August Grab Bag
Talkin bout pop music
Hello all! Some brief housekeeping, I am working to migrate this newsletter onto a different platform. I had been hoping to have this done this month but alas, that is just not what happened. Anyway, look out for an email at some point before my September review letting you know what the new set up will be. Then you will know I’ve succeeded in my executive functioning to complete this relatively simple task.
The Pudding is possibly the coolest website active on the Internet right now? Feels like a relic of a bygone time when websites were actually unique. Anyway, I loved this exploration of the text visible in NYC street view. (Shout out to one lamp post featured that I immediately recognized as being a block away from my old apartment!)
Went into this deep dive into the folks behind Zohran Mamdani’s PR team being like “I mean obviously it’s easy for them because he’s so naturally charismatic” only to be reminded that actually that’s just good PR at work!! Appreciating this as a rare article about politics that has any sort of optimism.
To whiplash from optimism to pessimism – bonkers stuff in this 404 Media article about the Tea app (a dating app claiming to be about helping women screen guys they’ve met) hack and related scandals.
For those not in the pop nerd know, Carly Rae Jepsen’s Emotion album is sort of legendary cult favorite and she recently celebrated its 10th anniversary with a concert and bonus track. I love Carly Rae. If you think of her as just the “Call Me Maybe” girl, you should definitely dive more into her discography. From this album, “Gimme Love” is a personal favorite.
Finally got off the waitlist for Emily Henry’s newest romance novel Great Big Beautiful Life – it was lovely and also I unexpectedly sobbed at the conclusion so I’d say it was worth the wait.
I have never seen Friday the 13th but after listening to the You are Good (tagline “a feelings podcast about movies”) episode about it I really want to.
I feel shy saying anything about Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon because he’s clearly such a master of his craft and what are my silly words going to contribute to it? But anyway I watched it and it was good and gave me a lot to think about.
The Bubble – a documentary about an exclusive retirement community in Florida and its impact on the surrounding areas – was certainly a fascinating watch and rendered its characters with a lot of specific clarity, but I did wish it dove a little deeper into the issues it raised.
I love Blusher, an Australian indie electropop girl group, and had a lot of fun with their newest EP, RACER – their music always makes me want to get up and dance. My favorite from this EP is “LAST MAN STANDING”
Speaking of dancing, I went to a wedding this past month and got to do my all time number one favorite activity: dancing at a wedding. From the first song to the last of the night, I had 2.5 hours of no thoughts just music. It was great.
Do you all have activities that make you go into no thoughts, just in the moment, mode? For me it’s just dancing at weddings and playing the Sims. Share some of yours below!
Each month I will try to highlight an organization that’s important to me, in a small attempt to help out In These Trying Times. While financial donations are great, there’s also other ways to get involved in community building work — volunteering, building relationships with neighbors, offering up skills and services you might have.
Today I’m shouting out Inara.