This Week
At the beginning of this year, I started writing up all the books I read each month—an exercise made somewhat moot when I then began writing more in my Reading/Watching/Listening section in this here newsletter, but because I don’t detail every book I read here and because I tend to keep up what I started, I’m still writing about books on my website. I hit a reading lull in late spring around my move, so to make up for it I recounted the past three months of books in one fell swoop.
Next week will mark five years of the newsletter. I sent out the first one August 15, 2014. It wasn’t much different, format-wise, than it is today, although my focuses and activities have shifted. I have been writing and publishing via some sort of internet medium for almost twenty years at this point. The newsletter came out of my long habit of writing essays and publishing collections of weekly links on my past websites. I like to do it. I’m going to continue to do it. I hope I say this enough, but thank you for reading, however long you’ve been doing it. I appreciate you showing up to complete the circle.
This is all to say that I’ll be doing something special for next week’s newsletter, although I’m not sure what yet. If you have any particular requests, feel free to send them along. Although, if I’m being honest. I’ll probably just upload a bunch of otter gifs.
It’s been rough on the news front over the past few days, so here’s a story to help restore spirit: for a long time, I’ve been following a local dog named Louella on Instagram. She is deaf and has scars on her face from being mistreated by previous owners, but, from all reports, was still a sweet, loving dog. She was stuck in foster care for many months—but, last week, Louella got adopted by a mother and two daughters, who took over the Instagram account and have been posting photos of Louella with her new family and it’s just made me really happy. So please go visit Louella’s Instagram account and remember there are good things and small kindnesses out there and that they help us in the bigger fight.
Links
“The technology industry is vastly dominated by men, but as we see apps and services grow that are developed by women for women, it’s hard not to wonder what the internet could’ve been like if, from the beginning, women had been included in the process of creating major platforms.” A game room of one’s own.
Everything we learned about women’s anatomy from male authors. Truly horrifying.
The long and surprising history of roller derby.
Inside Disney's Animation Research Library, the repository for 100 years of Disney artwork.
I appreciated Sam Adams’s nuanced take on Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.
Nicolas Cage on his legacy, his philosophy of acting and his metaphorical—and literal—search for the Holy Grail. This is genuinely great interview. I’ve always felt convinced that Nicolas Cage is both deeply thoughtful and entirely deliberate about what he is doing, and this interview is a delightful confirmation of that.
“The myth of advice is the possibility that we can transform one another with the most glancing contact, and so it is not surprising that one finds so much advice exchanged on social media.” Against advice.
Reading/Watching/Listening
- I read Laura, by Vera Caspary. The relatively faithful film adaptation of this book seemed to have eclipsed the book itself, so it was an interesting experiment to read the source material finally. And I believe I prefer it. Laura the novel fleshes out the problematic nuances around the various male characters and their relationships with the titular character better than Laura the film does.
- It’s summer and so I sit by the edge of the lake, reading about young Sylvia Plath. Specifically, Mad Girl’s Love Song: Sylvia Plath and Life Before Ted, by Andrew Wilson. I’m going through a bit of a personal Plath renaissance right now, and this biography of her early years is essential.
- I watched The Sisters Brothers, which I heard very good things about when it was released last year, but it was difficult to find. Now, however, it’s streaming on Hulu, and I’m glad I finally caught up with this thoughtful Western tale about family, masculinity and what utopia might mean.
- Recently I came across a live version of Stevie Nicks singing “Rhiannon” and it’s been my current jam. Just because. And in this video Stevie wears a top hat.
Around
Last week I published my notes on what I planned to eat and drink at Disney World this year. Just as a reminder, the embedded spreadsheet (yes I made an actual spreadsheet) is a living document. I’m still adding things as new information presents itself, such as the extremely relevant and important news that Galaxy’s Edge in Disney World will have blue milk spiked with rum available.
I was a little late, but I also sent out the July essay to paid newsletter subscribers. You can sign up to get access to that content at the bottom of the newsletter.
Stay strong.
Love,
Jen
Connections
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This weeks’s quote is from Toni Morrison (RIP).