78: Cold Snap

It snowed on Halloween here. This happens every few years, so it wasn't a surprise, but it was a bit of a shock to the senses. We didn't get many trick-or-treaters this year because it was so cold. (A relief, because our house got egged last year, and a real bummer, because what am I going to do with all this candy now?) We built our first fire of the season with no mishaps. A third of the plants in the herb garden have wilted and turned brown; the prairie flowers I planted around our back patio have been reduced to brown stems and spiky seed pods. The dog gets to chase fat gray squirrels every time we let her out, and every time, the squirrels scold her from the tree for making them burn the calories they're storing up for winter. My husband and I have shifted gears from old horror movies to film noir, at least until it's time to shift to awards-season movies. I hope it snows buckets this winter.

What I wrote:

For the Seeing & Believing newsletter, I reviewed Sofia Coppola's Priscilla. (Go see it on the big screen.)

What I talked about:

Just in time for Halloween, I guested on an episode of The Substance podcast to talk about the original Alien movie. (I also recorded a bonus episode for paying subscribers about my book Becoming Alien!)

What I'm reading:

Samuel Ernest, a college classmate of mine, is a doctoral student in theology at Yale studying gay literature and Christian theology. He recently published a collection of his writing in a volume called Coarse Work, which I'm halfway through now.