It's the most wonderful time of the year

Which is FALL, of course! And October, my favorite month. Not only, from what I'm told, did I enter the world during October, as a grown human it remains my favorite in terms of weather and as pop culture would say now, vibes. I hope that you are experiencing some excellent crispy breezes where you are!

We watched The Gilded Age again this season, probably mostly for the production value (every moment thinking of the tailors and sewists who created these dresses, hats, and everything else anyone is wearing), but getting swept up in the drama as well, of course. When we watch a historical show I always get hooked on some aspects of history that I didn't learn much about in school, in this case dollar princesses and what was happening in the labor movement alongside this grotesque display of wealth (as ever in the latter case, history is repeating itself with so little learned as we look around today). When this season wrapped up, I picked up Mutual Interest by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith from the library's new books shelf since it is set in a similar time period. I pretty much knew from the cover that it was going to be about a lavender marriage, but it is also the story of an ambitious woman who aspires to this kind of wealth and power but also wants to do the work of building a business herself. And then we discovered The Buccaneers, which is definitely not my cup of tea tone-wise (I am absolutely too old to buy what they're selling with the music and departures from historical mores) but is also pretty to look at and something to fill the Bridgerton void. (We just finished watching the first season, so I don't know what the second season contains yet - no spoilers please!) At the time of its release I was a giant fan of William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (and Baz Luhrmann's whole thing, generally speaking - start singing any song from the Moulin Rouge Soundtrack and I will pick it up and know all the lyrics and harmonies), but this iteration of contemporary music and The Magic Of Exuberant and Performative Friendship feels so far from my own experience as a 50-something adult. The dollar princess stuff is here as well, though, which I would not have been aware of if not for watching The Gilded Age (for some reason I didn't really pick up on it as much from Downton Abbey). Anyway, what are you watching?

Recently my pal invited me down the street to her lovely back yard to watch Big Business on VHS projected on the side of her garage while cozying around the (gas-powered so as to be legal within the city limits) fire pit with a third friend. This is pure small town Midwest goodness (though maybe it is more universal than that?) and it was great. When I was in high school, we checked out Big Business from the library repeatedly and watched it a bunch of times, but I hadn't seen it since maybe 1990, so it was super fun to revisit. The swing-y coat/cape jackets are voluminous! There are multiple jokes about shoulder pads! Fred Ward plays a professional mini-golfer for some reason! The other movie I rewatched from the library on repeat is Who's That Girl, which I have not revisited (yet) and I wonder if it would hold up? Big Business is extremely of its time, but the gags are set up and knocked out just as any zany comedy should do. If you haven't seen this movie before or not in a while, I recommend checking it out.

Are you a reader of cozy romance? Supernatural romance? I must urge you to check out local author Heather Favalon! Her Sunnyview Chronicles series has just gotten started and I am already HOOKED on Fairy Queen of the HOA. While I am so glad to live in an HOA-free zone these days, I am familiar with them from my time in the suburbs and of course from The Discourse. This book has an exiled fairy ruler imposing order on her community through the HOA she runs only to discover that a vampire has moved in down the street and is not following the rules. This book is being published in a serialized fashion, which I admire (could I plan ahead well enough to tell a story in this way? Seems quite impressive!) and it is lovely to get another chapter every so often. The past few years I've been watching TV with no more than one episode of any given show per day - even if a season is available all at once I will space it out - so I can really absorb the story and give it deeper thought. This serialized fiction feels similar and I am here for it.

If you know me, you know that my longtime favorite band is They Might Be Giants. As ever, thanks to the cool nerds who alerted me to their existence back in early high school (BRHS class of 1991 band geeks, this was you)! They continue to be amazing and awesome and prolific and clever and I still love Their music just as much if not more. Back in the pre-graphical-internet days there was a listserv for TMBG fans, an early online community I was very much a part of. We spent lots of time analyzing song lyrics, searching for meaning, and celebrating the waving of our freak flags. Some of the folks who were involved in that community created This Might Be A Wiki, a collection of information about Their works. It's a true trove of lyrics, discography, guitar tabs (we used to trade these on Gopher and Usenet and I printed out a LOT of them in the university computer lab), and lots more. And now, there's a trivia game! If you're not a big fan of Their work this may be lost on you, but as someone with a pretty comprehensive knowledge of their stuff it's So Much Fun.

I am thinking of venturing into the world of print-on-demand for t-shirts and other clothing items. I am not interested in turning my studio into a shirt warehouse, so having them already made ready to ship out (as I do with many of my goods) is not really an option, and it seems like POD is probably the way to go. Thank you to those of you who have asked about getting shirts with my art on them! Keep your eyes peeled for more details coming soon or as I figure them out.

Here's to a good October for you! Keep fighting the good fight.