Hello, and welcome to my little corner of the world where I share recent things on my radar that I think are worth your time.

Up first, if you are a mood watcher I have a range of things to stream in October filled with spooky, horror, witchy/vampire/zombie, scary, and fun vibes.

Netflix: The Blackening | Dead End: Paranormal Park | Interview With the Vampire (AMC) | Is it Cake? Halloween | The Curious Creations Of Christine McConnell | Casper | Lucifer | Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated | Hotel Transylvania 3 | Bram Stoker’s Dracula (the Keanu Reeves one)

HBO Max: Beetlejuice | A Nightmare on Elm Street | Scooby-Doo (2002 film) | Practical Magic | The Cabin in the Woods | Interview with the Vampire (1994 film) | Poltergeist

Peacock: 13 Nights of Elvira | Chucky | Scream | Ghostbusters | Zombieland | Buffy the Vampire Slayer | The Munsters | The Craft | Grimm | Charmed

And a few years old, but still stands: A Collection Of 50 TV Halloween Episodes — Photo Gallery

Click 🖱️

Cristela Alonzo

Cristela Alonzo has always created funny comedy with a balance of heart and real life struggles. Promoting her newest Netflix special, Upper Classy, she’s been on a press tour:

• The Hollywood Reporter: Cristela Alonzo on Netflix Special ‘Upper Classy,’ Hollywood Censorship and Advocating for Immigrant Communities

• NRP Fresh Air: Comic Cristela Alonzo grew up in fear of border patrol. ICE has 'brought it all back'

• Rolling Stone: ‘It’s a Way of Protesting’: Cristela Alonzo on Her New Special, ‘Upper Classy’

Because this timeline is cursed: bot or human outrage?

“According to data compiled by intelligence platform PeakMetrics, nearly half of the early posts about Cracker Barrel’s logo change appeared to be generated by bots.” Cracker Barrel Outrage Was Almost Certainly Driven by Bots, Researchers Say

Tayari Jones has a new novel in 2026

One of my all time favorite novels is Silver Sparrow so I am beyond excited that Tayari Jones will be publishing a new novel, Kin, in 2026!

If you love Swift’s new album you can skip this, if not…

When Taylor Swift started promoting Life of a Showgirl I thought it was not-conducive-to-creativity to produce an entire new album while having been on an exhaustive world tour. But the images had me intrigued, thinking this album might finally be a new artistic album with interesting things to say. I was deeply confused when the album was not. And super disappointed, yet not surprised, that with the huge boycott on Target she chose to once again have Target exclusives. Anyways, Kelsey McKinney wrote a hell of a critique, No Good Art Comes From Greed

Dear GenX, your time has come

“Celebrity endorsements, from Oprah Winfrey’s televised specials to branded product lines by stars like Naomi Watts, Halle Berry, and Gwyneth Paltrow, may bring visibility, but they tend to individualize the experience, framing it as a matter of personal wellness or luxury access. Meanwhile, commercial agendas are capitalizing on the so-called “menopause market,” selling everything from hormone therapies to anti-aging creams, often without addressing the deeper cultural, structural, and political dimensions of this life passage. Together, these framings flatten menopause into either a medical problem to be fixed or a commercial opportunity to be exploited, leaving little room for nuance.” The Menopause Movement Is Failing Millions

The Onion's CEO has more sense than most media and politicians

I highly recommend either watching on Youtube or listening to the podcast of The Onion's CEO Ben Collins chatting with Sam Sanders on KCRW’s The Sam Sanders Show. I genuinely found it distressing when news headlines started sounding like The Onion headlines years ago and now it’s just a giant gaslightingmindfuck that some days when I’m scrolling I can’t immediately tell if something is an Onion headline or something this administration really did. How The Onion was able to not only survive during the current media landscape but thrive is amazing, and listening to this chat should hopefully fill up your soul-well a bit.

Watch 📺

I am delighted that Bob’s Burgers and Abbott Elementary’s new seasons have started, and highly recommend those if you’ve yet to get on those popular trains.

Famous Last Words (Netflix)

Netflix had secretly been working on a new docuseries in which cultural icons are interviewed and the interview will only be shown after they’ve died. The show became known to the public when Jane Goodall died and she became the first posthumous interview to release. The rest of the list will remain a secret.

I find the concept interesting (with the hope that there aren’t horrific people on the list) and think there is plenty to talk about on the concept of the show. Putting the actual show aside, I would have watched Jane Goodall’s interview regardless: as a child who was obsessed with animals, I grew up loving her.

Random thoughts on the interview: I think she had important things to say about the environment and nature, I always love seeing people with hindsight opening up about moments in their lives, she has fascinating stories, I cried, I wanted more conversations in certain topics, I don’t think someone who lived a life as big as Goodall can be captured in one interview but I like the idea of her getting to create something that is what she wanted to be left as her “last words”, and I keep thinking about everyone who dedicated their lives to making the world a better place and are dying seeing the world in this state.

Thanks for reading, and as always feel free to shout out anything you’ve been loving lately!