area girl watches movies and reads books, has thoughts
plus: some good ol' astrology
i’ve been feeling very, very tired these days. applying for jobs is a slog, thinking of freelance pitches to make some money in the meantime has been completely fruitless and i have not been taking very good care of myself. however, to deal with the horrible daily feelings i’m experiencing, i’ve been watching movies and reading books and watching TV shows a lot more. i’ve always been really bad at keeping up with TV and movies, and despite having an english degree, i’m a bad reader!
but with that being said, i’ve been thinking about writing book reviews on substack, and maybe other reviews too, not necessarily to evaluate the work in an objective way, but just what it makes me think about, where that train of thought leads me, how i think it relates to things going on currently or throughout my life. a very personal way of reviewing media. i’m going to try it out a bit and see how that goes. if there’s anything specific you want me to read or watch for the purpose of writing one of these reviews, let me know! the first up will probably be The Old Man and the Sea.
what else is going on in my life? i’ve been thinking about films a lot and want to try playing around with that medium and seeing if i can do anything interesting. photography in general is something i haven’t done much of since i got laid off, so i want to get back into doing that, but for fun this time. i also want to get better at writing this newsletter. but we’ll see if that ever happens.
so what have i been watching? glad you asked!
last night i watched frances ha (2012) and loved it to bits. frances was a very relatable character in so many ways and it made me feel very seen. her undateable and unemployable nature and messy disposition is like looking in a mirror. it’s also comforting to watch in a time where i’m unemployed and trying to figure my shit out. it also made me feel a bit sad, since i’m not super familiar with the feeling of having a best friend, especially in the way frances and sophie are best friends. the last time i had a best friend who was basically attached to me at the hip was elementary school i think, and everyone else since then, while i have had so much love for my friends, i didn’t always know if it was reciprocated at all and i was always too scared to ask or move closer to them. it made me yearn more for that kind of friendship. that said, let me know if you want to be my best friend. also i will never not love a good old pre-star wars adam driver appearance.
i also just watched everything everywhere all at once the other day, and i really loved it! i honestly never thought a movie centred around multiverses could be so nuanced and genuinely intriguing, but i have been proven wrong. i watched it the night after the oscars, so i went into it knowing where the academy saw its strong suits, and i have to say i agree across the board. the movie definitely made me cry, and well up with tears multiple times. i’m really lucky to have a good relationship with my mom, especially after some very tumultuous years as a teenager, but the generational and cultural misunderstandings between mother and daughter felt really relatable.
i also watched the fabelmans about a week ago and adored it, and before that i saw tár and thought it was fantastic. i was pretty bummed when neither won any academy awards, i thought they were both deserving in different ways. the fabelmans made me think about the things i loved as a child and what i gave up on and what i carried on with, and whether i should revisit the things i loved before. it also made me a cry a ton. plus the david lynch appearance was great. tár was incredible because cate blanchett delivered the dialogue in such mesmermizing ways, it was one of the most convincing performances i’ve ever seen.
a recent rewatch for me was say anything (1989), which was a first viewing for my boyfriend. it’s such a classic, i highly recommend it if you like romantic comedies and haven’t fully gotten into watching ones from the 80s! i don’t have a lot to say about it, it’s just really enjoyable. i could probably do a whole post about just my favourite 80s rom-coms, because i have a lot of opinions.
in terms of shows, i just finished watching You, which was really interesting. i’ve never been super into shows that are first and foremost dramas, or even really thrillers, so it was cool to give it a try. i also just really like penn badgley. season 4 was absolutely nuts, and while i wasn’t as big a fan of this season’s supporting cast, i still thought they did a great job and the plot got fucking nuts.
lastly, i’m currently making my way slowly but surely through mad men. i’m on season 4 right now and it’s getting really good! i spent forever trying to make my way through season 2 because it truthfully wasn’t that great, but season 3 got me back into it again. i’m hoping to finish it all in the next few months, since i’ve been working on watching it since probably 2021 (i’m bad at watching TV shows consistently.)
track of the week
this song has been stuck in my head all week, and it’s very good. it’s the first track on yeah yeah yeah’s 2003 album fever to tell, and it’s not quite as popular as maps or Y control, but i think it’s fun and energetic and so emblematic of their sound.
the signs symptoms i experience almost every day
aries - irritability
taurus - fatigue
gemini - itch in my left ear canal
cancer - nausea
leo - chest pain
virgo - tummy ache
libra - lower back pain
scorpio - mood swings
sagittarius - jaw pain
capricorn - bones making weird sounds
aquarius - heart rate spiking when i stand up
pisces - lymph nodes in my neck being slightly swollen for the last 12 years