twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death
Hey, friends.
I work in retail, and I’m real good at it, but this is how my face feels at the end of the week. Smi-ling? How work?
This week, I had an unexpected Tuesday off when some family came to town and wanted to play tourist. We hopped around to a few museums, but the biggest hit was the National Building Museum. I’ve long loved the NBM because I am a giant architecture nerd, and it is a place run by architecture nerds. It’s a museum that probably gets overlooked by a lot of people coming to visit DC, because it isn’t a Smithsonian, and it isn’t free. And in a city overrun by fantastic free museums, that puts it at a disadvantage. But it’s very reasonably priced ($8 for adults, take that, Spy Museum) and is a ton of fun, especially if you’ve got a kid with you, which we did.
There are two different building rooms, for small & larger kids. We went to the big kid room, where we built small & large creations. I made this:
which was about 6 feet tall. Worship at the feet of it, etc. For what it’s worth, the NBM also has maybe the best museum gift shop in the city.
Notable Breakfast
Apple chicken sausage, blueberry walnut bread, and fruit with granola.
Dog Thing
Sometimes the dogs don’t hear you when you come in and you have to sit on the ground in the kitchen and shout until they join you.
Mixed Media
I was on the tail end of the last mixtape generation, but I got in some good tapes–made by me and for me–before the CD/cassette combo went the way of the dinosaurs. So I take a sort of nostalgic glee in the existence of 8tracks, which allows users to create mixes, which other users can then stream from the site. They’ve got a great app, too.
This week I’ve been listening a lot to mixes created by Jake Lawrence, the artist and writer of the dearly departed Teen Dog (the comic is departed, Teen Dog is–to my knowledge–still alive and kicking). Lawrence knows how to craft a great mix, and they’ve been a nice summery kick-off in a week when it hasn’t felt like summer at all. I honestly can’t even point at one that I liked better than the others, they’re all good.
Speaking of talented mix-making comics people, one of the things I loved most about the first arc of Lumberjanes was the mix CDs writer Grace Ellis put in the back of all of the issues, each one “created” by a different character in the book. They each came with album art you could cut out and put in a CD case, a detail I adore. When I realized that there wasn’t a reliable place to listen to each of these mixes, I started putting them together on 8tracks for easy access. You can listen to those here.
When I started putting those up, the mix suggestions 8tracks sent me took a very pointedly lady-loving turn, which I was not sad about. The very best suggestion they ever gave me was Autostraddle‘s mix created in celebration of Ellen Page’s gayness. It is a joyful, joyful thing.
Also: I listened to Stromae’s album Racine Carrée a lot this week, too. It isn’t new, but it is very, very good. I bought Pentatonix’s new album, and it has for the moment replaced 1989 as the CD playing in my car at all times. I especially love their original song, Standing By. I finished The Blood of Olympus, which is the last book in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series, his follow-up the the Percy Jackson books. I loved both series a great deal, and am going to miss those kids a bunch. I watched Book of Life, which you should see if you haven’t (and listen to the soundtrack, which is fantastic).
I Read Comics for a Living
This week was weird, since I wasn’t there Tuesday I didn’t get a chance to read my regular ongoings. But I did read The Wicked + The Divine #11, and WHEW. I can literally tell you nothing about it except that it is a climax of an issue on a number of levels. If you’re not reading WicDiv, you should be reading WicDiv.
Also good:
Nonplayer #2 The fact that Nonplayer #1 came out a staggering 4 years ago and the second issue has still garnered the amount of excitement it has should tell you something about this book. Is it great? It is great. It’s a world-building issue, about this incredible place Nate Simpson has created. Will we see another issue before another 4 years have passed? Who knows, honestly. Buy the issue anyway. Buy the first, if you missed it. This story is worth waiting for.
Secret Wars #3 I can’t believe how good Secret Wars is. Marvel has been planning this event for years, and it shows. It is incredibly well-crafted, and I am honestly looking forward to spending the summer in Battleworld.
Star Wars #6 You might have already heard that a major thing happens in this book, which affects a lot of Star Wars canon going forward. I’m still not sure how I feel about it or how much effect we’ll actually see from it, but it definitely happened. That aside, the way Jason Aaron writes the characters I know and love continues to be great.
Master Of Kung Fu #2 This is one of the Secret Wars books I really had no opinion on or expectations for, so it’s kind of great how much I love it. It’s a self-contained Battleworld book (I’m sorry if those words make no sense to you, feel free to respond and demand I explain I LITERALLY EXPLAIN THOSE WORDS FOR A LIVING NOW), with Shang-Chi seeking revenge and redemption and there a crowd of misfit wannabe-kung-fu-masters one of whom is a wolf girl and I love it.
Anxiety Pyjamas
Topshop Embroidered Pyjama Set
Fics I Shouted About
Wolf in the House by JoeLawson Teen Wolf, Sterek, Canon AU. Derek gets stuck in his wolf form and just tries really hard to be a good puppy. Not much romance here, just trust-building and Stilinski family sweetness.
Possibly I Like The Thrill Of Under Me You by stilinskisparkles Teen Wolf, Sterek, Human AU. This was a reread, because it’s one of my faves. Derek is a librarian, Stiles in an artist who comes in, paint-splattered and looking for inspiration. I’m a sucker for fic that references that cummings poem, you know the one. Because I am a cliche.
I read Untamed in its entirety a second time because it is so good.
Lastly
Bye!
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