Recently: 22 July
22 July 2022
Links
- The picture astronomers have been waiting for.
- “I suppose the stories that I like illuminate cruelty. Scenes that give warning about not attending to people’s inner worlds.” Marina Warner and the myths in our moment.
- Why not, here’s a 155 best horror movies list.
- “I never thought to ask: When love comes first, who might it be putting itself in front of?” On Belinda Carlisle’s album Heaven on Earth
- Recommendation: Burn Your Journals
Reading/Watching/Listening
- I finally watched The Swimmer, a 1968 film starring Burt Lancaster that is just as brilliant as I had heard it was. Recommended for languid existential summer angst.
- I read Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge, which I had seen on several lists of necessary horror fiction, and turns out that was entirely correct. It’s a knockout of a story and reminds me of Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury and Stephen Graham Jones all at once.
- Speaking of Stephen Graham Jones, who is prolific af, I discovered and read his novella, Men, Women and Chainsaws and I loved it.
- I previously recommended Caitlin Starling’s The Death of Jane Lawrence and now I recommend her novella Yellow Jessamine, another twisted Gothic tale of plague, death and dark decisions.
- The podcast Los Feliz Murder Mansion is a deep dive into the modern legend of the same name and while it gets a little too deep sometimes, I was surprised to learn that some of the most basic “facts” of this story are demonstrably the result of a singular, light-hearted hoax. It’s an intriguing look at how urban legends grow and spread.
- Ghost Church, a limited podcast series from Jamie Loftus, is a wry, thoughtful and heartfelt exploration of American spiritualism, in the strictest sense of the term.
- Please enjoy Melody Angel: