augustinthewinter
patreon
[Moans Exclusive] Talking about some of my favorite holiday and Christmas movies and music!
🕑 Added 2024-11-22 22:59:43 +0000 UTCHi!
Similar to the horror movie/Halloween talk, I thought I'd talk about some holiday movies and music favs, since we're just under a week out from December! I actually made a little playlist of movies and songs to go with them, so SPOILERS below if you want to be surprised. I also do some reflecting about general audio/creative stuff at the end.
Enjoy and if you have any holiday movie/song pairings, I'd love to see them in the comments!!
Take care,
august šØļø
CW: Mention of alcoholism in a music/movie themes context.
1. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) x Just Like Christmas by Low
2. Gremlins (1984) x So Much Wine by Phoebe Bridgers
3. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) x Sister Winter by Sufjan Stevens
4. Die Hard 2 (1990) x Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) by Darlene Love
5. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) x Lullay Lullay (Coventry Carol) by Annie Lennox
6. Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (1983) x River by Joni Mitchell
7. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) x Put the Lights on the Tree by Sufjan Stevens
8. It's a Wonderful Life (1946) x Only at Christmas Time by Sufjan Stevens
![[Moans Exclusive] Talking about some of my favorite holiday and Christmas movies and music!](https://img10.patrefans.com/storage/6/qq/ly/563145-019e80a2-1b66-71c1-b3f1-0c00b564cc2a.png)
![[Moans Exclusive] Talking about some of my favorite holiday and Christmas movies and music!](https://img10.patrefans.com/storage/1/pw/fw/563145-019e80a2-1b69-7938-9e4d-428cde3d60fb.png)
Comments
šŖšŗšŗšøšļøBarb
Merry (June 2025!) Christmas! Just catching up as a Patreon late bloomer. Great choices; we also learned The Coventry Carol in my school choir. It is very eerie!
rachel š
Please let me know if you find anything re: Tolstoy and psychology or dreaming! Cheering at the prospect that you have more to teach me! Nietzsche was def in dialogue with the Russians, but maybe more so Dostoevsky vs. Tolstoy? Iirc he shouts Dostoevsky out specifically in āTwilight of the Idolsā.Ā My understanding of Nietzsche is basically derived all in relation to Dostoevsky though lmao so there could be Tolstoy threads that are not on my radar at all. Limitations of my knowledge aside, I think your will to power recall is right on track, especially with the preoccupation with Napoleon. Iāve been thinking about the dreaming stuff a lot since I read the Batuman criticism piece bc dreams significantly recur as literary devices in Russian literature across 19th and 20th C work! Much more here to exploreā¦ ššš gahhhh, well, mission accomplished!!! you radiate that commitment in every comment you post. It is an infinite delight to commune with you! āThere is something matronly about her costuming that doesnāt feel like the earned maturity of a subject, but like sheās done the most Good Thing a Woman can do: love a man without asking for anything in return. Does that make sense?ā It makes total sense!!!! I think the vastness of the source material is precisely why this (unfortunately) predominant aspect of Natashaās maturation in the novel came to be the totality of the resolution of her arc in the show. For better or worse, it does not stray from the major takeaway that Tolstoy aims to leave the audience with re: Natasha (the best thing you can be as a woman is a dutiful wife and mother), but I agree that it does so at the expense of flattening her out. The āoutsized capacity of loveā reading of end-of-novel Natasha is much harder to grasp in this oversimplification. I am glad overall you enjoyed it though! Even for its (few, imo) shortcomings, itās one of the strongest adaptations of Russian literature Iāve seen in the last 10 years. I am due for another rewatch! BAM is SO fantastic, I love seeing movies there too! Streetcar was astonishing omggggg probably the best Tennessee Williams production Iāve ever seen?! So often they can feel like a museum piece if that makes sense? Bc the specificity of the language + time + place is so core to the storytelling? This did not fall into that trap at all. The build-up was volcanic, and I felt the violence of the piece was rendered well in the directing, design, and the live drum score! All of the performances were wonderful, but Mescalās Stanley wowed meā¦ one minute I was shaking from how fucking SCARY he is (his āStellaā yell was stomach-churning omfg) and the next I was sitting there thinking, āmaybe Stanley isnāt so bad after all??? he just had a lil crash out!!!ā in his flashes of fear and defensiveness. Paul absolutely has āØITāØ. I hope he continues to prioritize theater in his career. I love him on screen too (Normal People + Aftersun both destroyed me), but man, he is made for the stage! Weāve built our own little Trans-Siberian Railway in this thread!!! I wouldnāt have it any other way! šā„ļø
Gabriella š„
I did read that bit, and it confirmed my more Freudian reading of his concerns. His thoughts also call to mind Nietzscheās will to power, but I think Tolstoy would assert that was Napoleonās primary concern: autonomy, freedom from responsibility to others (liberalism, in a sense). Tolstoy seems more concerned with power, freedom, their seemingly being inversely related, but life not having meaning and beauty without the āunfreedomā of community and understanding that your will isnāt everything. Going to be rifling through my library catalog to find something on Tolstoy and psychology, I think thereās something there! At least about consciousness and free willā¦ And on that idea, yes! I loved that idea of the dreamer. The submission to the unconscious allows particular meanings to percolate that canāt be accessed otherwise. As I stumble on any good dreaming content (bc I think it also relates to Tolstoyās understanding of the philosophy of history and its shortcomings), Iāll drop them here! Iām pacing in front of this Marya x lantern response because I am speechlessā¦ As a person, āa commitment to *getting it*ā is precisely it for me!!!!! Thatās the mission statement, thank you for seeing me! I donāt even know what to say about your point on being worthy of efforts to be understoodā¦. Iāll say this: I am honored and delighted to take on the self-imposed duty of fortifying that sense of being worthy of such efforts, that, if not easy to understand you, it is a profoundly worthwhile, enriching, FUN endeavor. Like War & Peace itself! Admittedly, I also have a leg up as I find it very easy to understand you and when we reach a point where it is no longer easy, I look forward to the challenge š. I have also failed the Mewling Moratorium March challenge š Thatās SO INTERESTING wowie simply must look up Terrible Perfection omg. I want to bring back my point on Pierre & Helene in Volume 2 (his declaration to Natasha feels more like a way to finally correct and/or direct the behavior of a woman, having been failed by Helene) re men making good women. I think this highlights one of the aspects of the book that felt much more foregrounded in the show to its detriment. Natashaās arc in the show affirms that view that men can make good women. She is made wise and good through her loving care for Andrei before his death, thus making herself ready for the station of mother and wife. Iām particularly thinking of the image of her when Pierre comes to visit and congratulate Marya on her engagement to Nikolai. There is something matronly about her costuming that doesnāt feel like the earned maturity of a subject, but like sheās done the most Good Thing a Woman can do: love a man without asking for anything in return. Does that make sense? I donāt know, something about her arc left a bad taste in my mouth. Thereās also the more modern lens of trauma refining someone, making coal into diamond, that I also donāt love. Removing Natashaās caring for her mother after Petyaās death affirms for me this focus on Natasha being refined by this crucible of loving two men. Yeah, the showās handling of the āwoman questionā is interesting. Wouldnāt Natashaās mother be lionized as an example of peak womanly goodness holding such a focus on the well-being of her family and them alone? It feels like her sidelining was punishment for aristocratic selfishness, but it then deprived the viewers of a reeaaaaaaaally important moment to broaden their understanding of Natasha. But I guess it is okay for an otherwise wonderful viewing experience to go off the rails at bit at the end considering how vast the source material is. Did I love the āwow, that sure was a War & Peace, wasnāt it š?ā denouement? No. But could they have just let Pierre recite a 15-minute treatise on history, power, and freedom? ā¦ā¦ā¦..I suppose notā¦ā¦BUT MAYBE THEY SHOULD HAVE. Also, great starting place, thank you for the Woman Question article! It's funny, the move towards abandoning the knot you can't disentangle feels very connected to Helene dying to me... I'm going to read a bit more before I expand on that, but that's my initial reaction. You've given me a lot to chew on, yay!!! I ALWAYS have three hours for Kurosawa. And omgomgomg that's amazing, I can't wait to hear how it was! I love BAM! I could not imagine this trek across Russia without you. Like, maaaaybe I could go it alone, but it would not be nearly as fun and I would not learn nearly as much. So, a much less rewarding experience indeed. On to Mosfilm and Terrible Perfection, thank you again for everything!!!
