Hello, checking in from being just on the cusp of sweater weather. (It’s 87 degrees today. We’re not there yet.)
Here’s what I did last month.
Movies
- CatVideoFest 2024 — As with last year, this is an hour+ of cat videos, so even if they’re largely bits you’ve seen before, or poor quality TikTok videos that don’t do well blown up to full-screen size, you’re still in a room with lots of other cat lovers, laughing at cats and raising money for a local rescue. Nothing wrong with that.
- Longlegs — I very much wanted to like this more than I did, but I think a) the Nicolas Cage of it all was a little distracting, and b) it’s like it was written by someone who didn’t even bother to Google a single thing about writing a police procedural/crime drama. Every FBI agent in here, including our lead, was the absolute worst excuse for an FBI agent that has ever been committed to film. Stylistically interesting with some on-point homages to Silence of the Lambs, but this girl is no Clarice Starling, you know? I did like the supernatural element more after reflecting on it, but man I could not get past some of this stupidity. Maika Monroe was very good, though, even if her role required her to make the dumbest possible choices.
- Ferrari — Straight men would rather create an auto racing empire than go to therapy, etc. etc. Everyone in this movie appears to be acting in a completely separate movie from any of their co-stars and the casting was just so bizarre (what is Shailene Woodley doing there even?). Penelope Cruz was in a secret third different movie that also happened to be a telenovela, I think. Overall, it was fine, not great. I did learn a lot about the actual real life Ferrari, and it does feature one of the most horrific, gnarly car crashes I’ve ever seen on film, but, I don’t know, it could have been better/more consistent.
- Trap — I didn’t hate this but also has anyone involved with this movie ever been to a concert before? No one bothered to take one trip to a Taylor Swift show for research? There’s lots of unrealistic things about this movie, particularly everything that the police/FBI do here, but the one that still has me riled up is the complete fabrication of how a concert works. You think this teenaged superfan would leave her seat at all once Lady What’s-her-face comes on? Really?? My good dude, once that girl gets in her seat, her dad could have been arrested right next to her and she wouldn’t have even flinched. This is campy and ridiculous and I thought Josh Hartnett was good, especially playing against type. Also he’s very tall and takes his shirt off for no real reason.
- Palm Springs — An interesting twist on the time loop trope. This was so much more fun than expected and perfect for when I needed a silly but slightly heartfelt comedy to entertain me. The time loop scenario is a concept that usually winds up feeling stale in most renditions without some sort of significant change to the mechanics of it all, and a few small tweaks here were just enough to elevate this from cliche to creative.
- Self Reliance — Jake Johnson makes a movie that he can put all of his friends in. Johnson stars as a fairly aimless dude roped into what he’s told is a reality TV show where he has to avoid being killed for 30 days in order to win a lot of money. I think the far more interesting scenario here is if the whole scheme is all in the character’s head, but the movie mostly plays it straight. Entertaining enough for 90 minutes but not something I spent time thinking about after.
- Alien: Romulus — The original Alien is another classic movie that I’ve yet to see, but it’s such a part of the media context in which we all live, especially if you’re in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror space, that it’s impossible not to know at least vaguely what happened. Of course, real fans know all of the story beats and call-backs that you’re going to experience in Romulus, and those are the folks who had a whole lot of feelings about this new one that just didn’t really matter to me. While this was highly predictable, it was still genuinely tense and wildly gory. Like any horror movie, there’s a fair amount of jumpscares but these ones felt appropriate and not contrived. It looks glorious on the IMAX screen.
- Strange Darling — Artsy thriller with excellent cinematography. Best experienced with very little knowledge of the actual plot, but the trailer features a woman on a date with a man asking if he’s a serial killer, and things escalate from there. Kyle Gallner and Willa Fitzgerald turn in excellent performances as our leads. The story unfolds in non-linear fashion which does a lot to keep you engaged in what would otherwise be a somewhat predictable thriller. I didn’t love the way some of this played out in a way that seems to revel in both a) violence against women (this is more complicated than it seems on the surface) and b) using an assault narrative against both of its characters. Also the law enforcement characters we eventually meet are like parodies of cops, with all the atrocious dialogue that brings to mind, which would have worked in a satire but did not work in a movie that tries to take itself seriously.
- The Passenger — Another thriller starring Kyle Gallner, this time as a small-town hick in a dead-end job who snaps and takes his shy, awkward coworker along for the ride. It’s a movie that doesn’t make too much sense the more you think about it — they literally stay in the same town all day, the same town where they could easily be linked to some gory murders — but Gallner was great despite plot holes. I wanted more in terms of character development, particularly for Gallner’s Benson, but, then again, the guys who commit crimes like this are the ones of whom people end up saying, “I just don’t know why he snapped, he was always quiet, maybe he owned a gun but who around here doesn’t, wow I can’t believe it” and no one ever gets enlightened any further.
Books
Okay, look, it was a rough month for reading. I cycled between several different books and also misplaced my Kindle for a while (it was in a cat bed, underneath many layers of toys) so couldn’t churn through quick romances and YA like I usually do. Sometimes it’s just like that, you know?
- It’s Not Me, It’s You: Break the Blame Cycle. Relationship Better., John Kim and Vanessa Bennett — The self-help/personal development genre is not always something that works for me, but I’ve been thinking a lot about relationships lately — what’s worked/failed in the past, what I want out of one, what I’m willing to compromise on, etc. — so when this showed up on the library’s new acquisitions list, I thought I’d give it a shot. Written by two therapists (who are also romantic/life/whatever partners), parts of this were thought-provoking, parts of it were a bit cringe, and parts were repetitive. Best experienced in small doses so you can marinate on a chapter and the questions it poses, rather than reading a whole bunch in one go. (I had to check this out of the library three separate times to finish it.) The authors have no issue in laying themselves bare for the book, showing that even therapists have to work hard at building a sustainable relationship. That ends up veering towards TMI territory, but that’s the character/brand these two play for the public, so it is what it is, I guess. It did give me a lot to think about, and a lot to discuss in the future with any potential partners in regards to learning how we communicate/show affection/etc. but I wouldn’t say that this is life-changing unless you’ve never sat down and thought about any of these things ever before.
Book links go to an affiliate page on Bookshop.org, where I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase. Also, if you’re interested in some upcoming fall books, you can get 20% off anything on this list (that was not curated by me, so no complaining about the content) with the code CANTWAIT, through September 8.
Other Stuff
Here’s some photos of some stuff I did in August.
Also, here’s my foster kitten, Croc. He’ll be available for adoption soon via One Tail at a Time. You should adopt him, he’s very silly.
Also, if you’ve known me for any amount of time, you are well aware that my favorite band is The Mountain Goats, a band that I have logged thousands of miles over many, many years in order to see as frequently as possible.
Last month, long-time bassist Peter Hughes announced that he was retiring from the band, effective immediately, no take-backs, which is huge and a little crushing but also a moment for joyous reflection as the band evolves to its next form. As a fan, you’ll miss your guy, right, but it’s also going to be fascinating to watch the band adapt and change and maybe try out new things. And you’ve got to be happy for someone recognizing that the time to step away is now, before you hate what you do, before you resent your job, before your health/body/mind/spirit gives out. It’s bittersweet for sure. I know that I definitely never would have bothered to start learning to play the bass had I not spent literally thousands of hours wondering to myself: how does he do it??! (I still don’t know how he does it. He’s a wizard.)
I said just about all I wanted to say about this on Instagram, which is now suddenly refusing to embed here, so — screenshot below; click through to read the text at a not-tiny size. But: happy trails to my favorite dude from my favorite band, may all of your future plans be both restful and fulfilling and may you never have to spend half a year living on a tour bus again unless you really want to.
A dear friend wrote this piece looking both back and forward, it’s a little about fandom and a little about how you can never go back in time and instead must only live in the present, and a lot about honoring the actual person who’s been such an important part of an excellent musical adventure. This friendship is basically the only reason Peter Hughes knows who I am as an actual person rather than just an anonymous face in a crowd, and so I knew whatever he wrote would capture exactly the perfect feeling. Even if you’re not a fan of the band, it’s worth a read; the love for the actual human who was so important to something significant to you I think is universal, especially for anyone who’s fandom-inclined.
What’s Next
I don’t even know, man. I’m so tired.
(September: Evanston Folk Festival, Lavender Prairie Festival (queer country music), Riot Fest, Andrew Bird and Madison Cunningham in Iowa doing their best Buckingham-Nicks act. Somewhere in between all that, I’ll find time to take a nap.)
Follow me on Letterboxd, Goodreads, Storygraph, Twitter (lol), Bluesky. Make sure you’re subscribed to this newsletter so you get my monthly rambles in your inbox. Because everyone needs another email.
To support me with either a one-time gift or a monthly membership (the higher levels of which will allow you to tell me what you’d like to see me read/watch), visit my ko-fi page.