I love when you invoke my death (week notes 004)

Doing

• Joe and I went to the lake with two friends. We did some kayaking¹ and went swimming, then returned to our house to have a belated birthday celebration for Joe.
• I played around with Hugo and thought about moving this blog (back) there. I love the bearblog community and don’t want to leave it, but I also want to build a personal site out more. I’m conflicted, but for now, I’m sticking on bearblog.² I also bought a domain without a plan to use it — I love cassieland, but this one speaks to me, and it has an air of anonymity, which is appealing should I pursue my goal to blog more; anonymity feels safer.
• Joe and I went to visit family, so we’re spending a weekend lake- and pool-side, and I’m reminded for the ten thousandth time of how wonderful he is with children. The biological clock ticks.

Reading

• How Did This New Harry Potter Ride Get Approved? by Brendon Bigley. I used to be a tremendous Harry Potter fan but consciously decoupled from the series given J.K. Rowling’s modern social campaign of hate. I’ve gone to and enjoyed Universal’s Wizarding World, but I agree with Brendon’s stance: it is bizarre when Universal leans into the thinly veiled Nazism parallels for their theme park and ask attendees to rejoice in war crime trials.
• The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler. Handler’s Adverbs is often what I cite when folks ask what my favorite book is, and I loved Watch Your Mouth, too. I need light reprieves from The Odyssey, too, so this seemed an excellent time to round out my reading of Handler’s bibliography. I’m about halfway through and enraptured by the narrative voice. It’s pretentious, as a story narrated by a precocious high school senior should be, without being cloying, and with Handler’s charming humor throughout. I love it so far and have faith that the feeling will continue. I normally hate books set in high school, but this one takes me back to my high school self — somehow, in a good way, which I don’t think I’ve ever felt before.

Watching

• Gilmore Girls, season five. Continuing on; we are reaching the point where Joe stopped watching years ago — I had him watch the show with me when we first started dating — so I’m excited to get into fresh content. Unfortunately, the show goes downhill, in my opinion, by season six, so we are in the last of the good.
• America’s Next Top Model, cycle six. If I believed in guilty pleasures, ANTM would be mine. Fortunately I don’t, so I can indulge all I’d like in junk food TV. I think the first seven seasons are all gold, but I was in the mood for Jade’s antics in six — truly one of the most unhinged individuals to ever appear on the show.
• Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. An incredible follow-up to a film I loved very much; I agree that the cliffhanger ending undercuts some of the story’s structure, but if you frame it as Gwen’s story — which I think it was in many ways — it’s a lot more satisfying, like a sophomore sojourn into another major character. On a technical and artistic level, it’s a remarkable achievement; the painterly visuals and use of color in Gwen’s universe were particular standouts.

Listening

• All Hell, Los Campesinos! My record finally came in. It’s going to take time for me to form an opinion and weight it against their discography — I’ve got to let it sink — but as of right now, I really like it. “Clown Blood” is an early favorite.