rachel š
Hi lovely! Iāve made it. Thank you again for your patience! Wowieeeee Iām struggling to find the words to adequately capture how much your endeavor to cozy up with the Biggest of what Big Tolstoy has to offer (AND invite little old me along for the pilgrimage!) has meant. š You fucking DID it! š Thank YOU soooooo much for being a rapier-sharp reader, dream discussion partner, and ever-generous spirit. Our Patreon.edu RuLit Seminar has somehow deepened my already Mariana-Trench-level appreciation for Tolstoy, this text, + our AITW comment section rapport. I am grateful for you. Letās fucking gooooo! š ā...I didn't expect the book to just stop being a novel at a certain pointā jskhjkda Tolstoy would be SO pleased that that was your understanding of the final chapters!!!! I imagine you read the āA Few Words Apropos of the Book War and Peaceā appendix, but if not, famously Tolstoy wanted to make *sure* it was clear to his readers and critics that he understood War & Peace as ānot a novelā and said so with his full chest in that supplementary commentary! I find this a bit silly considering, generally, War & Peace is referred to as a novel today. If you ask me, for all intents and purposes, it is a novel! Even if itās an unconventional one. Thatās getting in the weeds of the history of the novel + āwhat is the novel?ā so Iām gonna stop myself thereāthat could be a whole syllabus in and of itself! What Iām getting at is that itās a bit āIām not like the other girlsā of him. But as one of the greatest works of Realist fiction, I give him some grace for his pedantry here! š I am having a the āteacher has become the studentā moment with this insanely wonderful Freudian reading of Tolstoyās philosophy of history! My work here is done. I had never read that Batuman article prior to you mentioning it here and itās honestly blowing my mind a bit. I canāt stop gnawing on her āThe dreamer emerges, not as a collection of biologic urges, but as the mastermind capable of creating such a nuanced, intricate, and meaning-laden world.ā offering. Lucky me that you had the curiosity to dig into your instincts, and you found this treasure map! Her book The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them is on my shelf waiting for me to finally start it. This is the nudge I needed! š Remember how we said āfull clownā¦NO CRYINGā in the Witch x Skeptic Pt. 2 comments? Well, Iāve fucking FAILED. I wept reading your paragraph on the Marya x lantern passage. Hell, I am tearing up as I write this now. I was touched by the sincerity of your conviction question (probably one of my favorite questions of the whole stream, tbh) and Augustās thoughtful response. On feeling difficult to understand, I relate š« Iām going to go full heart-on-my-sleeve and return a deeply felt thank you for being a mutual light source for my lantern. Iām still honored (and frankly astonished) that you wanted to see where I was coming from with my broad W&P thematic comparison + silly āAugustolstoyā comment on the Staff Officer x Space Commander audio *so wholeheartedly* that you read a 1,200-page book in order to do so. Itās not lost on me that thatās a commitment to *getting it* that isā¦ peerless? To have been on the receiving end of such a concrete and concerted effort to be understood? It means the world to me, Gabriella. Your care here has made me feel worthy of efforts to be understood in ways that I did not believe were available to me before. That is an unquantifiable gift. Thank you for sharing that you sent the passage to him with your gratitude as well. I am delighted by the idea of him receiving words from you + Tolstoy in his DMs hahaha the ripple effect of it all just makes me very emotional ššš š "*THIS* is what I mean when I say tending to a tiny garden with absolute attention and care is as meaningful as any of the big stuff we can do.ā I think about this garden analogy of yours all of the time (especially in the last few weeks). Iāll never read that ālove awoke, and life awokeā passage again without it coming to mind. Iām so pleased that you feel my translation rec contributed to your reading experience! š I didnāt want to say this while you were reading so as to not ~influence~ you, but would it surprise you to hear that I also see aspects of myself in Marya (sans religiosity!)? It made my heart burst when you gravitated to her so early on in your reading. You saw her immediately and stuck so loyally by her. š„¹ š OKAY, the time has come for Tolstoy & the Woman Question. To start from a personal place: I find Natasha to be one of Tolstoyās most unsatisfying heroines in a feminist reading, specifically bc she has become a thesis that chalks ultimate Feminine Goodness up to comfort and contentment in being defined as subsidiary to a husband in the roles of wife and mother. Your interpretation of this being a concentration of her outsized love into something constructive (doting on a Good Man + populating Mother Russia) rather than destructive (Anatole infatuation + Andrei engagement crash out) is a reading that I appreciate, while also being unquestionably generous to Tolstoy! Is it harsh to say that this love-oriented reading is perhaps the only way I can find end-of-novel Natasha palatable as a woman in 2025? Now to tiptoe into the scholarly: The most influential feminist study of Russian literature to date is a book called āTerrible Perfection: Women and Russian Literatureā (1987) by an iconic scholar named Barbara Heldt. To tell you that this book changed my fucking life would be an understatement. It is a core part of my undergrad thesis on Turgenevās āRussian Hamletā archetype and what the absence of a corresponding āRussian Opheliaā says about the priorities of 19th C RuLit in regards to portrayals of women (too complicated to get into in a Patreon comment section lol). One of the most compelling arguments that she makes in her book is in chapter 3, āTolstoyās Path Towards Feminism,ā where she argues that Tolstoy is singular among his predecessors and peers in an evolution in portrayals of women from his early fiction to his later works: āThat development is not towards increasing misogyny but toward what we will define as feminism, a world-view which releases women from the burden of male-definition and shows the latter to be a grave error.ā (Heldt 38). In discussing two of his novellas, Family Happiness and The Kreutzer Sonata, she offers an account that Tolstoy shifts from ā...the belief that a good man can create a good woman to the knowledge that men are too flawed to create anything but a caricature of their own desiresā¦ā (Heldt 48). War & Peace + Natashaās motherhood is briefly discussed in relation to Family Happiness as an example of his work where patriarchy in the domestic sphere is idealized. All to say, any confusion you felt re: Tolstoyās portrayal of women is spot on! While his misogyny is pretty cut and dry, imo, re: Natasha, when you look at his oeuvre holistically, things get a bit more complicated. This is such a massive topic, and I fear I have only scratched the surface, but I hope youāve found something to grasp onto here! As a bonus, hereās an interesting literary criticism chapter about Tolstoy & the Woman Question, particularly how it relates to his later-in-life radicalism: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/tolstoy-in-context/woman-question/F7B8223526978619FB9EFF97A670F8F6. šā¼ļøKUROSAWA MENTION ā¼ļø Youāre speaking my language. His adaptation of Dostoevskyās The Idiot is huge for me. It was a misunderstood passion project of Kurosawaās (to the point that the full version of the film has been completely lost), but wow. If you ever have 2 hours and 45 minutes to spare: https://www.criterion.com/films/895-the-idiot?srsltid=AfmBOorLt_tMme0rlyw-S6zXowQUGqz9UcZqYMcD7ZD31V9mdfBq3jRs. Iām so excited that we still have the adaptation discussion to look forward to!! I havenāt seen the Mosfilm version yet. I will be sure to watch it soon so I am ready to discuss when you return with your impressions of it + final thoughts on the 2016 BBC miniseries. Thrilled to hear you enjoyed R+J as well! Speaking of plays, I am imminently seeing the West End production of A Streetcar Named Desire starring Paul Mescal that is playing a limited run at Brooklyn Academy of Music. I canāt WAIT! Finally, I am so sorry to hear you can relate to being overburdened right now. I hope you get some serenity very soon! Thank you a bajillion for everything, Gabriella. It is always a pleasure to gab with you! ššš
Gabriella š„
I cannot believe it, but I have completed War & Peace. Iāll be honest, Iāve been putting off writing this comment because Iāve been bummed that the ride is over. Then, I realized that I still have the show to finish *and* the Mosfilm epic to consume, so all is not lost!!! Also, I must thank you so so soooooooooooooo much for not only recommending the book, but cheerleading from the sidelines and encouraging my interpretations. Your loving enthusiasm has made this experience of our own little RuLit seminar sparkle š! WHAT a closer š. It was clear Leoās primary concern was philosophy, but I didnāt expect the book to just stop being a novel at a certain point. I found that funny and am sure he was having the time of his life (and that his wife was not having the time of hers writing and rewriting all of his musings). I think there was a nice crystallization of the big theme of the personal being political, the constellation of characters he created revealing more about the meaning of life, relationships, war, history, etc than any post-mortem account of history could. āA historian has to do with the results of an event, the artist with the fact of the eventā. Much of his analysis on the futility of finding concrete points of cause and effect sounded, to me, like a preoccupation with drives instead. Which made me think of Tolstoy as a Freudian with Power as the ultimate drive. Iām thinking specifically of āonly unconscious activity bears fruit, and a man who plays a role in a historical event never understands its significance. If he attempts to understand it, he is struck with fruitlessnessā. From an artistic perspective, maybe the goal is in refining the unconscious so it becomes the perfect medium for creations driven by that Force (inspiration/God/drive for freedom). From a Freudian perspective, unconscious material affects action profoundly and making it conscious is critical to the work of psychoanalysis. So, naturally, I had to look up ātolstoy + freudā, and would you believe Elif Batuman wrote an NYT article on criticism, citing āThe Interpretation of Dreamsā as changing her perspective on literary critique? Insane. I gasped aloud. Worlds converging!!!!! But yeah, I found his points really compelling, that history is more meaningful when the goal is not to be Right and to have correctly mapped out the reasons for a particular moment working backwards, but when one can look at a slice of time and use language, art, music, lived experiences of people, etc etc as context to understand drives. The more important thing being capturing an understanding of human life rather than shaping it in a particular way. There are several passages that really tore me up, just to highlight a few: 1 - āAs the complex, skillful artwork on the sides of a carved and painted lantern, which had seemed crude, dark, and meaningless before, suddenly emerges with unexpected, striking beauty when the light is lit inside; so was Princess Marya's face suddenly transformed. For the first time, all that pure, spiritual inner work, which she had so far lived by, emerged. All her inner work of discontent with herself, her suffering, her yearning for the good, obedience, love, self-sacrifice- all this now shone in those luminous eyes, in her fine smile, in ever feature of her tender faceā š® Hard to overstate the significance of this passage to me. Likeā¦ I will literally, and Iām not being hyperbolic here, be thinking about this for the rest of my life. Iāve thought about it every single day since I read it. Absolutely eviscerating, both in ways that feel self-adulatory and demeaning. The second time I asked my conviction question on stream, I had this passage in mind. His answer was really helpful to me (and I sent him a message saying as much, including this passage, because I cannot shut up!), particularly the idea that I am difficult to understand. I feel thankful for having spent so much time carving and painting my lantern, *and* that work done all alone is not necessarily living. Itās worthwhile, but it is not Life. The lanternās interaction with light is Life. A second thank you to you in particular for lighting me up in ways that that part of my brain would have previously thought impossible (because I cannot be understood *pulls hoodie up*) š 2 - āNatasha did not remember how that day passed, nor the night, the next day, the next night. She did not sleep and did not leave her mother's side. It was as if Natasha's love, persistent, patient, not as an explanation, not as a consolation, but as a summons to life, enveloped the countess on all sides every second.