Anti-ominous portents
I'm turning 36. It's fine. Everything's fine.
I’m turning 36 this weekend. That’s how old Princess Di and Marilyn Monroe were when they died. Thankfully, my blonde era only lasted from 2017-18.
Also, I am thorax-deep in South by Southwest as you read this, so I’ll keep this issue brief.
Making gratitude lists is a wonderful practice. Wish I did it! But as I lurk in the shadows behind 40, I did get to thinking about the cultural detritus that still gives me a little spark whenever I come across it. That makes things feel OK, after 36 years. Whatever’s the opposite of an ominous portent, these things are that.
Maybe I’ll write more fully about some of these down the line, or not. But here’s a little time capsule list. Lezgo.
Lady Gaga releasing a new dance-pop album in 2025 is the most auspicious sign I can think of. (Oh, “auspicious sign.” That’s the phrase I was looking for.)
“Kiki’s Delivery Service,” probably my favorite Miyazaki jam, makes me feel like it’s worthwhile to try at something you care about, even if you’re not great at it.
The song “Fire” by Waxahatchee always sounds like the sunset swallowing your body whole. (I wrote an essay about it once!)
“Enigma,” the freaky 1993 Vertigo Comics miniseries by Peter Milligan and Duncan Fegredo, gives me swoony pangs every time I read it. So much potent weirdo desire and strange possibility. I let my friend Emily keep the copy I lent her (it’s OK, Emily) and just bought myself a nice hardcover edition.
When my regular barista greets me by assuming my coffee order, even if he is wrong.
How “The Book of Love” by The Magnetic Fields never stops sounding romantic.
Fancy salted butter on lil’ slices of baguette.
Whenever I go to a concert, I’m reminded that the euphoria of Robyn’s 2019 headliner set at Austin City Limits Music Festival is possible.
The depth and forward momentum of Keke Palmer’s career. (I have a good story pitch about this, if anyone is an editor who would publish such a thing.)
Encountering orange and teal color schemes in the wild.
Alan Ritchson achieving the precise physical dimensions of a commercial freezer.
When I find a video of Ben Affleck speaking Spanish or Jodie Foster speaking French.
That the chorus of “Ocean Avenue” by Yellowcard still causes levitation.
The way Marisa Tomei says “positraction” in “My Cousin Vinny.” (For that matter, the way she says “Buick Skylark.”)
How the song “New Friends” by Pinegrove sounds inspirational if you listen to it in the right way.
Seeing old photos of Dolph Lundgren and Grace Jones from when they were dating. Old photos of Dolph Lundgren, in general.
Catching a joke in “Clue,” a movie I’ve seen 1,000 times, that I’d never noticed or understood.
That there are at least a dozen Garfield meme accounts at our fingertips.
Hearing “Mustard on the beat” at the beginning of a song and experiencing it like a sleeper agent activation phrase.
Every time the characters visit a different marvel of modernist architecture in the movie “Columbus.”
Comic panels of Darkseid eating crudité.
Parker Posey’s accent in “The White Lotus.”
The little noise Kirby makes when he’s about to consume a bystander whole and wear a mockery of their very essence as a costume.
Brenda Song’s career renaissance.
When a bookstore has large, overstuffed chairs (rare).
This illustration that my friend Emily (the one with my book; hi again, Em) did for me. Good to remember my chosen delusion/reminder: “It’s fine. Everything’s fine.”
One rad thing
Seventy percent of LGBTQ comedy movies are quite awful, and 20 percent are essentially softcore flicks. But that last 10 percent includes “I Think I Do,” a fizzy lil’ candy of a movie I stumbled upon via Kanopy. (BTW, all 100 percent of LGBTQ dramas are about death, longing, or longing for death.)
“I Think I Do” stars Alexis Arquette as Bob, a soap opera writer dating his show’s dreamy star, Sterling (Tuc Watkins). When they’re reunited with an old friend group at a wedding, Bob is torn between the perfect boyfriend he has now and the unavailable one he always wanted.
This film is just awash in the trappings of a ’90s indie flick — title cards marking different chapters, college radio rock, brazen horniness — which is all the better for the camp quotient.
Even playing the protagonist’s obstacle, Watkins tucks the movie under his arm and runs for the hills. You know how in some movies, the “wrong” love interest is objectively better than the endgame love interest? “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” “Happiest Season,” things of that nature. “I Think I Do” is very that.
Mostly, this is just an honest-to-goodness fun gay movie that has a brain and doesn’t go out of its way to embarrass you. My standards are at the core of the planet!
You can stream “I Think I Do” on Kanopy or Tubi.
Outbox
Last week, I appeared on the City Cast Austin podcast to talk about all things SXSW Film & TV Festival. Host Nikki DaVaughn and I cut up about Ben Affleck. (Second Ben namecheck of the issue! Happy birthday to me.) So, you probably need to hear that.
Listen to the episode here. (It’s not too long.)
…
Speaking of City Cast Austin, my dear friend and human showtune Kelsey Bradshaw wrote a lovely tribute to the musical “Funny Girl” for the podcast’s newsletter:
“Watching the movie as a kid was all sparkles and realizing I wanted to live inside a Broadway show. In high school, Streisand’s performances of songs ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade’ and ‘Funny Girl’ made me feel better when I was sad and made me feel secure in who I was: A funny, powerful Jewish girl.”
…
My March TV watchlist column is out for Backstage. “Daredevil: Born Again”! “The Righteous Gemstones”! “Survival of the Thickest”! We simply love to watch things. Read it here.