Issue #1

The last couple months I have calmed down with my Instagram stories and while nobody said anything, I know you all are worse off for it. Well, that led us here.

I wanted to do this for a while, where I’d print out an actual newspaper and deliver it to my neighbors, but that proved to be more daunting of a task than I anticipated so I shelved it. My lovely friend Carina started her own monthly e-newsletter last week and that made me realize, just cause I can’t do it all, doesn’t mean I can’t do some. You know?

This may be a weekly, monthly or one-time thing. TBD.

Highlights this month

• Halloween failure
• Wild Horse Nine (4.5/5)
• Pho with Nico
• Soap in the eyes
• Work on Veterans Day?
• Elsinore (2.5/5)
• The Shout (2/5)
• Club Kid (5/5)
• Niall Horan
• Rocky Run
• Justin visits next week!

Last thing

I know a lot of my story posts are dumb and nonsensical, but please, as a courtesy, just heart every couple. It costs you nothing and means a little bit to me.

Fun race on Saturday. Like the fifth largest in the US, so very crowded, but great vibes. Saw a couple friends during it, which is often nice.

I have a little over one month to watch Dune and Dune 2 before the threequel is released. The issue is, while I really want to watch the third, I have no interest in watching the first two.

I am not really sure what the next steps are.

I dressed up as a hot dog for Halloween. Was it low effort? Yes. Did I deserve to be called a disappointment by the party host who made me change into one of their extra costumes? No.

The real tears with puffy eyes really drive a fake Instagram crashout home, but I went too far this time. My eyes were dry all day and I need to either stop or invest in eye drops.

Saw this 1978 “psychological horror” at the Philly Film Society with my good pal Molly. It was so confusing that it made it really funny. It was not good, but it was funny.

From my Letterboxd: Felt like a big budget student film. I was really proud that when the end credits showed, I started laughing and then most of the audience joined in.

Amazing story with a great actor in Adam Scott, but it just fell flat for me. It reminded me of a cheesy sports drama based on a great story.

Obviously, this is much more than that, but falls into the same pitfalls: too much eulogizing of the protagonist, over editing in a way to make the stakes seem larger than life, brushing over some very important points that don’t really fit the narrative arc.

Idk, I thought it was good, but I think it would be hard to do any less with such a strong story. Spent too much effort trying to make us care instead of realizing if they just played it straight, we would’ve cared even more.

Really funny yet was able to create genuine emotion. Really impressive combination. The acting was great throughout and I was very invested in both leads. You didn’t really know what was going on until the very end. Enjoyable watch. Found myself a little bored at times, but still great

Described to me as a “Love letter to old New York”, it was exactly such. It was truly neat movie where everything about the way it was produced made it seem truly like an ode to the “classics”, whatever that may be. The soundtrack, lighting, camera work, all made it seem like a movie made 40 years ago, with much better camera quality.

Some of the sad seems felt forced and I had a hard time taking them seriously but I was engaged the whole movie even if at times I felt they could’ve built up the drama more.

I won’t watch this again. I probably won’t recall this movie again, but I’m glad I saw it.

Knew from the trailer I was gonna enjoy this. I expected a more generic story of a guy, struggling to, but eventually, rising to the occasion. It ended up having a lot more substance and was really touching. The actors really made you care and led to genuine sadness when things fell apart.

The dialogue was pretty cringe at times, but felt genuine in a way that made you respected more or I guess appreciate it more.

3 quarters in, it felt like the movie was coming to a clean resolution and while funny and touching, didn’t really give me much, but it was all build up for the last half hour which really set it apart for me from other similar stories

This was certainly the most enjoyable way to make an adaptation. It was its own work but watched as if I was reading a new Ripley novel. They never called the character Tom that portrayed Tom, which was so good because it allowed him to be both the character in the movie and Tom (that doesn’t make sense unless you’ve seen the movie and read the books I guess). I feel so fulfilled, coming out of that movie.

That being said, the ending was confusing.

Your least favorite person’s favorite movie

It seemed to be a subtle satirization that doesn’t age well as it plays presently as a really bad 50s movie and I have to imagine there is more intent behind the lazy character arcs, but without any context about similar movies from the era, again under the assumption that it is a satire, it just kind of sucked. People were laughing at the scenes that were clearly a joke, but just not funny enough to carry the film. The way I heard people talking about the movie was such bullshit and it just sounded like the most poser takes, respectfully, but also like not

It was funny, but the way that it opened, made me think that it was gonna be a really touching drama about dealing with grief and learning to let go. It quickly turned into a comedy, which was good and it made me laugh, but I couldn’t help but walking away really unfulfilled.

This is in a class of its own. There are many takeaways you could have, but what was most potent to me was the idea that you can get the most from people by asking questions and then shutting up. I don’t know what to think of with Elizabeth Holmes.

Her husband is insane and it’s hard not to see him as the villain and pass that same judgment onto Sonny? Then does that open up a path for Holmes be vindicated? honestly maybe probably not but maybe

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