-C'Mon 'N Ride THIS Train

Hello from not-Joy! Hi, it’s me, Kim, aka Joy’s “Villain Blogger.” Too soon? Apologies to whoever thought they were insulting me by calling me that, but I was long overdue for a rebrand and have fully integrated ‘villain blogger’ into my personality. However, do please get in touch because I would like to invoice you for all the jackets I had monogrammed with my new initials, “VB.”

This month we’re talking about friends writing books, who still uses email, a new TikTok trend, Jock Jams, and so much more. Let’s get into it!

• Some of my friends write books, and when one of their books comes out, I go in real hard. Mary Laura Philpott’s latest memoir, Bomb Shelter, releases on April 12. I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy and this review in The New York Times perfectly captures what it felt like to read this book. Buy a copy at Mary Laura’s hometown bookstore and catch her on book tour. (The New York Times, Parnassus Books, Mary Laura Philpott)

• One of the things I love about this community Joy has created is that we come from all over the age spectrum. When I read this piece from Margaret Renkl about email I thought, oh, we are all going to have wildly different reactions to this. So I’m curious, what is your reaction, and do you check your email? (The New York Times)

• I am 45 years old. I had to Google what “short king spring” means. Turns out, it is an earnest movement with the goal of destigmatizing men shorter than 6’ tall. My ministry is body diversity, so I support this. Short king hive, sound off in the comments. (Vice)

• As someone who has spent zero time playing or watching sports, I have a nonsensical love of Jock Jams. I blame it on being in college in the nineties and spending years dancing to Quad City DJ’s at fraternity parties. I digress. This episode of Object of Sound is the history of Jock Jams you didn’t know you needed. (Simplecast)

• Do you know about Cafe Hailee? My friend Nicole and I are obsessed with her cooking videos. I came across her on TikTok and was pleased to see that she’s also on Instagram and has a very cute website with all of her recipes. This recipe for brown butter cornbread is high on my list. (Instagram, Cafe Hailee)

• I subscribe to Leave it to Leanor because I’m a sucker for a succinct list of recommendations. This past week Leonor handed her newsletter off to Erin E. Evans, a senior editor at HuffPost. I want to co-sign all of Erin’s recommendations, but especially Starstruck on HBO. It’s one of my favorite shows. (Tinyletter, Twitter)

• April is national poetry month. I used to work in a bookstore, so I know how many of us feel intimidated by poetry. What if we all read one poem this month? And what if it’s this poem by Tiana Clark? If you have a go-to poem or poet, drop it in the comments. (Sierra Club)

• There is so much good tv out right now that over the weekend my friend and I were joking that we’re going to make a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. A show I completely forgot about is Julia on HBO. Has anyone already watched this? Should I add it to my spreadsheet? (NPR)

• My husband loves board games, but I do not and we have never thought to investigate this. Well, that is until I listened to episode 28 of the podcast, This is Good for You. This episode is about how different people like different types of board games. Who knew? Turns out, I do like board games. I just don’t like the same ones my husband likes. (This Is Good For You)

• I don’t typically wear a bright red lip this time of year, but I didn’t leave the house unmasked this winter and I’m craving a red lip. Unfortunately all of my lipsticks went bad during the pandemic, so I just bought new ones. In case you also need new red lipstick, here’s what I bought: Stila Beso and MAC Lady Danger. I’ve also heard good things about MILK Name Drop. (Ulta, Sephora) 

Thanks for reading! See you in the comments. Be nice this time.

Kim