7 Things That Make Alison Pill Smile

1. A Favorite Podcast

I listen to Reply All, which explains internet culture in a really interesting way. Yes, I have to have a podcast to explain things like memes to me. I am officially a millennial, but I don't feel of the millennials. There's a difference between a millennial who grew up with a cellphone and one who did not. I did not. It was a big deal when my family got our first cellphone.

2. My Rescue Pup

Hiking with my rescue dog, Henry Chirpa, makes me happy. At the shelter where I was volunteering, he didn't get to go on super-big walks. The first time I took him out on a hike, he was like, This is the coolest! Now he's always psyched about a hike unless it's too hot. In which case nobody wants to hike.

3. Nutritional Yeast

I am 99% vegan. A go-to ingredient is nutritional yeast with its cheesy, ferment-y flavor. It's great on popcorn. You can mix it up with cauliflower to make a really good, creamy pasta sauce. And it has a lot of vitamin B. Nutritional yeast is your friend.

4. Co-Star Sir Patrick Stewart

Getting to hang out with Sir Patrick Stewart [on the Star Trek set] hits every nerd bone in my body. You get to hear Shakespeare quoted all the livelong day and listen to [fellow co-star] Brent Spiner's impression of him, which is crazy good, while also realizing you're sitting with Picard. It's sci-fi nerdiness and theater geek happiness rolled into one.

5. Local Writers

My favorite form of entertainment is reading a good novel. Whatever city I go to, I try to read some local literature while I'm there. Books are a wonderful way to learn more about a place and its people. Reading Václav Havel's Letters to Olga while visiting Prague, wandering around looking at amazing architecture and bridges, was very special.

6. Actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge

She's my hero right now. Fleabag, Killing Eve, all the shows that she has a hand in, I'm like, I will watch you forever. [She's] the most astute observer of humanity and makes everything funny. Even sad things. And she's my age. I feel terribly unaccomplished.

7. Singing Out Loud

If I don't do karaoke at least once a month, I get antsy. I'm like, There's a song inside me and it needs to get out! My friends and I also do improv musicals where we come up with a bare-bones construction of a musical story and then improvise the entirety of it in my friend's living room.

Originally published in Watch Magazine, January-February 2020.

Stream Star Trek: Picard on Paramount+.

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