ā š® Cried. 3 - ā...this new wound called Natasha to life. A wound in the soul, coming from the rending of the spiritual body, strange as it may seem, gradually closes like a physical wound. And once a deep wound heals over and the edges seem to have knit, a wound in the soul, like a physical wound, can be healed only by the force of life pushing up from inside. This was the way Natasha's wound healed. She thought her life was over. But suddenly her love for her mother showed her that the essence of lifeā loveāwas still alive in her. Love awoke, and life awoke.ā š® CRIED. *THIS* is what I mean when I say tending to a tiny garden with absolute attention and care is as meaningful as any of the big stuff we can do. Another quote I will think about for the rest of my life ("love awoke, and life awoke") and was used as an example of the fidelity of P-V's translation. Again, thank you for having a favorite translation! I don't know if the others would have nailed that line so well. 4 - āAh, how funny you are! Not dear for being pretty, but pretty for being dear. Men only love Malvina and the like because they're beautiful: but do I love my wife? It's not love, but just... I don't know how to tell you. Without you or, like today, when there's some falling-out between us, it's as if. āI'm lost and can't do anything. Well, do I love my finger? I don't love it, but try cutting it off...ā š® I was really moved by this whole scene of Marya being worried Nikolai is mad at her and her difficulty acclimating to this life of freedom after her fatherās abuse. The sentiment Nikolai offers isnāt romantic, but it really walloped me. And Iām again struck by your saying Marya is usually overlooked. I guess Tolstoy wrote her right to evoke the very circumstances of her life! It feels both very uncool and almost like Iām flexing to say I see a lot of myself in her, but I do (except the religious part). 5 - The whole āNastasha-motherhood-family- āall her inner forces were directed at serving this husband and family, she could not even imagine and saw no interest in imagining how it would be if it were differentāā. š® Initially I was like ājuh?ā at Tolstoy re good women listening attentively to men and being able to glean secret and intentional meanings even if the speech is ineffective. But maybe a more generous interpretation is that Natasha has found a meaningful way to direct her solar-level love and attention. But its bigness and the moment with the wounded would imply she has more than enough to spare for "the woman question"ā¦ Especially considering the moment where she questions how Pierre came to be a man others deemed more important and intelligent than everyone else. Very much looking forward to your thoughts on this bit (Tolstoy & women)! 6 - āWhat force moves people?ā š® This is obviously It, the terrible question he's trying to disentangle, and it reminded me so much of how Kurosawa does crowd work in his films where the group almost represents an emotion? They ripple and freeze and rush in ways that are evocative of the emotions in the scene. I feel like heād have similar concerns about drives, physical motion, and emotion. Final bits of errata: š® āChance made the situation; genius profited from itā I kNOW a bunch of tech bros have that written somewhere in a notebook or at the top of a whiteboard š® A bit bummed Marya adopted some of her fatherās manner of relating and is projecting her insecurities onto Sonya.... š® I started To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara and am really enjoying it while also missing my W&P charactersā¦ š® Omg your bonus rec of R+J, it was GREAT, love that rat boy and Jessie Buckley. Actually, the whole cast was stellar. It made me realize how long itās been since Iāve watched a play, something Iād like to remedy soon! Iāll save my 2016 series and 1966-67 film thoughts for another time so as to make this endeavor feel longer than a trek across Russia for you lol. Separately, I am also working till 10pm many nights and I deeply empathize with the dragging-myself-over-the-finish line feeling. I hope you get your evenings back at some point, dearest, and are able to enjoy some of the care you put out into the world ššš
Gabriella š„
A rose chai?! Good gravy, that sounds so good. I looooove a yummy black tea situation!! Iām making a ribollita as I respond with an extra loaf of bread I made. https://imgur.com/a/zooGby8. And this has been so fun!!! I realize W&P is the shape (perhaps even the blueprint?) of my favorite kind of narrative: unwieldy, lots of characters, a clear moral core, romance, history, big big big but also sometimes people are fighting a bear because they're stupid and people can be both Big and Stupid lol. First, I forgot to refer to pictures I took of passages I found special! 1 - āThat terrible questionāāWhy? What for?āāwhich used to present itself to him amidst every occupation, was now replaced for him not by another question and not by the answer to the old question, but by her image. Listening to a trivial conversation, or engaged in one himself, or reading, or learning about the baseness and senselessness of people, he was not horrified as he used to be; he did not ask himself why people made a fuss, if everything was so brief and unknown, but he remembered her the way he had seen her the last time, and all his doubts vanished, not because she answered the questions that presented themselves to him, but because her image immediately transferred him to a different, bright realm of inner activity, in which no one could be right or wrong, into a realm of beauty and love for which it was worth livingā. Screaming crying throwing up thatās so beautiful WHAT 2 - Pierreās āIāll disentangle itā. Dudeā¦. Talk about crashing out. Absolutely a NUTS move using numerology to find his destiny. Men will do anything but go to therapy since always!!!!!! 3 - āHis breast seemed to breathe in, not air, but some eternally young strength and joy.ā I find it so lovely that Nikolaiās journey is the opposite of Andreiās, he actually has to return to a way of being that was natural to him. He has to return to the joyful, basic understanding of the goodness of life that he had learned as a Rostov, but now it's not founded on naivete but experience. I think he and Sonya are sweet! Lololol I was so glad for Tolstoy, he seemed like he was having fun! And many passages were interesting (like the idea of Napoleon no longer being a part of humanity almost?), but yeahā¦ I would like to know about what Pierre is doing!!! And yes! I love that we are still supposed to look at him with tenderness. He is absolutely making some wild choices, but I much prefer a swing and a miss than no swing at all, and Pierre is absolutely going to fucking swing. And omg yes, cannot believe I forgot to mention his seeing Anatole on the battlefield! Totally, and having just watched that ep, recalled the moment with Dolokhov immediately softening and becoming something else when he realized he might die and how it would kill his mother. Pierre and Andrei, they are operating with fragile concepts of themselves based on rigid concepts of who other people are (like Dolokhov or Natasha or Helene). It is actually okay and GOOD if Andrei reconsiders and disposes of the thought that he canāt forgive a woman who has wronged him. If she is no longer a villain, what is possible for him? Forgiveness, access to a more sustainable vitality based on connection to others than glory, etc etc. As with Pierre and the Frenchman. āMay great literature continue to provide for us in these timesā. Amen to that. Omg waitā¦. a synchronous book club moment??? Iād read another W&P situationā¦. But maybe I should read a sci-fi thing in-between, a little palette cleanser before I leap back into that sort of world. Youāve got my head spinning with this rec! āIf you enjoy her in this, I highly recommend the production of Romeo & Juliet she co-stars in alongside Josh OāConnor (love him too!) that the National Theatre in London produced in 2021 during the pandemicā. Foaming at the mouth, AND ON PBS NO LESS?! Have never been more delighted to be a PBS Passport subscription holder, I am sprinting over not running ššæāāļøšØ.
rachel š
Hiiiiiiiiii wow starting the week off STRONG with a W&P essay from Gabriella! I just brewed myself some rose chai as a treat as I read and respond to this! Youāre in the homestretch now, like 1/4ish left to go!!! Picture me doing back handsprings with my pom-poms on the sidelines! š£ hahaha but seriously, I am so impressed with you! Your dedication to this venture is formidable. Iām also kicking my feet over you heeding my guidance so carefully ahkjdka youāve reallllyyy been letting me live out my RuLit academia fantasies in these comment conversations. š¤ āVolume 3 felt sort of like this, nibbling on lots of ideas, then everything sort of coalesces violently and totally, like the Big Bang.ā Youāve nailed it. Yes. YES! Historical circumstances start to feel less like set dressing in the background and/or plot devices for the development of characters squarely occupying the domestic sphere (or if you will, āpeaceā plots) in the novel with the French invasion + burning of Moscow as the impetus for that collision. The personal filtered through the context of a certain historical moment has shifted to a historical moment understood in the infinitesimal choices of individuals that Tolstoy imbues with gravitational significanceāgrains of sand in a larger historical hourglass! Personal āagencyā (as you mention!) is cardinal! Lmao at finding the battle stuff a slog; iirc, this part has the bulk of the proper military history geek-out stuff! SO! I think the worst is over! Volume 3 is basically Tolstoyās glorified Napoleonic Wars fanfic? haha like he has written historical figures in other parts of the book too, but nowhere else are his fictionalized depictions of the Great Men of Historyā¢ļø (the Napoleon vs. Kutuzov contrast of it all) more central to a volume. Oh sweet summer child, Pierre in this part, my goddddd! š„² It is *so* funny that he literally gets lost; this fish-out-of-water, foppish nobleman is bumbling around the battlefields of Borodino looking for his bestie Andrei! Yet no matter how fundamentally misguided he is at this moment in the story (with peace and love for my man Pierre, no matter which way you slice it, using numerology as justification for why youāre destined to assassinate Napoleon *is* NUTS), Tolstoy does not want us to ridicule him? Precisely because itās from this place of turning thought into action I think? The permission Tolstoy gives him to evolve and change his mind as he confronts challenges to his understanding of the world is so profound. Iām glad you also found humor and endearment and admiration in his escapades here!Ā Speaking of Andrei and āthe fourth dimension is love,ā I remember being so struck by the description of him as looking innocent + boyish in his reunion with Natasha. A foil for her maturity for sure, but damn, I was walloped by that. Also the āI love you more, better, than before.ā I fucking WEPT the first time I read that scene. Like, boohoo, baby crying in the uni library! I also want to bring back your Anatole + comet comment! haha Iām wondering how the battlefield retribution Tolstoy gives him landed for you. No one is doing forgiveness like Andrei in Volume 3! Re: that line. yeahhhhh.š§š»āāļøI fear War and Peace is as relevant as ever. Iāve been considering revisiting what some refer to as āthe War and Peace of the 20th century,ā a novel called āLife and Fateā by Vassily Grossman. The story has resonances with the Arendtian banality of evil concept + the commentary on totalitarianism in general in that novel feels significant in this moment. May great literature continue to provide for us in these times. I am SO HAPPY youāre watching the miniseries, and Dano is delivering for you!! I was serious when I said he is the perfect Pierre. āJames Norton as Andreiā¦. All I can do is thank the people in casting!ā š REAL hahaha + I am A HUGE Jessie Buckley fan! If you enjoy her in this, I highly recommend the production of Romeo & Juliet she co-stars in alongside Josh OāConnor (love him too!) that the National Theatre in London produced in 2021 during the pandemic. I think you can watch it on PBS still? Here is the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LpS77tqYwU. Itās fucking incredible; the best R&J Iāve ever seen, maybe. Alsooo re: Helene + Anatole. Yes, *that* implication is in the novel, but it is wayyy more subtle, and Iād argue is more of like an Anne Boleyn kind of rumor mill thing? Where the suggestion is meant to emphasize that Helene is this sexually transgressive woman and not that she *actually* has that sort of relationship with her brother. If I had one criticism for this series, it would be that theyāre really making a mountain out of a molehill in depicting them with a sexual relationship. My only guess is they were trying to give the series some GoT edge or something? I donāt get it, but itās small potatoes for me when I consider the rest of the adaptation. Smart to pause where you did; I would wait to watch the rest as a reward for when you finish the book! Looking forward to your Volume 4 + Epilogue thoughts, as well as more impressions of the miniseries! Thank you for these lovely comment updates! š
Gabriella š„
I canāt believe it, but weāre in the endgame now. Volume 3 was really interesting! Following the āadriftā theme as instructed š¤, I feel like a lot of the characters went from reacting to situations around them to becoming actors? Everyone has more agency. Marya, with her father having died; Andrei, finally understanding that the fourth dimension is love; Nikolai, *actually* doing something heroic saving Marya etc etc. On movement, study of history, and focusing on infinite tiny moments that constitute the phenomena before you (I really really enjoyed this passage!), I really like the layering of that idea in the book. Each of the characters are propelled by that same necessity for forward motion and are a collection of many seemingly disparate and individually meaningless moments. Zoomed out, one of the projects of the book is to offer a glance at the constellation of influences that inspire action and changes of thought on a large scale. Volume 3 felt sort of like this, nibbling on lots of ideas, then everything sort of coalesces violently and totally, like the Big Bang. Like itās a miracle that people change or that war ends or that Moscow could burn. I liked a lot of the philosophy here even though, Iāll admit, it was a bit more of slog to get through the battle stuff in this volume š . Also lololol on āadriftā, damn Pierre *literally* gets lost, thatās so funny. Pierre!!! Talk about agency! For someone who puts so much value in external entities deciding what is correct for him to do or what is and isnāt a reasonable desire, wowie he really took action based on his own motivations! It is so hilarious to me that he actually became a hero and got the glory he had been seeking, but in an almost Forrest Gump way? Just being a person who is alive, aware, and compassionate, he was able to rise to the occasion and actually help. Not while his nose was stuck in Masonic manuscripts. I guess this is where Marya goes wrong. She is finally free, but she hasnāt yet doubted her worldview the way Pierre already had multiple times, so when it came time to apply her knowledge to a decision on the muzhiks, she flubbed it. She was trying to be a savior rather than a companion, and maybe in that way, she is more like her father than I realized. Also, wowie, maybe I get the Pierre/Natasha situation now. His āhitch togetherā moment coupled with her maturity, focusing the white hot attentional beam of her love towards a greater good when the Rostovs had to evacuate. I found the wounded over objects section very moving! I felt so proud of her! āIn various corners of Moscow, only a few people still stirred meaninglessly, keeping to old habits and not understanding what they were doingā DEVASTATING line to read right now GOOD GRIEF š« Also, I donāt know how I didnāt realize until now, but itās in my favorite font: Garamond! I found the font lovely to look at, but somehow didnāt place it lol. Finally, I started the show, and I cannot believe how much I love Paul Dano. I already loved him, but I cannot believe he has starred in two of my favorite things (Love & Mercy, the Brian Wilson [The Beach Boys] biopic and W&P). Wherever you are, king, I hope youāre having an incredible day! Love for Pierre instantly tripled. Also James Norton as Andreiā¦. All I can do is thank the people in casting! And the Marya actress, Jessice Buckley, is SO perfect and I find her so beautiful, my tenderness for Marya has also increased threefold. I'm stopping myself at episode 3 because I'm scared they may fold in themes from Volume 4 that I haven't encountered yet! But it's hard to stop, the set design and costumes are OUT OF THIS WORLD. The only thing freaking me out is the Sebastian & Kathryn (Cruel Intentions) vibe of Anatole and Helene, was that implied in the book and I've been overlooking/purposefully ignoring it??????? I think thatās everything! I hope your weekend has been lovely! š
Moira
lol idk if anyoneās gonna see this but my friend has just informed me that thereās a Sufjan Stevens/Drake mashup album called Six Swans, and honestly??? it goes kind of hardā¦ https://riveyoncecuoknowles.bandcamp.com/album/six-swans
Freya
I love listening to you geek out about music. Especially the vocal runs and progression movements. Makes my singer side so happy <3
Gabriella š„
That's so interesting, I find Marya fascinating and so touching! Maybe she's often overlooked because she's so....internal? She almost feels like a world unto herself, she isn't moved by the other characters in the same way. She seems primarily responsive to her internal drives whereas the other characters crash into each other, react, and are changed. I'm excited to see if/how more interaction with the external world and the rest of the cast shakes her up! I have to assume her father's death (maybe š?) will/could be INCREDIBLY destabilizing. Regardless, I just think she's neat! That's TOO FUNNY. That's exactly what my AP Latin class felt like with exactly 5 people, including myself, reading the entirety of the Aeneid. Grueling! But we had fun š¤ I also love our Matryoshka doll book club within a book club! I WILL be back here with more ranting, thank YOU for indulging and encouraging ME š!
rachel š
Iāve been waiting all damn day to finally gnaw on this delicious W&P dispatch from you and finally, 12:31 AM, Iāve made it! š®āšØ FIRST OF ALL: ācoherent at least somewhatā. Gabriella! be fucking for real (affectionate), while reading this you had me yearning for a universe where you were in any of my undergrad Russian Lit seminars. PHEW. Sheās a READER and a WRITER, okay?! Volume 2 is suuuuch a doozy omfg, ācrashing outā is exactly the mood haha Iām trying to think through how to respond in a measured fashion so I donāt influence your (astute!) readingā¦ Iād say keep following the Pierre/Andrei/Natasha quality of love stuff youāre on the trail of. Iām struck by your use of āadriftā to describe a number of the characters at this point. Spot-on! Iām also really moved by your care for Marya, in my experience sheās often overlooked by readers! Love that you seem to see her. Lmaoooo at Anatole + comet, talk about fuckboy funny business! Also Candide mention omfg flashing back to high school French IV (aka me and literally 3 other nerds in a glorified closet who were the only ones in that graduating class of my rural ass hometown who studied French for four years) trying to read Candide in French on our own. Painstaking stuff! We did it though! Dyinggg at the Natasha comparison, Tolstoy was an admirer of Voltaire iirc! I love our little Actual Book Club comment rendezvous, thank you for indulging me! š thereās something about it being in the comments of this cutie little holiday cheer SFW audio that I find endlessly delightful. Canāt wait for your next update! ā£ļø
Gabriella š„
Okay. Rachel. RACHELLLLLL. I AM absolutely crashing out over W&P. I hope these thoughts are coherent at least somewhat and the analysis not totally off-base. The MOMENT Andrei set eyes on Natasha, I was on edge. Absolutely cursed. Bad bad bad, horrible idea. I can see why, for Andrei, ālifeless in ordinary times, energetic in irritationā (I noted this down early because it felt important), once again open to the possibility of living, Natasha would present a portal to that vitality. Sheās so intense, whatever she is looking at in that moment, she loves and cherishes and shines glorious light on with the power of a thousand suns, but only for a moment!! I guess his fatherās love also being conditional, capricious would make her love feel like a nourishing version of that familiar pain. This was bound to be a disaster!! For Pierre, his sudden and āšoh god noā (my reaction) declaration to Natasha feels more like a way to finally correct and/or direct the behavior of a woman, having been failed by Helene. Like, he can be the way Natasha is cleansed and made honorable again and Masonic forgiveness. But yeah, they both donāt really see her or want her, but a sort ofā¦.God-like, pure, intense, āyou are perfect just as you are nowā, absolution love. Which one could find in friendship!!! Pierre is so adrift, I feel so bad for him and how heās been treated in society so far. Even after inheriting so much wealth, heās still not a part of them and I donāt know the degree he feels a part of the Masons. I want to hug him!! Which brings me to: Marya! Iām also very sad about Marya and Julie being so adrift, disconnecting, being so upset about losing the men in their lives (Julie through death, Marya through marriage [momentarily] and illness), but not finding comfort in each other. They seem so drained of lifeā¦.. Oh and Anatole should be hit by the comet and burned alive. Respectfully. Natasha's life almost reminds me of Candide. I probably have more thoughts, but these are the initial WHAT THE FUCK thoughts lol.
rachel š
Smash cut to me maniacally laughing at āNatasha stresses me out so bad.ā š¤Ŗ hahaha no spoilers, but thatās *exactly* how Tolstoy wants you to feelā¦ š·ļø[Talented Tolstoy x Good Reader Gabriella] AND yessss, I absolutely LOVE Pierre/Andreiās friendship + how it serves as a container for the ways theyāre foils for one anotherās worldviews. I think itās so special that their contrasts are underscored by a deep love + mutual respect between them vs. antagonism. Love a tender 19th C male friendship!! haha WOW Iām having too much fun being an audience for your read! š The Snowy Day is a lovely book, I can totally see how imagery in The Snowman could recall it! āļø
Gabriella š„
Lmaooo Iām the ghost of W&P haunting you š»! Natasha stresses me out so bad. And I would like to hear more from Vera!! AND Iām loving the parallel spiritual journeys Andrei and Pierre are going on, both for glory/recognition, but in different ways. Omg the music!!!! The music was so haunting at points, loved that. And the imagery vaguely reminded me of The Snowy Day, a book I loooooved as a tot.
rachel š
I looooveee getting a spontaneous comment notification from you bc I know there is a chance of a W&P update! What a treat for me! š āā¦I knew her antics (probably) would stress me outā oh, just you wait, Gabriella lmaoooo you can count on Natasha to be doing shit for the plot!š Iām so touched to hear you resonated with the melancholy x delight combo of The Snowman! āļøš„¹š§£ itās such a formative piece of holiday media for me and very special for that reason. š©µ I first saw it when I was 4 or 5 + Iām certain itās one of the very first things I remember experiencing an intense bittersweet feeling after watching. That has clearly had a lasting impact on my media tastes now! the music + animation are also just gorgeous! Sending you good vibes in this first week of the year! š«¶š¼
Dana
And I love YOU, Vi šā¤ļø
āØViāØ
Dana!!!!!!!hshsbjsnshzbs I LOVE YOU
Gabriella š„
Two things: 1) I watched The Snowman yesterday, and it was so delightful (2D animation must return) and was the perfect mixture of melancholy & pure holiday delight, and 2) I just got to the part where Natasha attends her first big ball and had to put it down because I knew her antics (probably) would stress me out š. Till tomorrow, W&P. I hope youāre having a good Saturday night šŖ©š!
Dana
@Peony: not nearly as gorgeous as you are ā¤ļøā¤ļøā¤ļøšš
Peony
Dana, this is gorgeous!
New Year, Same Dana š
@Moira: thank you! šā¤ļø
Moira
this is GORGEOUS.
artificial.diana
I am also a Joni fan, acolyte even, and I loved hearing him talk about her so eloquently. Glad there are more Joni/August fans out there :)
New Year, Same Dana š
@Jen I WILL SING YOU TO SLEEP then whistle you awake šš
New Year, Same Dana š
@Hexa: I will bury myself 6ft under cuz I canāt deal with compliments LOL Ilysm thank you šš
New Year, Same Dana š
@Alisha; your compliments legit make me blush šš thank you for your wonderful words!
DeJENerate
I canāt breathe you have such a beautiful voice I just want you to come here and sing me to sleep šā¤ļø
hex(a) the halls āļø
Dana!!! Get out of town with your gorgeous voice! š
alisha-ilent night āļø
dana, i hope you never ever tire of me calling you an irl angel!! this is the best early christmas gift; you've got such a strong and sweet voice that matches so much wine so beautifully! thank you for sharing this cover with us!! šš
New Year, Same Dana š
So Much Wine has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it here. So here it goes you guys, a full cover from yours truly! Hope you like it. Early Merry Christmas gift from me to you! https://youtu.be/cLIPtJssC2k
Moira
oh OFC she is so gooooood
Gabriella šŖ© ššæ
Thank you for the Sammy Rae rec!!
