the lonesome lows don't quite go away overnight

Haven't been here in awhile. Hi.

Movies (18/16, over half over 3* success so far!)
The Autopsy of Jane Doe: BF recommended and I couldn't remember what review concensus was so I opted in, and oh boy, this is 3/4 not good. There's a few changes at something better? Maybe?
Pauline, short film by Celine Sciamma: *shrug*?
Portrait of a Lady on Fire, rewatch: Possibly a perfect film.
Dogville, 20th anniversary print: Definitely more SA than I remembered. I still think this is doing interesting things and that is why I will forever be insufferable. 
Zodiac: Holy shit I couldn't understand what anyone was saying? Seeing this in a theater with no subtitles was a mistake. 
Longlegs: The marketing campaign did this no favors. I liked it, mostly?
Coma (2022): Claustrophobic and effective, but then low-key weird because a dude made it.
Cuckoo: A good time!
Strange Darling: Also a good time, mostly! I was glad to be spoiled for content. 

TV Seasons (9/10)
Call the Midwife, s4: Nothing could have prepared me for the lesbians!
X-Men: The Animated Series, s1
X-Men: The Animated Series, s2: I can see how this fandom really had so little femslash, because the cartoon seems to lean in to the m/m slash to a level I was not expecting. Most of this just makes me miss X-Men: Evolution. 

Album Listens (16/16)
WILLOW, empathogen
Towa Bird, American Hero: Like Blink-182 for queer women? A bit?
Hannah Cole, Big Bite (EP)
Anna Shoemaker, Everything is Fine (I'm Only on Fire)
Hannah Cole, Glisten (EP): Hannah Cole is EXCELLENT and I am really into the sound she's developing into. 
Maude Latour, Sugar Water
Paris Paloma, Cacophony

New Recipes
Steak fajitas, grilled!
Cajun garlic chicken
Harissa chicken
Corn fritters

honigfrosch is hosting a fall love meme. I'd be tickled to receive some, and look forward to leaving notes for any of you who post.

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Movies (16/15): Do Revenge was fucking delightfully camp and I liked it a lot. There are some third act issues, but I'm so willing to look past them for the most part! havocthecat noted the biggest issue (it is slightly spoilery) here. I'm bummed that such an instantly-iconic film has that particular thing attached. 

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minoanmiss shared a question meme that I'm reposting here! Ask your desired question, should you please!

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I'm not doing great at the Internet right now, including dropping my summerofhorrorexchange assignment, which, as a rule, I don't do. I still have no idea what I would write, if I were aiming to finish it. Got nothing. 

That said, lots of new media stuffs to talk about. 

Movies (14/15)
Last Night in Soho: Look, I'm not saying that men can't make movies about women (or whatever other gender distribution you care for) but I'm pretty sure THIS man (Wright) shouldn't make movies about THESE women. One of whom is clearly t( spoilers )

Cha Cha Real Smooth: This one had me won over for about an hour before reality set in and I fucking hate this guy, but also, I still kind of love him and WHY is Dakota Johnson so hot and moving when her character isn't written AT ALL. Probably the biggest gap between how much I liked it while watching (I LIKED IT SO MUCH YOU GUYS) and post-watch thoughts. I just wish we had a movie that's actually about a guy being good at hosting parties for tweens, or a movie about Dakota (Domino? WAS HER NAME ACTUALLY DOMINO YOU GUYS?) and Lola. Also, is the Jewish culture totally different around here, because I was never invited to a single bar or bat mitzvah, and yet somehow the girl no one wanted around her her mother who none of the parents liked (????) were invited to every single one. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.

TV Seasons (10/10)
The Clone Wars, season 2. Getting steadily better, but Anakin is still Anakin and space battles are still fucking boring. 

Full Album Listens (9/10)
Soccer Mommy, Sometimes, Forever: Grungier and stickier than color theory, with roughly the same repeatable tracks. Less cohesive as an album, but I like the sound just a smidge better, and love the sonic evolution. The guitar and bass here are chef's kiss.

Metric, Formentera: After giving a cold hard pass to their last album, I was planning to skip this one as well. I even tried the opening track, the 10-minute art piece "Doomscroller" and quit in a panic because, well, I was having a mild anxiety attack. NPR convinced me to try again, and "Doomscroller" is worth the initial angst. Around the middle minutes it transforms and the journey is worth it. I don't plan on listening to the song ever again, to be honest, but I'm glad I did. There are a few tracks on the rest of the album (title track included) that are really, really great. 

Recipes (goal met)
Slow Cooker Jambalaya Risotto: Good flavor, needed more heat and for the rice not to be overcooked. Sad.

Creamy, Cherry Tomato Garlic Pasta: A+ LOVE a savory cream sauce. (Got this one from Instragram)

Allison Ponthier's second EP dropped last week and it is, if I may say so, perfect. Shaking Hands With Elvis is entwined with death, queer anxiety, and love. She keeps reaching into taste new musical flavors and I like everything SO MUCH. Plus, with the last video drop ("Hollywood Forever Cemetery") we have a whole new lovely entry into the Ponthierverse--er, apparently Ponthierland is the proper term, I shall need to update AO3--Hat Girl, Dog Elvis, and the beautiful creature that Hat Girl becomes. I think this whole EP is about becoming that beautiful creature. 

