what i loved/read/watched in january
a monthly recap of some of my favorite things
hi friends! it’s been a quiet couple of weeks— i went to a wedding, i have been swimming through the swamp of late-stage capitalism that is applying for jobs, unemployment, and doing interviews, and brainstorming and drafting pieces for this newsletter! rest assured, i have a few cool things in the works coming out later this month. thank you for your patience as i balance the demands of being a human who needs money and being a human who just wants to sleep, read, pet my dog, and write this substack.
i was inspired to do a monthly recap of things i hadn’t necessarily mentioned in recent “what i loved,” for fun.
what books, movies, or art are you all enjoying?
movies/tv shows i watched
Unforgotten (Masterpiece Theatre) seasons 1+2
The Circle, season 5
Leave the World Behind (fun fact, I went to school with Myha’la Herrold, from this film, and in the screenshot above)
Jerry Maguire
The Bear (1988)
Beckett
The Last Black Man in San Francisco
Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Saltburn
Eighth Grade
Parasite
books i read
The Royal Abduls by Ramiza Shamoun Koya
Inverse Cowgirl by Alicia Roth Weigel
The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix
Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
She Is A Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
The Christmas Swap by Talia Samuels
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
places i visited
Detroit, Michigan — I went to a wedding here. I’d never been to Michigan before. It was cold, but not snowy.
The Detroit Institute of Art — what a great museum! I saw the full-size murals of Diego Rivera, which was truly astonishing. Pictures of them do not do justice to the colors, scope, and combination of seeing all of the murals together at one.
The Guardian Building (see below) - My partner and I haphazardly joined a tour of this building, which features some wild architecture that’s an example of Art Deco and art moderne. It features a clock designed by Tiffany, a mural by Ezra Winter, and a Monel metal screen. (I tried taking more pictures but the lighting wasn’t great, but I do recommend clicking the above link for a nice gallery!)
miscellaneous faves
I accidentally saw Roxane Gay! I ran into a local bookstore to get a gift for a friend, not realizing an event for the author was about to begin, and saw her standing at the back of the small store holding an adorable dog. So fun!
I went to a bar for the first time in many, many years(?) and it had an indoor bocce court, which I was unaware was a thing at all (the indoor part, not the bocce part).
I found some great dairy-free cheese. (I turned 30 and enjoyed suddenly becoming lactose intolerant, so this is clutch for me.)