Hey beautiful
To counter this week's so-muchness, how 'bout we just spend the next few minutes under a soft blanket, beholding beautiful things? Crawl inside this kaleidoscope with me real quick and let's bring that pulse right down.
This week's seven shareables:
- Zoetrope vinyl is a thing that I forget exists and then remember again and it makes me happy every time. One day I'll actually buckle down and buy both the zoetrope version of Kacey Musgraves' Same Trailer Different Park and Sufjan Stevens' Seven Swans reissue and then, I suspect, my life will be complete. Let's all sit and stare at whichever entries in this roundup speak to each of us the most. Ooooooohpretty.
- You've heard of petrichor, right? Some etymology: petro-/petra-, or πέτρα, means rock (i.e., the wet rocks that release aerosolized bacteria after it rains), and -ichor, or ἰχώρ, means "blood of the gods." By the same logic, the scent of books is known as biblichor, which is how you might classify the heart of a perfume called Warm Bulb by an indie perfumer in Chicago called Clue. It has notes like immortelle, sparked tobacco, burnt dust, and paper. I read its description the other day—"the humble comfort of reading by lamplight, as the heat of the bulb bakes yellow pages underneath"—and it made me feel cozy inside my heart. If you're into that idea, you might also want to take a whiff of Paperback by Demeter, Bibliotheque by Byredo, or a signature fragrance (also by Demeter) from Powell's Books in Portland, which also has a hint of vanilla latte; I bought a bottle of it in mid-2020 because I missed bookstores so much. Smells are portals. Smells are time capsules. Smells are magic. Ask me anything about them and I will gladly indulge you.
- Speaking of perfume, here's another Designer Impostors-style music recommendation to soothe your soul. If you like sun-drenched 70's-FM-radio-with-a-slight-wink vibes like those of Perfume Genius, you'll probably love the Irish-born indie rock of Far Caspian. Here's a 20-minute dose of mellow bliss.
- (If you're trying to stay off of IG, good work; skip on down to #5.) If you're still on that app, I need you to know that the staff at one of my local record stores has an IG account simply chronicling all the dogs (plus an occasional cat or lizard) that come into the shop. It's extra blessed because this is the place where Kurt Cobain once met Daniel Johnston. Behold the perfection that is @unofficialdogsofwaterloo.
- A University of Vienna study published last week in Nature advances the theory that even looking at photographs of nature can have an analgesic (pain-reducing) effect. So, I did a DuckDuckGo image search for moss; here's the resulting gallery, which includes theee most satisfying textures and shades of green, oh my goodness. Please stare at these images for however long you like.
- Y'all are into Rebecca Solnit, yes? If you've not read her work (this includes listening to it—long live Libby!), now is a great time to pick up Hope in the Dark or A Paradise Built in Hell. From the former, I want to share this quote: "To hope is to gamble. It's to bet on the future: on your desires, on the possibility that an open heart and uncertainty is better than gloom and safety. To hope is dangerous, and yet it is the opposite of fear, for to live is to risk. I say all this because hope is not like a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. I say it because hope is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency, because hope will shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation of the earth's treasures, and the grinding down of the poor and marginal. Hope just means another world might be possible—not promised, not guaranteed. Hope calls for action. Action is impossible without hope."
- Maggie Smith's popular poem "Good Bones" hits harder every day, and I mean that in a good way. So, here's your portal back into the real world. Go take care of what needs to be taken care of, and be kind to yourself while you do.
Til next week, you beautiful bozos— <3
"There is no exquisite beauty without some strangeness."
—Edgar Allen Poe
18 March 2025
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