I love Samantha Irby. She's not for everyone, but her brand of humor is very much my brand of humor and I envy her writing career as well as her talent as someone who can write candidly about bodily functions with so much heart and hilarity. Yadda yadda yadda, read her new book of essays in early 2023 (and catch up her existing catalog if you haven't). I've subscribed to her chatty, free-form newsletter which comes at no regular intervals and has no theme except things she's digging at the moment and so (and in lieu of a substantive end-of-year wrap up) I'm copying her in this entry, because even in a hellscape I'm not without obsessions.
5 TV shows I've loved recently:
Reservation Dogs - me and everyone else. This show is perfection.
The final season of Derry Girls - I'll never forgive them for the Halloween episode but that's not a bad thing.
The Bear - The accuracy, the cast.
The Great North - I am all in for a close-knit family of weirdos.
Letterkenny - I got COVID in May and I got hooked while I was convalescing. I never pass up a chance to say "I'd have a beer" or "To be faiiiiiir..."
5 books you gotta read:
Drunk on Love - Jasmine Guillory is the queen of sexy, funny romance.
The Stranger Diaries - We're about to see the end of the Ruth Galloway series, but Elly Griffiths has another mystery series and I'm into it.
Bunny by Mona Awad. This book is great and slippery and horrifying and fun. Love love love.
Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution - Elie Mystal never misses.
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. I think I've mentioned this book 20 times already. Time travel, 1990s NYC setting - this book has everything I love, including her writing and it's also a tribute to her pops, the dear departed Peter Straub. A straight-up masterpiece.
Top 5 experiences
-I know we're not really post-COVID but I got to see enough live music to pretend otherwise. Gang of Youths and Afghan Whigs at The Paradise, Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden, Paul McCartney at Fenway, Ween in Boston and New York and the thrice-postponed They Might Be Giants - it was a big year for this music fan.
-HR adored drama camp this summer and I loved that he loved something that much. It was great to see him perform.
-keeping up my dumb teenage diary instagram has been a blast, both in terms of building a community and getting to know myself from 30 years ago.
-being a Buffalo Bills fan right now. It's great! It's terrible! It's a lifestyle!
-spending time with friends and family, I mean, should be obvious but the past few years felt so deprived in comparison and I don't want to take the ability to be with my favorite people for granted. The experience that is being able to enjoy our collective continued health cannot be overhyped.
Top 5 foods I ate:
-Fresh lobster, steamers, oysters and corn on a picnic table at the campsite at Hermit Island
-Truffle deviled eggs at my mother-in-law's birthday dinner at Ocean Prime
-The birthday cinnamon roll I got from Union Square donuts
-the nachos at the random taqueria near the Capitol Theater in Portchester NY
-the garlic fries at the Saltwater Grille in South Portland, I can't get enough.
Top 5 holiday musts, because it's that time of year.
Everything on here is old and my annual viewing list is huge but if I had to distill the feeling of Christmas into five things, my personal canon includes:
Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas
Pee-wee's Christmas Special
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Christmas Story
OK friends, what are you into? Lemme know k bye!