Three Things: Isn't It Gorgeous Outside?
In a bout of poor planning, I got my Covid booster and my flu shot separately and one week apart, which means I spent one day of the past two weekends feeling like ass. Why didn’t I get them at the same time? That is a fair question without an answer. What this means for you, though, is that I’ve consumed a lot of media in the past two weeks. So you’re getting Three Things+ today.
🖥️ The Great Zelle Pool Scam
Do you ever start reading something online and find yourself enjoying it so much that you think, I want to keep reading this forever? That was my thought 1 minute into this. It is just delightful. The writer puts so much of his personal voice and style into it that I felt like I knew him by the end.
🎥 Fish Tank (Kanopy, Criterion, Tubi)
This was not made by A24 but it has the studio’s style written all over it. The story of a 15-year-old working-class girl in Britain, it also stars Michael Fassbender, who I would probably watch just stand on an empty soundstage. There’s this line barely crossed that weighs on 3/4ths of the movie and when it does get crossed, you don’t know where to go from there. Some really artful filmmaking and fantastic acting.
🎥 Anomalisa (Kanopy, Rental)
Are you in the mood for something weird? Do you like Charlie Kaufman? Have you ever wondered what sex looks like in stop-motion animation? Then I have a film for you. You’ll either love this or hate it and you’ll know which one pretty quickly.
📖 Water for Elephants
If you’d told me 2 weeks ago that I would tear through a book about Depression-era circus performers in a matter of days, I’d have asked you to share the hallucinogens. But this was highly entertaining—and thrilling and upsetting and tear-inducing. And apparently a lot of it is fact-based! Make sure you read the acknowledgements at the end.
Oh, I also re-watched The Big Short yesterday, which is infuriating and wonderfully made and has possibly the funniest line ever, said by Ryan Gosling (of course): “If you can tell me the difference between stupid and illegal, I’ll go have my wife’s brother arrested.”
Have a great week!