3/19/2023 - Back Again So Soon?
Ahhh, the familiarity of a Sunday morning (afternoon) (early evening) (late night) newsletter. I hope you’re doing well and staying a comfortable temperature, whatever that may be for you. My various brackets are all doing…idk, okay I guess! Unfortunately, all of the exciting upsets have been teams with very boring mascots (Princeton Tigers, FDU Knights). I will say though, I did predict that the Arkansas Razorbacks would beat both Illinois and Kansas, because their mascot reminds me of 30-50 feral hogs.
Here are some non-sports things I’ve been into lately:
When it comes to internet articles, I’m a real hunter-gatherer but not always an actual reader-experiencer. I recently started using this Chrome extension to bookmark everything I eventually want to look at one day. It feels slightly more organized than my current method, which is just liking things on Twitter and/or opening a bunch of tabs and then losing them all in an accidental shut down.
Here’s a few particularly interesting links I currently have collected in Pocket:
The Little-Known World of Caterpillars from The New Yorker
Heavenly Bodies from The Baffler (it’s about space burials!)
American Girl’s AG Minis Stay Living in My Head Rent-Free from Architectural Digest
I can’t share a link to all of my saves in one place, so here’s a representative snippet:
Too Scary, Didn’t Watch
I’ve mostly been a one-podcast girl for a couple years now (Who? Weekly), but I’ll dabble here and there with some others. Phillip recently told me about Too Scary, Didn’t Watch, and the concept is honestly genius. Each week, one brave friend watches a horror movie and then recounts the plot to her two scaredy cat friends. This is perfect for me, a scaredy cat friend who hates being left out of gossip and cultural goings-on. I don’t want to watch scary movies, but I want to know about them. For years, I’ve resorted to reading plot summaries of movies/shows that I can’t stomach on Wikipedia (looking at you, every episode of Black Mirror). But it’s even nicer to have a friendly and funny voice tell me about them, and it’s also really nice to have other babies learn about the horrors along with me.
I’ve listened to these episodes so far: M3GAN, Midsommar, Hereditary, Jennifer’s Body, and Bodies, Bodies, Bodies. Hereditary sounds so scary and gross, you guys! Why would you watch it! But I also really hated not knowing what it was about, like a secret was being kept from me, so I’m glad that’s been cleared up. Conversely, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies actually sounds really fun and not too scary, and I might watch it! This podcast is doing me a real service in many ways, and I am grateful.
Do you have a favorite horror movie that I should listen to strangers talk about? Are there any movies that you’re too scared to watch, and you’d like me to listen to the podcast and then pass on an even further removed recap to you? Happy to help.
March Music Madness
I shared my bracket of 2003 albums on Thursday, but I sort of forgot to mention the part where it’s actually a whole 3-day competition that you can listen along to and participate in, if you want. The Current will play songs from each head-to-head album matchup, and then you can vote online.
It runs Monday, March 20 through Thursday, March 23 from 8am-4pm each day. You can listen to the radio livestream here, and vote here. Will hearing The Blower’s Daughter over the airwaves make me cry? Probably! I’m looking forward to it! Lmk if you tune in.
Lil’ Bites
this twitter account of discontinued snack foods
27 questions to ask on a first date
these are co-written by David Carliner, who writes a newsletter I really enjoy! I like to use questions from the “Genuinely Curious, Please Email Back” section of his newsletter as conversation starters, especially when I’m writing mail
oh also yesterday at dinner Phillip asked me and his parents: “if you were a minor character on one episode of Frasier, what would your storyline be?”
this Peanut Udon Noodle Salad from Trader Joe’s
the Florence + The Machine cover of Just a Girl:
Great! That’s all for this week. I’m off to take a nap and then go watch Drop Dead Gorgeous at a diner/cabaret with my friends.
(I forgot to hit send earlier, so now I am home from the movie and it was a lot of fun and I had french toast with strawberries!)
<3 Ali