MalonE-Mail: The Pussy Riot
Ugh. What can I say? Anyone else been having a lot more nightmares the past few weeks? The other night I spent the first half hour of the night struggling to escape one of those in-between sleep paralysis states where you keep trying to wake yourself up except every time it's another dream, Inception-style! Although I guess I'll be missing these days when I lose my health insurance and start physically deteriorating and eventually run out of asthma medication and suffocate.
So I'm heading to Washington D.C. today. It's the first time I've been since I hopped a bus from New York to hang out backstage with Taking Back Sunday about the death of emo a few years back. (There was also a day-long trip for an interview at the Atlantic at one point in between, but that's a story for a later, totally ambiguous and hopefully nonexistent date.) Obviously my reason for visiting is decidedly less thrilling this time, what with the deeply unsettling coronation of the illegitimate soon-to-be troll king on Friday morning (at 6 a.m. Pacific Time!) and what I've taken to calling the Pussy Riot marching the next morning. But luckily, since then, I've met some pretty delightful humans (and cats) whose hospitality means I won't spend the whole week being accidentally smothered to death by hundreds of thousands of my fellow harpies in the streets. Someone even mentioned something about breakfast burritos!
What I wrote:
Nothing new this time around, unfortunately, but I was reminded last time that I forgot to share one of my favorite pieces from the end of 2016, this interview I did for Slack's website with novelist Robin Sloan about his homemade A.I. writing assistant. The topic, as you all likely know if you have ever so much as looked at my Twitter account, was extremely relevant to my interests. (P.S. If all goes according to plan, I'll be doing a bunch more with Slack on the content side in the coming months. Get pumped.)
What I read:
I finished The Mothers, which I recommended last week. Now I'm on Melissa Harris-Perry's Sister Citizen for a book club; the first book of The Magicians (more on this in a bit) for my nerd sanity; and finally — to buoy my political spirits as we stare into the oncoming abyss this week/the next few years — a collection of James Baldwin essays and Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark.
A few shorter recommendations: Emily Nussbaum's incredible essay from this week's New Yorker on the power of a joker candidate. Drew Magary on rural conservative white tears. And Inkoo Kang's stunning review of Martin Scorsese's flaming imperialist car crash, Silence.
What I listened to:
Okay, so two things. One, the Moana soundtrack has ruined me. (Have you seen Moana yet? It is one of the best animated movies ever made. I'm serious. I happy-sobbed pretty much the whole time.) And two, I tweeted earlier this week that I'd have a treat for you in this issue. I do! And it's the MalonE-Mail Playlist!
Basically exactly what it sounds like: with every newsletter, I will have a new themed mix of songs I've had on repeat the past two weeks and songs that feel particularly relevant to whatever's going on in the world. This week, of course, our first theme is REVOLT. Please enjoy by clicking on the screenshot below (or here), since apparently Tinyletter does not support Spotify player embeds:
Oh, and yes, that's a blue crawfish in the mix artwork. Anyone want to get me a blue crawfish? Apparently they make great pets!
What I watched:
I caught up on two recent shows I'd been meaning to check out, and neither disappointed! Well, okay, that's not exactly true. Humans gets its problematic on à la Ex Machina at a certain point, and The Magicians — based on the recent books by Lev Grossman — requires you tolerate a certain degree of ridiculousness to enjoy it. But honestly, I can't believe Humans (which returns for its second season in February) isn't more talked about. I mean, it's a Black Mirror-esque British series on AMC about humanoid A.I. and the singularity! And I don't play around with Black Mirror comparisons — I screamed a few times throughout the pilot, the uncanny valley was so well executed.
As for The Magicians, Margaret Lyons over at the New York Times' Watching recently recommended it as an adult Harry Potter, which I guess I'd agree with if, in this case, "adult" and "fucked up" are synonyms. I mean, someone literally sectumsempras to death, and the camera hardly pulls away. There's a lot more sex and cussing, also. And sexy teleporting bathrobes.
Anyway, that's all I got to give for now. If you're heading out to a protest or demonstration this week/end, I'm with you in solidarity (and probably on social media).
Be safe, stay hydrated, NOLITE TE BASTARDES CARBORUNDORUM,
Devon
P.S. (Parting Shot):
Have you heard the good news about Aggretsuko, the new Sanrio character? (I've been told they call her Aggressive Retsuko in Japan.) She's a trodden-on cog in the corporate machine with a love for beer, metal karaoke, and a lot of feelings to which I can relate: