So this week has been pretty chaotic. We move out of our office in 2 weeks and I’ve been helping coordinate that and with the other departments on my floor leaving at the same time (our building is being renovated) it’s a mishmash of meetings, packing, chatting with coworkers about how weird it is to have our departments separated for the next year. Anyhoo, because of all this, I haven’t been that diligent about updating this post. There’s just been so much going on. However, there are some good things here for you to occupy some brain space with.
At the heart of these shows is a radical humanity — selling very convincingly the idea that while we might all die alone, the key to getting through life lies in the collective. That we must seek help, and we must band together, and keep those bonds strong, even when faced with difficult conditions.
I normally do not care about sports. I don’t pay much attention to sports and I generally find their dominance in the trending topics on Twitter to be very annoying. That being said, this was a welcome sports-related thing that I came across on Twitter and I believe everyone should take a couple minutes out to read it. Especially my white readers. It’s a wonderful piece of writing.
This came across my twitter (or was it a facebook group? I don’t remember) and it’s just as good when I read it the first time. I miss The Toast SO MUCH and I wish it would come back.
You know what would’ve been an amazing block of TV? Parks & Rec, The Good Place, Brooklyn 99, and Schitt’s Creek. All my favourite feel-good comedies together. But perhaps we’d have never gotten The Good Place without Parks & Rec first. Like, could you imagine Joan Callamezzo interviewing Moira Schitt? I’m dying at the thought. It doesn’t feel like it’s been 10 years since the show debuted, but it has and EW has a fun slideshow about the wacky minor characters that I’ve had open all week and only just read this morning.
On the Shelf
I’m about halfway through Roar and I’m not exactly enjoying it. The first story was good, but the rest have been… less than good? Especially the last story I just finished. I am not enjoying this, but maybe I’m just not the kind of person who enjoys short stories? Idk.
Anyway, that’s it for this week. For the next couple of weeks I may not be doing What I Read posts, so I’ll figure out something else to fill your hearts during that time. Until then.
Where did March even go? This has been a bit half-assed because of time constraints, but idk, read this when you’re bored at work? This edition is a wee bit late; I wanted to wait out the weekend because I went to an excellent art show and I wanted to share pictures. Unfortunately, the Starbucks I had right before that made the rest of the night not great, but I did eat a very tasty cake and the art was great, so all was not lost.
I have no context for this gif, I just wanted to use it.
General Pop
Luke Perry died and it’s weird and sad.
This:
Aunt Becky being the Beckiest Becky to ever Beck might be the greatest news story of the entire month and a lot of shit went down this month. But it is just extremely satisfying schadenfreude.
Clearly InStyle knows exactly what news is important to me because they wrote about Meghan Markle’s hot new communications dude. One complaint: not enough photos of the hot communications dude.
My favourite series on Longreads is back with another Infamous Queen.
Someone at Disney had the ingenious ridiculous idea that a live-action Dumbo was what the world needed but I guess they’re leaving out the racist birds this time?
This is just a very beautiful piece on the relationship of two sisters.
Giving birth is a literal nightmare, and this lady has survived a retcon of that nightmare that is even worse than anything I could’ve imagined.
I have missed the more innocent time when my Tom Hiddleston crush was going strong. This is not how I expected to kickstart that back into gear.
Speaking of boyfriends… my lock screen boyfriend wants to be in a musical and goddamnit Hollywood, PUT MY BOYFRIEND IN A MUSICAL! He can tap dance for god sakes!
Here’s an ode to all the things you’ve loved before.
And James Gunn is back for Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Spoiler Alert: In this one they shoot Peter Quill into the sun.
And shout out to Dr. Jen Gunter who is currently my favourite thing about Twitter (closely followed by the return of Nicole Cliffe). She should get a Nobel Peace Prize just for dealing with the vagina mansplainer alone.
Craving Netflix
I watched Velvet Buzzsaw and it was… not terrible. It was actually kind of good? I think? I can’t remember exactly, it was a month ago, but I did not hate it. It is, however, absolutely ridiculous and bonkers.
