the beginning of the end of the world
h e l l o from t h e o
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this week’s style inspo:
Orchid Satellite, queen of quarantine chic.
what I’m clicking:
Keiajah Brooks for president, please | How to answer “how are you?” when everything is awful | Kids are creepy | AOC’s next four years | How a police killing in Nigeria sparked a global movement | The nightmare inside Mission Chinese Food | What it means to be a black woman | The Bear In There: A Quarantine Story | Dying in a leadership vacuum | Will we ever have an atheist president? | Challenging the Western gaze in travel writing | The tech executive and Q Anon high priest |The black Belgian student and the all-white fraternity | New York City’s island of death | Em Rata on reclaiming her image | What happened inside Ed Buck’s apartment? | Authoritarian regimes are hiring influencers to whitewash their politics | Chrissy Tiegen made me cry | The insidious transformation of ACB into a feminist icon | When a supreme court judge is a member of a religious cult | A squatting influencer is the talk of Montauk | Psychedelics are on the ballot (and maybe they can change the world?) | We are canceling the right people | He married a sociopath: me | Black Japanese youth discuss BLM | Sohla goes solo | The cruise ship graveyard | How covid is transmitted indoors | I took this “can you guess who these people voted for based on the contents of their fridge?” quiz and all I learned is that I am truly disturbed by the contents of stranger’s refrigerators. Yuck.
what I’m wanderlusting:
I started Downton Abbey recently (I’ve never seen it before and may or may not have done some light shit talking about DA, Masterpiece Theatre, and British period dramas in the past) and WOW am I hooked. It’s *so* good and it has made me really want to visit some fancy castle hotel in the UK where I get to wear black tie at dinner and ride horses and sit on antiques and drink fancy wine.
what I’m watching:
The Social Dilemma. It’s sort of cheesy and obvious but definitely worth watching, especially since all of the people interviewed for the documentary seem really smart and articulate. I especially loved that pirate-looking fellow. And no, I haven't deleted social media... yet.
what I’m coveting:
I truly believe this coat from ERL might cure seasonal depression.
what I’m reading:
Janice Y. K. Lee
For some reason (perhaps there was a Kevin Kwan blurb on the cover?) I thought this was going to be a “fun” book--a romp through Hong Kong with some wealthy expats. I was wrong. This book is NOT fun, but it IS excellent. I loved it. It’s depressing and beautiful and engrossing and definitely worth your time.
Did it make me cry: Yes.
Did it make me laugh: I don’t think so, it’s pretty sad.
Is it a good pandemic book: No.
Would I read it again: Yes.
Would it be a good movie: I think more like an HBO miniseries. There’s lots of drama--more than enough for a couple of episodes.
Michael Ondaatje
This is straight-up the weirdest fucking book I have ever read. When I was a few pages in, I was convinced that I had accidentally picked up the sequel or that my copy was missing the first few chapters or that it was a book by Thomas Pynchon. But no, this book just dives in to some crumbling villa in Italy filled with FREAKS. The whole time I was reading it I was like “who? ...what…? ...HOW? ...Where? ...WHY?!?!?!?” But actually, I kind of loved it towards the end.
Did it make me cry: No.
Did it make me laugh: No.
Is it a good pandemic book: These people are essentially quarantined together, so maybe?
Would I read it again: Maybe?
Would it be a good movie: This movie cam out in 1996 and I am so excited to watch it. The version of the book I’m reading is like the “now a major motion picture” version with actual cast so I’ve been able to picture all the characters as their actors, which has been fun. I'm especially anticipating the Cairo and desert scenes.
Paulo Coelho
People are obsessed with this book, but I have to say that I just don’t get it. The writing is bad--or maybe the translation is bad--but it reads like weird Jesus fan fiction written by a preteen who’s really into C.S. Lewis. It’s not for me, and it’s probably not for you either.
Did it make me cry: It made me roll my eyes, big time.
Did it make me laugh: No.
Is it a good pandemic book: I can only recommend this book if you are a child or an idiot who is vaguely interested in spirituality.
Would I read it again: No.
Would it be a good movie: Truly the dumbest movie of all time. Maybe if it’s a kids movie it would be decent? Tbh, I would watch this if Studio Ghibli made it.
Terry Tempest Williams
This book is really, really beautiful. Part memoir, part essays, it’s a sort of mediation on writing and existing in the world in short and digestible memories and vignettes.
Did it make me cry: Yes, I got teary at one point.
Did it make me laugh: No.
Is it a good pandemic book: One of the parts I loved most about this book is the author’s relationship with the natural world. I think that aspect of it could be really inspiring for people who are feeling trapped right now.
Would I read it again: No, but there is one little anecdote in the book that is absolutely terrifying and I feel like I need to read it again to be able to talk about it at dinner parties when we’re telling scary stories.
Would it be a good movie: No.
Chingiz Aitmatov
I found this book at my mother-in-law’s house and I was like “whoa, cool, I’ve never read a book by a Kyrgyz author before!” so I decided to read it. It’s short and sweet and evocative and I truly do not regret the ~45 minutes it took to read this book.
Did it make me cry: No.
Did it make me laugh: No.
Is it a good pandemic book: Not especially, but it’s not NOT a good pandemic book, either.
Would I read it again: No.
Would it be a good movie: I truly think this could be an Oscar-winning short film. The whole story hinges around a song--it’s basically a musical! Combine the music with the scenery of the Caucasus and it’s impossible for this movie to be bad.
Tiphanie Yanique
There’s this book I think I’ve mentioned before in this newsletter--it’s called Swamplandia and when I first read it, I hated it. But I continue to be haunted by Swamplandia and I think about it all the time. I feel sort of the same way about this book. I did not enjoy reading it (and I don’t think you will either) but I was thoroughly disturbed by it in a way that I can’t really describe.
Did it make me cry: No.
Did it make me laugh: No.
Is it a good pandemic book: It’s good to feel disturbed just to be reminded that you can still feel feelings, right?
Would I read it again: No.
Would it be a good movie: No.