Has someone written about the monstrous feminine in the context of South Asian films and folklore? I'm too phattu to watch or write about this, but very much up for reading the analysis and literature. If you know of something, point me in that direction?
I will be recovering from Sinners by simultaneously overanalysing every detail I can remember and binge-watching the next five episodes of The Apothecary Diaries.
About Sinners, which absolutely lives up to the hype btw:
1. Buddy Guy!
2. 100% need a spinoff about the Choctaw vampire hunters
3. the time-bending musical number was great, but Pale Pale Moon was INCREDIBLE
4. Love how it all began with a lie (about the guitar).
Meta’s argument for pirating books rather than paying for books to train its AI: “for there to be a market, there must be something of value to exchange, but none of Plaintiffs works has economic value, individually, as training data.” Just evil. www.vanityfair.com/news/story/m...
This is so beautiful and so sad and ironically, so life-affirming. www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Thoroughly charmed by North of North. Lots of complex issues dealt with a light touch. A messy older woman, a knotty mother-daughter relationship, coming out of a bad marriage, the shadow of past trauma, race and colonisation, the importance of community — all this and also laughs.
Such a good examination of ideal masculinity in pop culture and the possible messages they contain (pegged to that bizarre Ashton Hall video, but looking at a whole lot more). www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc8T...
Every time I question my life choices, I will remind myself that at least I didn't become the person who announces executive orders about "a war on showers".
"“That is the American renaissance. We are robot fluffers." ~ Jon Stewart on The Daily Show www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBfl...
Me showing up to submit final draft of novel.
A tweet saying "MS Paint mirror". Below, a photo of a man taking a picture of himself sitting in front of a mirror. The mirror is styled to look like one of the original versions of MS Paint (the canvas which should be white is the mirror part)
I want this more than I probably should
Enjoyed every episode of Severance S2 while watching it, but this season is a disappointment for the way the story stagnates instead of moving forward. It's as though the season is nothing more than a setup for the resolutions in the next season.
Brilliant documentary, fantastic moment. Just for the rousing reception that the room gave No Other Land, the Academy gets a thumbs-up from me. If you can find No Other Land — which no American distributor picked up because…? — you must must watch it.
Henceforth, I’m watching cricket if Afghanistan is playing.
Snippets from my column on Luca Guadagnino’s Queer and Satyajit Ray’s Nayak:
Need work music for an 8-hour shift? Apple's got you covered. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRnD...
Zero interest in cricket or Champions Trophy but this classic rock playlist (just heard Sweet Child O’ Mine and Living on a Prayer for boundaries scored) at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium — 🫶🏾
When I first started learning about the ancient Mesopotamian demoness, Lamashtu, about fifteen years ago, it never occurred to me how much I'd end up saying 'semen stealing'...
Also this was so much fun!
Netflix thinks I'll "love" Pushpa 2, a film that I have roundly trashed in a recent column.
On the plus side, the algorithm evidently has some way to go before it becomes the master of us all.
Watching Perfect Match is making me appreciate the cinematographer of The Double so much. #Cdrama
Chatting with a friend of the ye olde days of the internet, when it was a place of silliness and fun, I was reminded of Figwit. Thrilled to discover there's a whole page on Wikipedia for an elf extra who was in LOTR: FOTR for three seconds.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figwit
January in four frames.
(Art by Katie Mansfield/ more at tragicgirlsco.com)
The Oscar love for Emilia Pérez is proof if anyone needed it that Hollywood is all about tokenism. While it’s excellent that a trans actor was cast in the lead, there’s so much that’s questionable and/ or lazy about that film and its trans representation.
The idea of Homeric heroes being eco-warriors wouldn't have struck us if we weren't in the middle of a climate crisis. (Honestly, wish Uberto Pasolini and his writing team had read some of these modern interpretations and analyses before making The Return.) theconversation.com/the-heroes-o...
God bless you for noticing this.
Flow, by Gints Zilbalodis, is utterly and completely gorgeous. I suppose one could nitpick about some details, but why would you when it gives you moments as beautiful as these.
Grant me the confidence of being able to introduce myself with nothing more than “we spoke on Instagram a year ago”.
July. That’s when the US could have put a halt to the genocide in Gaza.
