5AM CoffeeTalk: February 2026
A monthly rundown about my life as a professional artist, art lover, and human being trying to survive the 21st century - good and bad, glorious and frustrating, hilarious and stupid
So, how’s 2026 treating you so far, StoryTalkers? Believe it or not, we’re only a month into the year even if it feels like seven or eight years of societal collapse have already rolled over us like an out-of-control German Panzer.
For newcomers to 5AM StoryTalk, 5AM CoffeeTalk is a quirky monthly rundown I use to share quick bites of information with you about the arts and what’s happening in my life here in Australia. If you enjoy how I think and talk about culture and the world, then what you find here could help point you toward art, events, and news/ideas that you’ll enjoy, too. That said, things are…well…pretty fucked, as I’ve already alluded to. This rundown can’t help but reflect both the best parts of my life and the worst parts of this world — which art, my greatest passion, my purpose for being as far as I’m concerned, must react to.
Feel free to jump into the comments and share some of what’s been exciting, challenging, provoking, destroying, etc. your creative mind this past month!
SOMETHING YOU SHOULD REMEMBER
“When people tell you art is not important, that is always a prelude to fascism. They think they can debase everything that makes us a little better, a little more human.” — Guillermo del Toro
Art can be so many things. Amongst them a balm, a dream, a lament, an epiphany, a psalm, a howling scream. Yes, even entertainment. But its two most powerful functions are to show us who we are and what we’re capable of and terrify the powerful. Power fears it because it gives us a voice and eventually those voices form a choir and, ultimately, that choir learns it has the power to knock down the walls that would contain its fury. Be powerful. The world needs you.
SOMETHING I DID
You may recall that my wife and I bought a house in Australia’s Macedon Ranges this past December. Well, after six weeks of renovations — which are still ongoing — we finally moved in. This is how that’s going:
SOMETHING COOL ONE OF MY FRIENDS DID
The musical Chess premiered on the West End in 1986 and on Broadway two years later; it featured music by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (ABBA), lyrics by Ulvaeus and Tim Rice with a book by Rice. Well, my old friend Danny Strong, whom I’ve known almost as long as I’ve been a professional screenwriter, wrote a new book for it and has spent ten years perfecting it. It premiered on Broadway last year and is still going strong. I wish I could make it to New York City to see it myself, but…you know…fascism. But if you’re already in the country and visiting the Big Apple, you should check it out. It stars Aaron Tveit, Lea Michele, and Nicholas Christopher.
SOMETHING I LISTENED TO
For some time now, I’ve asked: where are the revolutionary artists we need to properly take on the 21st century? They exist, of course, but their work is too often produced at the fringes rather than in the mainstream or come from voices that are systemically silenced (the Indigenous, the colonized, etc.). To help do something about that, I’m going to start amplifying artists that I believe exist to antagonize the powerful. Which brings me to Earth to Eve, whom I’ve only know about for a few months now…but holy shit, StoryTalkers, this younger singer is fearless. Start with the earworm “Threat Level Orange”, but I’d be remiss not mentioning the infuriating, heartbreaking “Have You Heard the News Today?”
SOMETHING THAT MADE ME LAUGH
Pay attention, kids. Uncle Elton has a valuable lesson for you about material possessions. And cocaine.
Excerpt from Elton John’s 2019 memoir.
(This previously appeared as a 5AM StoryTalk Note, which you can share by clicking here.)
SOMETHING I ATE
Lavender scones with clotted cream and lavender jam, served at Lavandula Swiss Italian Farm in Hepburn Springs, Victoria here in Australia. Glorious.
SOMETHING THAT MADE ME CRY
An incomplete picture of the situation…
SOMETHING THAT MADE ME SMILE
My eldest son spends time on a local farm. Last month, he and I joined the team there for an afternoon painting and building fences. He’s been fascinated by carpentry lately, inspired by stories of his grandfather who was a carpenter in Michigan back in the United States. This was the first time he got to use power tools.
SOMETHING COOL THAT HAPPENED TO ME
The Writers Guild of America West’s magazine, Written By, just featured screenwriting podcasts recommended by membership. There was a bunch of love heaped on 5AM StoryTalk, which makes me more than a little proud — especially because of how much I respect the work of those who were doing the heaping in my case.
Check it out here - along with some praise of my own that I direct at Screenwriters’ Rant Room and Liz Craft and Sarah Fain’s wonderful Happier in Hollywood!
SOMETHING ELSE I LISTENED TO
“The Day the Nazi” died by Chumbawamba was released in 1990 following the death of Rudolf Hess. Every word of it is brutal truth and makes nothing happening in the West right now, in the U.S. and Europe, remotely surprising.
