Weekly Report: July 3-9

Watched: Shrinking (Apple TV+) (still in progress)

I started this because it’s co-created by Brett Goldstein, my current celebrity crush, and because I heard good things from my brother and my dear friend Cyl (two very reliable recommendation sources). It’s a story with grief at the center, and so far they’re really masterfully threading the needle between the pain of that and some really great comedy. It’s one of those shows that comes right up to the edge of making me cringe with the realness of how messy grieving can be and how often grieving people make terrible choices, but so far they’ve been handling it really well and resolving it in a way that feels good to me. More to come when I finish it!

Listened To: But Here We Are by Foo Fighters

I did not do this on purpose, but this album is also completely centered in grief - their drummer (Taylor Hawkins) and Dave Grohl’s mom both died in 2022, and lyrically it’s so clearly about what comes along with that: the shock and the disruption and the sadness and the love that doesn’t have anyplace to go anymore. Musically, it is very familiar Foo Fighters territory, which sounds like it was deliberate - a statement that they released with the album references that they are “sonically channeling” their 1995 debut album. I found it really sad and really beautiful, and something I can see coming back to many times.

Read:

• Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey (still in progress)

• The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman (still in progress)

Made:

• knitting project: a confidential overdue gift (still in progress)

• Mushroom Marsala Pasta Bake from Smitten Kitchen for a friend recovering from surgery