Season's Greetings, the DAO of Pooh, and the Abedin Tapes

Good evening, dear reader, and welcome back to The Daily Courant, highlighting the latest and most remarkable journalism being published at Puck.
 
It's only Thursday and already it's been a rollicking week: Bill Cohan explored the latest B.S. post-crypto fiscal fever dream of our late-stage-Covid economy, also known as Olympus DAO. Dylan Byers examined what Jeff Zucker's poaching of Chris Wallace portends for the future of CNN+ as a potentially post-partisan, possibly less screechy network. Peter Hamby interviewed Huma Abedin about the fateful parallels between Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris. And Teddy Schleifer reported on how some of Silicon Valley's most prominent progressives have turned on San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin in a chilling prelude to the political convulsions set to torment Democrats in 2022.

But enough doom and gloom. Today, we're sharing Puck's first annual holiday guide to mirth and merriment—a self-indulgent survey of all the gifts, drinks, and experiences our entire team are consuming and giving, wishing for and stockpiling. Enjoy!

A definitive, non-denominational recommendation list of what we’re watching, gifting, drinking, and dreaming of for 2022.

       FROM THE EDITORS

Puck’s journalists endeavor to take readers closer than ever to the story behind the story at the nexus of Hollywood, Wall Street, Washington, and Silicon Valley. But they aren’t just elite reporters and analysts; they’re tastemakers and cultural arbiters, too. 

And as we enter the final stretches of the year—when gifting, deal-hunting, and self-indulgence abound—we’ve asked everyone on our team to share what they are consuming and giving, wishing for and scouring, alike. It’s our first annual non-denominational, pan-holiday, all-inclusive guide to seasonal mirth and merriment! 

Thanks for all your support in 2021, and happy new year to all. –The Puck Team

In the car: The new Brandi Carlile album. I first saw her play at the Clive Davis pre-Grammys party a couple years ago and I became a big fan. She’s the perfect combination of powerful voice and songwriting skills. While I’m writing: I listen to the No Time to Die soundtrack. The James Bond music motivates me, for some reason. –Matt Belloni, Founding partner and Hollywood editor

Phillip Glass‘s opera Akhnaten. It’s about an ancient pharaoh who declared that only one god existed (the sun disc, Aten) and went on this crusade to rid Egypt of its polytheistic religious order. And it’s Philip Glass. Heresy has never sounded so inscrutable. –Tina Nguyen, Founding partner and National correspondent

The National, The Grateful Dead and Radiohead, natch. Who can argue with these choices? But just in case there’s some clap back, I also take heavy doses of Taylor Swift (especially her two recent albums where she collaborates with Aaron Dessner, a National band member, and with Bon Iver). –Bill Cohan, Founding partner and Wall Street correspondent

Hell N Back by Bakar. Also, my Chill African playlist on Spotify –Baratunde Thurston, Founding partner

Spotify Holiday Pop: I have two young girls (7 and 5) and all they want to listen to is Kelly Clarkson and Sia Christmas songs on repeat. –Joe Purzycki, Co-founder and C.E.O.

“Toast”: This song by Koffee, a young Jamaican singer, is a couple years old, but I don’t think I’ll ever tire of it. Even without the words, it’s an instant mood-lift and just a great bop, especially for dancing around my living room. –Julia Ioffe, Founding partner and Washington correspondent

Since we have Spotify Wrapped data on this: My top artist of 2021 was Khruagbin. Just turn on their Spotify radio station next time you have people over. –Peter Hamby, Founding Partner

Disney+’s Hawkeye, a refreshingly grounded Marvel Studios show that really gets what wealthy Manhattanites would be like if superheroes existed. –Tina Nguyen

