Random. Interesting.

At least I hope so...

Jan 27, 2023

Sometimes, this newsletter has a theme. Sometimes, I even have a unified, over-arching plan. (Fancy!) Other times, like today, it’s just a grab bag of bright and shiny (or weird and interesting) things I came across lately that I think are worth sharing.

So, enjoy the randomness…

Things to Watch

First, a story of Jagged Little Pill the musical and an attentive husband…

My husband knows that I was obsessed with Alanis Morisette when I was a teenager. So, when I told him that there was now a musical based on her album Jagged Little Pill but that it wasn’t touring anywhere near Texas, he was listening. (Husbands do that sometimes! Who knew?) So this month he surprised me with tickets to the show in Providence, Rhode Island and a weekend trip to Boston. Yes, we traveled vertically across the entire country just to see a musical, but it was so worth it. Plus, Boston has some kickass pizza and cannolis.

So, all that to say that when we got home, we ended up watching Music Box: Jagged on HBO Max about Alanis’s journey and the making of Jagged Little Pill. I love, love, love watching artists in action and seeing her channel what she was going through into those songs…*chef’s kiss* It was such a well-done documentary, so if you were around during the 90s or appreciate good, angsty rock, give it a watch!

Stutz (Netflix)

As many of you know, in my former life, I was a therapist, so of course I’m all about a documentary about therapy. Stutz on Netflix is a movie actor Jonah Hill made about his therapist and the unique visual tools his therapist uses. This was a weird, slow documentary but also captivating and fascinating. Plus, the tools are ones that I think could be really helpful to most of us. So, if you have the patience for a slower-moving, artsy documentary, check it out.

The Sex Lives of College Girls (HBO Max)

I know I mentioned that I had started watching this one in a previous newsletter. Well, I finished the two seasons that are available, and I’m here to report that it was SO GOOD! If you liked reading Good Girl Fail, go watch this show. Funny, sexy, and smart. Plus, the actors are delightful.

Things to Read

The Year In Quiet Quitting by Cal Newport for The New Yorker - As a Gen X, almost millennial, I found this fascinating. Here’s a quote that really clicked for me:

For Gen Z, which had so thoroughly mixed work and self, this suffocating grimness hit at a more personal level. It became clear to many that they needed to separate their personhood from their jobs. It is this transition that generates much of the angst exhibited in quiet-quitting videos. “Your worth as a person is not defined by your labor,” a defiant Zaid Khan concludes in the original quiet-quitting TikTok. To a millennial, with our work-as-a-means-to-an-end ethos, this statement sounds obvious and histrionic—like something you’d pronounce in a sophomore-year seminar. But, to Gen Z, declaring a distinction between the economic and the personal is a more radical act.

TikTok’s Eshittification by Cory Doctorow (found via Austin Kleon’s Substack)

This one is long but fascinating. I don’t use TikTok (*grumpy Gen X-er who doesn’t want to perform on video*) but this article is about a lot more than TikTok. It’s about how an online service first gives you a great thing (early Amazon, early Facebook, etc.) to hook you in, then they start catering to companies (look how many eyeballs we can get on your product!), then they start catering to themselves once they’ve made people and companies dependent on them.

For instance, remember when you’d look up a book on Amazon and it’d give you a nice list of non-sponsored “Also Boughts” which would introduce you to new authors and other books like the one you liked? But now, those also bought are either 100% sponsored ads or you have to go through copious amounts of scrolling to get to the very bottom where MAYBE it MIGHT SOMETIMES give you a list of non-sponsored “Customers who bought this also liked”.

As a reader, I really miss those recommendations. And meanwhile, authors who are trying to sell their books on Amazon are forced to spend lots of money on ads or their book isn’t seen, even if readers of Author A would really like books by Author B. If Author B didn’t pay for the ads, her book doesn’t get shown unless directly searched for. (SIDENOTE: I have a new book out and have not paid for ads, so if you’d like to buy it or spread the word to your friends, it’d be much appreciated! ;) )

In other randomness, your iPhone has a built-in white noise feature to help with focus or sleep. Who knew? There are ocean sounds, rain sounds, etc. Here’s how to find it.

What I’m Listening To

Y’all, I really can’t resist a life project book. It’s a microgenre that I gobble up almost every time. And even though there is no universe in which I would let my husband give me a haircut (like the author does in Meet the Frugalwoods), I’m finding the narration and story charming.

As for music, after seeing Jagged Little Pill, I was reminded of the joy of listening to an album all the way through in the intended order. I used to listen to my Jagged Little Pill CD on repeat and FEEL ALL THE THINGS. Alanis was speaking to my angsty fifteen-year-old, Catholic school girl soul. So this week, I’ve gone back to just letting the album play from start to finish and when it hits the hidden track, “Your House” I am dragged right back to that moment when I was so young, listening in the dark of my bedroom under headphones, and discovered that secret little nugget of a track. (There was no internet to spoil the surprise!)

And some random deliciousness…

Everyone should have a no-fail, crowd-pleasing recipe to go to when you need to feed people, give a gift, or bring something for a party. Mine is Rachel Ray’s Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. It’s literally a pour-everything-in-and-mix recipe with no fuss. The only part you might need a little trial and error on is how long your individual oven takes to cook it all the way through. Use a wooden skewer to test the center. Also, your bananas need to be really ripe, like almost-need-to-be-thrown-away ripe.

And don’t tell anyone this isn’t my own recipe. My reputation as Banana Bread Queen (TM) will be ruined. ;)

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe

Alright, I think that’s all the randomness any of us can take for one Friday. Have a great weekend!

Roni