July 2024
The Checkout Counter – Issue 21
The Checkout Counter – Issue 21
Series
- Ripley, 20241
Miniseries, drama, thriller. A con artist travels to Italy to convince a wealthy man's son to return home. Based on Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Film
- The Promised Land (Bastarden), 20232
Historical drama. In 18th century Denmark, an impoverished veteran sets out to farm a vast and desolate grassland where seemingly no crops can grow.
Music
- Lava La Rue's discography
Alternative R&B, psychedelic hip hop.
Books
- The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, Hilary Mantel
Short fiction collection. - When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth, Elizabeth Wayland Barber & Paul T. Barber
Nonfiction, history, mythology. Details how ancient myths were used to transmit important information for future generations to remember within non-literate societies. - Ornamentalism, Anne Anlin Cheng3
Nonfiction, theory. A theory on the "yellow woman" and Asiatic femininity in western culture.
Articles & essays
- The Shape of Rome, Ada Palmer
- ‘Little Women’, Little Change, Georgie Carr
- The Untapped Power of the Bathtime Read, Amanda Killian
- Gray Narcissus, Amanda Killian
Around the web
- Bardcore & Neo-Medieval vs Actual Medieval Music,
Farya Faraji
Video, music history.
Notes ↓
as always, these posts can also be found on my website and subscribed to via RSS.
- ripley: i was a tiny bit skeptical going into this, since the talented mr. ripley (1999) is one of my favorite movies ever—but after just one episode of ripley, i was completely immersed. the black and white is gorgeous, creating a much colder and noir-ish italy than the vibrant postcard picture we're used to in the '99 version.
time is what the tv format offers to make ripley truly shine: we get long stretches of wordless scenes where tom goes up and down staircases or fumbles around with a dead body, which are all incredible to watch. the series never feels slow or padded out—its length provides us with meticulous details, beautiful lingering shots of nothing in particular, and the strange intimacy that comes with disposing a body.
we're so lucky to have two completely distinct adaptations that are both perfect at what they're trying to achieve. i placed a hold on the book at my local library right after finishing. - the promised land: a bit of a western, and revenge thriller, and anti-royalty historical piece. some really beautiful shots here.
- ornamentalism: this was a dense read. i have so many highlighted passages to go back to. there were plenty of times when cheng's ideas just clicked for me, putting to word so deftly things that i had passing thoughts about before—and then there are sections that i can't grasp at all. the whole chapter about sushi and enfleshment went right over my head. so many ideas to mull over!
