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Whoops, no Linky Links (TM) for July, but since time doesn’t matter anymore I’m assuming nobody noticed. I hereby present you with a list of July/August things I’ve been reading/listening to/watching, best consumed with an ice-cold can of Orangina and a tiny fan by your side.

1. I re-read this (admittedly p old) five-step guide to Bloomsbury interiors from AnOther and it was a hoot. I don’t know about you but all I want to do right now is nest and nobody knows more about nesting than the Bloomsbury Group (or Bloomsbury Set, depending on your level of bougie), which was made up of folks like E.M. Forster and Virginia Woolf. I am deeply fascinated by art circles/friendships/cults and their dwellings so this was right up my alley.

2. You could read that Nick Cave piece in The Guardian about the dangers of cancel culture. Or…. you could listen to the "Abattoir Blues Tour” live album and ignore let this little ripple in the ocean of Internet Steps wash over you. It contains my favorite live version of “Red Right Hand” which I know is a tall order, but this is my blog.

3. I binged all of High Fidelity just in time for Hulu to announce they were cancelling it, so I recommend watching it to show them what a colossal mistake they made.

4. Speaking of music, that viral video of two Gen Z twins reacting to hearing “In the Air Tonight” for the first time (and I mean, driven to literal tears over that drum solo), is the best thing I’ve seen on the internet. I’ve said this for years but Phil Collins is the rare example of a nostalgic white male musician that is both unproblematic and delightful to revisit, and to say I’m excited for Gen Z to discover him is an UNDERSTATEMENT. As the twins say, you’ve all been sleeping on him for too long. You better WAKE UP.

5. This article about the power of low-stakes productivity (painting your nails, showering before 5pm) from the NYT made me feel, uh… seen.

May you find endless things to keep your attention occupied in these turbulent and deeply unsexy times.

-M

I recently came to a surprising but admittedly not all that unexpected realization: musical soundtracks are downright delightful work companions in the age of Corona. From Hamilton to Hadestown, there’s something about people singing with purpose that makes me want to actually get stuff done. Chief among these is The Sound of Music, a musical so wholesome it could only be written by two dudes that sound like a touring carnival show. Most old-timey movies haven’t aged well (just look at Gone With the Wind, yikes) but there’s something about the Sound of Music that just feels like a soothing balm for the soul when you’re just Going Through It. This could be because real life is starting to feel a lot like the setting of the movie (mysterious Fed takeover in Portland, hackers wrecking havoc on the world, white women gone wild). It’s nice, then, that when the going gets horrible we can always put on our noise-cancelling headphones and listen to Julie Andrews singing about impostor’s syndrome and getting us through a rainstorm. Honestly, there should be a cult of personality around Julie Andrews. She genuinely makes me want to be a better person.

Here are some lessons I’ve learned from this whale of a wonderful movie:

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• Nobody, not even a nun, is exempt from the joys of gossip.

• It is very easy to tame unruly, rich white children, as long as you have an acoustic guitar.

• Christopher Plummer could get it then and he can get it now. Yeah, I know he’s like 9000 years old. I said what I said.

• Every movie should have an intermission. Are you listening, Christopher Nolan????

• Patterned curtains make extremely stylish clothing.

• Maybe don’t trust a guy who tells you he’s smarter than you because he’s a whole entire year older than you. I think I saw this movie for the first time when I was 12 years old and even then I was not surprised when Rolf turned out to be a Nazi. 12 year old me was like “Yup, that checks out.”

• While we’re at it: Nazis are bad. Like, really bad. Like, maybe the worst.

• Crossing the Alps to claim asylum and avoid capture by the Gestapo is an easy, nay, enjoyable family activity.

• It can be hard but also extremely easy to choose to do the right thing.

• Seriously, fuck Rolf.

Auf wiedersein!

-M

Hi. Wow. This summer is… a lot, right? Let’s be honest- I’m way past being grateful for having a working respiratory system in a country without universal healthcare. Still, if there’s one nice thing Corona has done for us it’s giving us plenty of time to read.

Maybe it’s the fact that it feels like everyone’s either furloughed or unemployed or barely hanging on by a thread but this summer feels more summer vacation-ey than most. I’m making progress through the list I accumulated while living in Edinburgh, but I still can’t stop thinking about new exciting books to sink my feral teeth into. It reminds me of those summer reading lists we used to get in school, except this list doesn’t have Heart of Darkness in it. In fact, it’s the literal OPPOSITE of Heart of Darkness. Wow, fuck that book. Anyway, here’s some things I’m looking forward to reading during my free time!

My Baby First Birthday

I’m not a huge poetry person, which really says more about me than poetry itself: I just don’t know how to read it. One English degree and a master’s degree in Creative Writing later and only a handful of poetry collections have found their way into my bookshelves. What better way to start me back up than Jenny Zhang’s latest? Her Paris Review interview was very good. And that cover!

The Adventures of China Iron

A feminist reinterpretation of the Argentine 1870s epic Martin Fierro? Sign me up! I started reading this a couple of months ago, in peak lockdown, but stopped after a couple of weeks. Why did I do that? It was pretty good! It’s currently under consideration for the International Man Booker, which I’ve been following with the same rabid fever I used to have for award shows and the olympics.