My favourite gay babies are back for season 3 and I’ve realized I cannot watch Queer Eye and Schitt’s Creek on the same day because I will cry myself into dehydration. NOW GIMMIE THOSE EPISODES YOU FILMED IN JAPAN!
Drag Race Season 10 is finally on Netflix so I’m slowly making my way through it. I need more time to watch TV. I’m very behind.
Because I pay for HBO (what I do for Game of Thrones) I now get Crave (a Canadian streaming service), so instead of watching all the movies I have on my to-watch list that are on Crave, I’ve been binging Frasier in the background while I do laundry and put on eyeliner.
Local Pop
To celebrate International Women’s Month, I went to see Better Than This: Evolution of Women in Musicals at the Havana Theatre and it was great! The four performers were delightful and did not disappoint in the singing department. One of them was basically a Disney princess out of costume. It is ridiculous how good her voice is. It’s hard to go wrong with songs from famous musicals paired with history of musical theatre, but the night was excellently capped off with an impromptu sing-a-long with another group who were at the back of the restaurant while we ate dulce de leche.
I went to Sticky: A Post-It Note Art Show on Saturday, which was awesome and inspiring. It’s easy to forget how many talented artists work and live in Vancouver because the art scene isn’t always overt, and I really appreciate having such an accessible and fun reminder that we do have quite a thriving art scene. Bonus: I got free Post-Its!
I went to my first pub quiz this month and it was Sex & the City themed. I probably should’ve studied up, but our team did not do too bad (fourth place!) and perhaps I will stop talking about restarting the SATC rewatch and actually do it.
Tee Vee
The finale of The Passage was fantastic and I really hope it gets a new season just to fill in the blanks, because HOLY COW THE FINALE. This was a great show to reignite vampires in the pop culture realm after all that Twilight nonsense and I do not think it was as appreciated as it should have been. Also, I could use another season of watching MPG be a hot dad.
MEGAN AMRAM WROTE AN EPISODE OF THE SIMPSONS AND IT WAS GREAT LET HER WRITE MORE.
Sandra Oh was on SNL looking amazing as usual. The skits were meh, but it doesn’t matter because I’d watch Sandra on anything doing anything.
Canada is finally getting Adult Swim as a channel (as opposed to the Cartoon Network) so maybe now my friends will stop pressuring me to watch Rick & Morty? Although I don’t give a fuck about Rick & Morty and I’m just gonna use it to watch Bob’s Burgers (thanks Netflix) and King of the Hill.
I downloaded Over My Dead Body, but I haven’t listened to it yet. A co-worker told me it wasn’t great and I have so many podcasts I listen to that it doesn’t seem like I should waste my time. Do you like it? Should I bother?
Binge Mode is doing a ramp up in preparation for THE LAST SEASON OF GAME OF THRONES.
Me watching season 8
I also went back through Binge Mode episodes I’d skipped over and listened to their deep-dive of The Good Place, which just made me miss The Good Place.
The Cut on Tuesdays has a “How I Get It Done” series and it is very good.
Show Your Work has had a great string of episodes in March and I recommend listening to them all.
The High Low did an interview with Fatima Bhutto that I recommend. It was uploaded a few days before the Christchurch shootings but I didn’t listen to it until a couple days after that and it was a lot, but worth it.
I started listening to Unrelatable, but I’ve only done one episode so far so I will refrain from judgement.
I listen to Nicole Byer’s Why Won’t You Date Me? which led me to listen to not only her episode, but also the episodes featuring John Mulaney and Aparna Nancherla of the Good One podcast.
Have I recommended Lainey’s other podcast, What’s Your Drama? yet? Go listen, it’s so good!
At the Movie Theatre
I saw and loved Captain Marvel and now that we are SO CLOSE to Avengers: End Game, I just want to devour all the CM thought pieces so I’m distracted from the thought that my precious bb Steve might die. As of this writing, the movie has broken one billion dollars, so take that angry dudes. Also, one of the best things to come out of Captain Marvel?The CM/Valkyrie shipping.
