5-4-3-2-1: Gingerbread houses, Selena Gomez, and Little Moons

#5 in my cultural-roundup-meets-personal-diary series.

Nov 15, 2022

Hi friends,

Welcome to the latest 5-4-3-2-1, my cultural-roundup-meets-personal-diary series. I’m writing this one from a friend’s sofa in rainy Birmingham. Mischievous Coco the calico has been my little helper.

Coco, whatchoo lookin for, huh? (Probably the laser)

Without further ado, in the last few weeks…

5 things I came across on the internet:

(5) NYC’s neighborhoods as gingerbread houses, thanks to this article in Timeout New York. Apparently, there was ‘The Great Five Borough Bake-off’ (a riff on the baking competition show, The Great British Bake Off), in which competitors made gingerbread houses to represent different neighborhoods. Cute!

Astoria, Queens by Sherry Kozlowski. Image from Timeout.

(4) This essay about antisemitism in the beauty industry by Lyndsey Fox, shared in Jessica Defino’s Substack, the Unpublishable. Fox writes, ‘I wonder what it’s like to wake up after a nose job and know the world demands you pay money to break your bones before it will find you beautiful.’

(3) Emrata and Pete Davidson are reportedly dating. No one saw this one coming.

I realize this will mean nothing to you if you don’t follow celebrity drama.

(2) This Insta account, @makingshit, with THE CUTEST and SASSIEST drawings. There are too many faves, but this one deserves a shoutout.

‘I accidentally woke up sexy and smart’ by @makingshit.

(1) Visionary architecture (or imaginary architecture), digital renderings of architecture that does not exist in real life (often with dreamy or visionary characteristics, and not necessarily for the purpose of building). Artist Alexis Christodoulou (@teaaalexis on Insta) even sells his renderings as NFTs.

4 things I watched:

(4) The Selena Gomez Doc, My Mind and Me. It’s meant to help de-stigmatize talking about and struggling with mental health, but mostly it just made me sad and think that Selena needs better people around her who tell her she can stop at any point. I also thought it was lazy as a documentary. That being said, I don’t think Selena owes us anything when it comes to sharing her life, and there are fans who feel less alone because of what she’s doing. I do think there comes a point where it’s important to move beyond de-stigmatization alone, though, and start talking about how, as a society, we make and keep people unwell.

(3) The Crown, Season 5. Well, the first two episodes. Honestly, I’m a bit bored and underwhelmed, even though it’s the Diana years. Anyone else?

(2) The Kardashians, Season 2. I’m not sure why I’m admitting this to you, but you’re not alone if you watch trashy tv. This show also reminds me that no matter how famous or beautiful or wealthy you are, men will still treat you like poop! (There was a similar theme in the Billie Eilish documentary I watched ages ago on Apple, too).

(1) Everything ‘Call Her Daddy’ Host Alexandra Cooper Eats in a Day, on Harper’s BAZAAR. I honestly didn’t know who Cooper was until that controversial Hailey Bieber interview, but apparently her podcast is the number 1 podcast on Spotify. I found this video really refreshing and fun for someone who lives in LA.

3 pieces of advice I received on writing:

(3) This interview with Ray Bradbury in The Paris Review, published in 2010 but which surfaced on my newsfeed this week. I’ve never read his work (!) but I couldn’t stop highlighting and screenshotting his nuggets of wisdom in this interview. Here’s one comment that stood out to me:

Once you nail down what you want to say about yourself and your fears and your life, then that becomes your style and you go to those writers who can teach you how to use words to fit your truth.

(2) This article by Haruki Murakami made me feel so calm about the whole writing process. He writes:

Wanting to write but being unable to is unknown to me. That may make it sound as if I am overflowing with talent, but the actual reason is much simpler: I never write unless I really want to, unless the desire to write is overwhelming.

(1) My mom told me, ‘You’re only talking to people who love you.’ Whoaaaaa.

2 books I purchased:

(2) Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner. I’ve wanted this book for ages but haven’t come across it yet in a secondhand shop, so I bit the bullet. Will give an update when I read it!

(1) Death in Her Hands, by Ottessa Moshfegh. I haven’t read Mosfhfegh’s other work (My Year of Rest and Relaxation is the book that’s been making the rounds lately), but this has a pretty cover, it’s short, and has a good title, so why not?

Me with my new finds in Book in Bar, a cute little shop in Aix-en-Provence, near where my last petsit was! (Pssst, I got a haircut)

1 new flavor of Little Moons mochi I tasted:

(1) Vegan Belgian chocolate & hazelnut. If you’re not familiar with Little Moons, they are delicious (and expensive af) mochi balls which come in a bunch of yummy flavors, several of which are vegan. I loveeee the vegan passionfruit and mango flavor, too.