Dribs, Drabs, Drebs, Drubs, and Dobs
Hi Bestie!!
If I get to make the rules here, can't I send a newsletter that's only Dribs and Drabs? Didn't Taylor Swift say something about leaving the Christmas lights up past the 26th?
I was beginning to worry drabs were getting old. I can't serve stale dribs!
Godzilla, the Prospect Park alligator, has died. In exotic animal news, the city has confiscated a python, a WALLABY, and a caiman. (A caiman is like a mini alligator.)
I promised to talk about TV: I watched Shrinking and loved it. (LET LIZ COLLECT ROCKS! More Liz!) I finished Ted Lasso of course, and I adored Frog and Toad. It’s gentle.
I watched Missing on Netflix because I am interested in missing persons. After I yelled, “It’s because you killed your mom, you fucking moron,” at the TV it was revealed the woman was alive. (At least one person is found dead. I'm not recommending it to you.) I’m trying to watch The Girl From Plainville but Elle Fanning is doing too good a job as an awkward teen and I’m not sure if I can power through just to get a few more scenes with Aya Cash or Norbert Leo Butz. (I loved You’re the Worst. I didn’t watch The Boys, but you might have!)
Speaking of cops (and Norbert Leo Butz!), I am watching Justified: City Primeval and enjoying it. I think they could add more depth to just about everything (crooked cops, the Albanian experience, why Sandy is the way that she is, the lack of morality in law enforcement, the Detroit experience) but at least Timothy Olyphant is wearing his big hat and plenty of flannels. (I am only human and I have bad taste in men!)
Yes, of course, I watched How to Become A Cult Leader on Netflix, and I don’t think any of you are into cults (I am!), but if you are, I re-read this very good 2008 piece on a Jonestown victim’s family.
I know I mentioned You’re Wrong About already, but there was a July episode about Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors. A man who tells you Stevie sucks and Lindsay Buckingham is great can kick rocks. God should beat him with a stick. (An Eastern European insult we should use more often, thanks Reddit.) The Prom Mom episode is great, too, especially if you're (also) reading Laura Lippman's novel. (Sarah Marshall inspired Laura Lippman!) Make it into a crappy late-summer thriller in the theater, you cowards! Cast Katherine Heigl as Meredith! Rachel McAdams can be Amber! I don't know who Joe is but he has to be kind of disappointing!!
This is the first book I've read and enjoyed in two years. I'm toying with reading her older novels because then I'll be reading again, but I have some concerns that this fluke is nothing to get excited about. Towson Diner is as good as the characters say, though. They're close to Swallow at the Hollow and haven't mentioned it once. I'll have a grilled cheese with tomato and fries, please.
Every summer I try to read Isaac's Storm and this summer I have the same hopes: go to Ripper’s on a Monday, have a cheeseburger, get too much sun, and read about a flooded Houston. We are in beach season! We’ve had a very stormy summer, though, making it hard to get out there.
People are losing it over this turkey sandwich. It’s not for me but I don’t want you to miss out.
I saw Barbie (and Oppenheimer, whatever) and you should read this story in NYT about “Closer to Fine.” I did cry while listening to the Carliles’ cover.
I was trying to remember which Nordic archipelago is a pleasant 50 degrees year-round (it’s not the Faroe Islands, but I do want to go there, badly) and ended up reading about Herschel Island, the Yukon Territory’s only offshore island. Just one! It’s abandoned!
I am going to start noting my syrup recipes in a Google Doc. If you want it, let me know. Not that anyone here has received any syrup (I often bring excess to my work bestie). (Let me know if you want a cocktail syrup delivery.) I make orgeat fairly often, and I’ve tried Kool-Aid. I can recommend this wonderful blackberry limeade; I added it to coffee without the lime.
Since it's August: RIP to this butter cow. Make sure you read this, too. (You can see O'Malley selfie with a butter cow. Bruh, why.)
Always your friend,
Katherine
All The Links, As Sources
217Problems. (2023, August 21). Rip the 2023 Butter Cow 🧈🐄 pic.twitter.com/gct7lfl0xy. Twitter. https://twitter.com/217Problems/status/1693711973723082993
Bender, K. (2023, April 24). Emaciated Alligator Rescued from Cold Lake in Brooklyn's Prospect Park Dies, Zoo Officials Say. Peoplemag. https://people.com/pets/emaciated-alligator-rescued-brooklyn-prospect-park-lake-dies/
Bendix, T. (2023, July 26). How the Indigo Girls Brought Barbie ‘Closer to Fine.’ The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/24/arts/music/barbie-indigo-girls-closer-to-fine.html
Haylock, Z. (2019, December 24). Taylor Swift Almost Kept the Christmas Lights Up Till April on ‘Lover.’ Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/2019/12/taylor-swift-explains-christmas-lights-lyric-on-lover.html
Hill, K. URBAN FAUNA: The Prospect Park Alligator. (2023, February 28). Too Loud & Too Old. https://buttondown.email/KatherineMHill/archive/urban-fauna-the-prospect-park-alligator/
Isaacson, B. (2019, May 24). From Silver Lake to Suicide: One Family's Secret History of the Jonestown Massacre - LA Weekly. LA Weekly. https://www.laweekly.com/from-silver-lake-to-suicide-one-familys-secret-history-of-the-jonestown-massacre/
Lyz. (2023, August 10). The Secret Feminist History of Butter Cows. The Secret Feminist History of Butter Cows - by lyz. https://lyz.substack.com/p/the-secret-feminist-history-of-butter
Peterson, B. (2023, July 6). There’s nothing better than a turkey sandwich (prepared according to these specifications). Food & Stuff. https://brittanyp.substack.com/p/theres-nothing-better-than-a-turkey
Rubin, J. (2016, March 11). Why everyone on TV has the same hair. Vox. https://www.vox.com/2016/3/11/11195958/tv-hair-jane-the-virgin-empire-younger
Spotify. (n.d.). https://open.spotify.com/track/1v9iJFBaJCxBCdBNdvXeMd?si=7914cc0d7a394ae7
Swanson, H. (2023, August 4). Blackberry Limeade - 101 Cookbooks. 101 Cookbooks. https://www.101cookbooks.com/blackberry-limeade/
Wikipedia contributors. (2023). Herschel Island. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Island
You’re Wrong About - Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours with Carolyn Kendrick on Stitcher. (2023). https://www.stitcher.com/show/youre-wrong-about/episode/fleetwood-macs-rumours-with-carolyn-kendrick-305190526
You’re Wrong About - “The Prom Mom” on Stitcher. (2020). https://www.stitcher.com/show/youre-wrong-about/episode/the-prom-mom-72918577
If you're still here: I think all three bears would have loved Barbie. Ice Bear would like Oppenheimer.