10 Things: More, Less, Superlatives.
What to read, think about, eat, see, and listen to this week.
Paid subscribers: prepare for ten amazing things. What a week it’s been! Free subscribers: here are three. Pictures of my daughter over the moon about kale at the bottom.
1. Rosemary Mosco on Instagram and Elsewhere
This artist’s work was sent to me a few months ago by a reader named Jay, and it has been unhinging my jaw ever since. I did immediately feel jealous of Rosemary Mosco because she got a FULL-PAGE PIGEON EXPLAINER in the New York Times, but to be honest, she totally deserves it. Her work is incredible. It’s so smart, and so funny, and so bird-y. It’s what my work wishes it could be, but it can’t be, because she was gifted with her particular gift, and I was gifted with mine. Nevertheless, PLEASE do yourself a favor and follow her (and buy her books!). Unless you, like, really hate birds and have a really, really good reason. In which case, I’m sorry I keep bringing up birds. I have to be honest: it’s gonna keep happening.
2. “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On” the movie
This movie has been out for a long time now, and everyone else has already written about how excellent it is, but maybe you haven’t read everyone else’s testimonials because you were waiting to hear mine. Here it is: this is actually the best movie I have ever seen in my entire life. I mean, people are subjective, and this movie really does meet all my very particular needs, which almost definitely don’t match yours. Part of the goodness of my experience was the event itself: Luke and I hadn’t been to a movie since I was nine-plus months pregnant, and I just had *a feeling* that this would really hit for both of our particularities, so we made a date to see it at The Music Box, which is the best place in The United States to see a movie, and the theater was sold out (?!!?) on a Monday night, and it was mostly teens there, and they were loving it just as much as we were, so that was part of it. Content-wise, it was very funny, but it was also about loss, grief, relationships, carrying on, hoping, letting go of hope, and the existential reality of living a life in a body. All this in under 90 minutes — plus, the little worlds constructed for the film were perfect: chairs made of champagne corks, and licorice benches, and on and on. There was an excellent tampon appearance at the end. It was also quite gentle, but never ever boring. (I really had to pee, but I waited.)
3. Jenny Rosenstrach’s Newsletter, “Dinner: A Love Story.”
What kind of a friend would I be if I didn’t recommend a Substack? Jenny Rosenstrach is the author of “The Weekday Vegetarians,” a lovely cookbook enjoying a tenure on the NYT Bestsellers list right now. Her newsletter is not entirely vegetarian, but it’s called “Three Things,” and usually incudes three food-related things (with photos!) that I find at least INTERESTING, like ways to use up all your cucumbers, and her daughter’s favorite graphic novels. (OK, that’s not food-related, per se, but interesting, yes!)
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