We’re told that after the war The Nazis vanished without a trace / But battalions of fascists Still dream of a master race
The history books they tell Of their defeat at ‘45 /But they all came out of the woodwork On the day the Nazi died
They say the prisoner at Spandau Was a symbol of defeat / Whilst Hess remained imprisoned And the fascists, they were beat
So the promise of an Aryan world Would never materialize / So why did they all come out of the woodwork On the day the Nazi died
The world is riddled with maggots The maggots are getting fat / They’re making a tasty meal of all The bosses and bureaucrats
They’re taking over the boardrooms And they’re fat and full of pride / And they all came out of the woodwork On the day the Nazi died
So if you meet with these historians I’ll tell you what to say / Tell them that the Nazis Never really went away
They’re out there burning houses down / And peddling racist lies
And we’ll never rest again / Until every Nazi dies
SOMETHING I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO
The Bride! — a reimagining of The Bride of Frankenstein from writer-director Maggie Gyllenhaal — hits screens the first week of March. It looks like a bold, in-your-face mash-up of monster mayhem, Bonnie and Clyde (1967), and feminist fury. Films like these typically don’t even have to blow me away, if I’m frank - pun intended. I’m just so grateful for something that feels new and exciting that the bar is already set low enough for feature film to roll over.
SOMETHING I DISCOVERED
After a long day of new house renovations earlier this month, I popped into Hepburn Springs Brewing Co for the first time and, holy shit, this place is amazing. I’m claiming this balcony table and view as my new workspace…though I don’t know how long I’ll last most days drinking 8.5% Belgian-style Tripel like this one. I’ve been back since and can say all three beers I’ve tried are wonderful - and that is incredibly high praise if you know how hit-and-miss Aussie craft beer can be.
Location: Hepburn Springs, Victoria - Australia.
By the way, you can buy me a coffee (or beer), too, to help support the arts & culture conversation I’m having at 5AM StoryTalk. You’ll probably even get a shoutout in my Notes with me and a beverage.
SOMETHING YOU MIGHT’VE MISSED
SOMEONE YOU SHOULD FOLLOW ON SUBSTACK
This month, I want to point you toward critic and filmmaker Brooke Obie of Black Girl Watching. To understand why, I need you to remember that 5AM StoryTalk isn’t just a place to talk about storytelling or debate important cultural issues through the lens of art. During its tenure here at Substack, it’s become an arts advocacy platform — and advocating for art means embracing new ways to look at and understand the world. Ways that challenge your own, that might even expand your consciousness and/or your empathy.
Brooke immediately stood out to me in this regard when I read her take on One Battle After Another, a film that I like very much — but that doesn’t mean my reaction to it as hopefully decent white guy isn’t unconsciously biased or doesn’t require a vigorous interrogation. She’s proof that film criticism must have a broader range of voices. Maybe you’re already reading plenty of non-white thinkers in this regard; maybe you’re not.
When it comes to Brooke, start by reading “One Fetish After Another: PTA Exploits Black Women and Averts Revolution”. Then, even if you don’t agree with her, subscribe under the assumption that she’s going to make you think about art and our world in an interesting way — which is what matters here.
SOMETHING THAT MADE ME SCREAM
If you want to scream in terror, read “How AI Companies Got Caught Up in US Military Efforts” at IndieWire. Our cultural enslavement to AI is going to be the death of everything we know unless we act soon and decisively.
We need some of that Sarah Connor energy these days.
SOMETHING YOU SHOULD READ ON SUBSTACK
My friend Amber Tamblyn writes about the murder of Renée Nicole Good by a misogynistic stormtrooper who called her a “fucking bitch” after he shot her in the face. She focuses on the power of words, of poetry, to illuminate the ignorant and terrify the powerful. I hope you give it a read.
SOMETHING I WATCHED
Vince Gilligan, creator of “Breaking Bad” and co-creator of “Better Call Saul”, returned late last year with a new series called “Pluribus” and, guys — guys! — it is so weird and wonderful and oddly heartbreaking and unsettling and darkly funny and patient. So goddamn patient. “Pluribus” feels conceived to antagonize victims of content culture. As its disclaimer declares, “This show was made by humans” — and it shows.
SOMETHING YOU SHOULD REMEMBER ABOUT FASCISTS
This is Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges (whom you should be reading here) discussing fascism at the Parkland Institute 2013 Conference. Words you should take to heart as you stare down fascism yourself and wonder if there’s any chance of success.
SOMETHING THAT GAVE ME HOPE
Adelaide Writers’ Week was set to take place last month in the capital city of South Australia, but it was canceled. Its board, at the bidding of the state’s premier it now appears, disinvited a Palestinian author — Randa Abdel-Fattah — from attending because they thought her presence would be “culturally insensitive” after the Bondi Beach terror attack where 15 people, almost all Jews celebrating Hanukkah, were murdered by two Islamist extremists. In doing so, the Board implied Abdel-Fattah’s identity alone was inflammatory, which struck pretty much the entire Australian literary world as racist and a disgusting attempt to censor Abdel-Fattah over her position that Israel’s handling of Gaza meets the definition of genocide.
Whether you agree with her is irrelevant; free speech dictates any one of us can feel this way and a democratic society requires us to accept this. This is why dozens of guest speakers quickly backed out of appearing at the festival. The festival, in turn, was canceled.
Long story short: free speech won this round.
If you want to learn more about what happened and why so many found it appalling, check out this interview with the festival’s director, Louise Adler, who resigned in protest.
Congratulations, Cole, on your move and podcast achievements. Wishing your dear friend congratulations on their Broadway debut. The more you share positivity, love, and joy, the more you get back endlessly. :)
Thanks, Cole!!