what i love right now #12: august
that late summer-loving feeling & VCR-themed horror films
hi hello hi. how are you? it is late summer, which is nice in some ways. i am not totally a “summer person,” in that i detest sweating heavily from moving ~at all~, which is what summer is like in new york city. but i’m working on embracing it.
tomorrow, i turn 32! some reflections to come. in the meantime, here are some things i have been loving this month…
1. the ring (2002)
i just watched The Ring for the first time a few weeks ago, and i loved it. are parts of it totally ridiculous? yes. did i cover my eyes when they were going to show a bunch of dead horses or that one dead horse in the ocean? also yes. (I just can’t do dead animals, never have been able to, and also any intense human gore, which is why I’ll never watch torture porn movies like Hostel or Saw.)
i’m going to watch the original Japanese version soon, as well as the sequel—or, at least Ring 2, maybe not the Rings one—and I’ll report back.
part of what i enjoyed is the pre-smartphone era of this film, which is probably not the takeaway. if i had more time, i think there’s some smart analysis to be said for the idea of a contagious horror phenomenon/curse (in the case of the haunted video tape) that’s transmitted via physical media. Like, if this movie was made now, the Ring girl would post a TikTok, and hundreds of thousands of people would see it and die…right? And is that as scary? Or not?
2. unflavored whey protein
i’ve got a longer post related to body movement coming up, but one thing i’ve been relying on more to keep my protein intake up (in a non-diet-y way of just making sure i’m feeding myself enough food) is using unflavored whey protein. i like that it’s just one thing—whey—and i’ve found a brand that, while still expensive, is the cheapest it can possible be when you buy it in a bulk 5 lbs. bag. it adds a subtle, malty flavor to milks of all kinds. i’ve used it in baking some, and am experimenting with that. so far, so good.
3. lessons of the hour by Isaac Julien
one of the joys of having family visit is doing the things you always say “we should really do more regularly,” one of which is go to the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) here in New York.
Sir Issac Julien, a British artist/filmmaker, has a very beautiful film piece on view until the 28th of September—shown across ten screens—featuring historical re-enactment and performance of speeches by Frederick Douglass, the freed former enslaved man, played by Ray Fearon. It’s truly a blend of a biopic, nonlinear, thought-provoking, and presented/curated/arranged in such a way that felt unique for a film piece in exhibition.
i was able to grab tickets through the forth item on this list!
4. Culture Pass of New York
New York has lots of museums and institutions, but many of them are expensive. MOMA, for example, has tickets at $30. That adds up, especially if you’re traveling in a group. Enter: Culture Pass.
Culture Pass is a program available to New Yorkers who have a New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, or Queens Public Library card. You’re able to reserve one pass—good for two tickets at the time of entry—for various dates (though tickets do sell out) to a large selection of museums (many of which, I can tell you, most New Yorkers probably haven’t heard of). A pass is limited to one, per museum, per calendar year, so it’s not unlimited, but you can truly spend a year using up all the passes before you’d run out of places to visit. . . if you can’t tell, this may or may not be on my bucket list for my 32nd year!
5. The US Open
I love watching the US Open—in person or on the television. I grew up playing tennis, and my partner even took me to the US Open one year as a birthday gift in college, where we saw Rafael Nadal play. That was lovely! Tickets have, like many things, become harder to get cheaply, and, honestly, while it’s fun in a way, the whole event is so exuberantly expensive once you’re there, that your favorite beverage, some great snacks, and a good viewing seat make watching it from home pretty great, too.
Happy birthday!