Friday Unrelated Information

1. I’ve made 3 different pasta salads in the last week. And not fancy ones, more like the ones my grandma and mom made, the kind you get a a Midwestern church potluck. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Taste of Home will show you (make sure you read the head notes for high praise such as “This will feed a lot of people”).

2. The classic text tones as dance moves:

@cost_n_mayor Reply to @krustykrustykrab ♬ original sound – Cost n’ Mayor

3. Really feeling this, but enjoy the long weekend regardless.

1. The Summer Solstice was overshadowed by cat health crises this week, but happy belated longest day. Maybe you recited the Orphic Hymn to the Sun?

Agile and vig’rous, venerable Sun,
Fiery and bright around the heav’ns you run,
Foe to the wicked, but the good man’s guide,
O’er all his steps propitious you preside.

2, Marimekko has launched a library of all its fabric prints (!) called the Maripedia. Someday I’m gonna visit those Scandinavian countries and return with so much Marimekko and Josef Frank.

3. This. So much this.

Anybody else watch trailers lately and you’re like, “No thanks, I’m trying not to feel things”

— Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) June 12, 2022

1. Speaking of Richard Scarry:

2. Stop motion Godzilla animation will make you feel all the feels:

I made a short film about coming out. Happy Pride. Protect Trans kids. pic.twitter.com/5y6xjM8wm0

— Cressa Maeve Beer (@beeragon) June 26, 2020

3. Related, anti-trans bigots often pretend to be philosophers and ask,  “Then what IS a woman if you’re not going by biology?” and this is is a fantastically off the wall response to that. (“Lawnmowers are also women.”)

1. I know it’s satire, but I kind of love “7 Weightlifting Poems That Will Get You Pumped,” if only for the writer’s supreme dedication to the gag. I’m sorry, “Gym Song For Carl Sagan” deserves wider recognition:

Carl Sagan, I am at the Gym.
It has been years since your passing, and I am
Curling weights with magnificent ease.
I’m stronger than I’ve ever been
And the guy at the front desk knows me.

2. This is the truest thing I’ve seen in my life:
3. This is a 90s site of 60s lounge music and it’s awesome (via my friend Mike).

4. Don’t be like Brian:

1. Do you need to see panda antics set to Rossini? Yes you do.

2. Do we need to remember this? Yes we do.

pic.twitter.com/XvQZzcvRQw

— Mαtt Thomαs (@mattthomas) May 23, 2022

3. Do you need a groovy retro soundtrack for the long weekend? Probably. (It’s really good, just give it a few minutes to get going.)

1. We saw Everything Everywhere All At Once this week and it reminded me that, for as much as I love dumb movies with zero stakes, movies can be art. And also so well written and emotional and super funny. Go see it!

2. This has been living in my head all week:

3. This is a documentary:

@chitchatmark it really be like that 💀 #PassTheBIC #ComeDanceWithMe #ScreamItOut #ByeByeSundayBlues #skit #comedy #naturevalley ♬ Sopa de Caracol (Re-Master 2022) – Pilo Tejeda

1. Dracula Daily is breaking down the 1897 novel into emails, sent on the days the letters or journal entries are written in the book. Subscribe and catch up in the archives!

2. I’m Too Old for TikTok but I have an account now and I’m sorry, this is cinema:

@adrianblissMoses parts the Red Sea♬ original sound – Adrian Bliss

3. And now we’ve learned something for the week!

BY AND LARGE was originally a nautical expression, meaning to sail intermittently into and off the wind. The phrase later came more loosely to mean ‘in alternate directions’, and eventually ‘vaguely’ or ‘generally’. pic.twitter.com/kxgJA1aLmY

— Haggard Hawks 🦅 (@HaggardHawks) March 15, 2022

1. Well this week has been a lot. (I mean, they all seem like a lot and they have for about three years now, but this week was extra a lot). Can I suggest getting off social media for a while and throwing some money towards your local abortion fund?

2. This is actually a really great explainer about the em-dash and yes, I love it like this too:

when you love the em-dash pic.twitter.com/0XO8JfD7sG

— Alexis Gay (@yayalexisgay) November 30, 2021

3. I hope we can all have a weekend where we feel like happy mice at a slumber party:

1. Anne Helen Petersen writing in Bon Appetit: There Is No Such Thing as “Junk” Food. PREACH.

Food hierarchies dividing junk from everything else…are, in truth, sorting mechanisms. They’re a way of categorizing people by class, education, race, and size without saying you’re categorizing them by class, education, race, and size. And they are almost entirely maintained by those with the privileges and preferences that place them at the top of the hierarchy itself.

2. Sewing coverage in Bazaar: Learning to Sew at the End of the World. It’s pretty well-researched but I take issue with saying that sewing “is not for the faint of heart.” ANY skill has nuance that takes a lifetime to learn, but the basics of sewing are about as hard as the basics of driving a car. Most drivers aren’t at a Formula One level and that’s ok–just enjoy your hobby at any skill level and practice as much (or as little) as you want.

3. I found a cut of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis set to Kraftwerk and it looks great. I am looking forward to watching this tonight with the sound up and my brain OFF after a hard week.

This week has honestly felt like a month, and not just because of cold meds. (Good news: I can breathe through my nose and not my mouth today!) The weekend is going to be sunny and we’re taking my nephew to fancy brunch on Sunday. Let’s go.

1. Thinking about this Seamus Heaney quote I saw on poetry Instagram: “If we winter this one out, we can summer anywhere.”

2. We love to see it: “The ‘coasting’ workers who’ve checked out of their jobs”

“I’ve completely mentally checked out,” says Edward, whose surname is being withheld for job-security concerns. […] “Since I stopped caring, it’s as though a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders.”

3. Here for the Roman dad jokes: