spacious and obstacled
How are you? In the last couple of days, the dire humidity that is standard August fare in my neck of the woods finally broke. Here’s hoping it sticks.
My brother is currently driving around the Pacific Northwest, and I have been spending my days utterly consumed with envy. After all, nothing I could possibly have done this week would be as cool as this photo he took at Crater Lake.
That’s a place. On Earth.
Dang.
Notable Breakfast
Latkes, apple chicken sausage, & applesauce. First plated, it looked like this.
Dog Thing
I identify hard with the impulse to take a nap with my head under a couch.
Mixed Media
When I was a kid, Scooby-Doo was my favourite cartoon. It seemed like reruns were always playing somewhere, and I’d watch the same episodes over and over. My mom was the same way with Murder She Wrote, so it’s no wonder I got into mystery stuff at an early age. The way I felt about Scooby-Doo* back then is the way I feel about Gravity Falls now. It hits those same spook and mystery notes for me.
Gravity Falls is about a pair of twins–Dipper and Mabel–who go to spend the summer with their great-uncle Stan, who runs a Mystery Shack. If you’ve never driven across the United States, you might not have come across a mystery shack, which is generally just a tourist trap that purports to be something otherworldly. We stayed near one in Montana that claimed gravity ceased to exist in one of its rooms. They’re generally expensive to get into and full of disappointing jackalopes, and Stan’s Mystery Shack is no different. The twins discover pretty quickly that while the Mystery Shack may be fake, it’s surrounded by actual supernatual elements, and a larger demonic presence reveals itself.
Yes, this is a kid’s show. I love it. I love the larger mythology, I love that Dipper and Mabel genuinely like one another and try to have each other’s backs, I love that Stan is an unapologetic huckster, I love the cast of secondary characters, I love how dang spooky it gets, that the creators embed clues and codes in every single episode, and that they aren’t afraid of a good gag (the above pig was voiced by Neil Degrasse Tyson).
My only complaints are that Mabel is often the only girl present in an episode (which they’ve been getting much better about–including Wendy, who works in the shack, as well as a pair of girls Mabel’s age), and that the show is overwhelmingly white, even in terms of its background cast. Diversify, y’all! And don’t give me anything about how racially diverse rural Oregan actually is–this show has unicorns in it, that point doesn’t hold. Also, that it doesn’t air super regularly, often going a month or more between episodes. I demand more, Disney! More!
Also: I reread 3 books I love a lot this week: Fire by Kristen Cashore, Book of 1000 Days by Shannon Hale, and Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks. All fall somewhere on my all-time fave books list. I watched all of the first season of the Syfy show Killjoys, which I liked a lot more than I was expecting! I miss the golden age of Canadian sci-fi (Stargate, Eureka, etc), and this is definitely darker than that (everything is darker now), but hits some of those we’re-in-this-because-we’re-a-family notes that I love.
* I swear I’m not gonna do this every week. But if you also like Scooby-Doo, the more recent series, Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated is actually fantastic.
I Read Comics for a Living
Years ago, I bought a book from Tyson Hesse called Diesel. It was a fun story–about a girl and her robot sidekick living on an airship–but it wasn’t great. This Diesel #1, the first part of a 4-part comic, is much better. It’s still a comic about a girl and her robot sidekick living on an airship, but the sense of place is much deeper. The airship is a flying community, and the girl–Dee–may be heir to the man who built it, but that doesn’t mean she’s fit to take control of it when she comes of age. I loved the range of characters, Dee herself, and the world we’re introduced to. I’m really looking forward to the rest of this one.
Also:
Bitch Planet #5 Finally, finally, Bitch Planet is back! It’s probably actually the best comic that came out this week, but I didn’t get a chance to finish it (reading comics can be difficult when you work in a comics store!) so I can’t speak as fully on it. But gods, what I read was perfect. The way Kelly Sue Deconnick balances story & character-building alongside scathing social commentary is magnificent.
Ms. Marvel #18 The amount of goodness G. Willow Wilson has packed into these Secret Wars lead-up issues is impressive. She’s still pushing her story along, despite the insanity surrounding it, almost as if the series wasn’t coming back post-Secret Wars (it is, thank heavens). Adrian Alphona’s art is still perfect.
Harrow County #5 Harrow County is easily the scariest comic coming out right now. The way it began was great, but I love where it is now–Emmy becoming accustomed to the horror of what she is, and trying her damnedest to use it for good.
Gotham Academy #10 If you haven’t already figured it out, clever kids in spooky situations is a never-miss for me, and Gotham Academy is still hitting those notes. I’d love it if these kids could get a break in between all of these supernatural shenanigans, though.
Anxiety Pyjamas
PJ Luxe Savage Cozy in Cable Top & Bottom
Fics I Shouted About
Think Once, Think Twice by Fahye Brooklyn 99, Jake/Amy, post-season 1. This fic is the reason I didn’t send this newsletter yesterday. I became entirely wrapped up in it. In time-honored trope fashion, Jake & Amy get married in Vegas, but in time-honored Jake & Amy fashion, it all comes down to a bet. A+ characterization, A+ feelings. The first chapter is rocky, but it finds its feet quickly, so hold on.
untitled by halekingsourwolf Teen Wolf, Cora/Lydia & Sterek, high school AU. Cora’s got a crush on her brother’s girlfriend, who he doesn’t treat very well. Why is he spending all of his time with his teammate instead? Sweet, pining obliviousness.
untitled by alocalband Teen Wolf, Scott/Lydia. A short conversation between Lydia & Stiles about how it even happened.
Lastly
Subject line from this poem by Kimmy Walters which I am completely obsessed with.
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