Just A Peck 0001 // Spencer, Waitress, Maya Deren

7/13/25

Welcome to the first issue of Just A Peck. I’m glad you’re here. Thanks for your patience as I work out the kinks during these first few issues.

I’m using “Just A Peck” to mean “a smidge”, or “a small amount”. It also feels like a “peck” (a little smooch) from me to you—one of those platonic fancy European cheek kisses that means “hello, friend”.

Each of these issues will have four common sections, modeled after Jamie Thingelstad’s excellent Weekly Thing:

What I’m Excited About This Week
Quick Links
Journal
Memories.

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WHAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT THIS WEEK

We went to the community preview of Waitress at the Playhouse this week, and we can't wait to see it again. So many talented friends involved. Don't miss it, it only runs two more weekends! Get your tickets here!

We're looking forward to our annual trip to the Great River Shakespeare Festival this week. We'll get to see R&J, a six-person Two Gentlemen of Verona, and Comedy of Errors starring Will Sturdivant as both Antipholuses (Antipholi?) and Emily Fury Daly as both Dromios!

Glensheen's Concerts on the Pier has a banger of a lineup this week: Jumpsuit Funk opening for Superior Siren!

The Zinema is screening four of legendary experimental filmmaker Maya Deren's shorts with live musical accompaniment! This is an incredible opportunity to see some groundbreaking work. I'm so pumped about this that we rearranged our GRSF trip to accommodate it.

QUICK LINKS

The Best 100 Movies of the 21st Century from the New York Times. A really great list compiled in a manner similar to the decennial Sight and Sound poll.
The Best Stunts of All Time from the Hollywood Reporter. A year-by-year "what if" imagining that the Oscars had been awarding statues for stunts all along.
100 Years of History in 100 Films is a beautiful montage of movies set in each of the last hundred years, some of which were in the future at the time they were released.
Every Wes Anderson Movie Explained By Wes Anderson
This new xkcd made my eye twitch

JOURNAL

Spencer was home for a week and a half. Our niece, Kelley, was getting married, and Spencer lengthened his trip home to spend time with us. Corey and Lyra joined us for much the week too. Our time was packed (4th Fest and Fireworks, the Trampled concert, Tall Ships, Waitress, watching Kaylee tap her heart out at Dances on the Lake Walk, the wedding), but we still found time for hiking, paddling, board games, movies, puzzles, and sitting on the deck. The opportunities to spend time together are increasingly rare, so it was a pretty special week.

I had my first production meeting for The Shark Is Broken. I’m super excited about this show. It has a killer cast (announcement to come soon), and tickets are on sale now!

What I watched:

What I’m reading:

MEMORIES

Five Years Ago:

It was still the early days of COVID, and we weren't certain what the risks of transmission were, so we had an outdoor (masked) "olympics" with family and friends.

Ten Years Ago:

Another Great River Shakespeare trip, this time as a chaperone for Kate Horvath's amazing Youth Theatre Intensive kids.

That’s it for this first issue. Thanks for reading, friend!

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