Mach’s Hard Lemonade, Pain and Glory, and On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
A featured article by Elizabeth Meyer and a podcast featuring an interview with director Andrew Ahn.
Welcome to the thirteenth installation of The Q: your one-stop weekly newsletter of culture recommendations. Can’t find a platform where you can receive condensed, reliable, pop-culture content? Yeah, we can’t either.
Every Saturday morning in your inbox, you’ll find a featured article, an album, a film, a playlist, a book, a video, and something funny we found that week. Oh, and a Two Virgins podcast episode, where Sam and Teresa talk about a recommendation while drinking virgin drinks. We also invite a guest onto the show every week (that guest could be you!)
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Featured Article
John Muir and the White Western by Elizabeth Meyer
What nobody told me about the West, perhaps out of fear of shattering a precocious, overly romantic white child’s dreams and illusions, was that the West could never belong to me because the West does not belong to white people at all. Of course, the ownership of land and whiteness is an issue that extends far beyond the West, but because I read John Muir in Sun Valley, we will focus on the rough area both Muir and I explored during our time in the mountains together.
Album
Mach’s Hard Lemonade by Mach-Hommy
If you want to purchase any one of Mach-Hommy's albums, be prepared to spend between 111 and 3,000 dollars. He charges what he feels his words are worth, and so far, his fans have been willing to pay for his music. Mach-Hommy has built his career as one of the least accessible yet most talented rappers of all time.
Film
Pain and Glory directed by Pedro Almodóvar
A quick Google search of Pain and Glory will lead you to this description: "Salvador Mallo, a famous film director, reflects on the choices he’s made in life as the past and present come crashing down around him.” However, this synopsis entirely misses one of the focal points of Pain and Glory, which actually explores the way the past is never entirely separate from the present. These tenses don’t suddenly come “crashing down” on the film’s protagonist; as the viewer comes to realize, the past and the present have always been intertwined in Salvador's art and his life.
Book
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is Ocean Vuong’s debut novel. His writing takes the form of a letter from a character named “Little Dog” (symbolizing Vuong himself) which is addressed to his single mother, who is unable to read. The author takes a very personal approach to writing; embedded throughout the book are flashbacks of moments he has shared with his mother, and other narratives as well. His and his family’s history is told in a nonlinear progression.
Playlist
Elisa’s Songs you forgot but I listen to on a daily basis features Sweedish House Mafia, Timbaland, and Zedd
Elisa’s favorite track: “The Man” by Aloe Black
Description: “This was a playlist I made where anyone could add a song they felt like related! It was awesome and so fun to know so many people have the same experience with music that I do, because the playlist is very circa 2012 middle school dance party vibes.”
Podcast
Two Virgins Episode #13: Iced Latte and an Interview with Andrew Ahn
On this week’s episode of Two Virgins, Sam and Teresa interview the acclaimed director Andrew Ahn. Ahn released Driveways, his second feature-length film, this year, and has received glowing reviews from the New York Times and Chicago Tribune, among many other publications. In this podcast, we talk to him about the process of making Driveways, how he aims to push underrepresented narratives in his films, and how to bring characters to life from a script.
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