The 📖📺🎧🔪🛍️ List

My "Poor Things" review + a horrific story about a traumatizing hospital visit that I need to share or I will implode

I’m doing something a little different today, which will either entice or enrage free subscribers. Time will tell.

The majority of today’s letter will be your typical free Friday list full of what I’ve been consuming the past week. However, the last little bit will be behind a pay wall because it involves an extremely personal story that I unfortunately got to add to my “what in the literal fuck is my life” list of stories this week, and it’s so fucked up, I can’t not share it. But I want to protect the sharing of it. So if you’re a free subscriber who refuses to upgrade to paid, I’m sorry for the colossal tease. If you’re a free subscriber who’s been flirting with upgrading, now’s the time. If you’re a paying member, buckle the fuck up.

But for now, the list.

READING

Still going on The Paris Apartment and it gets better and better with every turn of the page.

In the meantime, though, may I suggest

John DeVore

’s 150 Word Reviews Substack? He reviews movies in 150 words and it’s a genius idea. Fun, quick, informative reads.

Also, one of my favorite Substacks by

Harling Ross Anton

is back from mat leave, and it’s a must-subscribe. So many good nuggets in every letter she graces us with.

Quick poll: For my next book, should I read Hello Beautiful or The Covenant of Water?

WATCHING

Poor Things

This movie… was the maybe the most bizarre movie I’ve ever seen. It takes you on a wild ride complete with one of the creepiest scores I’ve ever heard. To give a quick synopsis: The movie opens with Emma Stone’s character taking her own life by jumping off a bridge while she is fully pregnant. A mad scientist finds her nearly-dead body, cuts her baby out, and switches their brains in order to give Emma’s character another chance at life. So for the first part of the movie, we’re watching Emma act like a toddler and it is… unnerving. The movie itself is a large social commentary on women’s liberation, which is a bit problematic in that they seem to equate sexual libration with female liberation and I’m not sure that’s right. Regardless, it’s a WILD ride, and I’ve been on a rollercoaster trying to figure out whether or not I liked it. One day, I hate it. The next, I love it. There are some hilarious bits (like how they refer to sex as “furious jumping”), but there are some totally unnecessary highly uncomfortable bits (like Emma stuffing an apple inside of her…). The acting is incredible, and both Emma and Mark deserve all the praise they’re receiving. This movie isn’t for the faint of heart — go in knowing it’s fucking weird as hell.

Queer Eye

I think this is the last season with the Fab 5? I’m pretty sure I saw that somewhere, and it doesn’t help that Bobby has been very forthcoming about him and Tan’s beef. It’s the second half of their New Orleans’ makeovers, and every episode was phenomenal except the last two were pretty fucking sad and sort of hard to get through, IMO. If this is really it for these five, I’m sad but also relieved I can stop my tally of how many fucking LA Dodgers hats Karamo owns (I honestly thinks he showers and sleeps in them at this point).

The Old Man and the Pool

I’ve never been a follower of Mike Birbiglia’s comedy, but Zac and I randomly watched his latest comedy special this week and it was a pure delight. Instead of traditional stand-up, Mike is an excellent story teller and provides an hour’s worth of thoughtful, deep, hilarious, dry insights on mid-life. If you’re into prose and longer-form comedic bits, I would watch.

LISTENING TO

Zac has had both The Smile and Future Islands on repeat this week, and I’m not complaining. The Smile is comprised of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood + a drummer named Tom Skinner. I really love the album, especially “Friend of a Friend” (the accompanying music video is very cute). Future Islands’ sound is just so unique, especially the lead singer’s singing style. I hardly ever know what he’s saying, but I like it? “The Tower” is my favorite new song from them.

MAKING

I failed so miserably this week in the kitchen. I pride myself on having a keen eye for good recipes, but I chose so poorly this week. One involved eggplant and zoodles, both of which I will literally never¹ cook with or eat again. The other fail involved stuffed peppers, which are typically so good! But the recipe just wasn’t it.

I sort of redeemed myself with these banana breakfast muffins, but I still feel ashamed of how bad my dinners were. Sigh.

SHOPPING

• At the mall last weekend, we sauntered into Byredo and ended up smelling a lot of perfumes. I tried one on called Rose Noir that Zac had a very strong reaction to (he doesn’t typically like perfume at all), so I went ahead and treated myself to this very expensive fragrance. It was hard to choose between all their scents because each one was so different and gorgeous, but Rose Noir is definitely my scent.

• I’m done with dryer sheets — they’re very annoying to me. Instead, I got this 6-pack of wool dryer balls to not only soften our clothes but help speed up the drying process, and they are legit!

• Ever since I bought my white adidas Sambas, I’ve worn the crap out of them. They are my go-to casual-cute sneaker, and I love them dearly. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a black pair, saw our fertility specialist wearing them this week, realized how cool they look, and went ahead and got some. I had to look around several sites for my size, but ended up finding them in stock at Journey’s of all places!

If you’re a free subscriber who has no interest in upgrading, this is where I leave you today. Have a wonderful weekend and let’s hope Taylor wins the Super Bowl!

If you’ve upgraded or are already paying, have I got a story for you.