Wait, that was THIS week?

🪑 What I’m antiquing: Once a month

🍔 What I’m eating: A BBQ sandwich the size of my face

👀 What I’m watching: A really good book adaptation?

👨🏼‍💻 What I’m processing: Iran

📰 What I’m reading: Nilo Tabrizy’s reporting on Iran

On Friday, I was talking with a writer who works for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. He mentioned how long a week it had been with “everything happening and the war.”

My mind went completely blank. I couldn’t remember what happened this week. All I knew was that I had spent the morning making jokes about Markwayne Mullin, while also explaining who Markwayne Mullin is, and yes, making fun of the fact that his first name is Markwayne.

The reality of the week slowly crept back into my brain. The war in Iran. The Defense department switching up AI deals to go with a more compliant company. Way too many unfunny CEOs trying to make fun of another unfunny CEO. It was at this point that I knew my day was done. I needed to get out of the house. The burden of covering the news for the week could wait until Sunday.

Acutely aware that my brain was trying to protect itself from the horrors of this week, my wife and I drove down to meet my mom in the West Bottoms area of Kansas City. If you grew up in Kansas City, you know this area for it’s mostly abandoned (but uniquely beautiful) giant brick and stone warehouses. It’s a got a real off-the-beaten-pat vibe. In the early 1900s, it was the heart of Kansas City’s industry, housing meat-packing plants and stockyards. In 2009, it was where our hired photographer took my senior photos.

In the last few decades, some of these haunting buildings have been repurposed to make giant Haunted House experiences. They didn’t have to change up much. My personal favorite was “Edge of Hell” but I hope you’ll consider “The Beast” as well, if you’re ever in the neighborhood between September and November.

But if you’re in the neighborhood during the first weekend of every month, you should head over to Bella Patina. It’s a three story antique “vintage revival” store with some real, genuine, remarkably cheap treasures.

As Kansas City prepares for the World Cup, I feel obligated to really talk up the city. I don’t work for the tourism board (but if you do, or if you work for any company and like watching our paid partnerships with Harry’s, you should contact us here).

I just think this city is at a crucial moment. It’s desperate to be relevant and all the pieces are there, but everyone here is too modest to brag about it. So allow me to say that “First Fridays” in Kansas City is a genius idea, and a good time to visit the city, experiences its food, culture and extraordinarily talented local artists.

While in the West Bottoms, we were in desperate need of food (I had forgotten to eat while pretending to be Markwayne). And even though this area used to literally pack enough meat to feed the entire midwest, those stockyards are now empty. In lieu of entire trains filled with cows, we had “restaurants near me” on Google Maps, which took us just two minutes away to Incline on 9th.

It was there, safely tucked into another beautiful, yet haunting street in West Bottoms, that I ate the largest BBQ sandwich of my life, “High on the Hog.” It was bigger than my head and it filled up my stomach. For that, I am grateful.

The escape from the news continued - on Netflix.

Book-to-film adaptations mostly suck. In most cases, they leave a lot out, or make too many changes (The Giver or The Hobbit). I once took a book-to-film adaptation class in college, which made me far more appreciative of even the floppiest of flops in the genre. It is not easy to take an entire book and condense it into on film. I am completely unsurprised that most book adaptions get the TV series treatment these days. Speaking of, you should watch The Leftovers if you haven’t already.

Rarely, does the film match the caliber of the book, or even improve upon it (Holes and Lord of the Rings fall into this category, in my opinion). But what happens if you never read the book to begin with? Can you judge it?

I watched Judy Blume’s classic, Are you there, God? It’s me, Margaret this last week. I know it’s beloved. I know it’s important. I know some idiotic school districts have banned it because they’re run by scared, smooth-brained little men. I went into the 2023 adaptation blindly, knowing that it had a lot to live up to - I just didn’t know exactly what that was.

Well, dear reader, and viewer of books-adapted-to-film, this film was incredible. From beginning to end, I enjoyed every second. I can’t relate to most of Margaret’s experiences, but it didn’t matter. I’m so excited to show this movie to my daughter when she’s older. For now, watch it on Netflix! It’s “leaving soon” according to Netlfix’s increasingly difficult-to-use menu. If you see it, and you’ve read the book, let me know if it’s as good as I think it is: [email protected].

After returning from Bella Patina with a full stomach, and our delightful screening of Are you there God?, I finally got back to reality. I know it may sound insane to think that the very person who spent hours and hours writing, shooting and editing videos about the news completely forgot all the news from that week, but it’s a very real thing.

I think it’s a combination of the news itself, the stress and pain it elicits, as well as the stress of producing it as fast as possible, working at breakneck speeds to post a video before my toddler’s bedtime. Conan O’Brien has spoken several times before on how, the second he walked off the stage at his late night shows, he immediately forgot the entire show. By the time he was home, it’s like the show had been erased from his brain. Save for a few memorable bits and moments, he is unable to recollect most interviews or monologues years later when fans bring them up.

This is often the case for me. But these newsletters have been the solution. Coming back here on Sunday mornings to process the previous week and plan for the next week have provided an anchor, helping me cling to reality and you, our fans. So, thanks for being here. And thanks for keeping me, here, in reality.

As I prep for another week of news, especially with the ongoing war in Iran (“conflict,” depending on which Trump official you are, on any given day, as they fail to keep their story straight), I’ve been reading the work of my former Post colleague, Nilo Tabrizy.

Before any major media outlets began covering the elementary school very likely targeted by the U.S., Tabrizy was way ahead of them, with this well-reported story, rejecting the rumor that the school was bombed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Her continued reporting and interviews on Iran are incredibly valuable.