Accept Cookies: Second Helping

I’ve figured out what I’m going to watch as my Thanksgiving movie this year. I’ve only ever made it to the actual theater on Thanksgiving a few times, and it always feels decadent and special. Most of the time, though, I rent something to watch at home. It’s usually too cold and I’m too full of carbs and tryptophan to go anywhere; by the end of the night I’ve renamed my stomach ‘The Rotunda,’ and point at it and say, “This is where I now conduct important matters of state.”

So this year, I plan to re-watch Widows, the 2018 heist film by director Steve McQueen (co-written with Gone Girl writer Gillian Flynn). Not nearly enough people have seen it, as far as I can tell from my research, which consists of me occasionally asking people, “Have you seen Widows?”

It’s a quiet thriller, a thoughtful crime drama, and I think its mix of tension and subtlety threw some people for a loop when it first came out. People eventually figured out how great Michael Clayton is — I’m waiting for everyone to figure out the same thing about Widows. I’ve only seen it once, but I think about it regularly. It has an incredible cast: Viola almost-has-an-EGOT Davis! Daniel Kaluuya! Liam Neeson! Jon Bernthal! Colin Farrell! Cynthia almost-has-an-EGOT Erivo! There’s a plot that keeps you on your toes. And there’s a one-take shot in it that’s among my favorites in cinema history, because the long take isn’t just a bit of showmanship, it’s got real narrative purpose. It’s poetry, especially in the context of the story.

I’ve been wanting to see Widows again for a while, but I’ve also been waiting for the right occasion. Heist movies were always my family’s go-to, a genre we all enjoyed, and while I can’t watch with them this year, I can still invoke our post-meal tradition. So, watch it (or re-watch it) with me this holiday weekend and see if we can nudge it a little closer into modern-classic territory. 

I also wanted to round up some leftovers, in case you missed them—a bunch of things I recorded or filmed or produced that all came out in the last few days.

I did a piece for CBS Sunday Morning about Thanksgiving and family and tradition. (But it’s not about heist movies.) It aired this past Sunday, as part of their special food episode. You can watch it—and hear Jane Pauley say my name flawlessly!—here:

Samin Nosrat and I put out a new episode of Home Cooking, our podcast that’s been dormant since last Thanksgiving. And now that the 17th installment of our 4-part series is out, we are going back to sleep! Listen here!

I remixed a song by electronic artist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, who is on the great label Ghostly International. The track is called Check Your Translation (Hrishikesh Hirway Remix).

One of my favorite podcasts, Hello from the Magic Tavern, is an improvised show co-hosted by Arnie Niekamp, who fell through a dimensional portal behind a Burger King in Chicago and found himself in the magical land of Foon. Somehow he’s getting a wi-fi signal, so now he hosts this weekly podcast along with Chunt (the talking badger) and Usidore the Blue. They interview creatures, adventurers, and this week, a mysterious box that seems to hold a magical assistant (voiced by me). Listen here!

Object of Sound is a podcast hosted by poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib. He celebrates Thanksgiving each year by watching The Last Waltz, the Martin Scorsese documentary about the band The Band. I’d never seen it before, so he invited me to watch it and discuss it with him. Listen here!

Lastly: Accept Cookies isn’t just the name of this newsletter, it’s also my general philosophy for life. If you feel the same way, you can get an Accept Cookies sweatshirt or a t-shirt here! But they’re only available to order until December 1st. If you order something by then, it’ll arrive (within the US) in time for the holidays. Get it here!

Have a happy Thanksgiving! If you make a mango pie, send me a picture!

 —  Hrishikesh