Hi It’s a Plague

Here’s some reading material

Are Our Prisons and Jails Ready for Covid-19? (ACLU)
(The answer is no)

Trump is Ensuring the Worst Possible Outcome (The Atlantic)
(Don’t worry, it’s okay to blame Trump for our nation’s response to the coronavirus because he fired the entire national pandemic response team in 2018)

Young and Unafraid of the Coronavirus? Good for You. Now Stop Killing People.(Newsweek)
(Murderers.)

Free Movies Online: 100 Fresh Movies to Watch Online For Free (Rotten Tomatoes)
(For your isolated pleasure.)

Friday Links: 1/26

I turned 22.5 yesterday and today I have an exam that threatens to destroy all that I hold most dear. I’ve been studying since I woke up at 5:30 am. (Approximately five hours ago). There are about three hours left. It’s panic time.

Here’s what’s happening online:

• Kate DiCamillo (author of Because of Winn-Dixie, and others) on why children’s books should be a little sad.
• You can smell when someone is sick. Here’s a case where a woman was able to identify Parkinson’s patients by body odor, some even before they were clinically diagnosed.
• NBA = ballet? Check out these beautiful unplanned synchronized moments.
• Hedi Slimane takes over at Celine, replacing Phoebe Philo. Not a fan of this development.
• An ode to the pre-teen bedroom, complete with bead curtain.
• Ann Curry may have a baby crush on Stephen Colbert but I have a baby crush on Ann Curry.
• First there was athleisure. Now there is bath-leisure.
• Screen Junkies casts the It sequel– the prestige, the popcorn, and the provocative versions (the latter featuring Jared Kushner).
• Full cast and vague plot details have been announced for The Incredibles II and I am salivating.
• This webcomic is my current (as of yesterday) obsession and I’m narrowly avoiding bingeing it instead of studying. It’s sold out but if you buy it in book form it comes with a plush. Here’s the author/illustrators tumblr for more info.
• Phantom Thread is the last big Oscar nominee that I haven’t seen. Here are some of the films from which director Paul Thomas Anderson drew inspiration (including Rebecca!) and an amazing short film featuring under-the-radar lead actress Vicky Krieps.
• One thing I really like about this capsule wardrobe article in particular (among the seeming billions out there, which get a bit very repetitive) is the recognition that, because everyone’s style is different, so will everyone’s capsule wardrobe be.
• What is Scandinavian style and why is it gaining so much traction globally?
• Living for Colbert’s imitation of French President Emmanuel Macron. It starts around 2 minutes in.
• In case you’re wondering what I’m doing here in France, here’s a video featuring some of my classmates.
• And to round out this rather fashion-focused week, Kate Spade succulent sandals.

La Vie en Rose: All the things I’m missing

Good vittles, love, and kissing…

There are a few things that are harder to find here than at home, and that I find myself pining for every once in a while.  A lot of them surprise even me!

• Tex-Mex: One of the few cuisines that is easier to find in the US than in France. (By the way, did you know France has the Lebanese restaurant market pretty much cornered? It’s great for me, a falafel-addict).  I need a burrito- STAT.
• Vegan cheese and mayo: France rightly takes a lot of pride in some specific dairy products (i.e. cheese) and any attempt to change it up a bit is SQUASHED. At least i assume that’s why I can find no vegan cheese (or ice cream for that matter). And I guess they’re also pretty partial to traditional mayo methods? I guess they did invent mayonnaise… right? I feel like I learned that from a pirates of the Caribbean blooper. On the other hand, they’re vegan yogurt here is SO MUCH BETTER.  Apparently their non-vegan yogurt is also better (I have been told).
• Body oil: I’m on the hunt for some combined body and hair oil, but I haven’t been looking hard enough. Really this is about me missing my big Target/Stop & Shop/ Walgreen’s superstores, where you can find anything under the sun, except under very unflattering fluorescent lights. I think I need a trip to Monoprix.
• Consignment stores: Paris and France in general has great vintage shops, but what I’m really in need of is some bulky lightly used knitwear. Particularly of the turtleneck variety. Having worn through two beige turtlenecks in quick succession, I’m finding the cozy side of my wardrobe uncomfortably diminished. Also consignment is just how I’m used to shopping.
• Some hipster earthy crunchy ingredients: This is probably just because I don’t know how to say nutritional yeast or vital wheat gluten in French.
• Thanksgiving: Instead the French celebrate Beaujolais Nouveau day, which is like this weird wine-Octoberfest. Yeah, I don’t know either.
• Watching the news: Although when my hosts have the French radio is on it is so often about Trump and it’s so cringe-y.
• Saturday Night Live: SNL WHY are your youtube videos NOT AVAILABLE in this COUNTRY!?

And lots more, but that’s all that’s leaping to mind at the moment!

*On a similar note to the very narrow interpretation of certain dairy products, the French are also very specific about the things that you can and can’t do with grapes. Like you can drink wine or you can eat fresh grapes. There are no raisins here. Other dried fruit yes, but no raisins. And no grape jelly. Even though that’s the American staple jelly.  But I don’t miss these things because I’m not a big fan of raisins and because I’ve already written about HOW MANY EXCITING JELLIES THERE ARE HERE. Next up: rhubarb.

Friday Links 10/20

It may not be Friday where you are- hell, it’s hardly Friday here- but I’m starting a new (and long) day and will try to get this out of the gate before it becomes impossible. And if this is posted on Saturday, then you will know it was, actually, impossible.

