Hot to Go
Morning everybody. I've been in one of those phases in which I have multiple books going at the same time and never seem to make progress in any of them. I feel like I've been reading Oscar Wars, an interminable book about the movie business, since the Reagen administration. I did finish a phenomenal memoir this week, which I will tell you about momentarily. And I'm almost done with Creative Quest, which has inspired me to try new things with this newsletter. All of this has been set against a backdrop of Chappell Roan, who I have not stopped listening to after watching her freaking awesome performance on the ACL livestream last Sunday. That woman is a force.
This is all to say that, even as we cower further and further from current events, the amount of art out there in the world is overwhelming. Swim around in it with me, won't you?
📖 How to Say Babylon
A memoir by poet Safiya Sinclair, so prepare yourself for language so elegant and flowing that you'll read sentences more than once just to steep in them. Sinclair is one of four children of Howard Sinclair, a musician and staunch Rastafarian. Her story is beyond compelling and will have you stopping to google frequently—for one thing, I had no idea how misogynistic the Rasta religion is. She reaches out and yanks you into her world and her family, until you're sobbing along with her in the end. There is some pretty fierce trauma in this, but it made her eventual freedom all the more sweet.
🎥 World War Z (Netflix)
Yes, I'm sure you've seen this because it's 11 years old, but you should watch it again. In my learned opinion (I love zombies), it's the second-best zombie movie ever made, just behind 28 Days Later. From its inciting scene—which is such a great depiction of how suddenly and frighteningly shit can go sideways—it knows how to pull you in and make you invested while it builds tension. Brad Pitt is kinda boring but whatever. Fast zombies are the scariest zombies.
🎶 Chappell Roan
This rec is not for my children, who have been listening to her all year. It is for the rest of you, who have either never heard of her or have only heard about her in the context of controversy she has arguably earned. Her debut album, The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, is one banger after another, with some heartbreak scattered about to make you tear up. Just look at this bad ass on stage last weekend:
I am determined to see her in a solo show someday soon. Rawr!
Hope you have a three-day weekend and hope you're doing it justice.
xoxo,
Carla
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