Movies and Shows:

The White Queen – The White Queen is a period drama produced by the BBC, originally broadcast in 2013. I wasn’t familiar with it but my parents had seen it together and about a month ago my mom suggested we watch it together. The show takes place during the War of the Roses in medieval England and bases itself on actual historic events and the royalty of the time. Watching the show I suddenly realized how different our lives are to those of the English royalty of the time, which was obsessed with the crown, with survival, with the continuation of its (royal) bloodline. The show concerns itself with important issues like women’s place in society, religion, economics, social norms, war, family, and survival. I recommend this show to all fans of the genre. It may not be particularly historically accurate as some of the beliefs of the period regarding the power of religion and witchcraft receive quite a bit of focus pushing it close to the fantasy genre (at least in my opinion). Of course there’s also quite a lot of stuff we don’t quite know about the royals of the time. In any case the show is fascinating and very well worth a watch.

Psych – One of the most charming shows I know, with a nostalgic mid-2000’s vibe. It’s a comedy that plays with the audience’s expectations of the buddy-cop/detective genre for a fun and absurd basis for a show. Shawn Spencer (the protagonist) is a young man with a photographic memory and excellent observation skills. His father, Henry Spencer, is a divorced, retired cop. After the divorce Henry raised Shawn mostly on his own, teaching him how to hone his special skills. The show starts with Shawn being hired by the Santa Barbara police department after convincing them that he’s a psychic by solving mysteries and crimes. He does this using his skills, which he calls “supernatural powers”, but also with the help of his best friend since childhood and sidekick, Burton “Gus” Guster. The two start their own private detective agency. Basically, it’s a light, funny, interesting show.

Luckiest Girl Alive – This Netflix movie is a psychological thriller based on a book of the same name. Mila Kunis stars in a leading role and does a great job of it, it’s obvious that the part was very important to her. The movie discusses rape culture and the effects of sexual assault and trauma on the rest of your life as an adult, on your body image and social mobility, in this way the movie reminded me of the brilliant film “Promising Young Woman”. I recommend this movie to anyone who is even kind of interested in this topics, although I will warn that the movie deals with sexual violence and, for anyone who might find this a trigger, it’s not worth it.

Triangle of Sadness – My parents, Tom and I went to see “Triangle of Sadness” in the cinema one evening spontaneously. We went in without watching the trailer or knowing what the movie is about, just that it took first place at the Cannes film festival. I have to say that I can’t recommend this movie to anyone with a weak heart or anyone with a serious distaste for the grotesque as even I had to close my eyes during certain parts. This is a very, very! VERY! Weird movie! And sometimes gross, often absurd. The reason I’m mentioning it despite all this, as one of my October favorites, is that it just won’t get out of my head, even a month later. A little about the movie – it deals with the lives of the 1% in a situation in which the gluttony and the “I will have exactly what I ask for” state of mind lead to everything going wrong, a pleasure cruise ends in shipwreck and a survival experience with a completely different social hierarchy in which those who were once weak are now strong. There’s a lot of social theory, philosophy, and economics strewn about the movie. One moment that really encapsulates the grotesquery of the upper echelons is the opening scene of the movie, wherein a man being absolutely gross plays with the male models waiting to audition at a modelling agency. I’ll add a link to this scene here and highly recommend the movie to any film buff, it’ll keep you thinking for weeks.

Music:

Anti Hero by Taylor Swift – Taylor Swift’s new album came out and with it came the single “Anti Hero”, a wonderful song that’s been looping in my head, along with a charming 70’s inspired music video. In general I really enjoyed this new album and I’ll take this opportunity to mention some other songs I liked from it – “Mastermind”, “You’re On Your Own Kid”. “Anti Hero” has seriously been stuck in my head for several days, which drives me to listen to it on loop, and I guess that’s the charm of the songs musicians decide to put out as singles, they’re infectious.

Harry’s House by Harry Styles – This is my favorite album of Harry Styles’, there isn’t a single song on there I don’t absolutely love and I listen to each and every one on repeat. I’ve listened to this album dozens of times and I intend to buy the vinyl record. My costume for this Halloween was inspired by the music video for one of the songs on this album and you’ll have to stay tuned to read all about it .

