Crystal and I watched Masters of the Air over the course of a couple weeks and liked it a lot. I am, tragically, a sucker for World War II stories even as I’ve disengaged so aggressively from the American machine, and I did love this one. I wish there’d been a little less digital effect work in the places where they could have made do without, but I did think it was overall shot really beautifully, very cinematic and classically romantic in the way the era is often done. I wish it had been structured slightly differently so that the rotation amongst pilots as they were lost seemed more fluid OR more intentionally jarring instead, but I loved the characters and had a great time! Very much recommend.

I recently reread The Perks of Being a Wallflower because I’d grabbed it to read outside at our local library recently as part of a protest against a bad book bill in our area and it was kind of lovely to read it as an adult (I reread it quite a few times between 14 and 19) and see the technical work in a way I couldn’t as a youth and also to still see why I loved it and feel like it was worth my time then and now.

My skin has been horrifically dry this winter due to some confluence of age, skin type, and the horrendously cold days we’ve had, and in my (Reddit aided because Google is useless now of course) search for something to add to my routine, I found Experiment Beauty and have enjoyed extremely moisturized skin since I got my delivery. I’ve been using their Super Saturated serum mixed with my usual hyaluronic acid serum from the Ordinary and adding a drop or two of the Buffer Jelly in with my longtime Kiehl’s moisturizer combo (Barrier Cream and Ultra Facial Cream) and my skin hasn’t felt this good since Kiehl’s changed the formulation of their Overnight Mask and ruined my life.

Stuff I’ve been listening to lately: my March 2023 playlist which is chock full of bangers, Imogen & the Knife’s Some King of Love, and Soap&Skin’s The End. Oh! And also having a renewed love affair with Suzanne Vega’s “Blood Makes Noise”.

I’ve been successfully succeeding my goal of watching one new-to-me movie a month: Trap was alright, though I liked it better when I thought it was a single dad situation, Buffaloed was pretty fun and I did not know Zoey Deutch was so beloved, and Quiz Show was great and I absolutely understand why everyone was so bananas for it in the 90s.

Alright, that’s it for this month! I hope you’re finding ways to alleviate some suffering in the world including your own and finding things to laugh about even in the darkness.

Last month we donated to eSims for Gaza, which I don’t remember whether I mentioned in my roundup post or not, and this month it’s Undue Medical Debt which buys medical debt from collectors and forgives it.