Birdbuddy, The Righteous Gemstones, and Yellowface
Summer 2023 Round-Up
Welcome to your Summer 2023 Round-Up!
Every three months, I put together a list of all of my favorites from the most recent season across a handful of categories, including what I’ve been listening to, watching, purchasing, and more. Note that all affiliate links will be clearly marked with an asterisk.
So, without further ado, lezzzz get into it!
Music I’ve Been Vibing With
I didn’t listen to too many full albums this summer, but Barbie The Album served up bop after bop. Kudos to Greta Gerwig et. al for this magical listening experience.
There was also the release of GUTS, Olivia Rodrigo’s much-anticipated sophomore album. While I don’t like it quite as much as her first record, I do think it’s a great album where she had the opportunity to experiment with some really fun stuff. My stand-outs are “all-american bitch,” “lacy,” and “love is embarrassing.”
Besides those full albums, here are some songs I've had on rotation:
“Vertigo” – Griff
“ME BECAUSE OF YOU - Indigo Kxd Remix” – HRVY, Indigo Kxd
“I Think I’m in Love” – Taylor Acorn
“i hate love” – Kelly Clarkson feat. Steve Martin
“Casual” – Chappell Roan
“Minute” – Kim Petras
What I’ve Been Watching
This summer I finished watching the most recent season of The Righteous Gemstones, a show that continues to be ridiculous (and hilarious) in every possible way. The third season honestly ended so perfectly that I wasn’t sure if there was going to be another season, so I was excited to see season 4 is happening.
If you haven’t heard of the show, it’s a comedy on Max (formerly HBO) about an obscenely rich televangelist family that runs a megachurch, and it features a big-name cast, including John Goodman, Danny McBride, Adam Devine, and Edi Patterson. A lot of the humor is pretty raunchy, which normally isn’t my thing, but when it comes to this show it just works.
We recently watched all four episodes of Kristen Kish’s Restaurants at the End of the World on Hulu, and we were left wanting more! It’s a combo travel + food show (not unlike Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown) with a gorgeous lesbian 👀 at the helm. Content warning from your friendly neighborhood pescatarian: there is some live animal slaughter/fishing/etc. I cover my eyes for those parts, personally, but be aware
For competition shows, I finally jumped on Tan France’s Next in Fashion train on Netflix. Back in college I was a huge Project Runway fan, so it gives me flashbacks to Tim Gunn presiding over the workroom. I’ve finished the first season, and now I’m starting the second one (I’m already happy to see they’ve moved away from the model of competing in pairs at the start).
I’m also into a lot of the seasonal competition shows, which means we’ve been eating up the new episodes of Outrageous Pumpkins, Halloween Baking Championship, and Halloween Wars (all Food Network shows you can access on Max). You have to suffer through the immense corniness of the hosts and judges, but it’s worth it to see the cool stuff people create.
And, of course, we’re watching Season 5 of Love is Blind because we just can’t help ourselves. 😅 However, if Nick and Vanessa Lachey don’t get replaced as the hosts on LIB and The Ultimatum, I swear I might riot.
For My Book Nerds
In July, I met my 2023 Reading Goal of 35 books a whole five months early, and now I’m up to 42 books for the year. I will have read more books this year than I’ve read in a year in a veryyyyy long time, and I’ve loved tapping back into my book nerd soul.
I also made the switch from Goodreads to The StoryGraph after using both for a few months to get the feel for The StoryGraph. The most annoying part is transferring your data over and playing with it to make sure you retain all the important information, but I much prefer the interface, the ability to rate books with quarter and half stars, and other features that Goodreads users have been begging for to no avail for years. If you’re on the app, come find me!
Some books I read and enjoyed in the last few months:
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang* – Wow, wow, wow. The story of a white author stealing a manuscript from her queer Asian friend after she dies and passing it off as her own was already appealing to me as an aspiring author who’s a queer POC, and the demented trajectory of this book and sheer awfulness of the MC kept me hooked the whole time.
Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman* – While technically a “productivity” book, it was ultimately more of a philosophy book that examines the issues with traditional productivity books, and I took away some really great nuggets as someone who always feels pressed for time.
Financial Feminist: Overcome the Patriarchy’s Bullsh*t to Master Your Money and Build a Life You Love by Tori Dunlap* – I’ve followed Tori online (@herfirst100K) for a while, and she gives a lot of practical, non-shamey financial advice (Dave Ramsey is her nemesis). While I already knew most of what’s in this book, I’ve also spent the last several years of my life improving my relationship with money and trying to get my finances in order. This book is a great primer for people who feel like they have no idea where to start with that work.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune* – This fantasy book was so funny and heartwarming and QUEER, and I really liked it. I was so fond of all the characters, especially Talia, Lucy, Theodore, and Arthur. I do want to give a warning, however, that after reading it, I learned from reviews that part of TJ’s inspiration for writing it was the “Sixties Scoop,” which a lot of people have taken issue with.
Look Closer by David Ellis* – I rarely read thrillers or books written by straight white men, but damn, this book had me on the edge of my seat the whole freakin’ time. The multiple storylines and how they all weaved together felt like a masterclass, and since I went to law school in Chicago, I was delighted that the story revolves around a law professor in Chitown. The event at the center of this book takes place on Halloween, so I think this book would be especially fun to read in October. 👻
Products I Recommend
Jessie’s birthday was in July, and I bought her a Birdbuddy Smart Bird Feeder after seeing my friend Mia post about how much they loved theirs. I got Jessie the one with a solar roof so that the battery charges itself, and getting daily “postcards” from the app with photos and videos has been such a fun addition to our lives. The software also uses AI to attempt to ID the birds!
I purchased the wall mount accessory, and we originally had the feeder placed on our fence using that. But it was too easy for the squirrels to get to the feeder (and we already feed them other snacks!), so we purchased a pole and used some wood to attach the bird feeder to that instead. We also got a squirrel baffle so those fluffy little ninjas can’t climb the pole.
Birdbuddy emailed me a friends & family discount code for up to 40% off on their feeders (it’s not an affiliate link), so feel free to use it to get yourself one! The code is: fufb-xgqj-rcyn. Happy backyard birding!
This past year I began the process of slowly replacing all of my pots and pans with higher quality ones that wouldn’t have to be replaced so often, and I am now an Our Place junkie. Not only am I a sucker for the gorgeous colors (I buy everything in Lavender), they just make great cookware. The nonstick is *chef’s kiss.*
I have the Always Pan in all three sizes, the Cast Iron Always Pan in both sizes, the Perfect Pot in both sizes, and the Oven Pan. Thankfully they have a great rewards program and you can get a discount for buying sets, so I’ve been able to save a significant amount of money on all of my cookware. If you’re interested in getting some goodies for yourself, you can use this link* to get $20 off your first purchase of at least $100 (which also earns me rewards program points).
Other products I’m loving right now include:
The Kroger Sunscreen Invisible Gel, which is a more affordable dupe for the Supergoop Unseen Sunscreen. It can be difficult to track down, but I love that it doesn’t make my face greasy and shiny.
These KF94 Face Masks.* I’d been wearing N95s for the past several years even though they are extremely uncomfortable on my face shape. I finally made the switch to these adjustable KF94s, and I’m so glad I did.
We enjoyed this Woodland Magic mushrooms puzzle* so much that Jessie had me glue it together for her to keep it as artwork. Currently, we’re working on this Solar System puzzle* one of y’all sent me from my Amazon Wishlist, and it’s super fun too.
I have been using The Ordinary Multi-Peptide Lash and Brow Serum for the last couple of months, and I’m a fan. My eyelashes are noticeably longer, and I have little hairs coming in in multiple sparse areas of my brows that haven’t seen hair since I started overplucking in the early 2000’s. 😅
Miscellaneous
Anything that doesn’t fit into the other categories has a home here:
I want to point you in the direction of adrienne maree brown’s episode of We Can Do Hard Things because it was a sermon of epic proportion.
I was amused by the episode of If Books Could Kill about the book Atomic Habits. Will *I* tear a book to shreds as part of my content? No. But will I giggle as someone else puts a book in its place? You bet.
That’s all for this round-up, folks! If you have questions or want to chat about anything I included, don’t hesitate to comment (if you’re a paid subscriber) or reach out via email. You can also find all of the past round-ups you may have missed here.
Queerly yours,
Shohreh
*Links with an asterisk are affiliate links. If you purchase items using those links, I may be eligible for a small commission which helps support my writing and other content.
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