Masks and Monsters

Morning and happy Sporting Match Sunday to all who celebrate. I hope you've recovered from the wad of doom I dumped in your inbox Wednesday. As a counter-balance, know that one of the Elon toadies that stole our checking account numbers is so racist that he got fired by the Trump administration. Which is a string of words I never thought I would type. What wondrous surprises will this week bring? Only time will tell.

Continuing my new tradition of telling you what movies not to see, unless you are a professional film critic or in architecture school, I would skip The Brutalist. It is gorgeous, yes, but so is the Grand Canyon and no one wants to sit in one place and stare at it for 4 hours. That is not a typo—with the intermission, you are in the theater for 4 hours. I dozed off twice and almost cried in frustration toward the end. On to better things...

🎥 A Different Man (Max)
I would like to spend 30 minutes-to-an-hour inside Sebastian Stan's brain because he is making some fascinating acting choices these days. And he's great in all of them! This one is pretty out there, but once you settle in, you'll be invested. It's a completely unique exploration of what it means to feel comfortable and confident in yourself. The introduction of Oswald halfway through the movie shifts everything on his axis—and yes, he really looks like that in real life. See this and let's discuss.

📖 Earth to Moon: A Memoir
You can tell when I'm deeply immersed in a book by the search history on my phone browser—and over the past 2 weeks, it's been nothing but Zappa. This book is SO good. Moon is a truly gifted, poetic writer and, as you can imagine, she has some fascinating tales to tell about growing up with Frank Zappa. Her mother, though, is the surprise scene stealer—a narcissist who really pulled some crap on Moon and her siblings, even after death.

📺 Severance (Apple TV+)
I was worried they were going to biff it in the second season—anyone remember season 2 of Friday Night Lights?— but holy cats are they bringing it. The most recent episode, "Woe's Hollow," was instantly iconic, ranking up there with Mad Men's "The Suitcase" and "A Long, Long Time" from The Last of Us. If you haven't started this season yet, get to it.

That is all. Stay strong, my friends.

xoxo,
Carla