I finished The Witch Elm, which ended half expectedly and half not. It was very good, but I am ready to read something that is not from the POV of a white dude (even if it is important to the story).
I got my first book from years and years of entering the Goodreads giveaways and it’s an ARC of Cecelia Ahern’s new collection of short stories called Roar. So far, so good, even if the metaphors are kind of hitting you over the head with it’s obviousness. It works in a short story format.
Anyway, that’s it for this edition of the Pop Culture Brief. At least my bujo has no other notes so if I missed writing something down in it, I missed writing about it here and have forgotten it completely. What to look forward to? Obviously only Avengers: End Game, season 2 of Killing Eve, and the last season of Game of Thrones because nothing else is happening in April. Until then!
I’ve had fiction writer’s block for way too long, but reading this helped… I think.
I read this and realized I hadn’t listened to any Tribe Called Quest in way too long so I loaded a playlist while I took a bath and it’s my new form of self care.
This is a great piece about why some black women have a fondness for fur and you should read it regardless on your opinions regarding wearing fur.
I might be a teeny bit excited that every day brings us closer and closer to Captain Marvel being beamed into our eyeballs, so I’m reading everything I can until March 8th.
No Scrubs was my first car’s theme song (RIP Pepe) but also I don’t understand how the song can be 20 years old, or how I’ve been driving for over 20 years when I am only 20 years old.
I’ve been making my way through the AV Club’s When Romance Met Comedy series because I love rom-coms and it’s been a great palate cleanser from reading about dumpster fire governments, how we are killing the planet, or how some white dude lied about everything (like his mother and brother dying of cancer!) and yet still got published (WHEN WOC ARE SO DAMN UNDERREPRESENTED IN PUBLISHING–when all he had to do was exist as a white dude and he’d have still probably gotten published with minimal effort anyway. And no, I’m not linking to that story because honestly, that dumbass doesn’t deserve anymore attention).
The sad thing about this list is that it’s only 3 people long. C’mon Refinery29, I’m sure you can do better than just 3 black women to recognize during Black History Month.
This took me 3 days to get through and may be the most bonkers thing I read in February (uh… don’t hold me to that) but a pretty convincing conspiracy theory that James Brown was murdered? Ok, I’m here for it.
I have imagined being a part of a place like The Wing forever–my sister and cousin even had a childhood make-believe game that was basically our version of The Wing–it’s the kind of space I think I would find inspiration from and would facilitate me to write more, but alas, I neither live in a place where a The Wing workspace exists, nor can I afford ~$2000 a year to belong. The critiques here are extremely valid and capitalism is why we can’t have nice things. But the praise is also valid, so, you know, shit is complicated.
I didn’t really think about Fashion Week as a dying entity until I read this and then realized I haven’t actually followed Fashion Week for a few years now and so maybe it is.
I finished Crazy, Rich Asians and decided to follow that up with the Tana French that was released on my birthday–The Witch Elm. So far I hate the protagonist, but it’s well written and I’m intrigued, so we’ll see how it goes.
Anyway, I have a trip to the bookstore planned for the weekend, so let’s see what I add to my bookshelf and if I buy 300 more notebooks. I predict yes. Until next week!
So the way I usually write these goes like this: 1. Open up wordpress on Monday morning 2. Read something enraging 3. Don’t post the link 4. Read something fun or thought-provoking 5. Post the link 6. Repeat throughout the day 7. Save draft at 4pm Repeat steps 1-7 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. On Fridays I add some commentary, obligatory Good Place gifs, re-read the post a couple times for some half-assed excuse at editing, and then I publish it sometime between 3 and 4 pm.
