Abel Brainz Digest, Vol. 33 - December 19, 2023

Vol. 33!!

Happy Holidays to all!!

Roll that beautiful newsletter footage

Cool movie stuff

It wouldn't be the Holidays without watching some old favorites. 

Here's my holiday essentials, in no particular order:

Scrooged - This is the best Christmas Carol adaptation ever. Don't @ me. (Do people still @ people?)

A Christmas Story - 24 hours on TNT, boiiiii

Home Alone - IHow good is this movie if John Williams doesn't do the score??

Elf - The newest classic. Gotta love forced perspective and practical effects. 

Die Hard - "It's Christmas Eve, Theo. It's the time of miracles."

It's A Wonderful Life - I actually only saw this for the first time in 2011. I've been crying every time ever since. 

Stuff that lives rent free in my head

Tommy Boy - Not a Holiday movie, but it brings me much joy. Especially this scene. I think it might be the scene that can make me laugh hard, every time I see it, even though I know exactly what's about to happen. 

NOTE: The entire movie lives rent free in my head. 

Cool Nostalgic Stuff

Happy 15th Birthday to The Pinata Chronicles. 

Fifteen (15!!) years ago, I had an idea. The idea became a script and after producing my butt off, The Pinata Chronicles came to be. A lot of friends helped me out and I still remember the excitement around making it. Anyway, click here if you want to see the pilot (aka the only) episode. It was the beginning of a web-series before there were web series.

Looking back on this experience, I think a lot about what success can be or what it is. Who defines it? What "level" are we trying to reach and why does it need to matter to anyone else but ourselves?  

Cool improv/teaching stuff

I just wrapped another session of classes at Dad's Garage. It's always an honor to watch people play and work on their respective improv journeys. Something that comes up in class is the idea of being affected, being changed. We often talk about being simple with choices. The next step is letting ourselves be affected in the wake of the choices we've made. I re-watched Rain Man and there might not be a better example of a character being changed/affected than Charlie Babbitt. Rain Man is streaming on Amazon Prime. 

Cool music stuff

Here's another playlist for your holiday festivities. 

RIP Andre Braugher

Brooklyn 99 spoilers in this Holt tribute video 

That about does it. There won't be a Digest next week. I'm taking a vacation. I'll be back with an end of year recap in two weeks. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a joyful Holiday Season!

Click here for all the past volumez. 

And remember, this labor of love is hand made and wrapped every week. Click here if you want to show some love and "subscribe." And even if you don't, I'll still send you the newsletter :) 

Much love, 

Abel