October roundup

Monthly -ings

Yeah, this is way late, but…well…you know. Here’s a picture of Otis to make up for it.

Ok, onward.

Reading

Books

I listened to a few audiobooks of newer horror novels that let me down (as always, looking for recs on this front) but I also had a few non-horror wins:

• Maggie Nelson, The Argonauts, and Olivia Laing, The Lonely City. I’m only grouping these because they both fall under the “genre-blending memoir” umbrella and they both explore desire and art/scholarship. Very different reading experiences, though. I really enjoyed both!

• Lev Grossman, The Bright Sword. There’s something about Grossman’s writing that holds me at arms length, despite seeming tailor-made for me. A little too aware of the audience, maybe. That said, I’m always going to read him and I’m always going to enjoy spending time in the magical worlds he creates.

Around the internet

• Another life: On Yoko Ono.

• Schooling myself: Ethics and autodidactisim.

• The phone of the wind.

Elsewhere on Substack

• I am no longer worried everyone I love is going to die a horrible, painful death by

  eliza mclamb
  (
  words from eliza
  ). Didn’t realize this was a possibility, tbh.

• Anatomy of a critic by

  Mahira Rivers
  (
  Sweet City
  ). “Because even if it feels good to check a thing off your list, to have an opinion, to be a part of the zeitgeist, isn’t it still a little disappointing when something is just…not good?”YES!

• The own-work woodshed by

  kate wagner
  (
  the late review
  ). “There is no final skill, no true perfection.” Pairs well with the next one on this list…

• The divine discontent by

  Celine Nguyen
  (
  personal canon
  ). “It’s easier to persist, I think, when you see your work as a practice—an ongoing process of improvement—instead of focusing too much on any particular project.”

Writing

• ICYMI: My horror canon

Watching

• Heat. No matter how many times we watch this, Pacino’s line delivery always manages to surprise me.

• Exhuma. The first and second halves are like two very different movies. I was really digging the first half, not so much the latter. Worth a watch though! It made me think I’m due for a The Wailing rewatch, too.

• Suspiria. I like this more with every rewatch. I don’t think I could ever be a true Dakota Johnson hater, just because of this movie.

• The Substance. I wanted to like this. Alas…

Listening

Music

• The Suspiria soundtrack. Thom Yorke is, himself, a witch.

• Fontaines DC, Romance. Idk. I keep reading smart, positive reviews but it’s just not hitting for me.

Podcasts

I listened to an embarrassing amount of work-related podcasts this month but I balanced it out with:

• Las Culturistas - the iconic 400 episodes. Am I crazy or did Whitney Houston and Celine Dion both not make the list?? Snubs of the century.

• Rattled & Shook - a promising new entrant into the true scary stories genre.

Surfing / Arting

• Mushroom color atlas.

• So upset I missed the preorder of Meryl Meisler’s photo book, Streetwalker.

• This brought me right back to the pair of EFX sneakers I had in grade school.

• Deanna Dikeman, Leaving and Waving. This made me CRYYYYY.

• Probing the rise of the ‘Made in Egypt’ aesthetic movement.

Meisler on the left; Dikeman on the right

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Ok that’s all. Take care of yourself, take care of each other. Log off early and often.