Hello, my beloveds! Here’s a playlist of some of the things I’ve been watching, reading, and listening to lately, some of which is referenced in Episode #19: The World.
WATCH👀
Roger Penrose explaining his theory of conformal cyclic cosmology.
I read a bunch of articles on this and was not getting it at all, but this interview helped it click for me.
Messiah of Evil (1973) by Willard Huyck & Gloria Katz
Not really a movie you watch for the plot, but more the grimy, sinister vibe and lurid visuals. It takes place in a haunting, desolate seaside town, so it’s the perfect movie to throw on after you’ve spent all day at the beach when you want something a little creepy and weird but you’re too sundrunk to pay close attention.
Challengers (2024) by Luca Guadagnino, my king
I probably don’t need to tell any of you to watch this movie since you either ride for Luca Guadagnino at this point or you don’t. I loved everything about it: the blazing tension (my heart was actually pounding during that final set), the sweaty, rippling bodies, the SCORE (I recommend listening to it while you run errands, you will be ready to face off God on the courts). Patrick Zwaig, you and your cheeky grin have become very dear to me. Art Donaldson, you pathetic loser of a man, be mine. TASHI DUNCAN, YOU WILL LITERALLY ALWAYS BE FAMOUS.
Interview with the Vampire, AMC
I feel like I have been waiting my whole life for someone to get a vampire show right, and this is IT. Everyone is so tragic, evil, lonely, full of yearning for eternal love and blood, always blood. Also—I cannot emphasize this enough—the cast is full of the most beautiful people to walk this earth, I actually don’t understand how it’s possible they are all gathered on the same show. I don’t think you need to have watched the movies or read the books to get it, but having some of that extra insight makes the references and twists in the show hit harder in a really fun way. Season two just finished and season three is confirmed to begin shooting in the fall, so you have lots of time to catch up.
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2002) by Yoshiaki Kawajiri
I can’t believe it took me 22 years to watch this. One of those movies that I’ve known about for ages but for some reason just didn’t think the anime style was for me. I’m dumb! Shout out to Chelsea and Brandon for telling me I need to get over myself and finally watch. The 1985 Vampire Hunter D was also fun, but I’m a sucker (sorry) for a forbidden love story.
“Never Gonna Love You” by Kandle
Speaking of vampires (always), my friends made a music video where we all play horny vampires! I got to be in it! Manifesting my dreams is real!
LISTEN🎧
READ📚
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Notes from Underground, 1864
Susan Sontag, Regarding the Pain of Others, 2003
Slime Mold Simulations Used to Map Dark Matter Holding Universe Together, 2020
Mould of transportation, 2012
Helena P. Blavatsky, Isis Unveiled, 1878
Annie Dillard, “Total Eclipse”, 1982
This was the universe about which we have read so much and never before felt: the universe as a clockwork of loose spheres flung at stupefying, unauthorized speeds. How could anything moving so fast not crash, not veer from its orbit amok like a car out of control on a turn?
I mentioned I was reading Silver Under Nightfall in the last playlist I sent out; I did finally finish it! It was enjoyable enough but I don’t know how dedicated I am to reading the next book in the series (I didn’t realize it was going to be a trilogy when I picked up the first one, but of course it is). Fun if you like sexy, queer vampire throuples, but I felt like the two characters we got the most interaction with were each pretty flat, and the character I was most interested in didn’t get as much attention until the very end of the book. Anyway, now I’m reading Faith, Hope, and Carnage by Nick Cave and Seán O’Hagan; will report back!