Spooky Season [#127]

Halloween season is upon us, but what is more frightening than real life these days?

Hi, I’m here to interrupt your doom-scrolling of the Mideast crisis that’s "spiraling out of control” and watching the US House trying to elect a speaker for the umpeenth time this year.

For those of you invested in the first grade parent drama that drove our teacher to tears, the fracas resolved in a frosty peace. The teacher was successfully bullied into not giving tests anymore. What used to be tests are now called “practice,” and they are no longer graded. I have thoughts about this but we parents now just don’t talk about the disagreements in how our kids are taught, and I am avoiding socializing at class events as much as possible.

It’s spooky season and I still haven’t put up my scary mad scientist decoration that I like to hang from my porch each year because I’ve been too busy doom-scrolling. Hoping this edition includes links outside of what you’re already seeing.

Reading

On the horrors unfolding in Israel-Palestine, ”One war crime doesn’t excuse another.“ On choosing to not post about your outrage. The three things every couple fights about. How to fight for libraries. Recipes for comfort dishes. A fascinating deep dive on hiring pop stars for your private parties (h/t Friend Matt). The best celeb profiler writes-around a profile of Taylor Swift and I lapped up the whole thing. If you need an escape, I’m enjoying the lightweight romance novel, Lunar Love.

Werk Werk Werk

Weighed in on the class divide in Korean society, as reflected in a bleak new show on Paramount+, Bargain. And in major news, we closed the deal to sell the film option to Flawless! What that means is the producers now hold the rights to make a film out of it for the next 18 months, after which they can re-up the option for another fee, or release them back to me. So now I get to learn about filmmaking! Exciting exciting.

I’ll be at the Texas Book Festival next month and in conversation with the concert violinist and author Ling Ling Huang, whose book Natural Beauty is a cousin to Flawless, but a thrilling novel. We’re set for the Capitol Auditorium around noon on Saturday, November 11.

In LA, a reminder I’m doing a grand re-opening signing at the new Barnes and Noble in Marina del Rey on November 19th. Come on out!

Watch and/or Listen

• Starstruck is back for season 3! This is such a charming, digestible series, at only six-episode seasons. I love everyone on this show. Don’t miss it if you haven’t gotten on the Starstruck train yet.

• The Olivia Rodrigo cover of Stick Season

• No Hard Feelings, which I watched on a recommendation from my friend David Greene, who said he liked it so much when he watched it on a plane. Perhaps this is colored by both of us watching it on planes (and the crying-more-easily-on-planes phenomenon), but I thought No Hard Feelings was an underrated film.

Other Recommendations

Run Pee, an app you can set to vibrate in your pocket for the best times to get up and go to the bathroom during movies. I learned about it after I complained to my friend Stacey about the epically long Killers of the Flower Moon. Clocking in at 206 minutes that cannot be justified by the fantastic performances, Rob and I now have an running joke in which we ask (many days after seeing it) whether we’re at the halfway point of Killers yet.

Before I go … what are you going to be for Halloween? Leave me a note in the comments. Or give me costume ideas … I am pretty sure there’s still time to come up with something DIY!

Good to be back in your inbox. Please take breaks from the doomscrolling.

Until next time,

Elise