11/8 - The Candidate (1972); Between the World and Me (book); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 140 with Cousin Sal
11/9 - Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 16, The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 11/8/16
11/10 - Red (play)
11/11 - Any Given Wednesday Season 1, Episode 17; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 141 with Mike Lombardi, House and JackO; The Right Time with Bomani Jones 11/9/16; The Ryno Lab Podcast Episode 98 with Jon Levy; Planet Money Podcast #627 & 734
11/12 - Roger & Me (1989); Primary (1960); CFB: WVU Mountaineers vs. Texas Longhorns; How I Built This Podcast: L.A. Reid; Make Me Smarter Football Podcast 11/8/16; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Sid Mashburn
11/13 - A Perfect Candidate (1996); Westworld (1973); Westworld Season 1, Episode 7; Revisionist History Podcast “My Little Hundred Million”; KCRW’s The Business with Barry Jenkins and Adele Rolanski
11/15 - HBO Boxing: Luis Ortiz vs. Malik Scott; The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show 11/14/16
11/16 - Last Week Tonight with John Oliver Season 3, Episode 30
11/17 - How I Built This Podcast: Jim Koch; Make Me Smarter Football Podcast 11/15/16
11/18 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 144 with Mike Lombardi, House and Bryan Curtis
11/19 - Hell or High Water (2016); The Fight Game Season 5, Episode 6, State of Play: Happiness (Season 1, Episode 2); The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 11/17/16; The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Podcast 11/18/16; Waking Up with Sam Harris Podcast #51
11/20 - Paper Moon (1973); Deadpool (2016); The Ipcress File (1965); Search Party Season 1, Episode 1; KCRW’s The Business with Doug Mackenzie
11/21 - Planet Money Podcast #736
11/22 - Westworld Season 1, Episode 8
11/23 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 145 with Cousin Sal and House
11/24 - God’s Country (1985); Shot Heard ‘Round the World (2001); NFL Football: The Vikings vs. The Lions; The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Season 2, Episode 48; The Right Time with Bomani Jones 11/22/16; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Ben Younger
11/25 - Nocturnal Animals (2016); To Tell The Truth: The Strategy of Truth (2016); The Battle of Midway (short, 1942); South Park Season 20, Episode 8: Make Me Smarter Football Podcast 11/22/16; Planet Money Podcast #737 and #468
11/26 - Sisters (2015); KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Noah Oppenheim; The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show Podcast with Stugotz 11/21/16; Planet Money Podcast #694 and #696
11/27 - Arrival (2016); Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015); Planet Money Podcasts #608, #252, #253
11/28 - Westworld Season 1, Episode 9, Real Sports Season 22, Episode 11
11/29 - Seinfeld Season 9, Episode 17; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 146 with Cousin Sal
11/30 - Planet Money Podcast #552
12/1 - The Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 11/30/16
12/2 - Planet Money Podcasts #510 and #528
12/3 - Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016); CFB: PSU Nittany Lions vs. Wisconsin Badgers; The Late Late Show Show with James Corden Season 2, Episode 103; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 148 with Mike Lombardi, House, Robert Mays and Danny Kelly
12/4 - Keanu (2016); Westworld Season 1, Episode 10; Comedy Central All Star Non-Denominational Christmas Special (2014); Planet Money Podcast #417 and #526; How I Built This with Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger; The Best of Dan Le Batard Show Podcast with Stugotz 11/28/16 (Hours 1 and 2); KCRW’s The Business with Harvey Fierstein
12/5 - The Trials of Ted Haggard (2009); Terror at the Mall (2014)
12/6 - De Palma (2015); Planet Money Podcast #534
12/7 - Planet Money #738
12/8 - Make Me Smarter Football Podcast 12/6/16
12/9 - Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
12/10 - HBO Boxing: Terence Crawford vs. John Molina Jr.; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 151 with Mike Lombardi, House and Bill’s Dad
12/11 - Bobby Fischer Against the World (2011); Sports Reporters 12/11/16; The Right Time with Bomani Jones 12/19/16; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Dustin Hoffman; Planet Money Podcasts #579, #650 and #598
12/12 - The Film Programme Podcast 11/11/15
12/13 - Bull Season 1, Episode 7; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 152 with Cousin Sal; Around the Horn Podcast 12/12/16
12/14 - The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 153 with Gucci Mane; The Film Programme Podcast 11/2/16
