Rec. #896: Three Newsletters

 

https://annehelen.substack.com/

Anne Helen Petersen's Culture Study

Latest post: "Who's Afraid of the Four Day Work Week?"

https://kateharding.substack.com/

Kate Harding's Feminism & Dogs

Latest post: "Don't F around with LRQ Pain"

https://lyz.substack.com/

Lyz Lenz's Men Yell at Me

Latest post: "Dingus of the Week: The National Review"

List #94: Best of 2019

The Allusionist: Best Language About Language, Rec. #855

The Art of Process: Best Art About Art, Rec. #863

Be Prepared: Best Reason to Stay Indoors, Rec. #851

Come From Away: Best Reminder That Not All of Humanity Is Terrible, Rec. #852

 
David Tennant Does a Podcast With ...: Best Listener, Rec. #847

The Guardian Blind Date: Best Vicarious Dating, Rec. #865

Knives Out: Best Time at the Movie Theater, Rec. #856

Nothing Like a Dame / Tea with the Dames: Best Overheard Conversations, Rec. #860

Alexandra Petri: Best Way to Reflect on the Year, Rec. #866

"Quite Good, Considering [Rosalind's a Nightmare]": Best Earworm, Rec. #858

Russian Doll: Best Worst Day, Rec. #846

Simone (The Good Place): Best Outfit for Any Situation, Rec. #854 

Superstore: Best Season-5-and-Going-Strong, Rec. #848

This Way Up: Best Depictions of Relatable Human Emotions, Rec. #862

Three Identical Strangers: Best Ripped-from-the-Headlines, Rec. #864

Alie Ward: Best Campaign Promise, Rec. #859

Wine Country: Best New Endless Rewatch Potential, Rec. #850

Rec. #866: Best Way to Reflect on the Year

Alexandra Petri's columns for The Washington Post are hilarious in a surreal, stab-you-in-the-neck way. Like much of 2019!

See Rec. #661 and Rec. #807 for a sampling and see her WaPo page for the full archive of her nearly 200 (!) columns from this year.

Rec. #865: Best Vicarious Dating

Every week The Guardian sets two people up as part of its Blind Date recurring feature. These are their stories ... more than 500 of them.

(Rec. #767)

Rec. #861: Give Money to Electric Literature

Electric Literature is "a nonprofit digital publisher with the mission to make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive."

It began as a quarterly journal in 2009, became a nonprofit in 2014, and has truly blossomed under the editor-in-chief reign of Jess Zimmerman (which began in 2017).

See the Electric Literature website for info on how to support its work.

For an example, see Rec. #616.

Rec. #823: Merz Apothecary

Chicago Series

What: Merz Apothecary, an institution of Chicago's Lincoln Square, is the place for all the personal care and healthcare products you didn't know you needed. It's particularly strong in homeopathic and international options.

How to get it: Nothing is quite like the reassuring, European-style pharmacy atmosphere of the actual store, but you can also order from Merz's significant selection of brands online at SmallFlower.com.

Rec. #793: Spoiler-Free Recap of Every Episode of Queer Eye

What: Captain Awkward is so, so great --- hilarious and smart and also wise in the ways of the world. "Spoiler-Free Recap of Every Episode of Queer Eye" is a very funny thing that she wrote.

Representative quote:
Tan: "Ok, let's back up. Could you NAME a color. Literally, any color, just say the word out loud."

How to get it: Read it on Captain Awkward's Patreon. This piece is free by now, but while you're there, buy her a cup of coffee.

Connections to previous Wreckage: See more about Captain Awkward on Rec. #487 and Rec. #705.

Rec. #788: Strand Tote Bags

What: Of course, the Strand is a major NYC bookseller, with its taglined "18 miles of books." You may not have realized, though, that it's also a great place to purchase bags for carrying your new books (or whatever).

The bags come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and designs. Crucially for me, many of the totes now have zippered main pockets and interior pockets, making them ideal for travel. 

Comparable to: Tempted by Baggu? Do this instead and support an independent bookseller.

How to get it: If you're in NYC, la-di-da, good for you, go in person. If you're not, you can also browse and buy on the Strand website.

While you're there, you might also check out their current petition.

Rec. #767: The Guardian's "Blind Date" Series

What: Blind Date has been a regular feature in The Guardian for years, and it is *fascinating*. Every week, the paper matches two readers up and pays for their dinner together.

The blind daters report back via a questionnaire that touches on awkward moments, expectations, and whether they'd introduce their date to their friends. They also each rate the date on a scale of 1-10.

Common themes: Restaurants seating the dates at separate tables, plate sharing, people describing their own friends as "vicious" 

How to get it: You can dive into more than 500 blind date stories in the Guardian's online archive.

Rec. #764: The Outrage

Oona against the patriarchy

What: The Outrage is a DC-based, female-founded activist clothing company. A percentage of every purchase is donated to progressive organizations, including Black Lives Matter, the ACLU, the National Organization for Women, and Capital Pride Alliance.

Representative merch: "OMG GOP WTF" dog tank, "Thoughts & prayers Policy & change" t-shirt, "Plank like RBG" water bottle, "There is no Planet B" kids t-shirt, "Black Lives Matter" sweatshirt dress

How to get it: Shop the store online, or visit in person at storefronts in DC and Philadelphia.

Rec. #761: Treemail in Australia

What: This story is from a few years ago, but it's lovely. In 2015, the Melbourne city council mapped every tree in the city to better track any that were struggling. They assigned each tree a digital ID and email address so people could report issues they saw.

People took those email addresses and started writing personal messages to the trees, sending them thanks and good wishes and compliments. The mapping project is still going strong, and one can only hope that the positive messages are as well.

How to get it: Read the BBC story here to see some examples of messages people have sent. Explore the map here. Click on any tree to find its email address.

List #71: Best of 2018

The Big Family Cooking Showdown: Best Replacement for the BBC's Great British Bake Off, Rec. #717

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Most Positive TV Twist, Rec. #707

Burn, Burn, Burn: Best Road Trip, Rec. #723

Can You Ever Forgive Me?: Best Return of the '90s Snarky Brunettes, Rec. #743

Captain Awkward: Best Advice on the Internet, Rec. #705

Check, Please: Best Webcomic Now in Print, Rec. #735

Chess: Best Live Musical Performance, Rec. #721

Colossal: Best I-Guess-It's-Technically-SciFi, Rec. #713

"DecaDance/Chicago": Best Live Dance Performance, Rec. #703

Dogs on Twitter: Best Reason Not to Rage-Quit the Internet, Rec. #747

Dr. Gameshow: Best Way to Keep Up with NYC Comedy When You're Not in NYC, Rec. #719

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Best Place to Discover New Sketch Comedy Duos, Rec. #749

An Emmy for Megan: Best Short Form Comedy Concept, Rec. #751

Flo & Joan: Best Musical Comedy Duo, Rec. #709

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee: Best Righteous Fury on the Screen, Rec. #739

Janeane Garofalo: Best Return of the '90s Snarky Brunettes, Rec. #743

Giant Days: Best Continuing Comic Book Series, Rec. #711

Good and Mad: Best Righteous Fury on the Page, Rec. #737

The Good Place: Best Recent Evidence of the Genius of Allison Jones, Casting Director, Rec. #745

The Good Place: Most Deserving of Implicit Trust, Rec. #757

The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4): Best Replacement for the BBC's Great British Bake Off, Rec. #717

The Guardian: Best Photography Curation, Rec. #729

Making It: Best Replacement for the BBC's Great British Bake Off, Rec. #717

Only Connect and Victoria Coren Mitchell: Best Match of Host with Show, Rec. #755

Paddington 2: Best Movie Featuring Sally Hawkins Underwater, Rec. #701

Helen Rosner: Best Insight Into the Food World for Non-Foodies, Rec. #715

Schitt's Creek: Best Serenades, Rec. #733

The Spy Who Dumped Me: Best Buddy Comedy, Rec. #725

Taskmaster: Best Embrace of Meaninglessness, Rec. #731

Louis Virtel: Most Welcome Podcast Guest, Rec. #753

Visages Villages: Best Road Trip That Is Also a Buddy Comedy, Rec. #727

W1A: Best Faux Documentary, Rec. #741

You're on an Airplane: Best Return of the '90s Snarky Brunettes, Rec. #743

Rec. #705: Best Advice on the Internet

***BEST OF 2018***

Captain Awkward answers reader questions intelligently and compassionately. She is particularly stellar at providing sample scripts for difficult conversations.

(see Rec. #487)

Rec. #641: TwitRSS

What: I am a fervent proponent of RSS readers (see Rec. #404). I genuinely don't know how you prevent the internet from making you insane without one.

TwitRSS.me is a great tool that generates an RSS feed for any Twitter account. This means you can easily create your own Twitter timeline without any of Twitter's "promoted" tweets or noise from accounts you don't follow. You don't even need to have a Twitter account yourself.

How to get it: First, you'll need an RSS reader (again, see Rec. #404). I promise they're easy to set up and use, and they solve so many of the common complaints people have about getting content online.

Rec. #595: Alexis Says "David!"

What: If you haven't already, I suggest you get past the unfortunate title and embrace the joy of Schitt's Creek. It's good-hearted and snarky and clever, with a very Canadian sensibility. It also has Catherine O'Hara (!) and multiple members of the Levy family.

With this video, though, the spotlight is on Annie Murphy as Alexis, and the many and varied ways she says her brother's name.

Representative quote: "You know what, David? You get murdered first for once."

Most typical Alexis quote: "Ew, David."

Connections to previous Wreckage: Schitt's Creek was part of List #59 and List #65. You can see more of the magic sibling chemistry between Annie Murphy and Dan Levy with Rec. #490.

Also, this particular video might call to mind another favorite compilation video - the classic "What Ho."

Rec. #565: Joseph's Machines

What: The YouTube channel Joseph's Machines is full of videos showing Rube Goldberg machines in action. Their creator, Joseph Herscher, is from New Zealand, so you also get a Kiwi accent as a bonus.

How to get it: There's the aforementioned YouTube channel and also the Joseph's Machines website.

Rec. #564: What's on the Menu?

What: The New York Public Library is transcribing their collection of 45,000 historical restaurant menus to make them searchable. You can help!

No need to register or create an account or anything -- just jump in. While you're there, browse around by dish or decade, or check out some of the cool visualizations that have come from the data already captured (e.g., "sanka").

How to get it: Transcribe, review, and geotag as part of the What's on the Menu? project.

Rec. #544: Three Dog GIFs

Still doing this Cute Week thing, goddammit.

Source: Posted by Dogs of Instagram (@Insta_dogs), November 2017.

Source: The wilds of Tumblr ... I don't know the original source. I'm sorry. 

Source: Posted by Ranger (@ranger_thegshepherd), January 2018. The original Instagram post has very important audio.

Rec. #543: Bears Playing with a Balloon

OK, that's it. We are having a goddamn Cute Week.

What: It's a short video of three bears playing with a pink balloon. A longer version, with commentary, is available here.

Provenance: It seems to have originated from Xaviera Simons via Facebook in March 2016.