Gabriella šŖ© ššæ
I fear you may have created a holiday classic for me with this audio. I can definitely see myself listening to this year after year as a way to grow and/or nurture warm holiday feelings (as I have returned to it this year). This one is really special š
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
hahahahahaha wiggie!!! i love that one, i put it in my little birthday dump post on ig bc so many people sent it to me šš
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
@ky saw this and thought of you immediately. you muppet loving human, you https://imgur.com/a/SpC2U7I
Moira
YES KY THANK YOUUU
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
oh that's perfect. mine is a big disney work playlist and has basically all the disney + pixar music, plus movie scores, attraction soundtracks and theme park loops. it is 90 hours long lol
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
moira i love sammy rae!!!!!!!!!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
The Sufjan Joy to the World came on, then NSYNC's Merry Christmas.... Absolutely smash. Playlist on blast for the next month. I haven't hit a Disney song yet, but I'm EXCITED
Diane š
Aww choir memories ā„ļø nothing beats some good acoustics and āGaudeteā
cheyenne ā”
Your Joni Mitchell moment of appreciation really got me, sheās been one of the most important artists of my life and it was so nice to hear your appreciation for her! Happy holidays ā„ļø
Paige āļøāØ
@Gabriella You are the SWEETEST! Love your energy always. I have the best support and am so lucky for that š«¶š¼ this space is also so supportive and so FUN! š I really wish we could find a way to communicate more!
Deedee š«¶š¾
@Lambda Thanks for the recs and the CWs as well! Itās been a while since Iāve watched some tearjerkers so Iāll try want a few over the next few days and drop a reviewšāāļø
āļøāļø a hoe-lly (jo)-lly xmas āļøāļø
wow... this song instantly transported me back to my hs choir days - our choral director would book us for charity gigs at local churches and oh my god, when we sang in the large and echo-y hall before the audience arrived, this is exactly what it felt like (except we were just teens at nowhere the skill level of this group!!). THANK YOU for this rec, HBC has such good taste. simply breathtaking :')
hex(a) the halls āļø
Uh yuuuuuupppp
Jen-ger bread cookie š
@hexa Seeing Angel and Mimi š„µ lord almighty it changed my life
hex(a) the halls āļø
RENT is correeeeect. Holiday spirit, artist rage, pleather pants galore, and one of my various sexual awakenings.
Samaru
No Klaus (2019) mention? š„ŗ my top rec, if you love melancholy but endearing aspect of the holidays! I agree the kind occasional somber aspect of the holidays is comforting to me in a weird way
Samaru
Also after scrolling through all these comments, love to see everyoneās own additions and soft spots but Iām surprised there were movies not mentioned like: This Christmas (2007), Polar Express (2004), The Grinch (2000)?? Peak nostalgia for me š«£
Samaru
First of all Iām realizing I canāt say ohh Iām not into podcasts bc if August started a movie podcast Iād happily listen religiously, love the thematic analysis and solid song recs š¤·š»āāļø TBH I thought Die Hard 2 was the first Die Hard until I was in my early 20s lol. American Exceptionalism mention thank youuu
Jen-ger bread cookie š
@Gabriella I loooooooove the soundtrack for RENT. Even when I had no idea what the songs were about. Itās such a sad story, but itās so good š La Vie Boheme played constantly in my head along with Seasons of Love
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Your comment reminded me of how much I love Rent. Speaking of community coming together and being saccharine, I would HIGHLY recommend scream-singing along to the BANGER soundtrack for holiday warmth and delight. I'm so sorry you're so sick! I hope you're on the mend, Jen!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Moira, I am NOT thinking about those sad thighs running across a field, perhaps riding a horse! Honestly, I could have taken more Pedro. His character was very interesting!
Jen-ger bread cookie š
I once cosplayed her a few years ago too š we definitely need a watch party, i need to watch it with someone who can appreciate it
Dana (NoĆ«l šāļø)
Girl we need a watch-party fr. Anastasia is the only movie I know, and absolutely loved šš
Jingle Bell-nie ššš¶
Ahhh Bear and the Nightingale mention in the book YouTube video. Such a great Morozko series.
Moira
Saw it on Monday, and watched Wicked afterwards, and @gabriella, you were so right š but I had a great time, and Iām totally not constructing a love poem for Paulās arms and thighs in that movie
Moira
@ky, I have a productivity playlist with nothing but Disney soundtracks, Ghibli soundtracks, Bridgerton soundtracks, and Challengers: Match Point. Itās called āI cry a lot but I am so productiveā lol
Jen-ger bread cookie š
Moulin Rouge (2001) R.E.N.T (2005) Mickeyās Once Upon a Christmas (1999) Heathers (1988) Corpse Bride (2005) Anastasia (1997) Iām so sick I can barely come up with a logical sentence, but wanted to share some movies I watch during the colder winter months. Itās hilarious I let Gremlinās torment me my entire childhood along with Jumanji but lately have been revisiting movies from my childhood so maybe Iāll man up and give it another shot. The movies and song choices are always so good. The way you talk is so relaxing, you could go on for hours teaching me French and Iām pretty sure I would have been fluent. I greatly appreciate having this time to listen to you and disassociate from reality for a little while.
Quercus š
Iām visiting my family for thanksgiving and I listened to this before getting to my homewtown and as soon as I got home my mom had suggested we watch gremlins for tonight (which is funny, what a coincidence. But not really? Idk My first time watching it.) and we couldnāt stop ourselves from laughing. It was so fun. Itās been a difficult year for my mother and seeing her laugh and have fun watching this movie it just- it warmed my heart. Iāve also been listening to your song suggestions and they fit the vibes of where I live. I canāt wait to listen to them when I get back home. Thank you for sharing and I can definitely see why they are your favorites! š«¶š¼āØ
ē§¦čÆ
Youāre sweet too!!!!!š„°ā¤ļøā¤ļø
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
this is so sweet š„¹ i, obviously, love the community here too. i won't shut up about it! and it really is all thanks to august and his work for giving us so much to discuss + dissect + require sedation over š«¶š¼ and you made a great point about creativity and caring for the creative behind the content first and foremost! even if only in service of more delicious art in the future š¤
Blandishments
Wow, this one made me emotional too lmao š To start: DELIGHTFULLY eclectic taste in movies/music. I cheered out loud at Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (I think my exact words were "MR LAWRENCE MENTIONED"). My boyfriend and I ended up watching it because he loves Ryuichi Sakamoto and I was going through a Yukio Mishima phase at the time. Phenomenal movie, definitely a hard one to convince people to watch on a casual Friday night, so it was very exciting hearing you mention it. The pairing of Gremlins with Phoebe Bridgers did get a laugh out of me-- I don't see your vision, precisely, but I'm willing to rewatch Gremlins to try and figure it out. Your ending message made me kind of emotional, too. I have an account on Unnamed Social Media with a decent number of followers, and recently I tried doing something new and it uh, was not received well. I found myself obsessively checking my follower count and growing anxious as I watched hundreds of people leave, and while that seems silly given that the vast majority stayed, each time the number went down I felt my heart plummet to my feet. But I started getting a ton of messages from people saying that they liked the new stuff, and it was very encouraging to hear from them when I was like, fixated on the downward line. Which is to say: I'm glad that people are supportive and liking your newer, riskier stuff, I sorta get where you're coming from about the nerves that precede uploading something Different, and I hope people continue to be supportive of any new directions you take! (I certainly will!)
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Oh Paige, Iām so sorry, what an awful shock. I hope you have the things you need to ride the waves as they come and that this space gives you some of those things. Iām also looking forward to celebrating, being both silly billies and saccharine saps, with you all! šā¤ļøāš©¹
El āļø
Well said, Amy! And hope youāre feeling better and taking the time you need for self-care! Happy Holidays! āŗļø
Diane š
āŗļø Youāre too kind and right back at you!
Amy š
My dude, had to give this a little breathing room while I was dealing with my own burnout so I only just got around to listening. Firstly, loved the film recs. Lots added to my watch list for this holiday season. Secondly, one of the stand out aspects of your body of work is that your audios change. You put so much thought into ensuring your work isn't repetitive and for the listener, it always feels like a new way to explore a trope or a tag. I really appreciate how much effort it must be for you to make that happen for every audio you post. Hope you get some downtime to watch some of these awesome movies with your fave movie snacks! š
Paige āļøāØ
Youāre an angel, Moira š„¹
Moira
both have been added to the playlist š«”
Moira
omg such a brag!! Iām extremely jealous, I love them sm.
Mimi
omfg thank you i get shy about my music taste ahaha. not to brag (totally to brag) but i got to see the marĆas at camp flog gnaw and hearing it live made me ascend
Paige āļøāØ
Re-listened to this for more coziness and realized when you became emotional that I forgot one song that gets me every time - Same Old Lang Syne by Dan Fogelberg! And Iām gonna re-emphasize how much I adore Pentatonixās rendition of Fleet Foxesā White Winter Hymnal. I think itās a really pretty song, but that specific version reminds me of my grandma who was my second mom. Candid moment: Iām an only child whose family has consisted of my mom, grandma, and grandpa. She passed unexpectedly in 2021 and itās been the most immense pain Iāve ever felt. She loved Pentatonix and their Christmas music and I cry every time I hear that song. She WAS the holiday season for our family and the three of us are doing our best to manage without her each holiday. Thank you for sharing your own joy and nostalgia. Itās really refreshing. Thanks for being you, August, and giving us all a space and outlet to share an array of stories, emotions, and thoughts. I am stoked to celebrate the holidays with you all! āØšš„°
Moira
you have exquisite taste š¤š¼ no one noticed by the Marias and bruises off the peach by Ryan Beatty is on my monthly playlist, and I love Lizzy, Billie, and Phoebe! I scream orange show speedway š at least once a week in the car
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
nasphere: yes exactly!!! gabriella: you sound like me when august posts a sfw hehehehehe šŖ also sorry everyone. i was listening to this playlist today and there are disney songs on it. again, i am who i am!
