Make More Pie: New Year's Day Edition!
It's 2021, what shall we make and do?
Good morning from the Chinatown compound, where last night’s festivities included writing about pretzels until 11pm (ed: ??) and, on the Twitter recommendation of Caitlin Flanagan, cuing up The Poseidon Adventure, in which all the actors chew up the scenery in ways predictable and delightful and even touching (Shelly Winters!); in which Gene Hackman cops gratuitous feels from every woman in the cast, all of whom (except Winters) he requires, for safety’s sake, to strip down to hot pants, and whose big scene, of the tidal wave overturning the ship at midnight on NYE, is so 1970s disaster flick extravaganza that I was laughing out loud when - bang! - the fireworks started outside my window. While 2020 was seriously crapola in many ways, I think we might inadvertently have cracked New Year’s Eve, as I agree with a friend who, when I reported my celebration consisted of no booze and watching TPA while eating chocolate chips from a bowl, texted back, “Perfection achieved.”
And now it’s the morning, and I have zero hangover. The last new year’s day this happened was 2012, when, because everyone else in my house was asleep, I banged out The Queens of Montague Street (ed: I think you mean “polished” here, yes?), stuck in on a blog, and, through a series of quick circumstances, saw it published within the week.
We want to be making that happen more around here, and when I say “we” I mean the guys from The Fifth Column, who will be tricking out the studio in the next few days, audio and video. Had I envisioned we’d have had this done by last night, and that I could have dressed in a satin sheath with sequin straps (!) and matching bolero jacket (oh I am not kidding) and sang a few duets, with Matt Welch on guitar, maybe some Bee Gees and, depending on how weepy we wanted to get, some Gordon Lightfoot? Well, sure, but who’s to say this won’t be happening?
Which brings me to you! I created Make More Pie but I’ve got a problem, in that it’s shimmying this way and that, recipes, videos of me saying blah-blah, in-depth reporting, #AMAs, so what I want to know is: What do you want to see from me? (Please don’t say my feet.) I did have hella fun the other night making cookies live in the Paloma Media kitchenette (which one reader suggests we call “The Fifth Counter”), and I’ll do that a little more, with better tech. What else on the regular?
There will for sure be more content pumping out of Paloma Media studios, aka, including with people we love, and speaking of, my first conversation of the new year was with Kat Timpf, during which we had a mutual “a ha!” moment about 2021 and its possibilities. About that I will say, the sun streaming through my window onto my non-hungover head sure feels nice.
Before I wade into 2020, a note of thanks for Andy Cohen, who was all of us at midnight telling Bill de Blasio what we think of him
All right, in the spirit of part of why you may be reading this newsletter, and in hopes that it jogs a few responses as to what you want to see in the future, some of what I think was my best work 2020:
I appeared on a lot of podcasts talking about the situation in Portland. Some of my favorites are Bret Weinstein’s Dark Horse podcast:
The Reason podcast with Nick Gillespie:
And of course, with my beloved boos at The Fifth Column, two dispatches, in fact, and a Patreon episode, of which Michael Moynihan wrote, "Well, this is one fantastic mess” and during which, the less said about the better (ed: oh, go ahead and tell them you fell asleep).
Speaking of the Fifth boys, here, in their new natural habitat, aka, my apartment, though we’ll be gluing up soundproofing this weekend in the studio next door, so, be ready.
I keep saying that some future dispatches will be for paying subscribers only. I guess I better start that… after this one. For reals. Really.
With love and hot pie xx Nancy