Other Media Things
I’m writing to you from an Oh My Venus*, love-drunk haze. This is my second fuzzy, swoon-worthy, funny K-Drama and I stayed up until 2am last night (this morning?) making my way through the series, finishing the final two episodes today. I can’t tell you when I started, Thursday maybe and its now Sunday so it’s taken up a large portion of my time and headspace. I don’t mind though. It’s a rare situation where I binge shows like this and don’t mind living in the alternate universe between getting things done simply so I can watch TV again. I don’t remember the last time I was up until so late. I’m the kind of person who frequently misses saying ‘Happy New Year’ to people until the next morning. There are a couple of things at play – since I stopped getting up at 5:15/5:30 in the morning I can stay up way later. This may sound obvious but it’s like getting up half an hour later gives me hours’ worth of energy at the end of the day. I am also in a not-so-lovely pattern of not really sleeping, journaling, or doing anything at the end of the day that I know helps me sleep.
Whether it’s the chicken or the egg, I’m feeling off all around. You may think that the answer is obvious, and whilst this is not about the woes surrounding my physical health, I do feel like I’m extra sensitive to the media I consume at this time. Kind of like when you are deciding whether it is better to have a nap or power through, I am wondering whether listening to Red (Taylor’s Version) on repeat is going to better for me than blasting some remixes on some pop-workout playlist. Should I be giving in to my favourite romantic comedies or watching a documentary. Lately, I have been acutely aware of how old my brain is and how much stuff it’s has/had in it. Sometimes I wish I could tip it upside down and clean it out. Get rid of all the shitty commercials its seen, hours wandering aimlessly around, bitching about people etc. and start fresh with some of the good stuff.
Lately I’ve worked to change my definition of good stuff. I know that once upon a time I would have been embarrassed about watching Oh My Venus or listening to Selena Gomez (like I am not as I write this). Anyway, I wanted this week’s newsletter to be a collation of things so I am going to pull this up here but it’s something I would like to come back to. The idea of media as medicine that is, not being judgemental about media. I think we are all past that.
Right. This past week I have bought lots of books. Some I read whilst I was getting my hair done. Some I had to stop because I just don’t think I’m in the right head space. So here is a quick summary…
The book for the hairdresser was this one. I stopped reading this. I’m currently making my way through this. And loving this, even though I need to reread bits all the time. And today, on a whim, I bought this and this. I have read David Sedaris before and was never that in love, but whenever my sister recounts funny stories his written, I laugh a lot.
Morning Wars (on Apple TV+, which I wrote about last week) has got me hooked again. Even though it’s too stressful. I also started The Shrink Next Door which stars Paul Rudd, Will Farrell and Kathryn Hahn. It’s based on a true story and it’s not like anything I’ve seen. I don’t mean that in a ‘Oh My God! it’s not like anything I’ve seen before!!’ kind of way but I just don’t know what I’d compare it too. It is funny but I think I watch it desperate to laugh because of how I’m familiar with the first two actors. I won’t keep talking about Oh My Venus. I know I’ve hardly discussed it but, I know my audience. I don’t have a murder mystery on the go now. I was watching Innocent on Netflix, but I decided to call it. Which reminds me, I must look it up to see how it ends. I am also really missing Only Murders in the Building so maybe I’ll watch Selena and Chef to fill the Selena Gomez shaped void in my life.
I don’t know what music I’ve listened to this week before Red (Taylor’s Version) was released. Once I finish typing this I am going to watch the All Too Well short film, because I haven’t cried enough today. Do you think there is a person in this world who hasn’t had a conversation about Taylor Swift this weekend?
On YouTube I watched Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz’s and Vanessa Hudgens’ Architectural Digest house tours. I would love to see one of Selena’s House. I feel like TikTok has made these videos more popular simply because way more people seem to know about them…I could be completely wrong. I am hypothesising here. If you are new to these, Dakota Johnson’s is where it’s at. I also love Hilary Duff’s because I just generally love her and will probably watch How I Met Your Father to simply watch her before realising she’s not enough to prop up the show. That could be offensive to fans of How I Met Your Mother, but I haven’t really seen it and I’m not interested enough to.
My other major media preoccupation this week has been Instagram and the fact I don’t know what to do with it.
That seems like quite a dramatic note to finish on, but I don’t have any insightful thoughts to share so I’m going to pull it up there.
- Natasha
*The series is not as much about what the first two episodes are about as I thought it was. Just in case you start it and wonder what in the world is going on.