Weekend Inputs
Interesting/Delightful Things I've Been Reading and Watching
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Weekend Inputs
Juvenile’s Tiny Desk Concert: “Slow Motion” is at 7:53, “Back That Azz Up” is at 19:25, and they bring out a cello and violin!!!
I thank the gods for bringing this scholarly article to my attention. Without revealing names, several people in my life experience this effect (I am so unsure about whether this is correct here, rather than “affect” but eventually I decided to move on and be OK with probably being wrong).
As someone who has done EMDR in the past, I still learned a lot from this article: “‘One Foot in the Present, One Foot in the Past:’ Understanding E.M.D.R.” (NYT gift link). Even if you aren’t going to get it yourself, I think it’s interesting for writers to understand how different modes of therapy work if you’re going to write therapy scenes for a character (I have some in my current novel, but the therapist doesn’t have a license and the therapy is done against the protagonist’s will, so I could be a little…freer with my research). I have another therapy-adjacent novel below that I’ll be reading this summer.
I’m fascinated by the psychology of people who do things like this. I’ve been collecting lots of articles in my input sheet around this type of personality, and an idea is crystallizing…
I’m probably going to write more about this in a future newsletter, but the Arnold documentary on Netflix is SO. INTERESTING. There are three episodes split into bodybuilding, movie career, and politics, which is a great organizing principle. Thanks to my parents for the rec!
He’s about 20 in this picture. TWENTY!
From James Clear’s newsletter this week:
"Curiosity is the beginning of knowledge. Action is the beginning of change."
What has been inspiring or delighting you lately? And are you currently curious, or ready for action?
Comedic Books I’m Taking on Vacation—Read Along If You Dare
Big Swiss by Jen Beagin (comedic novel), been hearing about this everywhere:
“Greta lives with her friend Sabine in an ancient Dutch farmhouse in Hudson, New York. The house is unrenovated, uninsulated, and full of bees. Greta spends her days transcribing therapy sessions for a sex coach who calls himself Om. She becomes infatuated with his newest client, a repressed married woman she affectionately refers to as Big Swiss. One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice in town and they quickly become enmeshed. While Big Swiss is unaware Greta has eavesdropped on her most intimate exchanges, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship…”
Everybody’s Favorite: Tales From the World’s Worst Perfectionist by Lillian Stone (comedic personal essays and humor pieces), come to the release party in NY in August and say hi!
Lillian Stone—childhood evangelical, AOL girlfriend, and professional nail biter is always living on the edge of anxiety. From the pitfalls of a girl plagued by religious trauma, the incomprehensible yet unforgiving need for perfection, and a poorly-behaved twenty-pound beagle, Everybody’s Favorite is a refreshing story of what it means to pick yourself when the world is telling you otherwise. Still navigating the ins and outs of adulthood, accompanied by an obsessive-compulsive disorder that’s become an exercise in self-acceptance and thus compassion, Lillian has become an expert in fighting the urge to be someone else’s idea of perfect. In this laugh-out-loud essay collection, replete with cringe-inducing touchstones of an early-aughts girlhood, Lillian Stone recounts her quest to be everybody’s favorite. Set largely during the early 2000s Ozarks, and peppered with Stone’s biting satire and gloriously self-deprecating personal anecdotes, Everybody’s Favorite is a wry, empathetic look at the chaos that ensues when we contort ourselves into an ever-changing assortment of socially acceptable shapes —only to fall out of place, twist an ankle, pee your pants a little, and realize that the pursuit of perfection isn’t really all that interesting.
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris (satirical novel) I’m embarrassed I haven’t already read this given how good the premise is, and I must rectify that mistake before the Hulu adaptation comes out:
Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust. Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW. It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.
ABOUT ME: My name is Caitlin Kunkel and I’m a comedy writer, long-time teacher, and creator of The Second City’s Online Satire Writing Program. I currently teach classes and consult on gift book proposals, modern adaptation, satire, and comedic literature. I co-founded The Belladonna Comedy and the Satire and Humor Festival, and I co-wrote the satirical gift book New Erotica for Feminists: Satirical Fantasies of Love, Lust, and Equal Pay, named one of the Top 10 Comedy Books of 2018 by Vulture.
That EMDR article was so well written! Also I’m so fascinated by the Big Swiss synopsis, gonna need your review!
I haven't seen the Arnold doc yet, but I just finished Dorothy Max Prior's _69 Exhibition Road_ that featured a chapter with a great Arnold cameo amidst Adam and the Ants / the New Romantics scene.