The Sunday Letter #26
We were running through the terminal, trying to catch our return flight after a connection delay, both feeling frustrated and pessimistic about the odds of making it, when a young girl behind us turned to her family and pouted, “is everything my fault today?” I burst out laughing because girl, same.
We were on our way home after two nights in Toronto to catch The National and Patti Smith (fantastic and raucous, loved it). The whole weekend, we’d been operating on very little sleep; a late-night birthday party on Friday had bled into an early morning flight into Toronto on Saturday, which saw us incapacitated by sinusitis, migraines, and nausea. But we had a beautiful time once we landed—we caught up with old pals, went book shopping and bar hopping, and landed back in Saskatoon barely standing on two feet after our missed connection. Totally worth it all.
The concert itself was delightful—the over 16,000 people gathered sang along to every word; middle-aged men in their “Sad Dads” tour merch flanked by their teenage daughters who were taking film photos throughout the night; Patti Smith reciting Footnote to Howl to an electrified crowd; young, pink-haired lovers kissing in the row ahead of us, lost in themselves and the music of opening band U.S. Girls completely. It was such a collective high, I’ve still been feeling the after-buzz even a week later.
This weekend, we attended the touchingly thoughtful wedding of our friends L & S. From ceramics handmade entirely by the bride, to thrifted tableware, to abundant flowers grown by the bride’s sister that adorned every table, to tomatoes in every dish that were grown at home and sourced from seeds smuggled in from Italy by the bride’s delighted nonna—it was a perfect backyard Italian feast. It was a delight to be surrounded by so many interesting and creative folks (an environmental researcher who plans controlled burns in the summertime, an aviary biologist couple, a jazz singer turned artist) who in turn had gathered to celebrate the pair and talk career ambitions, parenthood, and aging late into the night. The toasts ranged from gentle teasing about their opposites attract love story to tearful celebrations of gratitude, and the night ended with karaoke as we tucked away to drop dead into bed.
There was also an open bar/aperol spritz stand, and I’m still paying for it today with copious amounts of Advil, Diet Coke, and a dream. But we made it, we had a hell of a time, and we’re still (mostly) standing. Well, I’m writing this from bed, but you know what I mean.
It’s been a whirlwind past few months of traveling, moving, and planning new projects, so it was a delight to sit down on that historically rainless day (the ideal wedding day, the bride reasoned), to feel the sun, to gather with friends new and old, and celebrate. I hope you’ve been keeping well, too.
This week’s recommendations
Thanks to K for sending along this great video from the Past Lives team on creating chemistry on set, conveying complex realities, and subverting expectations. So many transferable conversations for other mediums, especially writing fiction.
This profile on three soon-to-be superstars: Ayo Edebiri, Rachel Sennott, and Emma Seligman, on their new film Bottoms.
Ann Friedman on Trump and the complicated history of mugshot spectatorship. See also: The Origins of the Mug Shot, in JSTOR.
This week’s hot take from The Cut: a defense of negging. “To be negged, in other words, is to be seen.”
On the rise of MovieTok and what happens when influencers replace critics. This article blew up on Twitter a few weeks ago, I think primarily due to a misplaced anger at influencers for “stealing” the “traditional” critic jobs that don’t actually exist anymore in these increasingly volatile media and publishing industries. I’m not defending TikTok or the rapid-fire attention economy it’s spawned, but I do think that those who mock MovieTok are showing an elitist preference for the “good old days” where critics came streamlined through top-tier academic institutions directly into cushy New Yorker jobs. Twitter bemoaned the fact that there will never be another boho film critic like Pauline Kael, but how could there be? I liked what critic Sarah Marrs had to say about the matter:
If there is fault to be laid, it is at the feet of a larger effort to remove critical thinking from the cultural sphere (if you can’t think critically about the fictional images you see, you probably can’t think critically about the real images you see, either).
“Girl” trends and the repacking of womanhood, from Rebecca Jennings, who has also coined my new favourite term: girlouboros.
Irish writers are dominating literature, but not for the reasons you’d think!
Olga Ravn on the eerie side of childbirth and her new story, Maintenance, Hvidovre: “I found the complete annihilation of identity in the moment of giving birth a shattering and transcendent experience. It strips you of everything. You’re very close to death.”
The Merve Emre profile that had literary Twitter in a tizzy this week.
Does Phoebe Philo really exist?
Brandon Taylor on “attention as the key currency of our time.”
By paying attention to anything, we are endowing that object or subject with a great deal of power and influence. This is why the highest achievement in an artist’s life is not to create a beautiful eternal work but to get your work turned into a TV show.
As an addendum to all: the rise of pity marketing.
Watching: “I started watching more TV and movies again, so I’ve had a full summer of watching, and I’m really enjoying it! I’m on my second re-watch of The Sopranos (my favourite show) and have been celebrating with an Italian sub once a week. A couple weeks ago I watched I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson for the first time, and laughed harder than I have in a long time, it’s exactly my kind of humour! I’m also a huge horror movie fan, and saw the new A24 horror movie Talk to Me, which filled me with dread and anxiety - I loved it!”
Reading: “I recently finished Emma Cline’s The Guest last week. It honestly surprised me; for some reason, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did! It’s about a sex worker who spends an uncomfortable week in the Hamptons drifting from place to place after an incident at a dinner party with an older man she’s been staying with. It was both unsettling and exciting, and was the ideal read for the end of August.”
Listening: “I’ve been obsessed with 80s music lately. A Flock Of Seagulls’ Space Age Love Song, and Suicide’s Sufferin’ in Vain, are the first two songs that come to mind. I’m a sucker for Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, as well as Suburban Lawns’ self-titled album. Something about 80s music just makes me feel nostalgic, even though I was born in the 90s!”
Life, etc: “This summer has been busy! Lots of lake time with family and friends, as well as a vacation planned with a friend. As most people do, I’ve been trying to make the most of summer, because summer (particularly in Canada) always feels shorter than it should. I also got a bike and have been having fun riding it around - what a terrific way to satisfy your inner child!”
P.S. You can find Talia on Instagram @verynicebook!