September 2026 Grab Bag
If I were to sum up my recommendations this month, it’s a lot of stuff that’s just vibes. Really reveling in the swirling breeze of half articulated concepts rather than concrete, fully thought out ideas. Come wander through them with me!
- As a certified Carly Rae Freak(™) I can’t get enough of her new album Day and Night. Sorry, no one else captures pure, simple emotion in pop music like her!!
Versailles is really having a moment in pop music rn
- There’s this interesting quality to Carrie (1976) where the story is super simple, allowing for a lot of weird, seemingly random or unnecessary things to happen – something in that formlessness lets you just be absolutely devastated by what happens
- Weirdly could say the same thing for The Wicker Man (1973)! Really resonating with movies of this era lately – idk, something was happening in movies in the 70s
- Love an interesting self contained website
- Season 1 of The Sopranos might be the most perfect season of television I’ve ever seen?? Turns out The Sopranos is good? Why did no one tell me!!
- If I were to put mystery thriller miniseries on a spectrum of revelatory (Task) to absolute pure garbage (All Her Fault) I’d firmly place Furious on the Task side of the spectrum – not the best to ever do it, but a propulsive, depressing watch all the same. I love a fucked up lady protagonist
- I haven’t been able to think about anything except this for the past two weeks
- Basically no other author sinks me into the world of her characters like Tana French does – just finished The Keeper, her latest novel. I don’t care about the mysteries that much at this point (though they are often good), I just want to read French’s sentences
- If you’re feeling too happy and filled with love and yearning from Carly’s Day and Night, just flip that vinyl over to the other recent pop release, Lost Weekend by Phoebe Bridgers – it will bum you out in no time!
- In August I had the pleasure of going to Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival for the second time – truly a chaotic, crowded, messy, wonderful experience. My favorite performances were Queer Diary, a late night show where queer people read from their teenage writings and ramblings, and Sam Burkett’s Goss – an ingenious improv show built around the audience sharing gossip with the group. These are both very much UK based acts, but I highly recommend both if you ever have a chance to see either
Between Carrie and The Wicker Man, should I stick with watching just 70s era horror this Halloween season? Might be worth committing to a theme – send me your recs in this genre if you have them!
Each month I highlight an organization that’s important to me. I encourage people to check out the cool work they do, and also to find causes within their community to support as well.
This month I'm highlighting Books Through Bars.