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
KNIVES OUT šŖš„°
Mimi
Took me two days, but hereās my movies and song pairings: listed from winter vibes to christmas vibes - Knives Out (I watched this after going ice skating in an outdoor rink w my family, so itās more memory based) & everything i wanted by Billie Eilish - Good Will Hunting & No One Noticed by the MarĆas - Perfect Days (because itās about appreciating the mundane moments and I think that really spikes in the holiday season) & Days Like This by Van Morrison - Revenge of the Sith (Some of the only good memories I have with my brother are when we would watch this together during christmas break) & Reckless Driving by Lizzy McAlpine and Ben Kessler - Home Alone & Run Run Rudolph (that airport scene is iconic) - Little Women & Motion Sickness by Phoebe Bridgers - The Holdovers & Vienna by Billy Joel - Iām going to watch Red One soon and iām geeked because it looks so bad š¤© other winter vibe music: A Night to Remember by Laufey and Beabadoobee Pancakes for Dinner by Lizzy McAlpine Bruises off the Peach by Ryan Beatty Over the Ocean Call by Lizzy McAlpine The Knocker by Tiny Habits (and ofc a Very Spidey Christmas) bonus for the bookish friends ! https://youtu.be/9Z6mKWWCQD8?si=VAI8HJyqnuS7m3X7 This youtuber gives such cozy vibes and has such good recommendations!!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Beach Boys? More like Best Boys!! But yes, I love them dearly and will scream-sing Iām Waiting for the Day or Arenāt You Glad anytime anyplace š¤
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
thelnie: 1) randy newman rocks. i won't deny it. (and neither will my spotify!) 2) i do be listening to a LOT of disney scores + soundtracks at work and idk i do love monsters inc. lol
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
you said my second activation code: the beach boys šāāļøš
R
I think youād like winter song by Sam fender if you like haunting Christmas songs
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
adding to gabriella's fruit basket: šš«¶š¼
eden
sax in a song that changed my life forever is called ābaker streetā by gerry rafferty. its so good and melancholy- so if you dont already know it, id try it out :3
Mimi
diane youāre literally so fucking cool i hope you know that
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Oooo I am going to attempt to bake a giant Samoa cookie while listening to this, thank you!! šŖš
nasa (ho ho ho) š§ø
seeing faye and laufey on the playlistš§āāļøš§āāļø
nasa (ho ho ho) š§ø
omgg thank youuu this is cute + long playlists are cool anyway because it keeps the vibe going yk? š¤š¤
santa-liyah š§£
so many people dropped playlists, soā¦ āļø secular winter playlist, with chilly dreampop to cozy indie: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1Ephd0CBRDcJkipaAyoR14 š proper holiday tunes (factchecked by real santaās elves): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4aj8uuZL6YE9cVes9j56CM
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
jo: wicked p2 is my avengers: endgame (i also love my superhero fluff so i mean this DOUBLE!!) gabriella: i am so elated by this i cannot express. i actually need to rewatch!! š
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
what you said about art: retweet!!!!!!!! ššš
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
hi HBC queens (gender nooch)!! if anyone's looking for a big ol festive, saccharine (positive) christmas playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/03Ai1OtmHlAIbi0nhc5zGp?si=POIpJVKERvyTDcgwCNLSkw&pi=u-JMRh3RAVTmCy i wfh so i have lotssss of long ass playlists. aka you can't make fun of me just bc this is almost 16 hrs long. lots of jazz-standard-y classic christmas music w choice contemporary exceptions incl. yes a lil sufjan! also muppets bc i am who i am! š also i really did want to say "holiday playlist" but it's truly 99% explicitly christmas music š„²
santa-liyah š§£
another rec since you mentioned liking sadder/melancholic christmas songs: āmerry christmas, please donāt callā by bleachers paired with normal people. the TV show or the book! or one after the other to really maximize that cold, sad holiday feeling.
Heather
Aw the star wars part reminded me of when I was a kid and my brothers and I were playing the clone wars video game and my mom was playing trans siberian orchestra and it was snowy and the tree was up. It was such a nice setting š„¹ Thanks for reminding me of that
Agatha Merry Li-ttle Christmas š š¼š
I learned that in the making of Gremlins, Warner Brothers had wanted to take that scene out of the movie, and Joe Dante absolutely refused because it was his favourite part of the movie š¤©, which he felt encapsulated the āwhole ethos of the pictureā in terms of the āduality of humor and horrorā šš±
š„cottonheadedninnyshesheš
also thereās a choreographed middle school dance. This movie has it all.
š„cottonheadedninnyshesheš
Daryl from the office is an overly serious small town sheriff who owns a 2004 flip phone - Iām telling you this is a must watch
š„cottonheadedninnyshesheš
There is gentle nudity and a pretty woman shopping montage
š„cottonheadedninnyshesheš
FINE TWIST MY ARM ILL TELL YOU ABOUT IT Gretchen from mean girls is a widow who brings a snowman - played by Ted of Schitts Creek - to life with a *magical scarf*
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
love!! thank you moiraš¤©
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
I know The Holdovers is going to wallop me, so Iāve been putting it off, but maybe nowās the time! The Dickens connection is nuts! The Masterpiece Theatre version of Bleak House was the first thing I ever saw on PBS that wasnāt very comforting, so my memory of it is it being *terrifying* even though Iām so sure it isnāt lol. And also hard agree with your points here and delighted to see Little Saint Nick!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Hard agree to everything in this comment, and particularly today āit's nice to remember joy and cheer can be felt in small, simple ways too, even if it's mixed w a lil bit of sadnessā was really really helpful to me. So thank you! š
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Thank you!! š
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Lolol thatās so cute! I decided to watch it after insomnia got me early this morning (itās free on YouTube), what a delight!! Aliceās song at the talent show was so š. The nightmare band song was also hilarious. I loved it!
āļøāļø a hoe-lly (jo)-lly xmas āļøāļø
i'm so here for the Anastasia love omg AHHH
A š¦š
Youāve made me think I need to rewatch Gremlins, itās been far too long. Iāve only seen it once. Maybe Iāll make my family watch it this year! Return of the Jedi is the one my dad worked on so youāre right to have it as your favorite š«” itās my favorite on principle. Fun fact that you probably know, the name was originally revenge of the Jedi. Fun follow up fact, we (my family) have some old crew merch (or like, gear? shirts and stuff lol) that say ārevenge of the jediā because it was printed before they decided to call it return of the jedi! Iāve never actually seen a full Star Wars movie all the way through, but I did watch the behind the scenes of ILM documentary on Disney+ and they showed how they did the effects on empire strikes back. You should watch that if you havenāt! The score for the Charlie Brown Christmas special is so so soooo good. I havenāt played piano in a while - I used to - but I kind of want to learn some of the songs. Linus and Lucy is a banger. Re the end, I think burnout is a normal part of all work and creation tbh. I loveee my job and sometimes Iām tired asf of it. Iām sure most if not all people here can relate! Also, I echo what everyone else says - everything you make is, frankly, genius. The āØlayersāØ. The characterizations. The plots. Etc etc. You could publish something that is the complete anthesis of everything I like and Iād still absolutely love it just as a story and as a work of art. You bring a level of authenticity, depth, and humanity that I think is rare and you should know that your artistry is valuable in and of itself, and not just because people consume it. This is true for all artists, but I think itās relevant here because this is a paid platform and it sounds like you feel responsibility for it as a product. And thatās totally fair and understandable! I just also feel likeā¦ idk, youāre so good at what you do. I donāt want you to feel too pressured to make certain things or to change or to not change or whatever else. Art is unlike some other fields in that there is room for growth and the rhythms of life built-in, you know? I mean, maybe not always or in all ways, but certainly here in the community youāve built. Anyway, happy beginning of the holidays, everybody! I mean, Christmas starts for me in September because Iām hyped as fuck about it, but Thanksgiving/the end of November marks the indisputable beginning of the season even for the grinchiest among us, and that is a beautiful thing. Let it begin āļøāļøšš šŖš„
āļøāļø a hoe-lly (jo)-lly xmas āļøāļø
oh my god ky i just watched wicked today and i am SAT. ill rise for part II next year lol
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
but also this ranking is good. everybody's rankings are good bc all of wes anderson is pretty good! š
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
he is so funny. he couldn't NOT answer the question in full, immediately ššš
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
@rachel YES hard agree, Submarine was sublime, deffo has vibes similar to MK!
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
Peony, Iād love to know your top 5 WA films if youāre willing to share?! š Also for the Moonrise Kingdom fans, I highly recommend Submarine (2010) directed by Richard Ayoade if you havenāt seen it already! Similar vibes imo and thereās a gorgeous EP of songs by Alex Turner from the Arctic Monkeys that feature in the film. āStuck on the Puzzleā and āPiledriver Waltzā from that EP both appear on a number of playlists of mine!
Peony
Wow, I feel honoured to receive an audio clip response! Thanks, that was a fun listen! Iām such a big Wes Anderson fan, but youāve reminded me that I havenāt seen The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar yet. I need to remedy that asap.
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
Moonrise Kingdom & Fantastic Mr Fox being in your top 5 TASTE!!!! š¦ @Moira āYouāre supposed to be *my* lab partnerā¦ā āI amā āNo youāre not ššā PERFECTION.
Moira
wait thank you, I loved hearing this! I loved moonrise kingdom, and fantastic Mr. Fox holds such a special place in my heart. That quote she says in the kitchen, āIf what I think is happening IS happening, ...it better not be.ā is something my friends and I say to each other all the time lol. And I definitely replay that monologue, āā¦And if people aren't knocked out and dazzled and slightly intimidated by me, I don't feel good about myself,ā like at least once a month.
Lambda Sitta
Oh my goodness, Gabriella, the scene when they're driving away from the boarding school just DESTROYS MEEEEE ššš Hahahaha, I don't know about me being a part of anything here š¤£š. Thank you, I'm so flattered, but really, I just talk too much š
Diane š
I see your Lullay Lullay (Coventry Carol) and raise you a Lully, Lulla, Lullay by Philip Stopford. Choral and instrumental music = Christmas vibes to me https://open.spotify.com/album/2jFBT3xeFTFExf0p7nZPT6?si=z9pbay_QRaeXQhTfdpYEKA anything in a minor key sounds like snow. Please donāt ever cover Sufjan because I will never recover. I saw him live and I still feel like part of me left with him. I canāt handle that again. Also, as someone who once co-created and ran a limited series podcast, I am astounded by your monthly output. I would have quit halfway through if I had to do that many or I would have bulk banked to release because keeping the momentum š®āšØ basically, I wouldnāt be mad if you took a hiatus because I get it.
Mimi
EMPIRE STRIKES BACK MENTIONED let me go brew my hoth inspired tea š«”šš»
August Winter
https://vocaroo.com/1lSse9ZQvXot Fun question omg and since I don't think I'll ever do a SFW audio on it^^^. I also wanted to say specifically that I think the Henry Sugar shorts are really great (especially and specifically Poison) and easily his best work in a long time!
