Newsletter

Odds & Ends (1/31/25)

trying stuff out!

31 Jan 2025 — 2 min read

UPDATES

Thank you to everyone who has subscribed! Wowza! For being just Some Person, we’ve hit over 50 subscribers (and some of y’all are even paid subscribers, good on ya!), and that really means a lot. I’ll be churning out more pieces when I can, and will have a fun Oscar Piece coming out later in February. If you have any particular questions about the upcoming Academy Awards, or just the Year in Movies in general, send them my way!

THINGS YOU CAN DO!

I hope you can take the time to donate to the Chicago Reader, one of the city’s only independent newspapers, who are scarily on the brink of extinction right now. It’s important (now more than ever!) to support independent arts journalism, especially in our culturally eclectic city.
In similar journalism news, the NY Magazine Union is on the brink of walking out due to Vox Media’s reticence for fair contract negotiations. You can sign this Reader Pledge to show that you, too, will not support Vox Media (which includes Vox, NY Mag, and Vulture, among others) if a walkout is deemed the next viable option for this union in their fight for a fair and equitable contract.

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THOUGHTS AND VIBES

Milk Bar, the popular dessert shop that’s littered across New York City, will be opening their first Chicago location in (where else) the West Loop. This is only of note because this is right near my place of work, so I’m very much in danger of snacking on these semi-overrated sweets more often than not. Thank goodness, because the West Loop famously needed another sweet store.
Some “old” tweets from Karla Sofia Gascon (current Oscar nominee for Best Actress in a Leading Role for playing the eponymous EMILIA PEREZ) have popped up, and they’re uhhhhhhhhh Not Great! I often think digging up someone’s old posts (Social Media Archaeology, if you will) can be a rather tactless move, but Gascon is a grown woman, and these are recent enough to make me think she just might not be the nicest person out there. This piece in Variety by Alison Herman is probably the most succinct take on the matter.
Conner O’Malley returned to Seth Meyers to wreak havoc yet again. Hearing this insane man talk about “Shark Tank” is delightful.