A few good things
Hello darlings. If you’re in the northern hemisphere, I hope you’re braced for the best season: autumn. It might take her a while to show up, if she even does show up in your corner of the world, but she’s worth it, I find.
Autumn puts one in the mood for getting cozy and staying in with a nice cup of tea, so I wanted to honor that this month. Many of my newsletters this year have been, let’s be honest, true bummers. (Still: a reminder to US readers to keep calling your reps and senators about the various book banning bills & bully your friends into doing it too!) So today I wanted to share with you some wholly positive things. It’s your…
September List of TJ Recs (a smattering of books and media I loved recently and think you might love, too)
So pull on that chunky sweater, brew a pot of something nice, and kick back with these Grade-A things that make you think maybe humanity isn’t so bad after all if this is the kind of art we can make.
Subscribe nowBooks
There’s Only One Sin in Hollywood by Rasheed Newson — I had the pleasure of being on a Pride panel with Rasheed at RJ Julia, and the staff there very kindly gifted us a book of our choosing. I took this one home with me and I’m so glad I did. It’s written as a confessional letter by Aaron, a Korean War vet who becomes Hollywood’s premier Black fixer (a kind of reputation bodyguard) assigned to Black stars. Aaron, a closeted gay man, arranges to be assigned to Xavier C. Barlow, a young rising star who is also gay. It’s a fascinating, high-drama story of Black cinema, stardom, pre-Pride queer culture, and LA grime. Rasheed writes for TV and it shows (complimentary). The pacing is so deliberate and incredible, and the fiction is seamlessly woven into history with real-life Black icons making regular appearances. This is the kind of book Seven Husbands of Etc Etc WISHED it could be. If you like classic movies and Hollywood lore, please pick this up. You won’t regret it.
Movies
Project Hail Mary (streaming on amazon prime, various digital purchase/rental points) — I am late to this party but oh, what a joy this movie was. In a near future, a wet, floppy nerd of a man played by Ryan Gosling is sent into space to try and figure out a way to save Earth from an encroaching interstellar disaster. Things go very badly until he meets another astronaut, an alien he calls Rocky, who is also on the same mission for his planet. They forge a charming friendship while saving their worlds with science. Rocky is played by a practical effects puppet that is SO well done, and voiced by the puppeteer in the most endearing way. Gosling is, for me, up there with Chris Pine as far as white boys who play lovable punching bags. He is beaten up physically, emotionally, psychologically…all the ways. Come to see that blond man cry, stay for the inter-species tenderness. (Should he fuck that rock alien? I shan’t say; I am told Gosling’s character has become something of an icon for the asexual community, which I think is quite nice. It’s lovely that so many different kinds of people can take something from this performance, aces and alien-fuckers alike. Art will do that to ya.)
TV Shows
Ride Or Die (amazon prime, 8 eps) — Two best friends played by the brilliant, iconic Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham are nearly torn apart when Waddingham’s character is revealed to be a secret assassin. This show is hilarious, silly action-packed fun with some surprisingly poignant moments. What IF James Bond was a hot older lady who suddenly had to drag her genius best friend on a mission?? The focus is on the bond between the two leads, and I think the sapphics should write 10000 fanfics about them, please and thank you.
Widow’s Bay (apple tv, 10 eps) — A haunted New England island starts popping off on the paranormal activity while the milquetoast mayor desperately tries to pretend everything’s normal for their first successful tourist season. This is horror-comedy at its absolute best. I’m a scaredy cat but the horror is not the gory kind—it’s sharp, creepy, and showcases actors (Matthew Rhys, Kate O'Flynn, Stephen Root, and a goldmine of cameos and supporting roles) at the top of their game. The comedy is my favorite kind, derived from the absurdity of human nature. One hates to throw the word Lynchian around but if you liked Twin Peaks, I think you’d enjoy this a lot. I am still thinking about it weeks later.
Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston (hulu, 3 eps) — LISTEN. I think there is something to be said about educational programming in a global climate that desperately wants people to be less educated and inquisitive. And I think if you can bring in an audience using silly gags about your career portraying a supervillain in blockbuster movies, well, a spoonful of sugar and all that. This miniseries explores the disaster that followed the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in a way that blends historical facts with—you know it—the power of the Imagination. Hiddleston is a genuinely interested layman prodding the most telegenic experts available to share their expertise while narrating a possible account of three historical people who were there on the day of the eruption. As someone who writes historical fiction, I really appreciated this approach. The show goes out of its way to explain that historical documents and artifacts can only take you so far in understanding the past, and that using those to extrapolate a story is one of the most powerful ways we can interact with the record. I think a lot of people really believe there can be One True Factual Historical Picture and that’s simply false. It’s nice to see something addressing that for a general audience.
There you have it, a handful of things you might enjoy! Have an excellent lazy day in.
Want to support my work? Paid subscribers (aka True Believers) get an extra newsletter every month, sometimes with straight-up gossip that would be gauche to share with the general public. This month, I’m giving away arcs of my new book there first.
Join Now
Remember, remember these links:
new yorkers: tell the gov to sign the freedom to read bill
my weird game guys are converging
