I’m neck deep in writing my dissertation for my masters program atm (😅), so this month’s newsletter is going to be a short one of a few links and some brief reviews. I personally love newsletters full of links so I hope you do too!
Sad:
My favorite podcast is Other World, which does This American Life style interviews with people who’ve experienced spooky shit. They did a four part series about the attempted murder of a woman named Eilish Poe, by interviewing Poe herself, which I found riveting. This series on Poe is true crime adjacent, which is really not my bag at all, but this story is told in a way that the victim herself is in charge of her own portrayal, which I was way more open to and found much more engaging. CW for abuse and graphic violence against women.
I’m also really enjoying
’s newsletter. He writes short personal essays that are very sad and remind me of the fierce, confessional personal writing I loved so much in the internet days of yore, before the great exodus from Tumblr. Keep them coming Sean!
Famous:
Earlier this year everyone was raving about a documentary on Paula Yates called Paula. I had never heard of Paula Yates. She was married to 80s rock stars Bob Geldof (worst facial hair on earth) and Michael Hutchence and was pretty much just a British celeb. She was known at the time as the one person who could knock Princess Diana off the UK front page. Being a new comer here I thought I’d pick up a bit of cultural knowledge so I watched it. Yates was breathlessly praised throughout the doc for being “the first influencer!!!” : ( . I struggled with this in the Paris Hilton memoir too, like is this really a path we want to pave in gold and say “thanks” to the people who first blazed down it? Like they landed on the moon? I would love a more critical perspective considering the damage to our present culture. Also Yates was a recovered addict who died of a heroin overdose and the doc was just like “um, yeah and then she died from heroin THE END.” The whole thing felt like eating fondant icing.
The Five Lives of Hilma af Klint is a graphic novel about Hilma af Klint. The author and illustrator is the husband of Julia Voss who wrote the definitive biography of Klint. It’s a beautiful book and great if you’d like to learn more about Klint and her work but aren’t up for reading a whole biography about her. I am incredibly fascinated by Klint’s work and her life!
Stuff:
ALB in Whisperland is my fave ASMR creator, I support her on Patreon, and she has been posting a lot of vids of her recent trip to Japan where she did what I’d do if I went to Japan—shop like hell. ALB is an illustrator who is very into cartoons and collectables so that’s a lot of what she’s going for here. Relaxing toy shopping by proxy! Here she is at the Moomin store but she also goes to Sanrio World, Kiddy Land, the Pokemon centre and I believe there’s a Studio Ghibli store vid in the works.
Jones Row Eyebrow Gel this is the only eyebrow product I’ve ever used that does not bother my skin at all and I LOVE it. I’m getting more grey/blonde eyebrow hairs as I get older and it covers them up really well. I have it in brunette.
Here’s what I was writing about last September— my most beloved neo-noir of all time and the incredibly tragic life of Natalie Wood.
What happened to Natalie Wood still leaves my jaw on the floor tbh
Just a brief reminder this newsletter is completely free, comments are always open and I’m happy you’re here! 🌈 See you soon!
Re Other World: is the podcast essentially stories about paranormal experiences?