12/15 - KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Abbi Jacobson and Illana Glazer
12/16 - Make Me Smarter Football Podcast 12/13/16
12/17 - This is Our Youth (play); The Fight Game with Jim Lampley Season 5, Episode 7; Jimmy Kimmel Live Season 14, Episode 224; KCRW’s The Business with Garth Davis; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 154 with Mike Lombardi, House and Mallory Rubin
12/18 - Onibaba (1964); True Memoirs of an International Assassin (2016); Sports Reporters 12/18/16; Around the Horn Podcast 12/16/16; Planet Money Podcasts #740, #741, #742
12/19 - Planet Money Podcast #606
12/20 - Moonlight (2016); La La Land (2016); Street Kings (2008); OJ: Made in America: Part One; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 155 with Cousin Sal
12/21 - Death Watch (1980); OJ: Made in America: Part Two; How Did This Get Made? Podcast Episode 151; The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Podcast 12/20/16; Planet Money Podcast #288, #363, #685; Make Me Smarter Football Podcast 12/20/16
12/22 - Manchester by the Sea (2016); Bull Season 1, Episode 9; KCRW’s The Treatment Podcast with Kenneth Lonergan; Planet Money Podcast #664; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 156 with House
12/23 - The Caretaker (play); Seinfeld Season 3, Episode 12; KCRW’s The Business Podcast: Best of Film and Television 2016 and 2015; The Best of Right Time with Bomani Jones Podcast 12/21/16; Planet Money Podcast #743 and #648; What’s the Point Podcast .72
12/24 - Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016); Charlie Wilson’s War (2007); NFL: Houston Texans vs. Cincinnati Bengals; The Best of the Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz Podcast 12/22/16
12/25 - The Lobster (2015); Passengers (2016); NFL: Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos
12/26 - Boxing: Marciano vs. Louis; KCRW’s The Business Podcast with Brian Grazer; Planet Money Podcasts #500 and #466
12/27 - 13th (2016); Atlanta Season 1, Episode 2; KCRW’s The Treatment with Taika Waititi
12/28 - Fences (2016); The End of Malice
12/29 - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016); The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 157 with Cousin Sal
12/30 - Hacksaw Ridge (2016); CFB: Orange Bowl: Florida State Seminoles vs. Michigan Wolverines; The Bill Simmons Podcast Episode 158 with House; Planet Money Podcast #744; Rex Sike’s Movie Beat Podcast with Deborah Patz
12/31 - Zootopia (2016); The Man Who Saved Ben-Hur (2015); CFB: Fiesta Bowl: Clemson Tigers vs. Ohio State Buckeyes; The Fight Game with Jim Lampley Season 5, Episode 8; Planet Money Podcasts #745 and #430
0 notes
Geena Davis: Thelma & Louise changed everything for me
It was the moment she realised how few inspiring women there are on screen. Now the actor is on a mission to fix that
Somewhere in a parallel universe, Geena Davis is having the time of her life. Yes! Enjoying this new era in American history! As one of the few women to have played a US president on screen, in her parallel universe Davis is having a lovely conversation with me about how fabulous it feels to see a woman finally make it to the White House.
This isnt the first time the actor has found her presidential fantasies preferable to reality. Eleven years ago, she was President Mackenzie Allen on the TV show Commander In Chief. It had been the number one new show, and it was going to run for eight years. I was going to do two terms, Davis grins ruefully. She won a Golden Globe for the role. Then internal studio politics intervened and the show was cancelled after a single season. For a long time after, I felt like, in an alternate universe, I was still on that show. In my mind, she says, laughing, I wanted to set up the Oval Office in my garage and pretend I was still the president.
Davis hoots at her own absurdity, but for the record she did receive a fairly presidential greeting on arrival at the restaurant where we meet. The Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills hotel is a fantastically kitsch extravaganza of salmon-pink table linen and bad taste, but a Hollywood institution nonetheless. While I waited, the lunch tables filled with industry types, and my requests for a quieter corner were defeated by the expert indifference of waiters who understand the rules of Hollywood hierarchy better than I do. But the instant Davis arrived, the matre d descended into an obsequious froth Miss Davis! Welcome back! and whisked us off to a coveted booth.
So good to see you again! he purrs, before blanching in horror. Davis has a white napkin on her lap, but her trousers are black. Quelle horreur! The offending item is whipped away and replaced with a black one, while Davis tries not to giggle.
With Susan Sarandon in 1991s Thelma & Louise. Photograph: Allstar
Davis has no publicist in tow, and nothing about her outfit would suggest celebrity: she is wearing a loose white T-shirt and the sort of plain and comfortable black jacket and trousers one might put on for Sunday lunch in a nice pub. Were she not so tall (6ft), I might easily have missed her when she arrived, full of apologies for being all of 10 minutes late. I take the matre ds instantaneous excitement to mean she must be a regular, but as soon as hes gone, she whispers, No! I cant even remember the last time I was here. Its this very weird phenomenon. If I go to hotels, they always say, Welcome back, even when Ive never been there before. That must be rather disorienting. Yes, weird! She nods cheerfully. You have all these people saying nice things to you, and it can really be like, Wow, Im very fortunate, arent I? Im very, very grateful for it, you know?
When lunch arrives, she gets the giggles again: her salad is a strangely regimented platter that looks like someones idea of gastro-sophistication circa 1974. Its so kitschy! I was going to show your tape recorder my salad, but that wont work, will it? When her phone rings, the mother of three murmurs the universal prayer of working parents everywhere: Please dont be the nanny, please dont be the nanny, please dont be the nanny. It feels like lunching with a gloriously irreverent and relaxed old friend.
Davis has been a Hollywood star for 35 years, but at 61 her status now is a curious hybrid of insider and outsider, a bit like cinemas Ofsted inspector. When starting out, shed have been astonished to know shed devote the later years of her career to exposing her industrys flaws. Back then, she admits, she couldnt see anything to worry about.
With William Hurt in 1988s The Accidental Tourist, for which Davis won an Oscar. Photograph: Ronald Grant
When I was first starting out was also when I first started really paying attention to the Oscars and stuff like that. And I remember thinking, wow, everything is great for women in Hollywood, because Meryl Streep, Glenn Close, Jessica Lange, Sally Field: theyre all doing incredible work. Every year, fantastic movies were coming out: The French Lieutenants Woman, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Sophies Choice. I think I did hear that, for women, when you get older it can be a problem, but these actors were already in their 30s, which seemed ancient to me then. So I thought, whats the problem? I started getting really cool parts left and right and centre, and I was like, well, even if it turns out theres a problem, its not going to impact on me.
After making her debut in 1982s classic comedy Tootsie, Davis averaged a movie a year, and could easily have made more had she not been fussy. She did sci-fi horror in The Fly, comic fantasy in Beetlejuice and literary drama in The Accidental Tourist, for which she won a best supporting actress Oscar. She played a baseball star in the sports comedy A League Of Their Own, a bank robber in the crime drama Quick Change and, most memorably, a housewife turned outlaw in the feminist road trip Thelma & Louise. Then she turned 40 and in the entire decade that followed, we saw her face only in Stuart Little.
By the time she turned 50, she was fed up. The neglect of women in film and TV was definitely happening she knew that but to prove it the Mensa member realised she would have to measure it: Because people just make assumptions, dont they? Even when the reality might be completely different. I remember talking to a woman editor of a magazine about all this a while ago, and she said, Oh no, no, no, thats just not a problem any more. I told her it still was. She said, and Davis begins to laugh again, But it cant be. Look at Meryl Streep, she works all the time! I was like, Er, Meryls schedule is the exception.
So, 10 years ago, the actor founded the Geena Davis Institute On Gender In Media. I am completely obsessed with numbers and data. I have become a scientist in later life. The institute conducts exhaustive research to establish the facts of gender representation in family entertainment, and they are grimly arresting.
Male characters outnumber female in family films by a ratio of three to one, a figure that has remained startlingly consistent since 1946. From 2007 to 2014, women made up less than a third of speaking or named characters in the 100 top-grossing films distributed in the US, of which less than 7% were directed by women. Of the female characters that did make it on to screen, fewer than one in five were aged 40-64. Last autumn, the institute partnered with Google to launch the Geena Davis Inclusion Quotient (the GD-IQ), a software program that measures the amount of screen and speaking time given to male and female characters. The results were even more confronting: in the top 200 grossing films of 2014 and 2015, males, Davis discovered, enjoyed literally twice the screen time of females, and spoke twice as often.
Its easy to see why this would matter to Davis, or any other female actor, but why should the rest of us care? This gender bias is so ingrained in us, and stuffed into our DNA from when were little, from our first exposure to popular culture. If kids movies and TV shows have profoundly fewer female characters than male characters, and theres nobody saying, By the way, honey, this isnt real. Thats not how the real world is. From 2006 to 2009, not one female character was depicted in a G-rated family film working in the field of medical science, as a business leader, in law or in politics. Our motto is: if they can see it, they can be it. Completely unconsciously, boys and girls are getting the message that girls are less important and less valuable to our society, because theyre not there. And if they are there, theyre not talking.
Playing the first female president in the TV series Commander In Chief. Photograph: ABC
Another way of looking at it, I suggest, would be that what we see on screen is, in fact, uncannily accurate. In a typical crowd scene, female extras account for just 17% of the faces we see a figure close to this crops up across all sorts of sectors in real life in America. Fortune 500 boards are around 20% female, as is Congress. Fewer then 20% of US legal partners, the military and cardiac surgeons are female.
Yes, Davis agrees, but I think the impact of media images is so profound that we actually could make life imitate art. You know, you see a dog or something and you say, Oh, hes cute? The default is always male, and its because weve had such a male-centred culture. And its because its what we see and hear from the very beginning.
I remember I was once with my boys [she has 12-year-old twins, and a 14-year-old daughter] in a park and they saw a squirrel. I consciously decided to say, Look, shes so cute and they both turned to me with surprised expressions and said, How do you know its a girl? I was like, wow, Ive already failed. They were four years old.
Davis takes all the data to Hollywoods decision-makers and creators: heads of studios, production companies, guilds. Does she come in for a bit of oh-no-here-comes-the-feminist eye-rolling? Oh no. No! If I was going in just saying, Youre making fewer movies starring a female character than male characters, theyd say, Yes, we know that. Were fully aware of that. We hope we can do better. We wish we could do better. And they would probably turn to this myth in Hollywood that women will watch men, but men dont want to watch women, so were forced to make all the stories about men.
Instead, Davis shows them the GD-IQs findings on profitability. Films featuring female leads make on average 15% more than those with male leads, while films featuring male and female co-leads earn almost 24% more than those with either a solo male or female lead. Their jaws are on the ground. She grins. Everywhere we go, its the exact same reaction. They are floored.
***
Had anyone told Davis in her youth that she would one day be an activist and advocate, she would have been equally floored. She grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, a bookish child and church organist, and was constantly shy. Just totally shy, especially about men. I had one date in high school, that was it, and he didnt ask me out again, she laughs, because I was taller than everybody. I was very gangly and awkward, and I wore weird clothes that I made. I think my fondest wish as a kid was to take up less space.
My fondest wish as a kid was to take up less space. Photograph: Amanda Friedman for the Guardian
Most peoples childhood self-image can seem surprising by the time theyre in their 60s, but in Daviss case the discrepancy feels comical. She is 6ft and appropriately proportioned, so occupies as much space as you would expect someone with the dimensions of an imposing man to fill. Her voice is gutsy, soaring from throaty depths to gales of laughter, and her beauty is unlike anything Ive observed in an actor. Beautiful women who have lived their life in the public gaze tend to convey an awareness of others admiration that can sometimes seem self-conscious, and sometimes almost pointedly detached. Davis, on the other hand, reminds me more of my cat, a ludicrously gorgeous creature who seems to take as much pleasure from its beauty as any admirer ever could. If I picture Davis looking at herself in the mirror, she isnt frowning anxiously but smiling back at her famous dimples.
And yet she goes on, I think I really wanted to take up less space. It seemed like every time I was exuberant or free, I would get pointed at. Things that really stand out from my childhood were incidents where people told me to tone it down. Like my beloved aunt Gloria, who was a role model and just everything to me, and who adored me, and would say things like, Youre really going to have to learn to laugh more quietly, because boys arent going to like a loud lady.
She knew from the age of three that she wanted to act, and studied drama at Boston University. But the most important thing was that people like me and think Im no trouble. It was as if I lived in some bubble of extreme femininity where you must never say your feelings. I had people who wouldnt date me because I couldnt even decide what restaurant I wanted to go to, literally. I never said my opinion about anything. I was afraid to.