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Liz and I watched Fire Island last weekend and it was EXACTLY what it wanted to be and what we wanted to watch. 

Tonight I made grilled salmon (just brined pre-grill and served with rice pilaf - exquisite). 

Movies (10/15)
For Liz & J's birthdays we went to Drinkolas Cage, where a bar puts on a random Nick Cage movie and there is a drinking game. The movie was Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance. It was bad, but it was a great time!

TV Seasons (4/10)
Finished Sort Of, which I haven't seen make the cultural splash I think it is really due. It is so deeply queer, and made me cry in agender. This is SUCH a rich text, and so funny and sad and stressful and beautiful and sexy and all of the things! Sabi, the main character is a nonbinary child of immigrants currently working as a nanny and exploring gender presentation. Their world is thrown for a loop when the mother of the family they nanny for (and their good friend) falls into a coma. 

Pieces of Fiction (6/5)
I wasn't planning to, but managed a short piece for bethefirst under the wire. 

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I just searched the Abbott Elementary fics on AO3, and... the main ship is Barbara/Melissa????? How did my brain TOTALLY miss this? My femslash muscles are damn rusty, apparently.

TV Seasons (3/10)
Our Flag Means Death, season 1. I loved like 95.555% of this show. 

Movies (8/15)
Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. The emotional core of this film is my everything. The rest made it such a great "first movie in theaters in two years" night. I laughed, I sobbed, I shouted "OH NO." 

Books (4/10)
*ahem* The Four Obsessions of an Extraordinary Executive by Andrew Lencioni. I guess this like, needed to be a fable for people to understand? I could have done with just a list of the four things. It's not that hard. 

Sales (8/5)
Still way under where total $ needs to be, but if there's an award for FUCKING GOING FOR IT, I need to be given it.

New Recipes (7/12)
Grape Tomato Spaghetti. Super simple but SO GOOD. I had about four servings. All the kids ate it?!

A few goal progress notes

1. My first movie of the year, The Neon Demon, has (one of) the same problems as my final tv season of last year (The Great, season 2): Elle Fanning. I think she may just... not be a good actress. But also, (and I'm open to persuasion here, my ranking has been fluctuating) I think Neon Demon is also just garbage masquerading as art. Hot take for, oh, six years ago. Also: did I know going in that Jena Malone [spoilers] a [spoiler]? Because YIKES double yikes all of the yikes. (May be spoilers in the comments.)

2. Second movie of the year was Encanto. I have a lot of feelings and thoughts but others are expressing them better, so I'll just stick with Mirabel and Luisa are both super gay. Abuela can eat my shorts. 

3. Two sales contracts were signed today, one of which meets our initial sales goal for the first six months of the year. 

4. Our January Every Plate box took care of my first three new-to-me recipes, and they were all winners with at least half the household. (E shouldn't count. E just hates dinner in general.)

- Linguine carbonara
- Mashed potatoes with meatballs and green beans
- Veggie pot pie (planning to do this one again and introduce new ingredients each time)

- Movies: 18/15 - Watched Christine over two nights. Looking forward to the counter-conversation of Kate Plays Christine, because I was left mostly cold, though Rebecca Hall's (and Michael C. Hall's) performance was quite good. E wanted a dance movie so we watched Feel the Beat which was... mostly harmless and hit very traditional sports movie beats with some fun dancing. I don't think I actually rec either.
- TV Seasons: 15/10 - None new. 
- Crafts: 8/1 - None new. 
- Writing: 6/3-5 - None new.
- Albums: 6/? - Gracie Abrams - This is What it Feels Like. Very poppy, but dark/deep enough to maintain interest beyond my standard sad-girl log line. Several new favorites. 
- Books: 3/2 - Finished Emma Donoghue's The Wonder. It was mostly... competent? The last chapter was gripping, but only because of the comparatively action-less first five or six. Triggers for not eating, abuse, religious abuse, and a major spoiler that I'd assume would be the biggest trigger. If you'd like to know, I'll tell you. 

This is my FIRST YEAR participating! If I've managed to do something that's frowned upon in my sign up, please ignore it! I LOVE women. I love visual media. And I love music! My favorite vids are ones that make me consider the original media in a new light. I know that's sort of... out there? But yeah. There's no need to build a whole other AU or a plotline -- though those things are perfectly rad! -- because I like just... THINKING about media and seeing things in different orders, with different music, different pacing, and seeing how those things change the media. For insight into the sort of music I most like, check out my last.fm page. Overall, I prefer more serious vids than hilarious montages of silly things. 

A bit more info on the fandoms I selected...

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The rarewomen archive is live, as of this morning, with a story for everyone and 220 fics! *collapses happily*

I wrote:

that black forest and the fire in earnest (The Awakening (2011), Florence Cathcart, horrorgen)

we are the half-destroyed instruments that once held to a course (The X-Files, Dana Scully/Samantha Mulder/Monica Reyes, prefemslashy mystery adventure and awkward flirting)


I received a lovely, fluffy rom-com of a New Girl story from flipflop_diva: The End (It's Coming Closer) (Jess/Cece, zombies. And yes, you can have zombie-related fluff!)

For the rest of May I'll be 

• moving (!!!!)
• reworking my Spring Breakers review for BitchFlicks
• writing a book review for the Lesbrary
• and gathering ideas for not_primetime and intoabar

Hope you all are feeling lovely!