HOLIDAY STRESS BUSTERS
WHY ‘SUCCESSION,’ ROBERT PLANT AND ALISON KRAUSS, AND A BIG MOVIE BOMB CAN MAKE YOUR HOLIDAYS BRIGHT
You’ve got eight shopping, planning, baking and wrapping days until Christmas. Time to deck the halls with angst and flop sweat!
Or maybe not. Whether you are in need of a holiday-related distraction, escape or emotional tune-up, there is a pop culture helper waiting to assist you. From a dive into the friendship deep end to a mustwatch drama about the worst family ever, here is a look at some entertainment solutions to your holiday quandaries.
Problem: I am the designated elf. Solution: “The Plot Thickens Season 2: The Devil’s Candy” podcast
Even in the most egalitarian households, the holiday duties — the baking, the gift-wrapping, the card-addressing — often fall on the aching shoulders of the only person who knows how curling ribbon works. If this multitasking marathoner is you, the second season of “The Plot Thickens” is your podcast.
In this audio documentary from your cinephile friends at TCM, film critic and author Julie Salamon chronicles the epic movie boondoggle that was the making of 1990’s “The Bonfire of the Vanities.”
Salamon was on the set as director Brian De Palma tried to wrestle Tom Wolfe’s peerless takedown of 1980s excess into blockbuster shape, and she and her tape recorder caught the whole miscast misadventure as it went roaring into the box-office abyss.
You don’t have to be familiar with the book or the movie to be thoroughly and mercifully diverted by this tale of Hollywood hubris. By the end of the sevenepisode series, “The Bonfire of the Vanities” will be pop culture toast, and you will be the conquering hero throwing that completed to-do list into the nearest open fire.
This eggnog martini is for you.
Problem: My family is a little much. Solution: “Succession,” HBO
Or course you love them! No one is suggesting otherwise! But at this most taxing time of the year, the holiday care and feeding of your family can feel the way Mannheim Steamroller sounds — like a fully decorated monster truck ready to mow you down in the middle of the crosswalk. Which is where the Roy family comes in.
The Roys are the stars of HBO’s addictive drama “Succession,” and they are awful. The warring members of this superrich, way-too-influential media family have spent the last three seasons scheming, backstabbing and sniping, all in an effort to take control of the empire at the expense of everyone else, not to mention one another. The third season just wrapped up with a body-slamming finale that spared no one, including the gobsmacked viewers at home.
It also served as a reminder that, when compared to the curseflinging, lawsuit-threatening, trauma-courting Roys, your family might as well be the Waltons. All three hair-raising seasons are available on HBO Max and other streaming services for your perspective-boosting pleasure.
Problem: My social skills are rusty.
Solution: The “Invisibilia” podcast
Despite our best Zoom intentions and text efforts, friendship
has taken a hit during the pandemic. We’ve tried to be there for each other, but while the spirit is still willing, the emotional bandwidth could use an upgrade. And NPR’s “Invisibilia” podcast is totally up for that.
In the recently completed season dedicated to exploring the forces that shape our friendships, companionable co-hosts Yowei Shaw and Kia Miakka
Natisse looked at everything from ghosting and friends with benefits to what happens when friends go into therapy together. Many of the stories come from listeners, and while you may not be able to relate to some of the more dramatic scenarios, the show’s blend of scientific insight and late-night-caller intimacy is a refresher course on what makes friendships tick and why they
matter. Serve with wine and empathy.
Problem: I am so very, very stressed. Solution: “Raise the Roof,” by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant
Imagine a blanket made of angels’ wings, wood smoke and whiskey fumes. Then imagine that blanket is wrapping itself around your exhausted brain and tucking you in for a long winter’s nap. This is the escape that awaits you in “Raise the Roof,” the new heavenly collaboration from Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.
Plant and Krauss croon, whisper and harmonize their way through a tasteful collection of covers, all of which are transformed by their presence. With songs from the likes of Calexico (the shimmering “Quattro”) and the Everly Brothers (the shivery “The Price of Love”) and burnished production by T Bone Burnett, “Raise the Roof ” is both a soothing comfort and a soulstirring joy.
It is also the perfect gift to give to yourself. Turn it up, and you will shine like the star you are.