march 2024
hello! i'm back again. here are some things i liked in march of 2024
pod: New Angle: Voice. this is a podcast produced by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, and like the foundation it's devoted to highlighting the women who have contributed to the american built environment. it's excellent. (also reviewed here)
read: Memento Mori series by c.s. poe. i mentioned the first book last month, and this month i inhaled the next two, Subway Slayings* (2022) and Broadway Butchery* (2023). i also read another mystery by poe, Southernmost Murder* (2020), which was fine but i didn't like nearly as much. the protagonist of the memento mori books just really works for me, both in voice and character. i've already preordered the next book.
telly: Vera Series 13. despite it only being 3 episodes (sob) and lacking my favourite character, the handsome butch Jaq (sobsob), i was thrilled to be reunited with the best grouchy detective to ever don a raincoat. (sidenote: joe is back, but why are his trousers so large? theories welcome.)
game: Spider-Man 2 (2023). decided after playing miles morales that i wasn't quite done with web-slinging. there is a lot of game in this game, and i was impressed with the sheer variety of tasks and gameplay. and if the way it ended was any indication of the direction this franchise is heading, i think i'm probably in it for the long haul.
read: Broken Glass: Mies Van Der Rohe, Edith Farnsworth, and the Fight Over a Modernist Masterpiece* by Alex Beam (2020). if you have any interest in 20th century architecture or modern houses this is a great read, although i can't guarantee you'll come out of it with any liking for the architects represented. (also reviewed here)
view: "Hiding in Plain Sight: Theodate Pope Riddle’s Hill-Stead Museum." in keeping with my unintentional monthly theme of women architects, i also attended this webinar (recording viewable at the link) given by Dr. Anne Swinbourne, curator of the Hill-Stead Museum. it's part of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute's series on "Women of the Impressionist Circle," and i loved it. didn't know anything about Pope, but she and her parents were enthusiastic collectors of modern art, and she designed and built their connecticut home which now houses the museum. (btw if you enjoy art history and learning, the wpi is a fantastic resource for free lectures)
ink: Kaweco Sport Apricot Pearl. this year's kaweco special edition sport fountain pen is a lovely shimmery orange with gold accents, which i couldn't resist. i bought a similarly shimmery coral ink to use in it and am living a happy shimmery writing life. (note: that ink is intended for use in dip pens. i bought a double broad nib, so it's working fine for me, but if you try to put it in a smaller nib, you'll have issues.)
object: Bat Candelabrum. i was browsing the collections of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, as one does, and stumbled across this delightful early 20th century candle-holder designed by Hugo Leven. he enchants me.
telly: Death and Other Details. this was billed as a whodunnit, and i ultimately wouldn't call it that, but what it IS is stylish, queer, meticulously designed and edited, and set on an art deco boat. also rahul kohli is there. i loved it, naturally. it fell apart a little at the end, but if this first season was setting up an ongoing series, i am all in, baby. (here's a great interview with the production designer)
view: The Colour Room (2021). this is a dramatization of the beginning of artist and ceramicist Clarice Cliff's career. i'm a huge fan of cliff's work, so i gobbled it up. i thought it was a lot of fun, and appreciated that it didn't sacrifice cliff's contributions on the altar of romance (although she did eventually marry her romantic partner in this film).
dog:
see you next month!
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