South Park just released their latest episode and it’s about ChatGPT. I encourage you to check it out because it’s hilarious. Be sure to pay attention to the beginning of the end credits when you watch it.
A cruise is truly one of my worst nightmares. Being trapped in a giant floating hotel with all the jerks who are normally on a plane with you x1000? Ugh, no. (I know people love them! I have met actual -- nice! lovely! -- people who love them. But...no.
Janie- I think you are the perfect person to write/direct/produce/star in the Alex Murdaugh made for TV movie (or whatever they call them now). Your idea to cast Patrick Fabian as Alex was genius. Have you ever thought about doing a one woman show? I think you have the viewpoint, the energy and the charm to create something special. Keep going!
I’m so bummed I didn’t know PFT was going to be on a Trek cruise! Is he going next year too? I looked at the pics on Twitter and it looks fun.
I’ve been on a couple cruises and they went well but it’s not for everyone. It’s an easy way to see several places you might be interested in without planning a whole package, which is the main reason I like them. But some people feel cooped up on a ship.
Such a nice read. Although I’m wondering, since this will be the 2nd Friday, if we will hear a prerecorded SFH or a Janie only SFH while Paul floats with Capt Kirk. Either way, I cannot wait to hear all things Murdaugh! The drama! The juror! The snot!!
When I was in college, we watched Dead Calm, and there's a point where, I think it was, Billy Zane's character blows up, and we watched that moment in frame-by-frame slo-mo, over and over. There's pyrotechnics in a model, and it lights up inside the head and you can see the flames out of the eyeholes right before the head blows up. It was hilarious.
Mar 6, 2023·edited Mar 7, 2023Liked by Janie Haddad Tompkins
Janie!!! OMG! This is sooooo delightful. I'm already in love with your writing voice. I can totally hear *you* in it! (Or at least the you I know from SFH.)
I can't believe you've ever written a FORGETTABLE letter in your life. (Unless it was just ONE letter? The letter L? I'm just trying to think what the most forgettabe etter would be.)
I'm 100% with you on cruises--no thanks. Esp during a pandemic. BUT I'm slightly disappointed, for humankind, that you won't be documenting the experience in your funny vivid captivating style! I feel you'd give David Foster Wallace a run for his money. (If it's possible to do that after someone has died?) But anyway it would certainly add considerably to the canon of Cruise Misery literature.
Sooooo glad you're doing this substack! Hooray! It's like Threedom or SFH, but just YOU, and in writing. So--completely different but similarly effervescently delightful and something to happily look forward to, esp in sad or down or dispiriting times.
South Park just released their latest episode and it’s about ChatGPT. I encourage you to check it out because it’s hilarious. Be sure to pay attention to the beginning of the end credits when you watch it.
I don’t have future cruise plans, but I consider myself an expert on aspects of them. My cruise total is 42 (yes!!), and several of them I took solo.
A cruise is truly one of my worst nightmares. Being trapped in a giant floating hotel with all the jerks who are normally on a plane with you x1000? Ugh, no. (I know people love them! I have met actual -- nice! lovely! -- people who love them. But...no.
Janie- I think you are the perfect person to write/direct/produce/star in the Alex Murdaugh made for TV movie (or whatever they call them now). Your idea to cast Patrick Fabian as Alex was genius. Have you ever thought about doing a one woman show? I think you have the viewpoint, the energy and the charm to create something special. Keep going!
I’m so bummed I didn’t know PFT was going to be on a Trek cruise! Is he going next year too? I looked at the pics on Twitter and it looks fun.
I’ve been on a couple cruises and they went well but it’s not for everyone. It’s an easy way to see several places you might be interested in without planning a whole package, which is the main reason I like them. But some people feel cooped up on a ship.
Such a nice read. Although I’m wondering, since this will be the 2nd Friday, if we will hear a prerecorded SFH or a Janie only SFH while Paul floats with Capt Kirk. Either way, I cannot wait to hear all things Murdaugh! The drama! The juror! The snot!!
Great update! Cruises can be fun! I’ve done two and got sick on one, so I hear you about the germs. Highly recommend an Alaska cruise though.
I’m coming down to Los Angeles next week for a filmmaking conference and it looks like I’m bringing some more Pacific Northwest weather. 🌦️
it really is fun to read your writing. i so love all the meta-dialogue—you reminded me of a professor who used to get at me for fragments.
I'm like, "this is how people talk!!"
When I was in college, we watched Dead Calm, and there's a point where, I think it was, Billy Zane's character blows up, and we watched that moment in frame-by-frame slo-mo, over and over. There's pyrotechnics in a model, and it lights up inside the head and you can see the flames out of the eyeholes right before the head blows up. It was hilarious.
Janie!!! OMG! This is sooooo delightful. I'm already in love with your writing voice. I can totally hear *you* in it! (Or at least the you I know from SFH.)
I can't believe you've ever written a FORGETTABLE letter in your life. (Unless it was just ONE letter? The letter L? I'm just trying to think what the most forgettabe etter would be.)
I'm 100% with you on cruises--no thanks. Esp during a pandemic. BUT I'm slightly disappointed, for humankind, that you won't be documenting the experience in your funny vivid captivating style! I feel you'd give David Foster Wallace a run for his money. (If it's possible to do that after someone has died?) But anyway it would certainly add considerably to the canon of Cruise Misery literature.
Sooooo glad you're doing this substack! Hooray! It's like Threedom or SFH, but just YOU, and in writing. So--completely different but similarly effervescently delightful and something to happily look forward to, esp in sad or down or dispiriting times.
Yay you! And Paul of course. This is a deIGHT.
:D :D
xx Heidi