For the first part of this year, I have found myself in a strange but welcome situation- one that I don’t think I’ve experienced for at least 5 years. My home renovation is complete enough that I can live in my house and not do literal physical labor every free moment I have. My work is steady enough to allow me not to have an anxiety attack every day, but reasonable enough that I’m not working outside of normal work hours. My almost 3-year-old son is in full-time care, and my Mom is around and eager to hang with him pretty regularly. And, he’s in a somewhat easy phase in general these days. In short- I have free time and mindspace.
This paired with typical winter atmospheric river conditions in NorCal means I’ve been consuming a LOT of media lately, and knowing how much I enjoy reading the media diets of those I respect (and maybe even those I don't?), I thought I would share mine here as well, for anyone on the hunt for recs, or as an invitationto you all to discuss some of the things you’ve recently enjoyed. See any overlaps? Let’s chat! Something spark a rec you think I might enjoy? Shoot it my way! You hated something I love? Go to hell. (JK.)
Books I Read (and liked)
The Broken Earth Series (N.K. Jemisin)
My biggest standout of Q1. Amazing Sci-Fi. A fabulous cast full of queer, female, Black, just non-standard-Euro-centric-white-male characters. But mostly? A captivating, devastating discourse on the trials, trauma, inevitable imperfection, but ultimately never-ending love that is Motherhood.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone (Lori Gottlieb)
A book about Therapy, by a Therapist- who is also going to Therapy. Inspired me to finally get back into therapy.
All You Can Ever Know (Nicole Chung)
A memoir with major themes of the search for identity written from the perspective of an adult adoptee, born to Korean birth parents and adopted by white Americans. As Josh and I are contemplating the different ways our family might one day expand, I found this very moving and thought-provoking.
The Four Winds (Kristin Hannah)
This was a quick, easy read for me. Set in Texas/California during the Dust Bowl- an era and geographical trauma I haven’t engaged with since The Grapes of Wrath back in high school. A good reminder that right now, today, is not the first or only time that we have faced times of tension and fear, both politically and in terms of our geographical climate conditions.
North Woods (Daniel Mason)
I went into this one with no expectations, except that for some reason I expected it to be like reading Barkskins (tedious) or The Overstory (breathtaking), and it was NOTHING like reading those books, except for the construct of telling a story centered around trees/woods over the vastness of generations. Epic and FUN.
Music I've had on Repeat
The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We, Mitski
The best full album I’ve engaged with since Angel Olson’s Big Time a few years ago, this one has been monopolizing our turntable since January. Big, round, and intimate all at once. Bug Like an Angel makes a killer intro. We’ve got tix to see her at the Hollywood Bowl in September- anyone else?
I’ve come to terms with the fact that The Smile might be the closest we ever get to experiencing new Radiohead music again, and hey, I’ll take it. Bending Hectic and Wall of Eyes are my faves so far, but Radiohead-and-Radiohead-adjacent songs tend to be growers for me.
I’ll talk about the experience of watching this below, but listening to this show was just as moving. I must have pulled at least 8 tracks from the soundtrack into my current season playlist. This meaningfully added to the purposeful sense of passing time and nostalgia that the creators were going for here. Kudos.
I tend to make new playlists around the changing of seasons. Here is what I’ve been listening to for the past 3 months.
Movies that Made an Impact
I made an effort to see all the Best Picture nominees this year (I fell a couple short), and this is the one that is sticking with me. That final scene especially, and the gentle jealousy-turned-solace she receives from her husband at the end- my heart is still broken.
As a mother of a toddler, I had to take a minute to fight against the inherent cringe of sexualizing what amounts to a mental and emotional toddler in a woman’s body- but once I pushed past that, I very much enjoyed the style, story, and of course, Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo were fantastic.
Dune
This is a late-breaking add for me, as I was finally able to break away and go see it at our neighborhood theater (which has one screen and only 3-4 showtimes per week). SO. GOOD. I generally am always all about Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049 was criminally under-appreciated in my opinion), but I was a little concerned the grandeur wouldn't quite translate in my town's "quaint", small theater. I was wrong. I got the "thrill shivers" at least 3 times. The worm riding! The washed out scenes in the arena! Some 2 1/2 hour movies feel like 4 hours- this one flew by. Just- beautiful.
