Published in
5 min readNov 8, 2015
Welcome to the second week of THE LEDGER, an experiment in publishing a complete media diet. Last week’s edition induced Alexis to call me a “crazy person” — an appellation I hope to honor with dignity.
A few highlights from this week’s diary: the Viceland network reel is bananatown, the newest episode of You’re the Worst (“LCD Soundsystem”) was possibly the best episode of TV this year, those slowed-down Chipmunks songs are amazing, Spotlight is a relief, and “Against Subtly” is the quintessential #slatepitch and basically wrong, yet still enjoyable.
And here’s an idea: Maybe the print edition of New York Times is actually their huge untapped asset. Why should it not be Birchbox for Media?
Anyway, a reminder: The items in bold below are personal recommendations. And an accounting note: The rules of inclusion have been updated to now contain Newsletter and App.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2015
- MUSIC: Grimes, Art Angels
- TV: The Knick, “Wonderful Surprises” (s02 e04) | MAX
- TV: Saturday Night Live, “Donald Trump” | NBC
- TV: Shark Tank (s07 e07) | ABC
- TV: Charlie Rose, Cast of Spotlight & Larry Wilmore| PBS
- TV: Metal Mania| VH1CL
- POST: Knausgaard on Houellebecq’s Submission | NYT Book Review
- POST: “Why I Quit Ordering from Uber-for-Food Start-Ups” | The Atlantic
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2015
- MOVIE: Ant-Man
- MUSIC: Art of the Fugue, Johann Sebastian Bach
- PODCAST: Bill Simmons Podcast, “Three-Man Pop Culture Podcast”
- POST: “Bieber: ‘I Was Close to Letting Fame Destroy Me’” | Billboard
- POST: “Small Social Is Here” | Buzzfeed
- TV: What’d You Miss? | BLOOM
- TV: With All Due Respect | BLOOM
- TV: Real Time w/ Bill Maher, “Quentin Tarantino” | HBO
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2015
- VIDEO: “Viceland Reel”
- MUSIC: chipmunkson16speed
- MUSIC: “Been a Son” & “Sappy,” Kurt Cobain Demos
- MOVIE: Spotlight
- MOVIE: The Leisure Class, HBO
- PODCAST: Reply All, “Shine on You Crazy Goldman”
- PODCAST: Longform, “Jazmine Hughes”
- PODCAST: Slate Money, “The How the Other Half Banks Edition”
- POST: A.O. Scott’s Review of Spotlight, New York Times
- POST: “A Long Strange Chat with David Chang” | Washingtonian
- POST: “Where Hollywood Is Wrong about the Future of TV,” Redef
- POST: “The Platonic Ideal of the Men’s-Rights Internet?” NY Mag
- POST: “Why New Failed TV Shows Have Not Been Canceled,” Vox
- TV: Jeopardy (s32 e147) | ABC
- TV: Jeopardy (s32 e146) | ABC
- TV: Jeopardy (s32 e145) | ABC
- TV: Jeopardy (s32 e144) | ABC
- TV: The Daily Show (s01 e20) | COM
- TV: Nathan for You, “Sporting Goods Store / Antique Shop” (s03 e04) | COM
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2015
- PODCAST: Vulture TV Podcast, “Fargo and the Art of Adaptation”
- POST: “It’s Time to Reclaim Trolling” | New York
- POST: “The Decay of Twitter” | The Atlantic
- POST: “Mary Karr Thinks You Shouldn’t Google Yourself” | NYT Mag
- POST: “Against Subtlety” | Slate
- POST: “The Transformation of David Brooks” | CJR
- POST: “Amazon Users Exchanging Their Favorite Slang” | Fusion
- POST: “How Many Years Does ISS Have Left?” | Popular Science
- POST: “The Tech Bust of 2015” | Sam Altman
- POST: “Pantone: How a Color Authority Became a Pop Icon” | Quartz
- POST: “Grantlangst” | Motherboard
- POST: “Grantland and the Surprising Future of Publishing” | Stratechery
- POST: “Can TV Put the Netflix Genie Back in the Bottle?” | Recode
- POST: “2015 Is the Year the Old Internet Finally Died” | Vox
- TV: You’re the Worst, “LCD Soundsystem” (s02 e09) | FXX
- TV: The Brain with David Eagleman, “How Do I Decide?” (s01 e04) | PBS
- TV: The Muppets, “Ex-Factor” (s01 e06) | ABC
- TV: Nova, “Making North America: Origins” | PBS
- TV: America: Facts vs. Fiction, “Top Secret Vaults” (s03 e06) | AHC
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2015
- NEWSLETTER: “Jon Stewart’s New Job,” I Dream of TV
- NEWSLETTER: “How Google Will Work Them Pods,” Hot Pod
- NEWSLETTER: “What Jon Stewart Is Doing at HBO,” Reliable Sources
- VIDEO: Trailer for Charlie Kaufman’s Anomalisa
- VIDEO: Trailer for Spike Lee’s Chi-Raq
- POST: “Inside NYT’s Push Notifications Team” | Digiday
- POST: “HBO Hopes You Watch Jon Stewart Online” | Recode
- POST: “Vice Media Rides Lofty Expectations” | Wall Street Journal
- TV: Drunk History, “New Mexico” (s03 e10) | COM
- TV: Late Night, “Reed Hastings” (s01 e36) | CBS
- TV: The Daily Show (s01 e18) | COM
- TV: Scream Queens, “Beware of Young Girls” (s01 e07) | FOX
- TV: With All Due Respect | BLOOM
- TV: Charlie Rose, “Tom Wheeler & Meg Whitman” | PBS
- TV: Jeopardy (s32 e30) | ABC
- TV: No Reservations, “Paris” (s01 e01) | TRAVEL
- APP: Earbud, Your Friendly Guide To Great Podcasts
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 2015
- PODCAST: The Message, Episode 5
- PODCAST: Of a Kind, “Whey Is Bae, and Wine is Fine”
- MOVIE: The Diplomat, HBO
- POST: “The True Story behind Zola” | Washington Post
- POST: “Henry Blodget’s Big Plans for Business Insider” | Capital NY
- TV: Fargo, “Fear and Trembling” (s02 e04) | FX
- TV: Breakthrough, “Fighting Pandemics” | NAT GEO
- TV: With All Due Respect | BLOOM
- TV: The Daily Show (s01 e17) | COM
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2015
- POST: “Fall of the House of Bush” | New York Times
- POST: “Who Was the Real Lou Reed?” | New York Times
- POST: “How the 6s Plus Is Reshaping My Experience” | Mac Stories
- POST: “Six Ways Apple TV Could Be Better” | iMore
- TV: Mike Tyson Mysteries, “What’s That Gnoise?” (s02 e01) | ADULT
- TV: Project Greenlight, “Hug and Release” (s04 e08) | HBO
- TV: Minnesota Vikings vs. Chicago Bears | FOX
- TV: Meet the Press | NBC
- TV: Reliable Sources | CNN
- TV: Homeland, “Better Call Saul” | SHO
- TV: The Affair, “205” (s02 e05) | HBO
- TV: Last Week with John Oliver (s02 e32) |HBO
- TV: 60 Minutes (s48 e06) | CBS
- TV: The Walking Dead, “Here’s Not Here” (s06 e04)| AMC
Rex Sorgatz scribbles non-media content at @fimoculous.