Everything changed in 1990 when she made Thelma & Louise. Davis played Thelma, an unhappy wife who takes off with her friend Louise, played by Susan Sarandon, for a two-day road trip in an old Thunderbird convertible. When a man they meet in a bar tries to rape Thelma, Louise shoots him dead. Convinced the police will never believe their account of events, because Thelma had been drinking and seen dancing with the man before he attacked her, the pair take off. Liberated from the constraints of social convention and the law, they embark on a raucously anarchic adventure from which they will never return.
With then husband Jeff Goldblum in 1989. Photograph: Getty
Davis had her agent call Ridley Scott, the films director, every single week for a year in a concerted campaign to land the part. So it was really, really a passion project for me. And I was aware of womens position in Hollywood by then. But then, when the movie came out and I saw the reaction women had, it was night and day: completely different from anything that had ever happened before, you know? Women wanted to really talk about how it impacted on them. Theyd tell me, This is what I thought, this is who I saw it with, this is how many times Ive seen it, this is how it really changed my marriage. Sometimes Id even hear, My friend and I took a road trip and acted out your trip. Her eyes widen as she laughs. Im like, I hope the good parts? But that really struck me, and it made me realise how few opportunities there are to feel inspired by the female characters we watch. That changed everything for me.
Working with Sarandon changed everything, too. Every day on set, I was just learning how to be more myself, you know? Just because she was such a role model to me. Davis would arrive each morning with her notes tentatively framed in the apologetic, would-you-mind-awfully register of regulation feminine decorum. Sarandon would bustle in, open her mouth and speak her mind. Davis still beams at the memory, and credits it with revolutionising the way she operated.
Her institute is now in its 10th year, but has yet to generate any measurable change in onscreen representation. I feel very confident thats going to happen in the next five to 10 years, though. I know it will. Theres one childrens network that tells us, every time someone pitches a new idea, someone asks, What would Geena say? She roars with laughter. Which is exactly what I want! The parallel between her work and recent increasingly successful campaigns for greater ethnic onscreen diversity in Hollywood speak for themselves, she says. Its exactly the same problem, with exactly the same solution. When a sector of society is left out of the popular culture, its cultural annihilation.
Davis does still act; in recent years, she starred in the TV shows Greys Anatomy and The Exorcist, and appears in the forthcoming sci-fi thriller Marjorie Prime. Shes also in Dont Talk To Irene, an indie film about an overweight cheerleader, which premiered recently in Canada. But its very clear that acting is no longer her driving ambition. She gets much more excited talking about the film festival she co-founded in 2015, the only one in the world to offer its winners the prize of guaranteed distribution, both theatrical and through DVD. The Bentonville festival explicitly exists to champion and promote female and other minority film-makers, and last year became the eighth biggest film festival in the world; this year, it will open in early May in Arkansas and more than 100,000 people are expected to attend.
With husband, Reza Jarrahy, in 2013. Photograph: Getty
The most conventionally starlet thing about Davis these days is probably her marital history: she is now on her fourth marriage. The first, in 1982, lasted less than a year; her second, to the actor and her sometime co-star Jeff Goldblum in 1987, lasted only slightly longer, and was over by 1990. In 1993, she wed the director Renny Harlin, but divorced again in 1998. She has been married to her fourth husband, Reza Jarrahy, the father of her three children, and an Iranian-American plastic surgeon, for 16 years now. Giving birth for the first time at 46, followed by twins at 48, is not an entirely advisable maternal strategy, she laughs. I dont know how I assumed I could wait that long, and I wouldnt recommend it. Id always known I wanted to have kids, but somehow, before then, there wasnt any time I was planning it.
When we part, she gives me a great bear hug and her phone number, and it strikes me that she must be one of the happiest movie stars I can remember meeting. The parallel universe she inhabits appears to have much to recommend it. I had assumed she would put Hillary Clintons defeat down to her motto If she can see it, she can be it so ask if she thinks America would have voted a different way last September had the notion of a woman in charge of the country looked more familiar.
You know, she surprises me, I dont know. I like to just think that she won the popular vote by an enormous amount. She was not this horrifically flawed candidate everyone wants to paint. I mean, OK, she didnt win the electoral college vote. But, in another way, she did win. In Daviss parallel universe, the popular vote determined who would move into the White House, and all is well with the world.
Read more: http://ift.tt/2o3eFff
from Geena Davis: Thelma & Louise changed everything for me
0 notes