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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.
I just finished listening to the Beastie Boys Book which is great. Lots of good behind the scenes of album and personality making and a fun cast of narrators and a great bit where either Adam Horovitz or Mike Diamond will be saying something and the other one will pop in to correct/argue/say something smart-assy. I am also reading Thurston Moore’s memoir and Crystal is reading a Keith Haring biography and if you ever need two people on tap for Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, we’re here for you.
Because I’d been listening to the book, I have also been listening to the Beastie Boys’ discography more than I ever have before. I would say I was a casual listener and will probably only continue to be one, but I have enjoyed sort of listening through/putting on a song when they’re done talking about it so that I can appreciate what they said about it and there are just some real bangers in there! A lot of it reminds me of my childhood/adolescence but not in a way that would (for some people) make them feel ~cringe or whatever, but I also think I have a better appreciation of them as distinct personalities.
I’ve also been listening to a lot of Vera Sola and My Brightest Diamond and St. Vincent and Ocean LeClair and JOLENE which has also been very enjoyable. Last year I listened to one new song a day, emulating one of my oldest internet friends, but I found that it inexplicably stressed me out and made me feel like I was listening to less new-to-me music, so it’s nice to be back to my old ways, bumbling and bumping my way into new sounds.
As previously mentioned, I watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy which was a much better time than I expected and I do feel like I could be really obsessed with it under the right circumstances. I’m glad I waited so long to watch it though because I am no longer an irony poisoned jerkwad so I could actually really appreciate it.
I think that’s it! I feel like everyone I know is kind of operating with their brain partitioned — a piece for the nonstop onslaught of dumb and terrifying shit going on in the US and the world at large, a piece for work, a piece for interpersonal stuff, a piece for escape — and it’s a little exhausting and a lot demoralizing, so I hope you’re finding ways to take care of yourself through it.
January has been a mixed bag already (as they kind of always seem to be? What’s that about!) with some great success working on my resolutions etc whilst watching the only place I have ever truly thought of as home suffer through horrific fires and loss.
First, some music:
Mabe Fratti’s Sentir Que No Sabes which is kind of like a very current Rasputina that I can only a third understand.
Doechii’s Alligator Bites Never Heal which of course everyone knows is a banger and has been listening to before I got to it.
I’ve also been obsessively re-listening to International Pop Overthrow by Material Issue ever since “Very First Lie” came on shuffle a couple weeks ago. What an album.
Second, some reading:
I’ve still been enjoying The Mountain in the Sea and I am suffering through This Will Be Funny Someday by Katie Henry on audiobook which is kind of a learning exercise for me, re: learning to hear things while my hands are busy which is going better than I expected! I also read and loved Navigating With You by Jeremy Whitley.
Third, some watching:
I finally watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings and I had a really fun time! For reasons previously detailed I did not think this would be my thing at all, but now that I am old and have a more open heart, it turns out it was.
Finally, some other stuff:
If you’re able, some places to donate: the Anti-Recidivism Coalition – you can include ‘firefighter fund’ in the payment box to ensure it goes to the incarcerated people who are fighting fires in LA and any of these compiled GoFundMes which are specifically for Black families in Altadena and eSims for Gaza.
If you’re unable to donate more than your time, this video tells you how to report landlords who are illegally raising rent prices in the wake of the fires.
Alright, I hope you’re doing well out there! I hope you’re succeeding at the resolutions and goals that really matter and ditching the ones that don’t. Don’t do shit you don’t want to do just because you feel like you should. Life’s way too fucking short.
To be honest, the last month has been a little bit of a mess in ways I had not exactly expected and though I did listen to, read, and watch some stuff, my ability to retain whether or how much I enjoyed that stuff is… less than stellar.
I listened to a lot of Aurora on purpose which was a great choice. I’m particularly fond of The Gods We Can Touch but have not not enjoyed anything I’ve heard.
I read The Talented Mr. Ripley and had a pretty great time, thought it was significantly less gay than what I’ve seen/heard of the movie led me to believe. I also read and liked Kate Leth’s Mall Goth which hit me with some real good nostalgia in the midst of a good, though hard, story.
I watched Pretty Woman for the first time and had a great time! I get why so many women of a certain age are Like That about it and also seeing Jason Alexander be a gross little weasel was so unsettling to me.
In non-media things I’ve enjoyed recently: making canned cinnamon rolls by baking them in cream (The whole internet’s doing it! But this time they’re right!), our new laundry basket that was a little annoying to put together but rolls fantastically and holds a lots, putting a heating blanket just across the foot of the bed so I can tuck my feet into it when they get chilly but not get too hot to sleep, sleeping with my window open even though it’s in the 30s most nights, this little rechargeable Drew Barrymore lamp that I got for our newly renovated bathroom where after six years of living in this house we can finally shower which would also be a thing that I have enjoyed recently (and is of course to some extent) except it cost three times what we were told it would and was a shitshow from beginning to end, Abbot Mojave which does somehow remind me of home, and these little shower curtain clips that install easy and seem to hold the curtain well even if when I ~scanned the QR code to get installation instructions (They’re stickers, I thought I probably had it handled, but it never hurts to check!) it told me the company’s account had expired from non-payment.
I read and loved Landis Blair’s The Night Tent which is so beautifully and charmingly illustrated and written that it makes me wish I had a kid in my life in need of a bedtime story!
I listened to the very first episode of 60 Songs that Explain the 90s and had a good time! I laughed a lot if begrudgingly since it’s hosted by a man who clearly thinks he’s soooooooooo funny, but I will for sure be listening to more episodes anyway.
I’m enjoying Maria Bamford’s Sure, I’ll Join Your Cult which we’ve been listening to as an audiobook which is both nearly impossible for me and my auditory processing issues and also extremely delightful because she’s a comedian with great range and fantastic delivery. Someday I might even manage to finish it!
A couple of albums I’ve liked lately even though my ability to listen to music is extremely broken for some reason: Screaming Females, Desire Pathway and Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill which I’ve been listening to for most of my life but deserves a mention and Metric’s Art of Doubt and The Decemberists in generally because I am still In It!
Okay, that’s it! It’s been rough going around these parts lately — Did you know change is really hard? And having your life in upheaval is exhausting even when it’s for a good reason? And that money sucks? And adhulthood is stupid? Also being mentally ill is terrible? — but we persever nonetheless because honestly the other choice sucks way more.
I hope your fall is glorious! See you next month!
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