Mimi
yesss perfect way to relax after 7 hours in the library my brain is friedddd
Dana (NoĆ«l šāļø)
YOU are awesome! ā¤ļø
alisha-ilent night āļø
thank you for your hard work in compiling all the tracks for this playlist!! i know what i'll be looping today~ š
DivineFeminine āļøāļøš
This was so cozy! āļø Absolute SLEIGH with the movie picks š· šI truly love this time of the year but itās also bittersweet. Grief tends to hit the most with the sights, smells and memories of what once was. I enjoy discovering new movies/music but also revisit familiar favorites because, nostalgia š„ŗ Hereās a few of mine. ā¢Just Friends (2005) ā¢Nightmare before Christmas (1993) ā¢Little Women (2019) ā¢Home Alone (1990) ā¢The Simpsons Christmas Episodes Technically, not holiday movies but these were released during December. I saw these at the movie theater with my brother, so I enjoy revisiting these..tho I LOVE Tron & can watch it all year š ā¢Tron: Legacy (2010) ā¢Sherlock Holmes (2009) I used to think your name āAugust in the Winterā was a creative play on words for the word apricity. By definition, it means āthe warmth of sunlight in the winterā, but I feel your audios metaphorically evoke the feeling of apricity as well. Thereās audios we come back to when weāre sometimes at our lowest or feeling burnt out. I appreciate the honesty and transparency, and I hope thereās something you can turn to when these feelings arise. I can imagine this job getting heavy at times and if you need to step back, weād understand. Itās natural to grow and change, especially as an artist. Speaking for myself, I enjoy and appreciate when you try something new, different. We can hear the meticulous attention to detail and how carefully crafted your audios are. I hope the negativity doesnāt get to you because your audios are nothing short of euphonious. At the same time, if you wanted to switch up and do movie reviews or gameplaysā¦count me in on that too. š½ļø Thanks again for the audio & wishing everyone a Happy Holiday Season! āļøš
Moira
okay, I think I got everyoneās music suggestions, but let me know if I missed anyone! Iāll keep an eye on this comment section if anyone else wants to add ideas. https://tinyurl.com/moansplaylist This playlist is actually so fun āØš despite being kind of all over the placeā¦
Peony
Would love to hear your ranking of Wes Anderson films, by the way!
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
omg wait actually can weš that sounds like so much fun!! we can set it up in the discord Iām totally down! š“āā ļø
Jingle Bell-nie ššš¶
Iāve always wanted to try Sea of Thieves and need someone to play with!! It sounds like big chaotic fun. Can we make a crew of august listeners? (we need to get the gamers here together)
adrian
i actually really love how much sufjan is on here because one of my holiday movies is call me by your name and especially that soundtrack gives me huge christmas vibes idgaf that most of the movie is in the summer!!!! also in reference to the end of this audio , I think you've done a really impressive job of creating romantic audios without crossing the BFE line! i think thats such an important boundary to have on the internet so it always feels like a treat when you make something really emotional and tender like the space audio from which i am still recovering from.
kenna
Iād have you anytime by George and lilac wine by Jeff are personal favs!!
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
oh it's so good. everybody is so good. i have not stopped listening. i wfh so it's been on repeat š¤© and isn't it so funny ommfmjfjfjf my mom and i literally quote the outtakes š
adrian
"saccharine" okay vocabulary!!! also if you posted a sufjan stevens cover i fear i may pass away
chloe
why am i fully unsurprised to see sufjan stevens in the descriptionā¦ also hi snarling and ramming against my crate rn HELLO
roxyyy āround the š
Also love that you shared that you were feeling inspired and that itās getting you excited about the next audio! It only feeds our anticipation even more š¤ As a creator, that sudden surge of inspiration can be incredibly exhilarating. Itās as if everything clicks into place, and you feel capable of accomplishing anything. It's one of the best feelings, for sure š„¹ Happy for you š
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
dude I donāt even know who to @ in this thread bc we seem to all be sharing the same lives? starkid and glee supremacy!!! speaking of embarrassing wrapped, I did in fact get āsea shantiesā one year for my top genre. guess I was playing a lot of Sea of Thieves that year š«£
JammyJam
Holiday spirit or not, I just love listening to you talk about the things you're passionate about. Hearing the chuckles and enthusiasm in your voice is incredibly soothing, it makes me want to curl up in a blanket with a steaming cup of matcha latte. That little "I'm interlacing my fingers together" moment? Sir, why are you so cute? It had me kicking my feet! Big fan of creepier holiday songs too! Iām one of those people who binge-watch The Nightmare Before Christmas twice a year - once in October and again in December. Itās got some of the best soundtracks of all holiday movies (vaguely defined). Speaking of holiday music, Iām also a huge Pentatonix fan and have been listening to their holiday albums for years. They just capture the classic holiday spirit so perfectly. Their songs never fail to cheer me up. I completely agree with the theory that the best holiday movies are the ones tied to childhood memories. Iām so glad you mentioned Star Wars lol For me, itās definitely The Lord of the Rings. Itās not exactly a childhood memory, but Iāve spent many holiday seasons watching the trilogy with good food and some precious alone time. That makes it feel extra special to me. Also, for some reason, Iāve been looping I Put a Spell on You after listening to your audio, probably shouldāve added it to the spooky playlist lol Itās always fun to hear about everyoneās favorite childhood movies/comics/etc. Instead of Peanuts, I found my peace in Garfield. For some reason I just relate more to a fat, lazy, mean cat, what a surprise lol That said, Peanuts is growing on me. A few months ago I watched A Charlie Brown Christmas with my mom (completely out of season but it was on TV), and we both loved it. So there will definitely be more Peanuts in my house going forward. I canāt speak for everyone, but personally, Iām so grateful for how open you are with your audience. Iām not a creator myself, but I dabble in writing, and periodic burnout is definitely familiar territory. My creator friends and I find that absorbing new things (books, movies, manga/anime, music, etc.) helps, but I also know everyoneās creative journey is deeply personal, and we all have to wrestle with our own demons. As a listener though, one of the joys of following you is watching your growth and connecting the constellations in the Augustverse. Change is expected, and honestly nothing excites me more than discovering new things through your audios. So please never stop evolving, growing, or doing whatever feels right for you! :D And one last thing: can we please get a part II or another younger coworker audio? That one IS and WILL FOREVER BE my holiday audio! Be proud itās brilliant!!!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
I was already excited about Wicked, but now I'm so seated the theater employees are worried. Also the Jugband Christmas clip killed me omg
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Today I may win the battle against my enemy (Brevity) since everyone has so beautifully said many thoughts I share (fail š). This was so warm, so fun, and so cute!!! I mean ācuteā in a āthis is emotionally fortifying, seeing someone love things so openlyā way. Also, only knowing Age of Adz (one of my favorite albums), it was remarkable and so fun to hear and learn so much more about Sufjan Stevens! On your reflections about art: To be clear, it never comes off that way, that youād like to be comforted and are dropping an emotional anvil that you expect us to pick up. If anything, thank you for your candor! The thing I am here for is your perspective, the ways particular ideas filter through your mind. Part of what makes the audios so special is that theyāre educational! I come here to learn things about myself and if Iām fed Boyfriendās Best Friend over and over, Iād be elated, but would I learn things about myself? I donāt knowā¦ My favorite thing about art (in all its manifestations) is trying to distill a part of your heart successfully, then showing it to people and asking if there are parts of their heart that look like that too. Fear gets in the way of that because you might want to hide things (thinking of āI want to unfoldā @sarah) or perform what you think others want/expect. Of course, we are not owed anything and you donāt have to show anything you donāt want to!! As a more recent Patron, I just want to make clear that youāve clearly done a lot of work to cultivate an environment of mutual trust and education. Weāre all learning and growing together, and thatās really special! I trust you to continue respecting us and yourself. Onto lists of things: Songs that make happy and are communal: š The Naboo Parade Finale from The Phantom Menace šSaathi Haath Bandhana from Naya Daur šTake Care by Beach House šEverythingās Gonna Be Cool This Christmas by Eels šI also deeply relate to listening to music with religious themes and feeling deeply moved by it though I am not religious!!!!!! To be extraordinarily specific on main, Arziyan from Dilli 6 gets me every time. Movies where community comes together/family: šMeet Me in St. Louis šTokyo Godfathers šSpider-Man 2: the train scene is a profound example of that art feeling. Sam Raimi touched my heart with his and permanently changed me! šCoco: the ending makes me weep uncontrollably, itās so beautiful ššš
š„cottonheadedninnyshesheš
Ok but have you seen Hot Frosty
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
I hope your date went well and that they were nice to you and you felt beautiful!!! And yes, critiques of American Exceptionalism are always a hit in my household.
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
This is so kind, thank you!! I hope that for you as well. This time of year also tends to bring me down a bit, but places like this community are a lovely buoying force!!!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
@Lambda: I LOOOOOOOOVE Aamir Khan omg, so delightful to read your comment! Taare Zameen Par in particular really touches me, even just thinking about the title song makes me emotional! Separately, having joined the Patreon late, reading through your comments, I was/am always touched by how kind and thoughtfully you show up. I think you're a big reason this community feels so special and is imbued with so much care!!
Ynara
There's no official discord that he is a part of, some listeners just got together and made one since we were all getting along and wanted to connect!
alisha-ilent night āļø
come join us~ š https://discord.gg/6dN3xREx
ē§¦čÆ
I know you said it twice now you were not asking for anything, but I rarely do what Iām told to do, so - please do take as much time as you need, and take good care of yourself first and foremost. Iām saying this for a very obvious and selfish reason. Iād looooove to hear more from you and listen to more audios from you. If it means weāll have a break for a month or two months, I wonāt mind at all. I know from personal experiences, being a content creator is very lonely and very mental draining, and I totally relate to creative burnout. Literally I threw away whatever I worked on for October and started fresh in November. Chaos happened for sure. But I am happier about the work I produced than I was 3 week ago. So itās safe to say it worked out in the end. Knowing you (I mean the small pieces of you you shared here) and your work, Iām certain whatever is bothering you, will work out in the end as well. Cuz weāre on the topic of being open and vulnerable, Iād like to share how much I appreciate this community. Apart from listening to Augustās audios, the other joy I find is to read comments. Sometimes I enjoy reading the comments just a little bit more dare I sayš¤£. This is such a lovely lovely community. I love reading about people being inspired to go out to date, getting engaged/married, needing to be sedated and etc. It feels real, like a real community, rather than a comment section. I LOVE it. Please take full credit and be proud of yourself August. I will never encounter this group of talented, funny human beings without you, August. Thank you for this. One last thing I want to share, is something my supervisor shared to me the other day (sheās a very successful book author). She said, along the lines of people who leaves negative comments on your work on the Internet, does not care as much as how you take them. I find it helps me a lot, and I hope you can find some peace in it too.
ē§¦čÆ
Wait, we have a discord?
