Things I love this week: What to read, watch, buy + enjoy

Gladiators and zombies, staying "cool" while aging, processing grief over a disconnected telephone in the woods.

Welcome to so many new readers this week! I’m really honored to have you here and I hope to make it worth your while.

While the majority of my newsletters are for everyone, Things I Love lists are one perk I offer just to my kindly and benevolent paid subscribers, in part because they take me so long to put together, and in part because I provide gift article links where I can, so you don’t hit paywalls.

Enjoy. (And thank you for all the birthday wishes last week, and for sharing your own remembrances of 9/11. It meant a lot to me.)

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Joey, Do You Like Movies About Gladiators?

Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

I have become obsessed with the TikTok trend in which women ask their boyfriends or husbands how often they think about the Roman Empire. One of the more common responses: “you mean how often a day? Or how often a week?”

This article in Time explains it.

Oh, and I asked Jon and he said about twice a month, which seems reasonable to me.

(Bonus points if you understand my headline reference, by the way. You’re my people.)

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Going off the Rails on a Crazy Train

I love zombie movies. Oh man do I love zombie movies, and if you asked me to pick between Sean of the Dead and The Notebook, I would pick Sean of the Dead every time. (Then again, I would rather watch C-Span than The Notebook and that tells you a whole lot about me. Nice to meet you.)

This week, we re-watched Train to Busan, Yeon Sang-ho’s spectacularly thrilling and remarkably soulful film that takes place almost entirely…(wait for it) on a train. A train filled with zombies.

There’s none of that cliché “Commander, we must determine the source of the outbreak!” It’s all about love, family, humanity, and a class divide laid bare; sometimes people who have the most can often be the least generous—also a theme in the real zombie-free world these days.

I will say nothing more except that it’s Korean, and it’s wonderfully acted, especially by Gong Yoo, who you may recognize as Squid Game’s mysterious salesman who hands out the cool business cards.

The movie is leaving Amazon Prime in the next two weeks so go! Add to queue!

If you’re like ew, zombie movies then this one isn’t for you or…maybe it IS for you. As long as you can get over, you know, the whole undead people eating other people’s organs thing.

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She Dreams In Color

My friend Jenny Lawson just launched a Substack and is giving away a new adult coloring page to download each week. And by adult coloring page I don’t mean drawings of Ron Jeremy or Lauren Bobert attending a Beetlejuice production, but…it’s Jenny so you never know, do you. Subscribe! We’ll find out!

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“A Phone for Memories and Saying Goodbye”

Photo: @lukergjphoto for The Seattle Times)

Over decades as a grief counselor, Taryn Lindhorst has often heard from clients that death feels like someone is out of town, but they don’t have their phone. Talking directly to someone, rather than talking about them, is a different process for brains and hearts.

“We are in this constant state of trying to continue the relationship, whether the person is here or not,” said Lindhorst, University of Washington’s Behar professor of oncology and palliative social work. “The wind phones are a very interesting artistic expression for that longing to be in a relationship.”

I have written a lot about grief this summer, and was riveted by this piece about Japanese Wind Phones installed in quiet, beautiful places. They allow people to “call” someone they’ve lost and to say what they need to say…despite the phone being connected to nothing. (Paige Cornwell for the Seattle Times)