Hello. Unfortunately nobody complained last time so we are back. One thing about me is I love to make a list.
music
Statistics once again from last.fm and I will add that there have been some truly wonderful releases/discoveries it’s just that every time I try to keep a proper record of albums as I listen to them I inevitably forget that I’m doing that so I guess in December we will get my thoughts on some albums.
Top artists
Wolf Alice
Charli XCX
Florence + the Machine
Mallrat
Camp Cope
Hatchie
Phoebe Bridgers
Lorde
Adrianne Lenker
Mitski
New releases I have been enjoying mostly! + I am strongly having a Wolf Alice listener era which is funny because I saved their entire discography in 2017 and have only recently deepdived + Phoebe and Adrianne who have been regulars on my rotational going to sleep playlist.
Top tracks
Bros, Wolf Alice
No Hard Feelings, Wolf Alice
Nosedive, Wolf Alice
Delicious Things, Wolf Alice
Song to the Siren - Strongroom Studios, London, Wolf Alice
The Beach, Wolf Alice
How Can I Make It Ok?, Wolf Alice
Morning Elvis, Florence + the Machine
Boys - triple j Like a Version, Wolf Alice
Lipstick On the Glass, Wolf Alice
admittedly very funny list of songs. I saw Wolf Alice at the end of April (though it feels like longer ago somehow???) so that would explain it ^_^
books
my hands are currently really cold every day
A Winter Book, Tove Jansson. Read during Autumn, delightful little collection.
One Hundred Days, Alice Pung. Unfortunately really did not vibe like this book was not for me… I’m not sure who it Was for because the narrator’s voice is full of internalised racism/occasional classism that is soon grating and then her mother does some genuinely awful things that to me get kinda conflated with misunderstanding/cultural difference. Ah well at least it isn’t plagiarism … read much earlier novel Laurinda instead I say.
Cemetary Boys, Aiden Thomas. I love author-wish-fulfilment books they are such a fun time and it’s extra nice when they are good. More of these.
All About Love, bell hooks. A lot to think about! Very worthwhile read, there were parts that resonated much more than others certainly.
Piranesi, Susanna Clarke. Very epic I think. A fantastic example of unreliable narration as well as how prose itself can contribute towards character building in books like these that rely so heavily on the narrator sharing their point of view.
In A Dream You Saw a Way to Survive, Clementine von Radics. Didn’t love unfortunately, enjoyed a few poems and the overall concept and ideas but a lot of words in a row mostly.
Dagger: On Butch Women edited by Lily Burana, Roxxie, Linnea Due. idk what else i can say. reading about butches is fun. I am not much of a non-fiction reader at all but I like a little essay <3
Gunk Baby, Jamie Marina Lau. An episode of me thoroughly enjoying a book with less than a 3.5 stars average rating and not being sure if I am a genius understander or just have bad taste. Going to go with being an understander because I really did like the late-capitalist disaffection this book tapped into, especially when the events started to take a darker turn but the protagonist remained detached. I wanted to newsletterify this and then returned the book before I remembered to jot down quotes so we will see about that. Also tracked down JML’s spotify playlist to accompany the book, would rec as bgm.
Portrait of a Thief, Grace D. Li. I really think marketing killed this one. And the author seems annoying online but aren’t we all. Seen a lot of #hype and an equal amount of pushback mockery but I enjoyed myself! Even though many aspects are thoroughly grating. I thought the heisting was very interesting as a narrative device because realistically these elite college students were not going to dismantle colonialism through art theft and that is fine.
Switch, A.S. King. See Gunk Baby dilemma — I think I did buy into this one less but I still found it gripping + provocative.
If You Could See the Sun, Ann Liang. This was a banger! I love some magical realism especially when it’s left unexplained, I love a coming-of-age story too so I can’t complain.
Antigone, Jean Anouilh trans. Lewis Galantière. I have wanted to read this for a while now and was finally able to — excellent interpretation/translation of the Sophocles play, I like that it believably captures the original setting with just a few anachronisms reflecting a more modern era of war and what it means to ‘lead’. Really like the character of Antigone in this but of course.
watching
Heartstopper (2022-?). I haven’t read the comic but the show was sweet enough, I cared about every other character more than the main guy which does happen. I think I said something to Mari about how Charlie could be Jocoded if he had more of a personality which is funny and true. However! This soundtrack! Honestly swayed me into watching it and really the absolute madness to put Wolf Alice and Chvrches specifically in the same show like why are you inside my brain and then the specific uses what is going on ... ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ in the very first episode like I know you are fifteen but why are you seeing signs of a lifetime twenty minutes into the show … ‘Clearest Blue’ while the lesbians are kissing at homophobic white boy’s party … ‘Why Am I Like This’ by Orla Gartland playing over Nick typing ‘am i gay’ into Google. Music person was having the time of their lives and I respect it.
Succession (2018-?). Actually we (2jo) haven’t succed in a while, still in season 3 and just watched the shareholder meeting so things are certainly happening but instead of thinking about it I am going to copy-paste Jordan’s vision for Andrew Garfield’s cameo as himself as Stewy’s boyfriend because I am still obsessed:
kendall: he doesnt -- i bet he doesn't even know what a fucking stock is what do they even talk about, fucking, camera angles? lenses and shit? like, i don't even care that stewy is gay, whatever, i'm cool you know? i'm cool as fuck! i'm with the times! be who you wanna be, that's what i say, id be rocking with the El Gee Bee Tee all day and night if i wasn't out here making money twenty four seven and like, what does andrew garfield even do? what does he do? stand there and look pretty? good looking guy i guess, whatever, doesn't bring anything else to the table come on, i just think stewy could do better. like what has he even been in? the social network? whatever, that movie was like, trash, and mark zuckerberg is a cool guy you know i met him once when we were in italy at the same time for a business conference and he's like, on the ball, super intense but great guy. film doesn't do him justice
Benediction (2022). With Nessa my friend who exists in real life!!!!!!! <3 I really don’t know what to make of this movie tonlly because it pivoted partway through from war film to petty gay postwar artist drama. Had fun though!
Paddington 2 (2019). Movies of all time seriously. So fun so fresh I care Paddington Bear and I did enjoy the first movie but I do love coming back to Paddington 2 there is just something so heartwarming about it plus the way it demonstrates an injust carceral system.
Castle in the Sky (1986). Such lovely music and visuals and characters and stories!!! Win for having yet another butch coded Ghibli main boy.
some links to things I have read online and liked:
回, Nina Mingya Powles
In This One, Mulan Lives, Celeste Chen
Love is Not a Permanent Structure, Grace Shuyi Liew
three little words, Jordan @ orders up
Uptown, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Hieu Minh Nguyen
I’m in Sydney for the weekend! That’s exciting. Haven’t been back here since 2019 which is something. Talk soon.
Joanne
omg me 🥺 ily i love my jo newsletter cameos they are the highlight of my day