Weekly quick consumptions

The beginning of the year is going well for me because I still have the energy and optimism that I might change my life in a radically but self-affirming way. So to celebrate that, here are some quick consumption thoughts on the things I’ve been reading, watching, and listening to.

Quick consumptions

• Maria Bamford’s Sure I’ll Join Your Cult.Generally speaking, I try and avoid memoirs. I appreciate the writing style of memoirs, but mostly I find them just a bit boring and a tad indulgent. I’ve only just started Bamford’s memoir and it’s just…so strange. Her type of manic tell everyone everything standup has always been appealing to me, but something about seeing it in print seems so gonzo and off the wall while also brilliant.1 I kind of want to compare it to Ken Kesey’s Sometimes A Great Notion which is another book that’s full of meandering and disjointed paragraphs, albeit for a different reason.

• Red Wine SupernovaGod, the lyric “I just wanna get to know ya/Guess I didn't quite think it through (nah-uh, girl)/Fell in love with the thought of you/Now I'm choked up, face down, burnt out” is so real.

• The Wheel of Time SeriesI’ve written a couple of times about The Wheel Of Time series. I recently finished book three by swapping between audiobook and regular reading and while I will be continuing the rest of the series I have to say absolutely nothing happens for 60% of these books. He seems to have a formula of: 20% rehashing what happened last book, 60% characters traveling and sitting in inns, and 20% action-packed conclusions. It’s maddening.

• Drag Race Season whateverThis is the first time a season of Drag Race has premiered where I didn’t feel intense pressure to watch it live.2 Part of that is probably because I’m gone from Twitter and lack the live commentary from Gay Twitter. Bluesky, unfortunately, made barely a peep about the new Drag Race. I don’t know how I feel about this season yet. I think the Queen ranking (stolen from the Circle) has the potential to be funny and turn Drag Race back into a competition3 rather than just a feel-good 90 minutes, but I also don’t envy being the queens who have to justify their ratings to all of social media.

• Right Back to It, Waxahatchee, MJ LendermanNothing major just liked this c:

• A Cher Christmas ornament that my boss got meProbably one of the nicest gifts I’ve received which would be a micro-aggression if I had not told my boss that DJ Play a Christmas Song was my go-to Christmas song last year.

• Making my own cold brewI’m trying to save money and earnestly cold brew is a big part of my weekly expenses. I was getting a weekly delivery from Barretts (which is IMO Austin’s best coffee shop and I am so bummed I no longer live across the street from them), but even that was pricey ($15 a week!). So now I’m making my own. It’s been touch and go and I’m still experimenting with what makes a better brew. If you have a ratio you use that works or beans you know really work please tell me!4

• Carol and the end of the worldI didn’t expect to like this series but I fully cried on episode 3 or 4. It’s a pretty interesting concept: the end of the world is coming fast and one woman doesn’t really know what she wants to do. I think it tackles grief and longing and the desire to connect with people around you in a really smart and mature way.