Writers and Lovers

The whole “unsuccesful female writer tries to make ends meet and gets tangled into a complicated love affair” thing feels very of the moment for me right now. Can’t imagine why!

Trick Mirror

I’m so curious about this much-lauded essay collection from my favorite New Yorker staff writer and ITG Top Shelf subject. I’m equally appalled this is the beautiful U.K. cover for the paperback just as I move back to the States. Boo.

Bluebeard’s First Wife

I truly love nothing more than a fucked up fairy tale-inspired short story collection. This one looks so good!

-M

There are few things I love more than a good shirt and after months of Edinburgh winter (and let’s be honest, summer), I am especially appreciative of a good Hawaiian shirt. This one, from Tombolo, is so nice I just want to wear it with bike shorts while I watch Call Me By Your Name for the 40th time slumped on my wooden floor with a big ol’ plate of pasta and no air conditioning. God, what I wouldn’t give to pay $20 for a plate of seafood pasta ouside a Mediterranean beach. But with COVID-19 cases surging juuuuust as I pack up my things to move to Seattle, it seems like all travel and delicious eating has been relegated to 2022. So until the barricades lift, I’ll be making all my own pasta dishes at home. Here are five I’d gobble up this summer.

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Pasta with Tomatoes, Brie, and Basil

A perfect summer dish for those of us who think pasta salad is up there with the U-Bomb on the abomination to all mankind list. This is especially good with swirly pasta like cavatappi.

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Pasta with Green Puttanesca

At last! An anchovy pasta that doesn’t have a single shallot in it.

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Risotto Nero with Squid

I know risotto isn’t pasta but also… isn’t it? Kind of? I am also always very impressed by squid ink on food, mostly because it looks kind of prestigious and like something Urusula might snack on while petting her lil pet eels. Facing the dame of the seas while wearing a Hawaiian shirt with an embroidered fork on it? Count me in!

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Amatriciana on the Fly

An easy, peasy amatriciana from lovely harmless white guy Sam Sifton.

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Spagetti alle Vongole

I can’t front, I have no idea what spaguetti alle vongole actually tastes like, but this shirt is named after it, so it’s gotta be good. Plus it has clams, and you know what they say about clams…

Tale a old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Pasta and the clam!

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Wash it all down with several glasses of Aperol Spritz. Better yet, make a pitcher. Maybe finish it off with a Strawberry Basil Shortcake? Why not? It’s not like you don’t have time!

Enjoy responsibly and please, for the love of god, wear a mask.

-M

One of the amazing things about 2020 is the euphoric, charmingly unexpected surprise that comes with receiving good news. Yes, the world is one giant trash can on fire, but neighbors are still buying each other groceries and SCOTUS is passing landmark rulings left and right(!!!). I’m so used to things going from bad to worse that when good things occasionally happen they stand out like little precious gemstones. Sure, you might have to dig deep for them, and probably get a wee spot of carbon monoxide poisoning in the process, but the returns are good!

Here’s a list of things I liked so far in June:

• Halloweens’s “Rock Bottom Rock” from their album “Morning Kiss at The Acropolis” is the undisputed quarantine anthem of 2020. The entire album is a banger, but lyrics like “Go running for an hour and then I take a shower / I moisturize before I face my demons” just really sum up the present moment. They are the moment.

• The Korean soap “Crash Landing Into You” I apologize if you’re my friend and I’ve spent the last week harassing you about watching this show but it is the best thing I have watched all month. The premise of this soap is so insane it belongs on the pedestal they reserve for bonkers shows like “Jane the Virgin”: a successful but vapid South Korean businesswoman goes paragliding in a storm and ends up in North Korea, where she has to take refuge in a soldier’s village to avoid capture by the literal North Korean secret police. This show is dramatic as hell, but somehow manages to portray every single romantic trope I love to watch? I’m talking multiple fake and arranged marriages. Star-crossed lovers (literally)! Succession-esque family squabbles! Surprisingly informative historical context on a complicated global dispute! A dude playing a piano by a lake! I cried twice!! Please cry with me!

• Speaking of dudes and lakes, I love a reimagined Arthurian legend. The trailer for A24’s The Green Knight, complete with a deranged Dev Patel making his way through medieval England, seems creepily designed just for me.

• Half the world is entering Yellow Phase even though the mere idea of eating at a restaurant right now makes me want to break out in hives. However, this piece from the New York Times about writers reflecting on their favorite meals out was strangely touching.

• Did you know John Berger’s Ways of Seeing is on YouTube? If you’re British, congratulations, but if you’re not: “Ways of Seeing” was this amazing art history BBC series led by Berger, an art historian who shows us how even centuries-old art reflects contemporary ideas of capitalism, colonialism, and gender to the light. John Berger is the coolest dude. I lost my mind at the publicity episode.

• I love Nicole Byer and I love Star Wars and the podcast Newcomers has both! Lucky me! Listen in as Nicole and Lauren Lapkus try to make sense of the entire Star Wars canon for the first time, with help from some professional Star Wards nerds. If you ever wondered what my two last brain cells sounded like when I watched Star Wars for the first time as a 26 year old, this podcast is basically it.

Good things are coming, I think.

-M