Lil Bites

It's a very horror-centric week! Erin McGurk wrote about the often overlooked My Super Psycho Sweet 16 deserves its moment. Now that the embargo's broken on the rest of the season, Dani Bethea explores how Them breaks down a culture of anti-blackness. Meanwhile, Meredith Borders did the impossible and made me more interested in a rape-revenge film. I'm still not gonna watch it! But Mere's exploration of predator and prey in Violation is exceptional.

ICYMI...

• The SAG Awards were this weekend. Here's the full list of winners.
• Daniel Kaluuya crushed it on SNL.
• Someone told Zack Snyder about color.
• Game of Thrones will be doing a 10 year anniversary for its premiere called the Iron Anniversary. Merch to come from it includes a 2.2 million dollar Fabergé egg.
• SNL also did a whole skit about Black folks' concerns about the vaccine without, y'know, actually acknowledging the racist history of the American medical institution. They were rightfully criticized for it.
• Our prayer circles to get Wunmi Mosaku cast in everything are working!

The Good News Is,

• The Weeknd donated $1M to hunger relief in Ethiopia.
• These good boys are living their best lives.
• Whataburger's actually taking care of their workers.
• This kid his sister's life with CPR that he learned from John Cena while he was on Nickelodeon. Cena sent him a video when the story made it his way.

Get Loud

Here are all the bills being put in motion to restrict voting rights across the country. (Those submitted to expand voting rights are also listed underneath.) There are nineteen pages worth of them across twenty four states. The situation in Georgia is dire because their bill has been signed into law, but every single one of these states could see the same fate if we don't get loud about the flagrant voter suppression in our country.

The Baby Step

You know what we underestimate? The power of the phrase "that's fucked up." I'm a firm believer in the idea that what we allow is what will continue, and good gods there's a lot of things that we as a culture allow. The man who shows his buddy nudes of women he's claimed to have slept with is met with a bro-ly "Ha!" before his buddy uncomfortably shifts the conversation. A group of well-meaning white folks hear a racist joke and give it a half-hearted laugh before awkwardly shifting the conversation.

Privilege comes with an inherent responsibility that not a lot of us use. Confrontation is hard, I get that. Dealing with constant micro-aggression and flagrant acts of sexism and racism are worse, and people are forced to endure it every day.

So, this week's baby step is to use your privilege. It won't be a full shift over night, but remember the power you have and use it to help someone out next time someone's a creep.

I Want to do More

• The first and most important step here is to look at that list above and see if your state is on it. If it is, contact your state governor immediately.
• The ACLU has a specific page on voter suppression. Read up and donate if you can!
• The League of Women Voters doesn't just actively fight voter suppression, they also seek to help folks understand why it matters a little better.
• I've linked Fair Fight before, but I'm going to keep doing it in hopes folks support the org. Grassroots movements are one of the most powerful weapons against voter suppression and a whole host of other nasty political tactics. Not interested in Fair Fight? Google grassroots orgs in your state and get involved that way!

Movies!

• The Power heads to Shudder April 8th, and I enjoyed it a great deal.
• I can't remember if I recommended BenDavid Grabinski's Happily yet, but if I did I think it happened before it was available to stream. It's available to stream now! Do it!
• The Knives Out sequels just got bought by Netflix for an insane amount of moneys ($450M), and there's never a wrong time to watch this gem.

Talkin' TV

• I don't know if you've heard, but Solar Opposites is great. If you, like me, are among the minority who thinks Rick & Morty punches down too often to be funny, I highly recommend it. (Rick & Morty fans will have a good time too! It's just one that appeals to a wider crowd.)
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier desperately needs to stop looking at the big neon "ISSUES" sign and start actually saying something about them. This week did Sam Wilson dirty.
• Season 2 of Creepshow actually started pretty solid? Season 2 had a pretty rough go, but both shorts in 2.01 were relatively swell. Check it out on Shudder!

Stuff That's Helped

I realize we're on the tail end of things here, but all of these things are still useful after quarantine anyhow. Forgive the Amazon links! (No, I don't get affiliate moneys for these.)

• Most chapstick is filled with (perfectly safe and healthy) ingredients that clog the hell out of your pores. I got sick of walking around with deeply unfortunate mouth acne and talked to a dermatologist about it. Lanolips, friends. Lanolin's molecular structure is too large to clog your pores, and that's basically all that's in this. It's magic, and it works better than normal lip balms if you have insanely dry lips like me. You can also use it on cracked knuckles, elbows, unfortunate eczema patches... it's a perfect potion. Also: cruelty free.
• Fun fact: ya girl has a permanently dislocated tailbone after a very rough car accident over a decade ago. In short, my body has acted like it's fifty since about twenty. Great times. Anyway—this comfylife seat cushion is magic.
• This hella whimsical star projector dude.
• This cheapy mug warmer.

BoooOOOOOOK!

If you didn't read that in Winifred Sanderson's voice we can't be friends anymore, I'm sorry.

Anyway, Stephanie Cooke has a book! It's about teens and gods! It's very cute. You can order Oh My Gods! from her website.

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