A selection of things I’ve made recently.

a man is standing in a doorway with the words i should tell you behind him ALT: a man is standing in a doorway with the words i should tell you behind him

This morning’s realization: apparently I just really tend to like people who have at some point played Roger in Rent. Adam Pascal, Aaron Tveit, Jeremy Kushnier. And even Milo Manheim was discovered playing Roger in a smaller local production.

This was a brilliant idea, and I can’t believe I forgot about it

When you look at it that way, it’s sort of wild that it took as long as it did to have a a spooky house village with a mini graveyard and several skeleton and witch decorations and an old ouija board as year round decorations in my house.

And I turned out……fine? (A little anxious maybe)

Supernatural may be my all time fave tv show ever. And I elected to watch these movies and shows on my own - not because I was in the room with someone else watching. I read these books because I enjoyed them.

The point is, I’ve been a fan of the spooky, scary, creepy, kooky horror my whole life.

I also remember watching Tales from the Crypt pretty young. As a small child, I loved the old Addams Family and the Munsters. I also loved the Addams Family movies of the 90s. So Weird on Disney Channel. Hocus Pocus. Halloweentown. That one episode of Boy Meets World…

The IT miniseries released when I was a mere one year old.
The Lost Boys is 2 years older than me.
The original Nightmare on Elm Street predates my existence by 5 years. I don’t even think my parents were together at that point.
Then my childhood had Are You Afraid of the Dark and Goosebumps

I won’t got through the rest of the songs but trust me that they’re a combination of fun bangers and insightful ballads and even some that are somewhere in between.

Is it her best album? I don’t know. It was probably her best at the time it came out. But she’s come out with some amazing albums.

Then there’s “I have seen the rain” which is a song her dad wrote about his time in Vietnam, and they perform it together on the album. Recorded in one take straight through. It’s beautiful.
“Conversations with my 13 year old self” may as well have been written for me.

“Stupid Girls” - less about “stupid girls” and more about a society who wants girls to play stupid
“Dear Mr President” - which is actually sort of wild to listen to now given what we’re currently dealing with compared to then.
“Leave me alone (I’m lonely)” is so fun and, honestly, relatable

Anyway, I could wax poetic about P!nk for hours, but I recently rediscovered the I’m Not Dead album. If you don’t know this album or haven’t listened in a while, I suggest you (re)visit it.

I’ve seen her live twice, and that number would be higher if tickets were easier to obtain and not in cities 2-3 hrs+ away. It’s worth it but life gets in the way of fun. (Sidenote: she performed that last couple months of the summer carnival tour with a torn bicep and two torn meniscuses. 🤯)

Since then, she’s just continued to get better. And she also remains outspoken and unapologetically herself. And obviously, the talent. Her live performance of “Secrets” is genuinely one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. That and “Beautiful Trauma” on the side of a building in Vegas.

This is not to put down other artists of the time. I know standing up to producers and labels and agents, etc is not always feasible. But it is an acknowledgement that we needed someone who wasn’t sweet and cute and “virginal” because, yeah, that was a huge topic of discussion then for some reason.

I have loved P!nk for literal decades. If you weren’t alive (or were very young) in the dawn of the new millennium, you may not be aware of how toxic a lot of pop culture was, particular with women. P!nk emerged as a woman with power and strength and brains. And the talent to match.

It’s past time to find the truth in the #WM3 case. I’m still hopeful that those who have verbally committed to going forward with this testing are still on board and it’s just scheduling issues but, after 32 years, optimism is difficult. Come on, West Memphis, #testthefuckingevidence.

I’m just saying, based on how many people have called me a rock star at work, I’m beginning to think I should start selling VIP meet and greet tickets for anyone wanting something in particular from me 🤣

Crash course is Noah to get you started (choosing one song per EP/LP is difficult but that’s what I did here)
“Family”
“Jesus, Jesus”
“Cigarettes”
“Selfish Art”
“Wake Me Up, I’m Drowning”
“Wild Horses”
“Magic Trick”
“Haunted House”

Also covers of “Round Here” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”

Recently, I saw him again and was able to tell him as much. (Which by the way, this was actually the second time I met him. The first time he recorded a video saying hi to Jessica, who couldn’t make it to the show.) He’s a lovely person with incredible music.

In 2020, right before the world shut down, I lost my brother. That song has taken on even more meaning to me since. I played it at his memorial. I wore the shirt too. And as the world continued crashing around me…all of us…Noah’s music was there. When I lost my sister Jessica, Noah’s music was there

And this is the thing: Noah’s music finds me precisely when I need it. And in the 12 years or so since I initially found him, I’ve needed his music a lot. In 2019, I went to a show and got a shirt that said “Say I Love You Way Too Much.” My brother saw it and loved that phrase.

At the time, I was also struggling with how I felt about religion and religious people. Not so much Jesus but his followers. That song spoke to me. In the years since, he has modified that song with a more definitive idea of how he feels. And I still relate pretty heavily.

“Jesus, Jesus
There are those that say they love you
But they have treated me so goddamn mean
And I know you said, "Forgive them
For they know not what they do"
But sometimes I think they do
And I think about you
If all the heathens burn in hell
Do all their children burn as well?”

23/24 years old

I found Noah somewhere around late 2013/early 2014. My sisters - Jessica and Rebecca - asked me to go to a concert with them. Admittedly, I spent a lot of that show trying to decipher his tattoos, but the music was incredible. What really won me over, though, was “Jesus, Jesus.”

12 years later, he releases “Swim” with lyrics like:

“Hold my breath underwater
'Til I'm strong enough to swim
Past the edge, so much farther
Than I have ever been
I confess I'm scared of drowning
Just like I've always been
But all of this is meaningless
If I'm afraid of diving in”

Let’s talk about Noah Gundersen.

Arguably one of the greatest lyricists and vocalists in music today.

In 2011, at 22 years old, he released “Honest Songs” with lyrics like

“All the words that will spoken
They will never be enough
To encompass all the feelings
That our brittle hearts can bear”

Other notes:
Why does Phillipe always play the cocky asshole that you somehow find yourself not hating as much? And also why is his character literally named Barry Cox?

I do appreciate the lack of gratuitous sex and nudity.

This movie was pretty good…but I prefer Scream.

So you know, maybe don’t be shallow assholes talking about peoples bodies. (Late 90s/early 2000s was bad about that.)

Eventually I realized this movie is set in NC…which threw me because the beach at the beginning was ABSOLUTELY a California beach. Beaches in the Carolinas aren’t rocky like that.

If you’ve seen Cruel Intentions, you probably understand why the two of them together gives me the ick.

JLH is great but she’s very skinny in this movie. I was struck by the memory of how often media talked about her chest size. (PSA: I was a child. I heard the chatter. It stuck with me.)