newsletters are the new blogs
Hello! I hope you are doing as okay as possible. It's January and it's been cold as heck here in mid-Michigan. It's supposed to get into above-freezing temps today and this feels like a miracle somehow! Will it still snow? Probably. But I'll take it.
Seems like we're all pretty disenchanted with Big Social Media these days, and I've been enjoying newsletters from a variety of folks - enjoying in the way I used to love blogs back in the heyday of the feed reader. (I still use a feed reader! Just, the community that used to exist in G Reader dissipated when that product was pulled. As I'm sure they intended!) So I'm going to try to get into this newsletter the way I used to blog (no, my blog from back when doesn't exist anymore). And I would love to recommend the following newsletters that are bringing me joy this week:
In recent days, David Lynch died and a lot of people I respect and love posted tributes to him, including the quote on the artwork above. I drew a frog because transness is inherent in our world and I recently read Clever Girl by Hannah McGregor, which talks about this w/r/t the frogs in Jurassic Park.
One thing I'm thinking about lately is brands. Like, we hear so much about branding and owning your brand and a bunch of other crap that further embeds capitalism in our brains and I'm beyond tired of it. I'm going to try to start winnowing brand names from my vernacular in favor of calling it the type of thing it is. One example of this is the very popular online newsletter service that a lot of people use and often refer to by its corporate name, as if it is a different thing from any other online newsletter. Brand-name-newsletter? No thanks, it's just a newsletter. There's a long tradition in literature of recognizing that naming a thing can give it power, and I think this holds here.
Have you watched Severance? It's a TV show, the first season of which aired about three years ago, and due to (1) the care and deliberation with which this show is made, (2) the workers on this show taking active part in the entertainment industry strikes [#UnionStrong], and (3) probably a bunch of other factors I'm not aware of, the second season has just started airing this month. IT'S SO GOOD. If you haven't seen it, I don't want to spoil anything for you because the mysteriousness of what's happening is a big part of the draw (at least for me). I hope you will check it out and I'd love to hear your thoughts. I try to strike a balance of looking at/listening to fan theories but not getting TOO deep so that I can still form my own opinions. I for sure recommend the official Severance podcast with Adam Scott and Ben Stiller, as well as the Severed podcast with Allen S. Both of these will be Extremely Spoilery, so please watch before you listen! I often complain when shows tell instead of showing (Section 31 movie, I'm looking at you with disdain and disappointment) or otherwise overexplain things to the audience but Severance TRUSTS the viewer.
SELF-PROMOTION: And if you're interested in an exclusive sticker every month, check out my patreon. If you'd like this sticker, sign up by the end of January (I recommend doing this on the website as opposed to the app, due to reasons).
Take care, fellow travelers! I hope the month of January goes smoothly for you. If you'd like to find me online, find me here! Or on mastodon, or I'm still on insta for now at least (until I find ways to keep connected with folks who I'm currently only connected to there). I'm looking into pixelfed, but not sure yet if it has things I need that aren't already satisfied by mastodon. I hope we can keep connected one way or another!
Best wishes! --Anne