• “It’s time for their to be roles in the ballet where two men can fall in love”. YES!
• Still trying to scrounge up and SNL skits I can find. Here’s Kellyanne Conway as Pennywise the Clown.
• A friend of mine who is also a Yale professor but who was not my professor and who is an amazing, lovely, inspiring woman wrote about her experience at a ten-day silent Vispassana meditation retreat.
• You already know my (very long and involved) feelings on the #MeToo campaign. From Reductress: Woman posts another Facebook status in hopes that men will learn to be human beings.
• A bunch of exhibitions coming up in Paris! What should I go to?
• Are box stalls really the best option for your horse’s health and happiness, or are they designed to reflect what human beings would want, were they horses?
• Is this feminist poem really by a third grader? “I am a church bell, gonging out wrongs and rights and normal nights.”
• A whole new way for me to be antisocial: Are you an introvert, an extrovert, or a Victorian ghost with unfinished business?
• This is so well-written and so funny: Will pumpkin spice destroy us all?
• Instead of saying, “Do not go around lighting people on fire,” we are telling women, “Don’t be flammable.” Men of the world, you are not the weather.

Friday Links 10/13

I have a lot of links and not a lot of time to think about more interesting and profound posts. So here’s what’s happening on my laptop!

• SNL’s youtube doesn’t upload videos that are watchable in this country (I cry) but I did find Woke Levis.
• Courtesy of Cut Video: I love this couple.
• Ballet and geometry combined. So beautiful.
• Stinky cheese, the science of disgust, and “getting past the smell”.
• A Joan Didion documentary is coming and I’m so excited.
• Expectations vs Reality of perfume hunting: adcopy vs consumer experience.
• What a wonderful world: Blue Planet II.
• There’s a new Last Jedi trailer and I’m so pumped.
• I knew there was a reason I like Eminem.
• On Sexual Harassment.

Much love!

Last Friday in America: 9/8

Fuck, that’s scary.

Lots of links, though!

Thoughts on Boston’s Counter Protest

In the wake of the events at Charlottesville, many cities this past weekend had their own similar marches. Boston was one of these, with a march planned (scheduled before the Charlottesville incident (incident= grotesque pro-white supremacy speech, violence, etc.)) in support of ‘free speech’.
The quotes are included because many of the scheduled speakers had ties to white supremacist and nationalist groups. The Massachusetts Chapter of the KKK was also planning to attend (according to a statement made by the national KKK).

There’s been a lot of discussion about what happened in Boston yesterday, and having been there I would like to throw my own two cents in. Especially as President Trump is making what are, in my mind, unfounded criticisms of the counter protesters (my group) as anti-police agitators.

So, in bullet form, my not very gathered thoughts.

Friday Links 8/11

Firstly, thank you for helping me reach 60 followers! I’m very touched that people enjoy reading this blog enough to submit to a never-ending influx of post notifications.
Also I’m picking up my Visa today. And maybe finishing up my tour of the Greater Boston area vegan pizza scene (i.e., three restaurants).

Also also, I may have broken my toe this morning. This has been a summer full of walking into things and burning myself on heating elements. And cooking, but I guess that goes with the heating element part.

So what else is new?

Friday Links 7/14

It’s been a nice week- I hope on your end as well!

Friday Links 7/7

As always when it’s the first links installment of the month, the above photo is my new monthly desktop background (tiled, of course!)
It’s Friday and the weekend and I seem to be living my best life- at least that’s how it feels when things go your way for a few days. I’ve been doing a lot of cooking, found the perfect denim dress (finally!) and have some nice plans for the days ahead (Hopefully involving watching some horse racing! And possibly a film).  And my birthday is coming up! I’ll be 22, which is a nice even palindrome.

There are a lot of potential posts in the offing, which means that I need to gather my thoughts into a more orderly order and then proceed. You may have noticed that my Baby Driver thoughts yesterday were a bit scattered- but I was feeling guilty for not mentioning it, as it’s a really great independent film, and we need more of them.

Let’s get down to business!

• First a McSweeney’s link about sexual harassment that will either get any misogynistic assholes reading to a) leave or b) write me a nasty comment. Five times you thought you were sexually harassed but actually weren’t. How many sound familiar?
• The top names in Spain have just been released! I’m feeling intrigued by Leire and Valeria, both for girls.
• The Parenting Series has begun again at Cup of Jo, with 17 Surprising Things About Parents in Namibia.
• Elizabeth Gilbert (she of Eat, Pray, Love fame) writes about a spiritual truth learned from a bus driver: “anyone can be the light, at any moment”. Really a lovely story, of the ‘not all heroes wear capes’ variety.
• Just Dance: a sun-soaked portrait of the dance craze sweeping Brazil.
• You know the trolley problem? That particular moral poser regarding who dies if you have the opportunity to sacrifice one to save the lives of five? What would Buddha do? Here’s how Buddhist monks respond to moral quandaries and ‘trolleyology’,
• Some Trump supporters got mighty pissed at the Declaration of Independence (which they didn’t recognize). Oh, the irony.
• Curly girl comics. Pretty adorable, and pretty relatable even if my hair has calmed down in recent years. Plus it reminds me of Gabriella.
• Linda Chambers speaks out on being fired from Vogue. Even if you’re not into fashion, I really recommend reading this. It’s an interesting meditation on ‘failure’, judgment, self-doubt, and the power of your own narrative. And if you do like Vogue- then yes, it’s a bit dishy, which is why it was briefly taken down.
• The Guardian thinks ‘post-horror’ movies are taking over the cinema and I think that’s ridiculous. The presence of a few films eschewing stereotypical horror tropes does not mean we’re entering a post-horror genre. There have been unusual horror films since the beginning of cinema and there is nothing new under the sun. Stop being stupid, Guardian.

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