Growing up, my family did the “whole nine yards” every Thanksgiving, with turkey and all the trimmings, multiple pies and fresh whipped cream — no Cool Whip. But there’s more to Thanksgiving traditions than the food. There’s also the matter of how you fill the in-between time while the turkey is roasting and pies are baking.
For some, that’s the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Others watch football all day. Some families change the channel late afternoon to catch the Puppy Bowl or a Hallmark movie marathon. My brother and I had the TV tuned to FX all day for their annual X-Files Thanksgiving Day marathon. We didn’t turn it off for dinner. We merely turned down the volume and prayed the meal wasn't ready when the episode Bad Blood came up in the rotation.
Such a binge from my favorite of the FBI + aliens oeuvre can’t be replicated — it went off network syndication long ago — but memories of Thanksgiving's past got me thinking about how others will be spending their time this weekend. Some folks will be on the road, others on the couch. Some may be looking for a break from the family mayhem, others working or flying solo. So, for those who, like me, give thanks just a little bit differently, here are my four favorite media rabbit holes du jour, well worth binging over a long weekend spent… however you like.
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb: WGLT released its limited podcast series Twelve Thousand Bombs this fall, exploring various aspects of nuclear policy and why the risk of nuclear war is as high as it’s ever been. It sounds dark, but it ends on a hopeful note. And if such a light, uplifting topic floats your Thanksgiving boat, fictional films like War Games and Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb are exceptional next stops. The latter even nods to a Cold War conspiracy theory driving RFK Jr.’s desire to remove fluoride from U.S. public water—not to mention the film debut of future EGOT James Earl Jones, who died on Sept. 9.
Two reasons to stan Patricia Arquette: If you liked the recent Netflix docudrama on the Menendez Brothers, you’ll love Escape at Dannemora, an eight-part series directed by Ben Stiller [yes, that Ben Stiller] based on a 2015 prison break from Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York. Patricia Arquette is simply extraordinary in her Golden Globe-winning portrayal of Joyce “Tilly” Mitchell, who assists inmates Richard Matt and David Sweat while in the midst of a love triangle with the two men. The next year, Arquette tackled an equally weird woman, playing Dee Dee Blanchard in The Act. Blanchard was found stabbed to death in her home in Springfield, MO, in 2015; a murder planned by her daughter, Gypsy Rose, and carried out by Nick Godejohn, who Gypsy Rose met online. Dee Dee Blanchard forced her daughter into a disabled and terminally ill state, largely thought to be a manifestation of Munchausen’s Syndrome by Proxy. Gypsy Rose Blanchard was released nearly a year ago after serving eight years in prison. A postscript for true crime fans: The final meet-up of the year for Bloomington Public Library’s quarterly True Crime Book Club meets Dec. 16, so the long weekend is also an opportunity to pour over Ann Rule’s Bitter Harvest, a page-turner about Havana, IL native Debora Green.
Ambient emo meets coffee house cool: Fatherhood hasn’t slowed down composer/musician Stephen Holliger, who released a new LP on Bandcamp and cassette earlier this month. The eponymous album, titled after Holliger’s musical moniker Swim Ignorant Fire, is an extension of his ongoing collaboration with pedal steel guitarist Nate Hahn and multi-instrumentalist Stefen Robinson. And it’s the strongest yet, with a celestial, vintage vibe and rhythmic underbelly that’s less purely ambient than other recent offerings—primed to run in the background or accompany deep, focused listening. For something different, Twin City singer/songwriter Bruce Moon has a new album, too. Return to Bishop Hill was recorded live in his favorite Henry County listening room and is streaming on Apple, Spotify and Pandora — an ideal listen for coffee drinking or whiskey sipping.
Six degrees of Quincy Jones: It’s difficult to avoid the reverberating impact of late composer and music producer Quincy Jones, who died earlier this month. Thus, there are hundreds of ways you could celebrate his life — be that through Michael Jackson’s catalog, episodes of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reboot, this playlist or a post-Wicked weekend musical theater rabbit hole. Jones scored The Color Purple, for which Cynthia Erivo snagged a Tony Award in her 2015 Broadway debut as Celie. And of course, there’s the Oz-adjacent The Wiz, which kicks off a new North American tour this winter (starring none other than Wayne Brady in the title role). Oh, and if you haven’t seen The Greatest Night in Pop, a Netflix documentary about the making of We Are the World, you simply must.
