Five for the Weekend
A brief weekly send-off with a few things that are good.
- This trailer for Hamnet caused me to start weeping almost immediately, which is usually a good indication that I will enjoy a film, or at least not mind being emotionally manipulated by it. I haven't read the 2021 Maggie O'Farrell novel it's based upon, but I'm here for Chloe Zhao and Jessie Buckley. I'm also pleased that everyone in the trailer looks filthy in a period-appropriate way, given the medieval setting.
- Lily King's Heart the Lover. I just finished King's latest novel, and (along with at least three other friends) loved it. A prequel of sorts to her 2020 novel Writers & Lovers (which I also loved), it's a propulsive, funny, and emotionally intelligent account of love and friendship.
- Nargisse Benkabbou's cheesy tuna and tomato orzo recipe is everything that is good about one-pot meals, cold weather, and orzo.
- Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Rodgers & Hart Songbook. I have yet to see Richard Linklater's Blue Moon, but in a recent interview Ethan Hawke, who plays Lorenz Hart in the film, mentioned his appreciation for Fitzgerald's 1956 album. Predictably, it is magnificent, a work of surpassing, giddy beauty and also an ideal soundtrack for a grey fall day.
- Le Bon Shoppe's cloud socks. I have never been a sock person, which gets awkward in the winter because I have an auto-immune issue that more or less turns my feet into mobile Yeti coolers. But Le Bon Shoppe has made me into a late-blooming sock person, and its supremely soft and cushy cloud socks have made me into a sock evangelist. Life and consumer products can take you to strange places.
