Obsessions This Week: July 21–27, 2024
Neil the Seal, contemporary classical music, and my friend Zoe.
Happy Saturday. Wow. Can you believe it was less than a week ago that President Biden stepped down? It feels like 5eva ago.
Anyway, click the macro for a gif of James McAvoy winking, from a new English-language remake of a Danish horror movie called Speak No Evil, which I’ll probably never watch in full.
🦭 Neil the Seal
Thanks to my friend Alanna for turning me onto the wonderful adventures of Neil the Seal, a strange little boy sea creature in Tasmania. He really made me laugh (and reminded me of that seal subplot in the Tasmania-set Deadloch).
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✒️ “Introduction to Poetry
I’ve been tutoring the SAT and ACT Verbal sections as part-time work since May. When students dislike the poetry questions, I take a break and share this Billy Collins poem with them.
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
or press an ear against its hive.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light switch.
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on the shore.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.
They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.
🎞️ Homegrown film news
A former student of mine is one of the forces behind this Kickstarter project about a millennial Jewish guy becoming possessed by his dead grandmother. I donated! I hope they get to make it; looks fun.
The Fuck-It Film Festival in Brooklyn, NY, is screening my sister’s short film, Still Life, at Talea Williamsburg on July 31. If you’re out there, please go! It’s a great one.
🌶️ Glen Powell’s moment
Multiple friends brought up Glen Powell this week, though I will admit I’ve seen neither Anyone But You nor Twisters yet. I know he’s been having a moment since Top Gun: Maverick, but I’ve mostly (read: completely) missed him so far.
Still, my friend recommended this fluffy nothingburger of a May Vanity Fair profile on the man, and I gotta say, it makes me feel young to know what’s going on in the proverbial industry.
🎧 “Primavera” by Ludovico Einaudi
Normally, I am a lyrics-first person, but this contemporary classical song features in the book I’m reading, The Lost Story, and it’s so lush it sounds like the theme to the TV series that this book will eventually be adapted into.
🍼 Foolproof baby shower gifts
Friends of mine are having a baby shower next week, and so I’ve curated for you a list of the best, most not-disturbing things you can get your breeder friends as a single, childfree person who does not have firsthand experience of that horrifying NoseFrida snot contraption:
$$$ Growing up, I had friends who had these personalized name puzzle stools, which are both decorative and practical, and now, as adults, they’ve become keepsakes
$ Mother friends have sworn by these ice pads for postpartum pain and stitches, and I like to get the birthing parent something for her suffering
$$ If your friend is breastfeeding, there are now lactation-support snack bars out there
🖼️ La Luz de Jesus Art Gallery in Hollywood
I stopped by this gallery inside of WACKO on Wednesday with my friend Marissa, and really enjoyed both exhibitions currently up: Soap’s paintings of “Sad Cat and Friends,” and Dave Yoas’ found-tin assembled sculptural collages, “Can Opener.”
👓 Q & A with my friend Zoe Mix
Zoe Mix is the fabulous producer of “Making Worlds,” from Witch, Please Productions, on which I appeared as the inaugural guest back in January. It’s a Patreon-only perk for Witch, Please subscribers, and well worth it, if I may say so.
1) What's making you happy this summer?
Spending time with my dog, Sumo.
2) How do we know each other?
We met through your wonderful sister! And now I religiously follow your Substack.
3) Lucky me! What's your favorite podcast, other than the one(s) you've worked on?
My favorite podcast is The Last Podcast on the Left. It’s a podcast about true crime, aliens, the occult, and some history too! I usually don’t recommend it to people unless I know that they can handle how truly gross and inappropriate it is. I’ve been listening to this podcast for about ten years and the reason I’ve been able to do so is because the hosts continually make an effort to listen and learn from their audience. They take criticism when they say shitty and insensitive things, and they actually make changes.
It’s three silly white guys in their 40s, so there’s going to be problems, but they continually try. And I really appreciate that.
4) What's your favorite driving song?
“Nights in White Satin” by The Moody Blues. I have many good memories of driving through Southern Oregon in the summer with my dad.
4) I’ll listen next time I’m on the road. What's the best thing you've read or watched in 2024? It doesn't have to be from this year, but something you encountered this year.
The Locked Tomb series! This whole series has such a chokehold on me! Lesbian necromancer nuns in space??? Yes, please!
Thank you, Zoe! I’ve only read the first installment so far, please forgive me.
Thanks for reading. Send me stuff you’re obsessed with right now, and I’ll see you next week!
thank you for educating me on poetry as well as high schoolers! that was lovely.
glen powell is a little too smirky/smarmy for my tastes, but 🤷
Loved Primavera! It reminds me a little of Light of the Seven from GOT. And... Snowy Day is always our go to baby gift!
All the Love!