Weekend Trips, Electronica Playlists, & Sandhill Cranes
Currently
Watching
During the day in the summer months, I’m either listening to music or watching baseball games. I love baseball so much. It’s really great to have on in the background while I work or read. I live in Wisconsin, so the Brewers are my team (& they are absolutely crushing it right now, knock on wood), and I was raised in Baltimore, so I always keep my eyes on the Orioles, too (they are not crushing it this year, omg).
I’ve started The Hunting Wives on Netflix and am three episodes in. It’s…exactly what it sets out to be, which is gossipy and silly and over-the-top. I believe the book is the same kind of vibe? It’s about wealthy women in Texas behaving badly. Subtlety is not the show’s aim, so if you go in with the understanding that it’s a soap opera of sorts, you’ll have a good time.
I love a good Criterion Closet video. I keep a playlist of my favorite visitors to the closet and watch them when I’m feeling blue or having an insomniac night. RZA, of Wu-Tang Clan fame, was a recent visitor and of course his first pick was the Bruce Lee box set. So many of the people who do the closet videos seem like such fun hangs. I just want to hear their opinions on movies and directors and culture forever.
Listening
I’ve been listening to this playlist so much recently. It’s a mix of classical and ambient and chill electronica, and it’s been nice background noise while working/reading/staring at the wall.
I’ve recommended this podcast before, but I simply need to do another shout to Too Scary; Didn’t Watch. The three hosts, also best friends, are Sammy, Emily, & Henley, and they recap a different horror movie every week. Sammy is the horror lover of the group, so she’s usually doing the recap, and Emily & Henley are the “scaredy cats” who listen to the recap and offer commentary. Occasionally, the other two will recap a less-scary movie, or they’ll have a guest do the recap. The vibe between the three of them is so lovely and familiar - it makes me think of my best friends when I listen. My recent fave episode is Sammy’s recap of the new I Know What You Did Last Summer, but my all-time faves are The Slumber Party Massacre, Hush, and Disturbing Behavior (Splice is pretty fun, too). All of the episodes are worth a listen, though. As a certified horror girlie, I’ve seen most of the movies they talk about, but Sammy is such an engaging recapper, I still feel like I’m getting something out of her overviews.
Right this minute, I’m listening to the cranes in my backyard yell and chat. Has anyone heard a sandhill crane call? It sounds like what I imagine a baby dinosaur sounds like. Kind of annoying? But I can’t be mad because they’re cute as hell.
Reading
I just finished The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun and I left feeling pretty meh. The novel is a translation of a Korean bestseller about a man who’s left widowed and paralyzed from a car accident. His mother-in-law, who’s always been a mystery to him, becomes his caretaker and things take a decidedly Misery-esque turn from there. This is classified as horror, but I think it’s way more lit fic than it is horror. The story itself is pretty anxiety-inducing, but I still didn’t find myself feeling the emotions that I typically feel when reading horror. The last thirty pages were my favorite part of the book. I don’t think the character development is there to make this a story that will stick with me and the writing (not sure if it’s a product of the original text, the translation, or a combo) wasn’t all that engaging, at least to me. There is also a lot of ableist language and behavior in this that reads as unnecessry - it doesn’t feel like a point is being made, except mocking the main character, who is paralyzed. Didn’t love that aspect.
Doing
I’ve been spending so much time outdoors. I’ll miss these tan lines. I’m a big fan of going to my local parks and beaches and laying out and reading a physical book or listening to an audiobook. A few I’ve listened to at the park this summer are Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie, The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth, and Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang. Fast-paced lit fic or mysteries set in sunny locales hit so right.
I was in the Wisconsin Dells last weekend with friends and had such a lovely time. It’s a place you have to go into with the right mindset. It’s like a lakeside version of a beach town - very kitschy, crowded with tourists, filled with souvenir stalls and fudge shops and mini golf. There was a coffee shop there that was beyond divine - Bella Goose Coffee. It was right on the water and the iced blueberry muffin matcha latte I had was delish. Easy 5 stars. It was a lovely little end of summer trip. Sob. Anyone else feel like it was memorial day last weekend?
Until next time.