I recently discovered The Other Two on HBO Max, and it’s a hilariously raunchy send-up of celebrity culture with very fun actors—Wanda Sykes in particular. The new season of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm is typically excellent, especially Tracey Ullman and the woman who plays the untalented actress that Larry is forced to hire to appease the brother of a guy who drowned in his pool (trust me, it makes sense on the show). I also loved The Rescue, on Disney+, a thrilling doc about the complex cave-diving operation to extract the Thai soccer team, from the filmmakers that won an Oscar for Free Solo. –Matt Belloni

Gentefied, The Crown, and the first three Matrix movies so I am prepared for the 4th one. All the Daniel Craig Bond movies. –Baratunde Thurston

Landscapers on HBO Max. A sophisticated and oddly touching miniseries dramatization of the real-life case of Susan and Christopher Edwards, a British couple who were convicted in 2014 of murdering Susan’s parents and burying their bodies in the back garden. Olivia Colman and David Thewlis are remarkable. –Benjamin Landy, Founding partner and Executive editor

I just finished the second season of The Great on Hulu, an “occasionally true story” about Catherine the Great, which was a really fun watch. I’m dreading having to wait a year for the next season of Succession, but I’ve started the new season of How To with John Wilson, another HBO show which depicts a humbler side of New York. –Isabella Lichauco, Social media manager/Brand designer

Survivor, Season 41, duh. Almost exclusively because I grew up with one of the now-ousted players this season. Almost. –Teddy Schleifer, Founding partner

Casa de Papel, Season 5. The amazing hostage thriller is available on Netflix. –Alex Bocquet, Growth marketing manager

The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey, which teaches you how to silence your mind and get out of your own way—in tennis and in life. –Dylan Byers, Founding partner and Media Correspondent 

Bonus Track: Winning Ugly, a tome for those of us whose game doesn’t even have an inner life. –Max Tcheyan, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer 

The Engagement, by Sasha Issenberg, which charts one of the rarest accomplishments in American politics: huge changes in public opinion. Issenberg deftly shows the political forces behind our new consensus on gay marriage—anyone looking to change anything would be wise to read it. –Teddy Schleifer 

Audience-ology, by Kevin Goetz. It’s a new book by one of the experts in movie test screenings, and it reveals what researchers have learned about how audiences consume content. Some big alarm bells for the future of movies, especially in theaters. –Matt Belloni 

S. N. Berman’s People in a Diary. It turns out the famed New Yorker writer is from my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts and a distant relative. My people knew his people, I’m discovering. His greatest book was Duveen, about the famous 20th century art dealer. –Bill Cohan 

Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution, by Laurent Dubois. We should have been taught this story in school. –Baratunde Thurston 

The Quartermaster by Robert O’Harrow Jr., about Montgomery C. Meigs, the Quartermaster General under Lincoln. He’s considered an unsung hero of the Civil War, because his management of supply chains kept the Union Army fed, clothed, and mobile. Reminds me of working at a start-up. –Alex Bigler

Bad Boy: My Life On and Off the Canvas by Eric Fischl. Written with Michael Stone, the painter recounts his childhood in Long Island, the alcoholism in his family, his mother’s sucide, his insecurities and struggles as an artist from his time at CalArts to the New York art scene in the late ‘70s, and life after leaving the artistic epicenter of the late 20th century. He dishes some art world gossip, like his falling out with Jerry Saltz, and his chapters are interspersed with accounts from the people who know him well, including Julian Schnabel, David Salle, and Steve Martin. Fischl holds nothing back, especially when it comes to the controversies surrounding him and his voyeuristic art. –Isabella Lichauco

Zuleikha, by Guzel Yakhina: Russia is known for its literature, though the first decades after the Soviet collapse produced some meh books, in my opinion. In the last few years, though, Russia has seen a crop of books by young women writers and the work is of tremendous literary quality. This novel, by a Tatar-Russian writer, is about the bloody collectivization drive of the late 1920s and early 1930s and how it affected one Tatar woman named Zuleikha. Beautifully written, this one is not for the faint of heart. –Julia Ioffe 

FOUR STORIES WE'RE TALKING ABOUT