In one of the many jubilant reviews garnered by Darren Aronofsky’s latest film The Whale, one writer concluded that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. This was in reference to the morbidly obese main character who eventually dies, but not before we find out he developed an eating disorder out of grief. Here was a fat man who evidently had feelings despite his exterior. Ironically, I find myself doing just what the writer suggested I don’t: judge the film before I’ve seen it.

I have a feeling 2023 will be the year for weird movies that steal our hearts. Look at Triangle of Sadness and White Noise. Here you have two high-budget oddball films that I’d describe not as mumblecore but coastercore, pulling you from one weird subnarrative into another, not really making up their minds about what they are, and before you’ve formed a full opinion on it, the ride is over, but you loved it.

Happy Hanukkah and/or Christmas to those who celebrate! Even though our house is (reluctantly) multi-religious, we forgot just about every tradition we were ever taught for this time of the year. On Hanukkah Eve, Anja said “where are the tea lights?”, but we had no luck finding them to produce a makeshift chanukiah. Probably for the best. I don’t mind that we didn’t put up a Christmas tree, but I did find myself missing our outrageous ornaments.

The tourists are back in town. Lots of Germans with face masks. I suppose we’re all beginning to venture out into the world again, just a bit closer to home. Anja and I are considering taking the ferry to Norway. Apparently you can camp virtually anywhere in that country, as long as you “leave it cleaner than you found it” and make sure you’re gone after two days. At this point, we’re vastly underestimating how attached we are to luxury.

Sometimes I feel that I am a bad Black girl because whenever my white girlfriend and I sift through Netflix Prime Video or anything with a reasonable trial period and she says “let’s watch this movie or that” featuring Black stories I instead elect to watch a white narrative because it’s nice to forget about racism and the teacher who called me a monkey and the no one who called him