10 fixations this week

My favorite media, memes + mildly unhinged discoveries I can't stop thinking about

It’s November in Minnesota, which means the average temperature is hovering around 41 degrees and the sun has started setting at 2:15pm.

I’ve been doing everything in my power to stave off the seasonal depression, and with a few big freelance projects wrapping up, I’ve suddenly had time to deep-dive into my extremely diverse media diet: a healthy mix of reality-TV garbage, juicy/confessional divorce albums, and my elder-millennial-lady hobbies (reading, podcast-listening, coloring, and compulsively checking my bank account to make sure the daycare deposit will clear).

We are truly living in the end times.

But at least there’s never been more dynamic, unhinged, fascinating media to consume. Huzzah!

My 10 Fixations This Week

10) Squid Game: The Challenge (Season 2)

If you’re a fan of the wildly violent and upsetting anti-capitalist series Squid Game, then you’ll LOVE Squid Game: The Challenge.

This is the second season of the Netflix reality TV behemoth, which follows a structure similar to the original (minus the murders, of course). Calling it a “game show” feels derogatory—the scale is unreal. I would genuinely watch a whole behind-the-scenes documentary about how the production team pulls this off. Some real-life Game Maker shit. Whoever their Seneca Crane is…BRAVO.

With 456 contestants from around the world, only one will win the grand prize: $4.56 million. The suspense. The casting. The editing. The attention to detail. It’s all spectacular—and really fun to watch while loudly insisting you would CRUSH every challenge, even though in reality you’d be eliminated during the very first game.

9) BETH’S DEAD

Armcherries have probably heard the promos for BETH’S DEAD, a new “true crime…sort of?” podcast hosted and produced by Monica Padman (of Armchair Expert). I don’t want to give anything away because the build of this mini-series is so intentional and well-done; I think it’s best to go into it without too much information. It’s part journalism and part exploration of the crazy para-social dynamics that happen between content creators and fans. Shout-out to my friend Paige for turning me on to this.

8) Margo’s Got Money Troubles, Rufi Thorpe

I did not think I’d like Margo’s Got Money Troubles because the chick-lit-adjacent cover art felt cheesy and pandering. But wow. This was a brilliantly fun, morally interesting, emotionally juicy read.

Not only was it creatively and morally interesting, I WAS SO EMOTIONALLY INVESTED. I don’t think I’ve loved a protagonist like Margo in a longggggg time. I was eating out of her hand. Desperate for her to win. Rooting against her enemies.

This story is sad and funny and insightful and unexpected and had me gagged. 10/10

7) Candle warmers?

I didn’t know that candle warmers were a thing until I walked into Daci Jaye’s basement on Sunday night and was hit with the most incredible scent. “It smells so good down here!” I declared. She said it was just her candle, but the candle wasn’t even lit soooooo what did she mean???? Then she showed me her “candle warmer” which I had never heard of before. I guess it just warms up your scented candle enough to release the aroma, but you don’t have to really light it or create an actual fire hazard to enjoy it? Ridiculous? Maybe. But as someone who has almost burnt down two different apartments¹ due to candle malpractice, truly brilliant.

6) Coco Wyo’s Coloring Books and “Coloring Culture”

Last week I hit a big milestone in my (guiltiest?) pleasure: I admitted to my friend Corrina just how into coloring I am. I even showed her some of my “pages.” Is this hobby embarrassing? Maybe. Could I use this time to write, clean, cook, work? Absolutely. But coloring relaxes me. And it’s (sort of?) creative. I am now knee-deep in Coco Wyo coloring content on IG and I am not mad about it.

Behold: my guilty pleasure in all her glory

5) The drama, lore and actual music of Lily Allen’s new album West End Girl

Are you like me and have you been OBSESSED with listening to Lily Allen’s Lemonade-esque new album West End Girl which chronicles her messy-as-fuckkkk divorce from David Harbour or are you normal? This is her first record in seven years and holy MESS. She is NOT holding back when it comes to her divorce from David Harbour.

The lyrics alone could fuel a whole Reddit ecosystem.

I am deeply invested in both this album and her redemption arc. Get’em, Lily.

4) MATCHING Glassware

Life hack: If you want to feel like you have your life together, may I recommend throwing out your chipped, mismatched glassware and just…starting over?²?

Brad and I haven’t bought bowls or glasses since 2012, and our stemless wine glass situation had reached apocalyptic levels (we had two left). So we went to Crate & Barrel (a store I once confused with Cracker Barrel as a child) and bought new glassware.

I didn’t realize you could simply replace household items you chose during your chaotic 25-year-old wedding registry era. I thought they were a lifelong curse.

Turns out: you can just buy new glasses. Line them up nicely. Feel smug. HIGHLY recommend.

3) The Chair Company, HBO

I feel like Tim Robinson was my brother in another life.

As a Tim Robinson superfan, I had HIGH expectations for his new HBO show The Chair Company…and oh boy, does it deliver.

It’s bizarre, honest, hilarious, and completely unpredictable. My jaw hits the floor every four minutes.

2) Who’s The Clown, Audrey Hobert

I don’t remember how I first heard Audrey Hobert’s song sex and the city, but once I did, I pressed “repeat” approximately 45 times. She gives Kate Nash (Made of Bricks) vibes—funny, raw, embarrassing, real. She’s a friend/peer of Gracie Abrams, but honestly? I like her way more.

Hoping she cracks my Spotify Wrapped this year, though she’ll have to fight through the algorithmic tsunami of my kids’ obsession with KPop Demon Hunters.

RIP, my Spotify algorithm.

1) Pluribus, Apple TV

Two words: Vince Gilligan.

I tried to hate it because how dare this man keep making perfect TV? But it’s fantastic.

It’s giving The Good Place meets The Last Man on Earth (complimentary).

That’s what’s been occupying my brain space this week. Drop your current obsessions in the comments: my media appetite is bottomless, my attention span is feral, and winter in Minnesota is long. Help a gal out.

1. This is not an exaggeration, and I will not be accepting further questions at this time.

2. Insert caveat about privilege and consumerism here.