I’m writing this at 4 pm on Tuesday, btw. It’s the first time I’ve managed to even open up wordpress this week. I have read nothing (I mean, not nothing, but you know, nothing). I have about 3000 things saved to read. This week has already lasted 41 years. Like, I always have more things to read than I can get to in the week, but this is ridiculous. I’ve spent the last day and a half dealing with people’s inability to make cohesive and early decisions for things that need well in advance planning. It’s so annoying.
Let’s see what happens tomorrow.
It is now Thursday. I have 4 things open to read, but it’s 2:13 pm and I probably will make it through only one of them.
Part of the problem is that when it comes to Zenobia, hard facts are few and far between. This is almost certainly related to gender; while historians were studiously chronicling the frequency and texture of royal men’s bowel movements, the most basic details of women’s lives are lost to time.
I’m going to spend part of my holidays re-reading the whole series, because it’s just so my jam.
On the Shelf:
I knew as soon as I put it out in the universe that I was aiming to finish The Mermaid and Mrs. Handcock last weekend that something was going to keep me from it, and that’s exactly what happened, and then this week of absolute insanity happened and I didn’t even touch it Monday or Wednesday (Wednesday was only because we had our Christmas luncheon at work) but, I am excited to say that I finally finished it today and IT IS SO GOOD!
There is still time to buy it for yourself and a friend, mom, sister, brother, cat, for the holidays, so you know, go get it. It is just so lush and beautiful and odd. I loved it!
I’ve got Crazy Rich Asians to finish next, so perhaps I’ll have actually accomplished 35% of my Goodreads challenge for the year. I should make my goal more realistic for 2019.
Anyway, it’s 4:30 and I need to use the ladies room before I drive home and get stuck in traffic battling a wind storm.
What a week! I’m SO glad it’s Friday and I can go home in an 75 minutes with at least the dream of being able to chill out. It was a busy week, but I did manage to read a bunch, so lucky you! Enjoy!
On the Web
I’m not linking it because, let’s be real, as if I would, but I did read that Lena Dunham profile when I could’ve been more productive and repeatedly stabbed myself in the eye.
However, here is the profile on Amanda Bynes in Paper Magazine, which is really great and it’s so good to see her back and healthy
In my slow and meandering path back to blogging about SATC again, I have about 6000 SATC-related think pieces saved for reference. This W Magazine post touches on what Sam’s storyline in the third movie would have been (GROSS) had it gone forward, and if there ever is a third movie, Dan Levy’s take is the only one I’d accept. (This links to a podcast, fyi)
I admire Aminatou Sow a lot and I totally want to be friends with her except I know I’m not cool enough to be friends with someone that cool, so I’ll instead keep listening to Call Your Girlfriend (DO YOU LISTEN TO CYG? You should! Go do it now!) and just pretend we’re long distance besties (DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID THERE?)
And they also linked to this Robyn interview on NPR
And then there I read this, about Prince and Paris and that is already more than enough for me
On the Shelf
I’m still reading The Mermaid & Mrs. Handcock. I’ll probably finish it off next week because I know I won’t have time to finish it this weekend. It’s very good so I’m in that place where I want to plow through it, but also I don’t because it means I get to live in it longer.
So, another week, another list of things I read. There are a few pieces I was saving to read this week, but then I died twice, which cut into my reading time. Nevertheless, I did manage to read some stuff.
So, I can’t stop talking about The Good Place and that entire cast is just charming af, but this is gross and I hate it (I don’t hate it, I love it so much)
I’m still reading The Mermaid and Mrs. Handock because I cannot read it quickly. The language is so lush and dreamy and the characters are so cinematic I keep stopping to just imagine what this world looks like and that takes up a lot of my reading time. I’m hopeless.
During a two hour-ish outage when my cable AND internet went out (I KNOW) I made a bigger dent in Crazy, Rich Asians, but I couldn’t really concentrate because I was dying and also mad that the cable went out while I was in the middle of a season 2 episode of The Simpsons.
So anyway, that’s it for this week. I would’ve had my podcast post up earlier, but then I added a whole bunch of new ones, so I’ve still got to do some detail work on that, but otherwise, until next week!
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