Well hey! I know what you're thinking - I just read your 5,000 word essay on loneliness and your anti-Columbus rant, and now there's even more Magpie stuff to read? Fear not - even my considerable prolixity has a limit. I want to hear from you, instead! Substack has a feature called “open thread", where readers with paid subscriptions can chat. And since I read so damn much, I thought it'd be nice to have a weekly thread of the culture that we've all been enjoying. Every Sunday, I'll throw out a few links to things that I liked, but don't fit thematically with my regular Thursday post. Please share your own! Book recommendations, movies you're into, podcasts and radio plays, self-promotion of your artistic work - it's all fair game.
Short & Sweet
I'm obsessed with advice columns because I'm a raccoon masquerading as a person (and also because I love schadenfreude). If you don't already read Dear Prudence, you simply must.
HONK! “I wobble my snake-front-body and I waggle my bag-back-body and they meet in the middle to plan a bad idea to upset you. I am the goose and you are the miserable boy with no honk.”
Ask Molly - she's evil, she's brilliant, she's goddamn weird “I am living in slow motion, a 7/8 time signature, an alternative tuning. My hips rotate with the earth’s orbit. My heart aligns with the notches on Orion’s belt. I don’t think I can pass for normal anymore.“
Tasty, tasty data! I've often wondered if thru-hiking is good or bad for my body in the long run. While the scope and sample size of this study is limited, it's reassuring to know that my status as an “excessive endurance exerciser” doesn't carry any significant cardiovascular health risks.
Listen up!
Do you want to be absolutely, totally, unexpectedly devastated and have to pull over to the side of the highway for a good cry somewhere in rural Alberta? Have I got a podcast episode for you! Here Be Monsters always has unique, interesting sound design, and finds surprising emotionality in banal topics. I love it. Content note: this episode contains detailed discussion of animal death, euthanasia, and medical testing.
On a lighter note, Start With This is a podcast about the creative process. It's made by the creators of Welcome to Night Vale, which actually isn't my usual taste in fiction, but I do really like their perspective on the daily work of artistry. Each episode features a discussion, a writing prompt, and a reading assignment to help you develop your practice. I'm a member of their online community, and it's been really helpful! Geoffrey and Joseph are very nice people and I want to be their friend.
Get thee to the library!
Whatcha readin'? I just picked up Replica by Lauren Oliver from the discards shelf. It's a well-written adventure novel in the YA sci-fi vein, and I gobbled it up in a single afternoon. If you want me to mail it to you, leave a comment! I liked it. It felt like a good, healthy-yet-indulgent snack to break up my heavyweight philosophical reading. Like sweet potato chips, or chocolate-covered almonds. I will read pretty much anything involving clones, tbh.
Another quick read I'd recommend is Florida, by Lauren Groff (guess I'm on a Lauren kick). It's a book of short stories, mainly focused on women who are reckoning with identity, meaning, and existential pain. Some are funny, some are deep, one made me cry, they're all great. If you like Karen Russell or Roxanne Gay, check this one out.
Extremely Scorpio Text of the Week:
They're like, funny texts I've sent unironically, that approach the level of self-parody without me even realizing. Also lmao, “dicks”
Meta!
So, what did you get up to this week? I got a new tattoo. Did you get a tattoo? Do you want one? What ridiculously on-brand texts have you sent recently? Let's chat.
This inaugural Sunday Snack is free for everyone, but if you want more next week, click here to sign up for a subscription. Thanks for supporting my work!
First off: thank you for tipping off your readers about 'Ask Molly'; your description of her piqued my interest immediately.
I can never turn down anything even resembling an excuse to rhapsodize about the millions of things that are all my absolute FAVE thing (I have two modes--'rhapsodize' is one, 'rant' is the other).
And so,without further ado,here is the hodge podge of suggestions I have lined up to overzealously lob at whoever may be passing by! (fingers crossed,my hyperlink attempts work. I understand that by saying this I have made myself sound like the most Ok of Boomers, but I accept my fate)
I love Youtuber [Jenny Nicholson](https://www.youtube.com/user/JennyENicholson), maker of video essays on an assortment of niche topics, finder of bad fan fic, delightful pop culture dissector and passionate spider reviewer
Donna Tartt is an author of formidable talent. I'm sure you've heard of 'The Goldfinch' and possibly even 'The Secret History', but I just finished her neglected 'middle child' of a novel [The Little Friend](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/775346.The_Little_Friend)and want more people to read it too. I might like it even more than Goldfinch, tbh.The amount of people who don't seem to like it at all make me want to go into that Other Mode of mine
Lastly: I'm at least a year behind on this, but [The Haunting of Hill House](https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80189221)is a beautifully done show. It's more 'inspired by'the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name than it is actually based on it,though it manages to be kind of a piece of art in its' own right. As with all effective horror (in my opinion), real life proves to be the most terrifying thing of all and the supernatural is just a launching pad to explore this further. It's brutally sad for a ghost story and packs an emotional wallop as it examines its' characters' intense grief and family trauma.
Kelly here!
First off: thank you for tipping off your readers about 'Ask Molly'; your description of her piqued my interest immediately.
I can never turn down anything even resembling an excuse to rhapsodize about the millions of things that are all my absolute FAVE thing (I have two modes--'rhapsodize' is one, 'rant' is the other).
And so,without further ado,here is the hodge podge of suggestions I have lined up to overzealously lob at whoever may be passing by! (fingers crossed,my hyperlink attempts work. I understand that by saying this I have made myself sound like the most Ok of Boomers, but I accept my fate)
I love Youtuber [Jenny Nicholson](https://www.youtube.com/user/JennyENicholson), maker of video essays on an assortment of niche topics, finder of bad fan fic, delightful pop culture dissector and passionate spider reviewer
You'll also find a channel called [CreamHeroes](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmLiSrat4HW2k07ahKEJo4w) on Youtube. It's become one of my boyfriend and I's greatest sources of joy. There's no better cat content around.
Donna Tartt is an author of formidable talent. I'm sure you've heard of 'The Goldfinch' and possibly even 'The Secret History', but I just finished her neglected 'middle child' of a novel [The Little Friend](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/775346.The_Little_Friend)and want more people to read it too. I might like it even more than Goldfinch, tbh.The amount of people who don't seem to like it at all make me want to go into that Other Mode of mine
Lastly: I'm at least a year behind on this, but [The Haunting of Hill House](https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/80189221)is a beautifully done show. It's more 'inspired by'the Shirley Jackson novel of the same name than it is actually based on it,though it manages to be kind of a piece of art in its' own right. As with all effective horror (in my opinion), real life proves to be the most terrifying thing of all and the supernatural is just a launching pad to explore this further. It's brutally sad for a ghost story and packs an emotional wallop as it examines its' characters' intense grief and family trauma.
But mitfreude is so much better and enjoyable for both parties!!
Love this post and the lengthy 5,000 words from earlier!
As always, thanks for sharing!
Wishing you all the joy in others misfortunes,
Lorax