September round up

Monthly -ings

(pssst…open in the browser, it’s gonna get cut off in the email!)

September! What a month. An unplanned visit back to Milwaukee followed by two planned visits from family and friends. Lots of exploring Bellingham and soaking up the last of summer and eating delicious food. It was a really great first summer here, it feels more and more like we made the right choice with this move. As the fall weather starts to settle in, I’m looking forward to slowing things down a bit and starting to feel a bit more grounded.

Ok, on to the September round up…

Reading

Books

• Bret Easton Ellis, American Psycho. I’d seen the movie but never read the book. It fucked up my whole week. I definitely have more to say about this but it’s also like, what else is there to say about this?

• Helen Phillips, Hum. I wanted both more and less from this. Skimming ARC reviews on GoodReads it sounds like some freaky deaky sex scenes got cut from the final version, which is too bad. I would like to read them.

• Kaveh Akbar, Martyr! I borrowed the audiobook from the library and the second I finished it I knew I’d need to buy a physical copy and reread. I need to talk about the ending with someone.

Around the internet

• This Demi Moore interview.

• Michelle Santiago Cortés
  on The Internet Archive lawsuit.

• Olga Khazan
  on The Friendship Paradox. A slightly different take on all the loneliness talk — it’s not that we don’t have friends. We just don’t spend time with the ones we’ve got.

• I can’t run this club forever: The Bikeriders on Bright Wall/Dark Room.

• What is AI doing to art? diving into the photography comparison.

Elsewhere on substack

• Cameron Steele
  (
  interruptions
  ) — All of Cameron’s newsletters this month were fantastic, but I particularly loved Ode to a green dress and Redrawing lines.

• Michael Rance
  (
  Three Chairs
  ) — As someone who constantly frets I’m not doing this (life) right, I absolutely loved this piece: You can live the wrong life.

• becca rothfeld
  (
  a fête worse than death
  ) with a very important question: when is a bad novel good because it’s bad and when is it just bad?

• Clare Michaud
  (
  Beurrage
  ) — A really thoughtful piece on what it means to give up alcohol (or not): The length of a life.

• jamie hood
  (
  regards, marcel
  ) — A really lovely piece on solitude and loneliness and so much more.

• Tell the Bees
  on the stripper index and recession brunettes and other bad economic omens. I’m just so glad they’re on here now, I missed their insights after I quit TikTok.

• Lincoln Michel
  (
  Counter Craft
  ) on that Ted Chiang essay and who cares about AI art: Art without intention.

• Helena Aeberli
  (
  twenty-first century demoniac
  ) on something I admittedly never thought about before but now can’t stop thinking about: the Americanisation of the internet.

• Substack, IRL: I got

  Cydney Hayes
  ’ Let Me Cook zine in the mail, such a treat! I’m in a big zine mood these days. If you’ve got one, lmk.

  

Watching

Our Boardwalk Empire rewatch has taken over our lives (remember when shows had 1000 characters and they were all interesting?) and we haven’t watched much else, aside from one rewatch of Asteroid City, which I find sadder — and, perversely, like more — with every rewatch. Oh, and I finally watched Kinds of Kindness. I was toooootally vibing with it until part 3. Maybe more to come on that, we’ll see.

how many times can one woman google “Michael Shannon height” (it’s 6’3”)

Listening

Music

• Mannequin Pussy, I Got Heaven

• Soft Play, Heavy Jelly

• Amyl and the Sniffers, Comfort To Me

• Oasis, Definitely Maybe (bc I secured the tickets baaaaabbyyyyyy)

Podcasts

Side note: is there such a thing as a good podcast player? If so, please tell me what it is.

• Ezra Klein: Zadie Smith on Populists, Frauds and Flip Phones — literally can’t wrap my head around not having a smartphone since 2008.

• The Detective and the Log Lady: A Twin Peaks podcast — an absolute delight, a Twin Peaks newbie and a lifelong fan. They just got to the big reveal.

• City Arts & Lecture: Victoria Cheng — a new-to-me pod that I’m really enjoying, this conversation in particular was fantastic.

• Shakespeare & Company Interview: Ferdia Lennon on Glorious Exploits — this podcast is having an outsized influence on my reading habits.

• Search Engine with PJ Vogt
  — Can I microdose veganism? — really appreciated this conversation!

Surfing / Arting

• I cannot get enough of Ashley Suszczynski’s photographs of masked rituals and traditions around the world. I need her to put out a photo book so I can pour over these prints! Her ig is a must follow and this Colossal article is how I found her.

• A lightning map! With sound! Love.

Writing / Making

• Started another round of the 100 days challenge. I’m learning to work with pastels, both pencils and oils. It’s….very hard. I’m not very good but I’m having fun.

• I went to

  Alicia Kennedy
  ’s Newsletter Workshop and it was SO great. I 1000% recommend it. She’s so generous with her time and experience. And for someone without a writing community irl it was so nice to be connected to a broader group of people.

• ICYMI on the blog: An essay on Perfect Days, which I adored and am still thinking about, and an end of summer look back.

Ok that’s all I got! See you next month for another round up. In the meantime, I’m always looking for new things to read, watch, listen to, cook, make…you name it!