Mary On A Cross – My sister introduced me to this song and for a few days I couldn’t get it out of my head, turns out it was very popular on Tik Tok. The song feels almost medieval, at least what I know of medieval music from movies and TV. It’s a fun, kinda funny-disturbing song, which makes it all the more fun, and it’s very very catchy. Give it a listen if it sounds like your kinda song.

Face It Alone by Queen – This is a new-old song by the amazing band Queen. The song was recorded in 1988 for the album The Miracle and only saw the light of day recently. The more I listen to it the more it grows on me, there’s a certain metallic/electronic quality to it, as in, it’s clear there was some modern intervention in the original rendition, it doesn’t have the same raw, rugged quality other Queen songs have, possibly because of today’s processing. Anyway, I’m sure anyone who loves Freddie like I do and misses his voice will be happy to hear this song, and get to hear more Freddie.

Zombies – While I was in NYC about a month and a half ago I was feeling lonely one night, all alone in my room, missing Tom badly. I turned on the TV looking for something comforting and what I found was the Disney Channel. I left it on in the background while I packed for the next day, charging whatever needs charging and getting ready for bed. At some point, songs from the Disney movie series Zombies started playing. Of these I really liked two, including their videos. The first is “Someday”, where I really liked the creative use of the lamp with a round base and a colander. If you watch the music video you’ll see what I mean. I liked the song itself too, the beat and the choreography. The second song I liked was “Ain’t No Doubt About It”. I liked the choreography here even better, not to mention the use of the art and props as part of the choreography. I felt really inspired by the songs and I was excited to watch the movies for some more inspiration, and then one night, back in Israel, I watched the first movie and realized I did not like the movie or the plot or the characters or any of the other songs. So I do not recommend watching anything besides these two specific songs.

:F&B

Pumpkin Pie – There aren’t enough words and compliments in the English language to describe how much I love this autumnal tradition. Every year in October Tom bakes a pumpkin pie, and this year he went way overboard and made TWO pies and they were both gone within a week. I’m pretty sure one of the many reasons I feel butterflies in my stomach & in love with Tom is because the way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach and Tom can cook and bake! I’ll add that fall’s only really just begun so maybe we need to celebrate it with another pie, what do you think? I’m personally getting hungry! If you wanna read more about my fall plans click here.

Coffee – When I went to NYC on business I did very little shopping, and what I did buy was very carefully chosen. One of these was some of Starbucks’ Whiskey Barrel Aged Coffee. If you’re regular readers of my blog or if you’ve spoken with me for 30 seconds you’d know I’m obsessed with coffee. It’s a love story that’s only gotten more serious since Tom and I started dating. I bought this coffee for Tom who likes whiskey. I thought the flavors could be interesting and it might be something he’s never tasted before. So what is “whiskey barrel aged coffee”? According to some quick internet research, it’s a process wherein green (as in, not-yet-roasted) coffee beans are aged for some time in barrels which once housed whiskey. The result is coffee with a delicate chocolatey sweetness along with spices coming from the oak barrel and the traces which the whiskey left in it. After I came home and unpacked, Tom brewed us some coffee with these beans. The house was immediately filled with fragrances of coffee, whiskey (minus the alcohol), and chocolate. The more I had of it the more I fell in love with the whiskey-ness of this coffee, and today I rue the fact I didn’t buy more of it because it was amazing! So if you find yourself at the Starbucks Reserve in NYC I suggest you try the whiskey barrel aged coffee, and maybe get me a bag of the beans, too.

Writing:

Writing for the blog and writing in general is something I struggle with, it’s a private little war. A war to distil my thoughts into bullet points I can then expand on in writing, a battle to organize and separate facts, thoughts, feelings, and narratives. Writing helps me reorder my mind, when I read things I wrote in the past it feels like opening up a diary or a time capsule, I remember how I felt, what I thought, what I wanted. Some of these things are still relevant and some become distant memories. When I sit down and write for the blog, the act of forcing myself to write or create takes a lot out of me, but when I’m done writing and I let others read what I’ve written I feel a huge sense of pride and satisfaction for hanging in there and creating something with no more than a laptop, some words and time.

Now I’d like to hear from you, what did you do this October?
How do you feel about the fall?
What were your favorite things this month?
If you’d like to check out my fall to-do list, click here.
As always I’d love to hear from you about anything and everything, so contact me on Instagram or on Facebook!

-Sapir-