Friday Night Snack | Too Many Albums, Monkey Man, After a Party, Eclipse Season
A little bit of everything!
Welcome to another addition of Friday Lunch Special—er… this one is a Late Night Snack. Once upon a time I was a girl who wrote long, winding, heartfelt captions on Instagram. Now I’m a girl who has Instagram blocked on my phone for most of the day, and I use it primarily for IRL connection and sharing this newsletter. As you may know, I try to write every day. Most of the time, what I’m writing isn’t in any state to see your inbox, but some of the time there are tidbits that I like. Those bits and bobs will live here, along with some recommendations and links. Friday Lunch Special is a little bit of everything. I hope you enjoy.
P.S. Check out past issues here: 01 | 02
Taking a note from my friend Mary of Strange Horses' book and giving you 4 things.Â
Too Many Albums
I've fallen behind on new releases, and the records I want to spend time with are piling up. I still haven't listened to Beyonce's Cowboy Carter, Kacey Musgraves's Deeper Well, Lizzy McAlpine's Older, Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future and Vampire Weekend's Only God Was Above Us. I'm sure I'm missing a few others, too. I have a big drive ahead of me next Tuesday, and I'm sure I'll knock some of them out then. If you read my Wednesday dispatch, you already know I did listen to and love Waxahatchee Tiger's Blood. Though I am behind, there is one album that came out this week (today!!) that I’ve been so excited about and that’s Medium Build's Country. I found out about Medium Build because my pal Tyler did some photos for the project, including the album cover, and the work was so beautiful I was immediately intrigued. I spent the day running around Austin, and finally, as the sun set, I put the album on. I listened to the back half of the album sitting in a friend's backyard alone, watching the clouds go by, with no phone or computer to distract me, and it was a beautiful experience. I didn't even have my journal to keep notes in, but what I can tell you is this: "Can't Be Cool Forever" is a perfect song, and "Coming Home Drunk (interlude)" as the Texas sky turned blue and pink was sublime.Â
Monkey Man
I saw Dev Patel's feature directorial debut, Monkey Man, today and wow! What a ride! I wrote a spoiler-free review on a napkin during the showing, and here's what I've got for you:Â
Bare knuckle boxing! So brutal! I've got your nose! Puppets! Trans rights and Trans wrongs, too! A sick rendition of Roxanne! Fucking brutal! Religious corruption! Drug trips! folklore (Dev's Version!) Rebirth! A peach tank top! So fucking brutal!Â
I know that might not tell you much about it, but I hope it intrigues you. It's a violent film, but you should see it if you're a fan of the action genre. I very much enjoyed getting to see it in theaters on it’s opening day.
After a Party
Eclipse Season
As luck would have it, I am in Austin in time for the eclipse. I am excited about it, though it looks like it might be cloudy on Monday. Yesterday, I had a really high anxiety day. Nothing was wrong, nothing was amiss, but my brain was buzzy in an uncomfortable way for the majority of the day. I just felt off in an intangible, internally frustrating way. I talked to several people about how I felt and found out each person I spoke with felt something similar yesterday. My theory is that the upcoming eclipse was frying our mental motherboards, our internal wolves howling at the moon. I'm feeling much better today.Â
All for now! See you next week.
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