We made it to February
(Newsletter: February 2019)
Congratulations everyone. We made it. It’s February. Winter, at least in the calendar sense, is over. January was wild and ravenous. I’m sitting at my desk grateful to be warm, cozy and indoors while the wind whips around outside.
My first day back to work, January 2nd, I went to see a movie. I’m thinking about making it an annual tradition. Last January 2nd, I went to see a movie too. I’d resigned from a horrific work situation and was proud to have finally stood up for myself. (I wound up working another 3 months, but that’s another story.) I saw The Post. An analog heavy, love letter to journalism that was rushed into production because we, the news loving public, clearly needed a boost after 2017. This year, I saw The Favourite which was bonkers and wonderful. There’s a duck race. And a guy who carries his prize duck around everywhere.
I wrote a bit too. The first piece is called ‘Millennials aren’t entitled. They’re screwed’ which seems pretty self explanatory & depressing. And I dusted off some analysis of the 2016 election, because that’s how I have fun! I took Roxane Gay’s essay writing class too.
Onto the recommendations:
I usually invest in a Netflix subscription every December/January. I don’t use it enough to justify a year round subscription, but 4 weeks of ‘on demand’ telly suits me just right. I swallowed ‘You’ in one greedy gulp. It’s an algorithmic, stalker story for the digital age that’s pleasantly twisty. Samin Nosrat’s ‘Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat’ was OK, but Samin’s infectious personality was A++. This is a great interview on how she conceived of and wrote her book. (Also this.)
It’s not on Netflix, but I enjoyed Succession too after reading this review. And I watched Irreplaceable You, which was pretty one dimensional but still made me sob like an infant. Beautiful Boy also made me weep. I read 4 OK books. This was the most important article I read and here are some of the best news photos of 2018.
In terms of podcasts, I loved Season 1 of ‘In The Dark’. It’s a shocking exploration of law enforcement incompetence and the far reaching consequences their negligence has. Season 2 of Zig Zag was a treat too, though also a little mind melting (in a good way).
Some other things I loved are curated on Tumblr. In case you need to feel some emotions, I recommend this video.
Thanks for reading,
Clare x
