Do By Friday

Theymaphrodite

Episode Summary

This week's challenge: watch "Marty Supreme." (Recorded on Wednesday, February 11, 2026)

Episode Notes

Links

• Marty Supreme | Official Trailer (A24)
  Josh Safdie's new film about a ping-pong hustler, starring Timothée Chalamet.
• How A24 Created a Viral Marty Supreme Spectacle (Vogue)
  The jacket drops, the Balenciaga collab, and the marketing machine behind the film.
• Orlando (1992, Sally Potter)
  Tilda Swinton as Virginia Woolf's time-traveling, gender-shifting nobleman — this week's mini-challenge.
• Watch Orlando free on Tubi
  Go watch it. It's right here.
• Quentin Crisp
  Plays Queen Elizabeth I in Orlando; Merlin imprinted on that image.
• Tony Zhou, "Edgar Wright: How to Do Visual Comedy" (Every Frame a Painting)
  The video essay that made everyone realize Wright is doing something nobody else does.
• The Wicker Man (1973)
  The original folk horror — the thread connecting Hot Fuzz, Midsommar, and The Witch.
• Off Menu podcast
  Florence Pugh's episode, in which she reveals she does not drink water.
• Off Menu — Lucia Keskin (Chi With a C)
  BAFTA-winning comedian, discussed in the member show. "The quietest guest we've ever had."
• Claire Foy had intestinal worms from filming The Crown (Yahoo News)
  The truly disgusting reason she no longer drinks caffeine.
• Man throws shoes at Bush
  They all throw their shoes.
• Sarrasine — Balzac (Project Gutenberg)
  The Balzac novella about a sculptor who falls in love with a castrato — the text Barthes famously dismantled.
• S/Z — Roland Barthes
  Barthes's semiotic disassembly of Sarrasine — Merlin's "oh fuck you, you should read Sarrasine" recommendation.
• Gender: An Ethnomethodological Approach — Kessler & McKenna (U of Chicago Press)
  The book that changed Merlin's life in a 1988 Gender Studies class: what if there weren't just two genders?
• Gender Trouble — Judith Butler (PDF)
  The definitive text — Alex's rec that Merlin bought a beautiful copy of and still hasn't read. Here's a free one.
• Who's Afraid of Gender? — Judith Butler (Bookshop.org)
  Butler's newest book — the one Alex was actually talking about. Why are we weird about gender again?
• "A Question and Three Answers" — Merlin Mann
  Three perspectives on one question about being trans in America.
• Claude Code (Anthropic)
  Alex is getting into it and making $200; Merlin's teaching his to not watch Tommy read the paper.
• Good Time (A24)
  The Safdie Brothers' sweaty Robert Pattinson thriller — context for understanding what Safdie does.
• Uncut Gems (A24)
  Adam Sandler in a diamond district panic attack — the other essential Safdie before Marty Supreme.
• The Curse (Paramount+)
  Safdie and Nathan Fielder's deeply uncomfortable TV series.
• Ricky Jay
  Magician, card sharp, actor, historian of the unusual — referenced during the shoe-throwing bit.
• Baby Driver — Opening Titles / Coffee Run (feat. "Harlem Shuffle")
  The scene that is its own argument. Edgar Wright syncing every footstep, every door, every beat.
• Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, "Bellbottoms"
  The song that opens Baby Driver and never lets go.
• Ayoade on Top — Richard Ayoade (Bookshop.org)
  Ayoade wrote an entire book about the Gwyneth Paltrow movie View from the Top. It's called Ayoade on Top. Of course it is.
• Olivia Colman is hooked on Ayoade's book premise | Graham Norton
  The specific clip — Ayoade explaining View from the Top to a delighted Olivia Colman. Truly one of the great things.
• Can I Ask You a Question? by Jennifer Venditti (A24 Shop)
  Venditti's casting book — the woman who found the faces for Good Time, Uncut Gems, and Marty Supreme.
• Billy the Kid (2007, Jennifer Venditti) — watch free on Tubi
  The documentary that led to her casting work with the Safdies.
• Defunctland, "Journey to EPCOT Center: A Symphonic History"
  A feature-length orchestral documentary about EPCOT Center that has no business being this good.
• Defunctland, "Disney's Animatronics: A Living History"
  Bonus Defunctland for the curious.