The Monday Media Diet with Alison Flood

On CBS Sunday Morning, The Rewatchables, and Death in a Prairie House

Alison (AF) is a longtime pal of WITI. She’s amazing at hyper creative events. Hit her up. -Colin (CJN)

Tell us about yourself.

Hey dummies! I run LOCALS Experiential, where we represent our always-on clients for their annualized partnership, programs, and execution.

I’ve been haunting the halls of the Internet and New York City for most of my life. I was born and raised on Staten Island and am a product of the New York City public schools. My early career was spent as a member of the Richard Blakeley Gawker intern/contributor army (writing and event producing), later at Internet Week / Webby Awards / Lovie Awards (part of the event production and programming, sponsorship execution, creative, and sometimes-sales teams), later career spent at BuzzFeed (monetizing experiential and running 360 production end to end) and running my own thing that produces all kinds of creative and experiential endeavors for brands, agencies, organizations, humans, etc. I also produce and co-write New York the Ride the Show with my comedian BFF, Yoni Lotan.

I was super lucky and grew up with my grandparents in the house and was obsessed with my funeral director grandfather — so I’m additionally in a constant cycle of working on projects and ideas related to dying/the funeral industry.

Describe your media diet.

My consumption patterns are more similar to a garbage disposal or desert snake than a diet. I have two pieces of context that I imagine are useful here: 

• My mother and my sister are librarians, so I have always looked at longer-form reading and academia / non-fiction as a focal point for my consumption. I don’t read X or watch the news, but I stay aware of those things against my will from friends and family.

• Outside of watching CBS Sunday Morning as a family (which I still watch), I wasn’t really allowed to watch TV until The Sopranos came out. My dad and my grandparents shaped my media tastes in a lot of ways; they showed me The Godfather when I was in the second grade zone, took me to see Heat in theaters in fifth grade, saw every Spike Lee movie in theaters from 1993-2001, I have seen a bizarre list of black and whites and every Paul Newman movie. This combination has been a little catastrophic for my preferences and my watching habits. My major takeaways from these genre slants are; 

  • I’m fascinated by people who try to live outside the law and/or off the grid 

  • I love looking at well made and interesting clothes

  • Spike Lee is the best and also Go Knicks

In the mornings I listen to podcasts or read with records on in the background while I get myself mentally ready to do things and answer requests all day. My morning routine is based on foundations — I want to clear my head and do something that feels like feeding my personal brain instead of my professional brain. I try to make myself happy before I make spreadsheets and pump out ideas and solutions (and spreadsheets that detail how much those ideas and solutions cost). From a macro perspective, for me to be my best at both left and right brain I have to find my own rabbit holes and disappear down them until I hit the bottom. 

My favorite combos here are:

• Podcasts: The Rewatchables (I keep up to date, and I listen to the episode about The Town when I’m sad), Scamfluencers (Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi are wonderful and I love learning about people who break rules), The Watch (Chris Ryan 4 Ever), Throwing Fits (I love clothes and getting dressed, and these two guys are hilarious; if you need a gateway drug to listen I would start with Luar, Bradley Carbone, or Angelo Baque)

• Vinyls: The ones I listen to the most often are Sam Cooke Live at Harlem Square, Dean Martin’s Welcome to My World, Dan Deacon’s score of Well Groomed when I need something on in the background, and any of the Clarence Carter albums

• Publications: I’m constantly working through a backlog of NY Mag, The New Yorker, all the Kate Boyleston funeral magazines, Architectural Digest, Texas Monthly (I’ve never lived there but I’ve reached critical mass of friendship in Texas, and it feels important to be in the know), The New York Times

• Newsletters; I don’t keep up in real time, but I love this list whenever I pick them up: FOUND, WITI (duh), Welcome to Hell World by Luke O’Neil, Walk it Off by Isaac Fitzgerald, GMHHAY? By Rick Webb (reading what is essentially a good friend’s livejournal will never get old), Garbage Day by Ryan Broderick, The Free Press, Semafor, Gay Doctor

What are you reading now?

Again, more of a trash disposal than diet — but it works for me!

• The Golem of Brooklyn by Adam Mansbach; Simultaneously heartbreaking and funny story that’s part road trip, part history lesson, and all good. 10/10.

• You’ll Never Believe Me by Kari Ferrell; I got an advance copy from my super pal Kari and the book is fantastic. It’s another one that’s heartbreaking and uplifting and amazing.

• The Quiet Zone by Stephen Kurczy; Super fascinating book about an area in West Virginia with no WiFi or cell service where the author embedded with the community. 

• Death in a Prairie House by William R. Drennan; I was just at Taliesin West for a few hours and saw this book about a series of murders at the Wisconsin property…I got sucked in.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication? 

I’m big on, “Do it as long as it’s fun.” If I get bored with something, I’m the first to admit that I got to the resolution via Wikipedia or google. 

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not? 

Gary He is coming out with his McAtlas — and if you’ve been following him on Substack or Instagram for any number of years, you already know this is gonna be awesome. He photographed some of the most remote and beautiful / interesting McDonald’s locations in the world, beauty shots of the food, shots of the buildings, writing about the different menus in each place. Amazing.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone? 

Libby! With a library card you can download magazines, books, audiobooks, and more for free. Libby is my most used app and also my most cherished. 

Plane or train?

To go somewhere for fun (even though it’s almost always work), it’s a plane. Bring me to the desert and put a book and a seltzer so bubbly it’ll burn my throat in my hands. 

For work, it’s a train. If I’m on a four hour train, I can get three days worth of work done — it’s like the beautiful mind meme. 

What is one place everyone should visit?

If you need to turn off, go to Marfa. There is nothing to do, barely anything to see, the restaurants operate mercilessly on their own timelines, and the locals do not want to talk to you. It’s paradise. If you need to do some resetting with a view, it’s the right place. Do yourself a favor and eat Convenience West BBQ and spend 2-3 days looking at the most beautiful surroundings you could imagine.

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into. 

I’ve been falling down the grief and dying rabbit hole my entire life; how we die, what our families do when we die, how the government plays into that process, the ways we remember, what grief does to our bodies and minds, the human sensory memory and experience. The same way that grief is just a receipt for the existence of love and joy, dying is the receipt that you lived. I’m most interested in the modernization of the funeral industry and how that plays out. (AF)

—

Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN) & Alison (AF)

—

Why is this interesting? is a daily email from Noah Brier & Colin Nagy (and friends!) with editing help from Louis Cheslaw about interesting things. If you’ve enjoyed this edition, please consider forwarding it to a friend. If you’re reading it for the first time, consider subscribing.