the double text #19
"FUCK IT - LET'S SING"
Friends,
I do not bring you end-of-the-year lists or lengthy round-ups of 2024.
You were there, in your explicit realities, and I was there, in mine. The need to blitz my brain with everything that has happened this year as a sort of inventory sounds as appealing as playing 2x speed on a TikTok video of a sorority girl in her morning getting ready routine as she points out what all her charms on her Pandora bracelet mean.
It’s unnecessary! We did it. We lived it. And I hope you let your heart fill with gratitude ~live~ in the moments of achievement and that you found peace in the moments of turmoil.
Time is so nonlinearly perfect. Bend it how you want. Commit to the bit or call it quits, but do it on your time, and as we tick forward into another year, my sincerest reminder is just to tell your homies, the ride or dies, the people who fill your mug, that you love them. Tell them again and again and again.
Now, here’s your double text—
What Alice Munro Knew by Giles Harvey is a devastatingly constructed profile of Munro, a writer the literary world thought they knew and revered. However, we have come to learn the devastating truth of Munro’s fictional stories was rooted in the horrific reality of her denial to accept that her longtime partner and self-proclaimed love of her life was a pedophile. Munro joins the ranks of artists that I feel I am unable to separate art from the artist, knowing that she was writing brutal auto-fiction while denying her daughter’s truth.
Here’s one more on Alice Munro by Rachel Aviv.
10 Documentaries about January 6th, you know, to remind ourselves of the fuckery we’re in for as we barrel toward the end.
I just feel like if you’re going to live on Centre Island in a gorgeous $8.5MM estate, a much better infinity pool could have been constructed…
Not to be a weirdo, but I do love a well-written obituary and seeing the magnitude of a person’s milestones and impact. To sit with the fragility of life and appreciate that our moments on this planet that coincide with others are so magnificently fleeting — we lost one of the greats, Linda Lavin.
A truly fantastic interview from Queer Media Queen Tracy Gilchrist by
— The Space We Held: Reflecting on 2024 with Tracy Gilchrist. I, too, got in a very nasty political fight with a family member this year, and so this one hits. However, I did not repair it and do not plan to since my row was with someone whom I decided to simply remove from my life. Snip, snip, babes.I teeter on the edge of canceling my Netflix subscription every time they do something really annoying - which is often - and here’s just another way the billionaires at the top continue to produce some of the shoddiest content and attempt to dumb down audiences for the benefit of money and now apparently, AI. I’m not saying EVERYTHING they produce is crummy; no, they’ve got some bangers (albeit many are developed third party and then distributed via the streamer), and even some of my recs below this week are on Netflix, BUT I can share from my personal experience they are one of the cheapest bros in the game. Also, a reminder that they are the most unwilling to acknowledge the true work of creatives above their senior leadership’s paychecks. All of this nonsense just makes me miss Blockbuster and picking out snacks at checkout. Anyway— Read Casual Viewing by Will Tavin for the full dish.
Britney’s latest foyer choreography
What Astrology Has Planned for You in 2025. It’s going to be a wild ride, no matter your zodiac sign. By Aliza Kelly
No Good Deed
Liz Feldman has done it again. I watched all of season one in one sitting, which is barely over the TRT of Part One of Wicked, and this delicious series did not disappoint. This is the sort of dark comedy that I crave: good acting, exceptional one-liners, and a lot of heart. And personally, anytime you give me screen time for Shane and Linda Cardellini, I am all in. (Also, RIP LL.)
Shane McCutcheon. Photo: Courtesy of Hilary Gale / Showtime
Avicii: I’m Tim
Avicii’s music was the soundtrack to my college experience — he created melodies and songs that forced a heartbeat even when I wasn’t interested in feeling a single thing. This is a powerful documentary by Henrik Burman comprised of intimate, never-before-seen footage of Avicii, his friends, his work ethic, the insurmountable stress that creating takes, the drugs, the pain, and the joy of a person sharing their genius with the world. Whether you were into the EDM scene or not, you’ve heard music produced by Avicii. Also, have to note that the editing of this doc is absolutely brilliant. Bravo, Orvar Anklew and Kalle Lindberg.
Chris Martin to Tim on A Sky Full of Stars, “Hey, can you help?”
I promise this isn’t my favorite song Avicii has mixed, but my god what must it feel like to be Chris Martin on a stage in front of that many people—
The Netflix Drama
A hard-hitting breakdown of the Casual Viewing article shared above:
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Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
A classique.
Inside Out 2
And if you need something softer after the o.g. thriller, this is a delightful film.
Okay, last bop…. Khruangbin’s “People Everywhere” at ACL in 2020
Library hours for writers are still going:
Join on Zoom from 6 am to 8 am ET, Monday through Friday. Join and drop as you please. No camera. No audio. I’m not always on — this is a place for you. Link here.
See you soon. And please share this newsletter with anyone you think would enjoy reading it. xVLB