Jon Ronson is a Welsh journalist, writer, documentary-maker and radio presenter. His bestselling 2004 book The Men Who Stare at Goats was made into a film starring George Clooney and Ewan McGregor in 2009; The Psychopath Test (2011) is also being adapted for the screen. Ronson’s BBC Radio 4 programme Jon Ronson On… has been nominated for a Sony Award four times. In 2014 he co-wrote the script for Lenny Abrahamson’s film Frank, based on Ronson’s time playing in Frank Sidebottom’s band in the 1980s. Ronson’s new book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed is published by Picador on 12 March.
Theatre: Cabaret at Studio 54 in New York
If you asked me what’s the greatest thing I’ve seen, in any form, I’d say this. I’m really embarrassed to say I’ve seen it three times now: I’ve turned into one of those weird Broadway fans that go to see the same show over and over again. I saw it with Michelle Williams, and Emma Stone, and I may even go one last time to see it with Sienna Miller but I think that’s probably a bit excessive. It’s a tweaked version of the original Sam Mendes production from the Donmar; like that one, it stars Alan Cumming. It’s just perfect: it’s so uplifting and then it’s so bleak and you leave in a sort of state of utter bleakness. It’s so uncompromisingly nihilistic, it doesn’t try to be like an uplifting Broadway musical.
I thought Pride, other than Boyhood, was the best film I saw last year. I was really surprised when people said to me that it wasn’t as successful at the box office as everyone predicted, and I think that’s probably down to bad marketing. They made it look like The Full Monty in the posters, they made it sort of “feel-goody”, bright colours on the posters, which gave people the wrong impression. I found it profoundly moving. Partly for narcissistic reasons, because I was doing all of that stuff in the mid-80s, all those rallies in Hyde Park and protests and anti-apartheid demonstrations and pride demonstrations, so it was nice to see yourself up there, romanticised. I was watching it in New York in a cinema filled with British people, choking back tears.
This is definitely the new best podcast out there: it’s highly produced, narrative-driven and brilliant. Like Serial, it’s a This American Life alumnus, Alex Blumberg, who set up his own podcast company, Gimlet. Startup is about the process of starting this new business. It’s all about getting investors, paranoia, thinking everything’s gonna fall apart, and how he sort of blows it in meetings. I have no interest in starting a small business but I love it. The last episode has an interview with this billionaire investor, and he worries because, while the CEO of Uber is so crazy and obsessive that he’s the number two world champion at Wii Tennis, Alex doesn’t have that obsessional drive. He’s basically saying Alex isn’t insane enough to be a billionaire.
Music: Emmy the Great – Swimming Pool
Emmy the Great has been making music for a while, but I saw her last week and she’s got a new song which is totally different from anything else she’s ever done. I’ve always loved her music but this song is a huge leap forward. What she used to do was much more singer/songwritery. This new stuff is really atmospheric and mesmerising; it has a sort of Lana Del Rey, Angelo Badalamenti vibe. It’s good to see somebody take a leap into a whole different type of music and do it so well. I think she could really break through with it. The video is great too, there’s something so lovely and shimmering about it.
I’ve been spending much of my time in New York at the moment, and I’ve been performing a lot with Maeve. She’s incredibly funny: I have never, my hand to God, ever seen her tell the same joke twice, or use the same material twice. I’m not totally sure how I feel about that, because she’s definitely seen me tell the same joke twice. In some ways it’s incredibly admirable and so pure, but at the same time if she tells a really amazing joke that everybody loves then all her future audiences will never get to hear it, so I have mixed feelings as to whether it’s admirable or frustrating. I think it’s just a matter of time before she’s a household name, not just in Ireland. Somebody as talented as her will always break through. It’s still a meritocracy out there, to an extent.
I think this is the best thing Adam Curtis has ever done. The idea behind it is that news has become too rigid and boring and unemotional: it takes a strange, emotional reality and sticks it into a format that’s so rigid nobody cares. So he’s taken thousands of hours of footage that was shot in Afghanistan and made this magical, dreamlike montage out of it, shot in a much more human way than the news allows. He just lets these scenes unfold, and on every occasion something happens and you’re like, “Oh that’s why he chose this shot.” Sometimes it’s something really terrible; sometimes it’s just baffling or odd. Nobody does archives the way Adam does. It’s really bleak – there are a couple of scenes that stay with you unfortunately – but it’s also kind of beautiful. A lot of the stuff I remember from it is just funny and silly. He is funny as well as horrific.
Place: Runyon Canyon Park, Los Angeles
This is like a little bit of desert wilderness slap bang in the middle of Los Angeles, with these really high peaks and rattlesnakes, although I’ve never seen any. What you do see is lots of movie stars walking their dogs; desert wilderness doesn’t tend to have Matthew McConaughey jogging past or Channing Tatum with his dog. There is just something about Runyon Canyon: it’s always hot, and it’s the most magical place I’ve ever been too. Look behind you and you’re in the desert and look in front of you and there is this enormous Los Angeles stretched out beneath you, this carpet of buildings and lights, quite often with a low cloud hanging over it. As a hiker I like the fact there’s only one way to go, so you don’t constantly feel like you’re missing out, like “I’m following this trail but it might be the shit trail.” There’s only one way to go so you know that you’re doing it in the best way it can be done. I find that comforting.
.jpg?w=600)