I won’t go too deep into these except to say that this is probably the last time I will ever go see the short films screened in a theater in public. Instead of being emotionally wrecked by 1 film, I left emotionally wrecked by 4 (and then slightly annoyed by the over-the-top Wes Anderson-ness of the Wes Anderson one, which ultimately took home the Oscar.)
TV That Made me Feel Something
One Day (Netflix)
I clicked on this in need of a good binge while Josh was out of town, having no expectations or knowledge of what it was about, and made the mistake of watching THAT EPISODE during a work-day lunch break like an idiot. I know the music was a big part of why I loved this, but I think it was more than that. The hope in the end maybe?
Beef (Netflix)
We came back to this last month after watching the first couple of episodes back in the fall, and I’m so glad we finished it! I’ve ALWAYS been a Steven Yeun fan (see photo evidence from 2014 below), and I loved his character in this. I’m still not sure who the most terrible truly was, but- I will say nobody deserves to be cut in half by an overly zealous panic room door.
Top Chef Season 20 (Peacock)
Am I the only one who still LOVES Top Chef? I guess they wouldn’t keep making them if there wasn’t an audience because it seems like an expensive endeavor and they keep finding very high-value integration advertisers every year, but I certainly do treasure digging in on my solo Top Chef binges. Is Padma Lakshmi just the most elegant and loveable person to ever exist? (To note- I haven’t started this season yet because I need a good backlog of episodes to go through at once and we’ve only just begun.)
Sex Education (Netflix)
I started watching this a few years ago, and have jumped back in since I’ve heard great things about the final season that just aired. I’m currently in season 3, and moving fast. I love that this show weirdly makes me challenge myself to be a better person both through the lens of the teenagers and their ways and means to growth, as well as through the lens of imperfect-yet-gorgeous-and-present Mum Gillian Anderson. Also? Her styling for this show is impeccable- not even a hint of Agent Dana Scully to be found. How does she look younger now than she did then?
Some Articles I Read and Liked
The Age of Soloculture, Quick Study
I loved this series of articles from Quick Study about the rise and implications of Soloculture (something of the opposite of a Monoculture), wherein we each live in our own highly curated, individualized reality with fewer and fewer pockets of mass overlap with those around us. This phenomenon is one of the reasons I love and crave seeing others’ media diets so much, in fact- to seek the overlap for a chance at a shared experience.
Every Radiohead Album (Plus Solo Records And Side Projects), Ranked, Steven Hyden, Uproxx
Radiohead has been and always will be my Number One- possibly the Gen X thing that my Xennial categorization leans into most. This very long read is worth the time and consideration for anyone who feels similarly. His references and comments to specific moments in specific songs and albums resonate very deeply with me, a person who will fight anyone who says OK Computer is not a genre-defining masterpiece, perfect from beginning to end. Side note, it also has me revisiting some of Johnny Greenwood’s score work on repeat during working hours, which is VERY pleasant.
Will we Americans ever stop finding an inspirational philosophy from other cultures and completely screwing it up and turning it into a means or motivation for us to make ourselves more productive or profitable? Probably not, but this read made me issue a sigh of relief in no longer feeling the need to find the perfect center of a misappropriated Venn Diagram.
And lastly- a few things I’m making my way through but am not ready to comment on yet.
American Prometheus
Exit Interview: The Life and Death of my Ambitious Career
The Bee Sting
Better Call Saul and The Sopranos
The Curse
Three Body Problem (Series, not Book- read the book a few years ago)
OK, well, that's it for Q1. I also ate some great things, found some new stuff I like for myself and the kiddo, and am starting to slowly add things to my home to bring it to life post-renovation. I've got thoughts about all that too, but here I wanted to focus on the stuff that has made my brain whirl lately. Let me know if any of this made yours whirl too.
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