ē§¦čÆ
Iāll come back for the last part of the audio. But hereāre my top 3 stable Christmas movies: 1. Home alone (1 and 2): itās usually a stay at home and watch it with friends and family thingy, but last year, I got to watch 1 and 2, back to back, in cinema before Xmas, it was sooooo good omg. 2. Harry Potter (prisoner of Azkaban): I could write a thesis about how it could be made better, but until they do a remake, this version will stay as one of my many guilty pleasures. 3. Love Actually: itās cute and Xmas vibes. For me, this is part of Xmas ritualsš¤£
El āļø
This was such a fun listen, August! Itās a Wonderful Life means so much to me and as you said, it does a superb job at highlighting the most meaningful aspects of life. I very much resonate with your thoughts at the ending of this. It was burn out that led me to GWA. So cool of you to be open and honest. As a listener, I often remind myself that I get to listen at my leisure and turn things off when I want. Iād imagine that as the creator it can sometimes be a hell of a lot less simple than that. Hence, I have massive respect for the work you do and really appreciate your content! Lastly, I feel itās worth noting that I enjoy your new audios just as much as the old ones. I think thatās because, though the content may evolve, your delivery remains uniquely profound and fun! Wishing everyone a very happy holiday season!! š
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
LOCAL MUPPET ENJOYER LOGGING ON ššš¼ as itās now been established in horny book club canon, i love the goddamn muppets. it was so sweet to hear you enjoyed the muppet christmas carol esp as an adult! i also did not watch that one until i was older and look at me now! getting a kermit tattoo this month! also in the spirit of muppet christmas carol: emmett otter's jugband christmas!! itās also a jim henson proj but w different characters, not entirely Muppet-yā¢ļø but soooooo cute and christmas-y. at the very least please watch the outtakes. this went platinum in my household. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GduZhqftUn8 my favorite christmas/winter holiday watches: - you guys know i am corny. i love a classic christmas movie hehe - i am a chronic elf watcher. i probably watch it 5-10 times a year bc iāll just throw it on in the background throughout the christmas season lmao - love actually: self-explanatory. also once i took a buzzfeed quiz to see which love actually character i was and i got the octopus kid who gets a ride from hugh grant so heās not late for the pageant - the family stone - when they open the framed photos and sybil points at amy and goes, āthatās you and me, kidā hot hot tears. - frozen!! know it takes place in the summer but cmon now - you've got mail!!!! kathleen even muses on river by joni mitchell during christmas š - saw wicked a few days ago and i just know thereās no way iām gonna be normal about it anytime soon so i think iām going to claim it early as a holiday watch! who gives a shit!!!! (positive) i looooorrrrve sufjan steven's christmas music. bc he is so earnest and honest in his music, when its joyful it likeā¦ soars š„° like his have yourself a merry little christmas and santa claus is coming to town make me so happyyyyy and i canāt not comment on this: we're along for the ride!! i am, as i loudly assert every week, well taken care of, content-wise. so i am biased. but even if my preferential needs were not being enthusiastically met w every audio, i thought it was obvious you're maintaining your level of quality if not consistently exceeding it. and i donāt say that to apply anyyy pressure or express An Expectation- i just truly believe you are consistently producing incredible work. it'd be understandable if it dipped and peaked and ebbed and flowed month to month but i genuinely do not think it does. i guess it's not really my place but for what it's worth im sorry if anyone made you feel like your quality is waning?? it is absolutely not. whether or not content meets any single personās topical preferences it cannot be denied that u r the baddest bitch in town. this is not me comforting you btw dont get it twisted. this little rant is for ME. if you received comfort or gained some perspective that's none of my business. š«µš¼
Paige āļøāØ
Oh! Also - I also want to put my vote in that you share your Spotify Wrapped, August! I know you said your friends have given you shit, but if thatās happened to you and itās happened to me and itās happened to the others who shared their wrapped experiences (s/o fellow Gleek queens!)ā¦ itās meant to be š And if you show us yours, weāll show you ours! š¤Ŗš¶
Paige āļøāØ
Itās been a really heavy week, so this was a welcome comfort audio - thanks for sharing, August. Iām a creature of habit (I like what I know, but I do try hard to branch out) and I feel like Iāve got a lot of things to check out now, so thank you to August and also everyone else for sharing what brings you joy š«¶š¼ None of your likes are āweirdā - if Iām honest, I feel like a bit of an outlier seeing how many people agree with your picks and some Iāve never even heard of š Iām an enigma in that Iāve always marched to the best of my own drum, but Iām also considered ābasicā, so I feel like my suggestions are usually considered lame, BUT this is a safe space sooo here are my two cents šāØ Songs: - Christmas Wrapping - The Waitresses - White Winter Hymnal - Pentatonix (Fleet Foxes cover) - A Nonsense Christmas - Sabrina Carpenter - Last Christmas - WHAM - White Christmas and Baby Itās Cold Outside - Glee Cast (listen, I just love when Darren Criss and Chris Colfer duet, is that so wrong) Whatās This? - Danny Elfman Shows (episodes): - Community (Regional Holiday Music and Abedās Uncontrollable Christmas) - American Dad! (Minstrel Krampus) Movies: - The Sound of Music - The Nightmare Before Christmas
roxyyy āround the š
This last part of the audio got me like š„ŗš„ŗš„ŗ thank you for being transparent and honest even though you donāt owe it to us, itās much appreciated. (Acknowledge that you donāt need the comfort but this is genuinely just my two cents and some things Iāve noticed while being a member of this community which Iām reflecting on -will probably get a bit rambly bc I have a lot of unorganized thoughts š„²) To me, being a creator and sharing that content is a deeply personal experience. Itās always going to, at some level resonate with who you are and what you feel and I think most/all of us can see that through your work. Iāve said it before but your level of care and attention to how you craft your audios really shines through every month and thatās what makes them so special. Whether itās genre or good old friends to loversā¦doesnāt matter. I feel like over the course of your audio creating career youāve also discovered pieces of yourself along the way, and the fact that itās shared with the rest of us through your creative work is such a privilege āØ Anyway I donāt really know where Iām going with this comment but I guess the gist of it is, that I feel so lucky to have found a creator who has such meaningful work that stays true to yourself and your vision, even while interacting with your audienceās desires. Thereās a certain authenticity in that, something that canāt be replicated if itās just about fulfilling expectations. Youāve built a space where, instead of just creating for an audience, youāre also growing alongside them, which is a rare and beautiful thing to witness. So, while I completely respect the feedback you get from the community, I also admire how you manage to balance that with your own voice and what feels right to you. Itās something that makes your work stand out, and why, personally, I always look forward to whatever you create next. Youāre not just giving us "what we want"āyouāre giving us pieces of yourself, and thatās something I hope will continue far into your career. Basically, just keep doing your thing and whatever you wantāitās the best part about this corner of the internet youāve created šāØ
Paige āļøāØ
WHAM and Nonsense Christmas!!! The taste š¤š¼
Paige āļøāØ
OH WEāRE STARKID AND GLEE FANS HERE??? I feel so seen. I met Darren Criss in 2013 and he told me I was beautiful and, āgave one hell of a fucking hug!ā - I have been deceased ever since š
roxyyy āround the š
Just popping in to say this comment really resonated with me too. My job also requires me to be creative on demand and even though itās something I thoroughly enjoy it can be rough sometimesā¦and feeling burnt out from something you love to do is a really sh**ty feeling too ā¹ļø But part of navigating that is (like you said) trusting others when they say youāre doing a good job and that positive feedback can be a good reason to keep going š thanks for sharing your experience of it!
A š¦š
stoppppp not avpm we really all lived the same cringe 2010ās life
Jingle Bell-nie ššš¶
@Ky Randy Newman, I can understand as a fellow soundtrack lover. But Monsters, Inc. out of all of them?? I must be sleeping on that one.
Dana (NoĆ«l šāļø)
I canāt say anything about the ride since I joined yāall here in August 2024 BUT I definitely 100% agree with you! I know I WILL enjoy the ride in all its twists and turns!
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
august was yours more embarrassing than randy newman being your top artist and monsters inc. being your top track. because those were mine. i have also seen glee live lmao
Jingle Bell-nie ššš¶
@Moira Are we sharing Glee embarrassment? Because Iām constantly forgetting I actually attended one of their live concerts š
Moira
Jfc are we the same person copy + pasted?? ooooo donāt even get me started on Starkid!! one of my counselors from band camp was in a very potter musical, and the obsession really took off from there š¬
kenna
100% with the comment about part of the fun just being along for the ride. like just throw audios at me and I will listen lol
Moira
What are your George Harrison & Jeff Buckley favs? š
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
MOIRA ššš as someone who had a glee/Starkid fandom tumblr in high school, Iām afraid this is just a bit *too* relatable! I say the more āembarrassingā, the better? š¤·š»āāļø
Moira
there was a year where my top songs were all Glee songs šµāš« canāt be more embarrassing than that! do you know? how much glee? one must listen to? (no tea, no shade to any gleeks š«”)
Dana (NoĆ«l šāļø)
When I started listening, I didnāt think Iād end up writing an essay on this, ESPECIALLY the last bit. Putting my Santa hat on cuz itās almost the Holiday Season in the Augustverse, and I celebrate it here as ā¦an Augustine/Augustian? What are we? WHATEVER WE ARE, WE ARE HERE! š I am such a loser cuz I only know the Gremlins (which I watched once when I was like 10?) and Die Hard 2 (which I watched a while back but wasnāt really focused on it š) so Iām here to LEARN about EVERYTHING! Your comment about the gremlin feeling like a set is spot on! It DID feel like a SET haha! I loved that movie so much as a kid š I donāt think I watched the second one but definitely rewatching the first one in December! The only Christmas movie that has constantly been on repeat around here is Love Actually which was pretty depressing but very fun at the same time; I kind of enjoy it every year! And because of Love Actually, the only Christmas song I sing constantly is Mariah Careyās āAll I Want For Christmas is Youā DISCORD WATCH PARTY YāALL!š Moving on! Also, I can hear you cover So Much Wine with the guitar~~~please use this one if you ever plan on covering songs again! Lullay Lullay was chilling! Never heard it before. I love it! Didnāt even know Annie did Christmas songs. Sufjanās music is also lovely! Iām not Christian, but Iām open to listen to all sorts of music; people put their heart and soul in them and they deserve to be appreciated. Is it weird that hearing you talk while music playing in the background feels soothing? Like an SFW audio on its own. This was such a lovely listen on a cool, Saturday morning. Thank you for sharing this with list with us! Now, for the last bit: Showing your vulnerability across this audio feels like such a privilege. The fact that you feel this comfortable sharing your feelings with us? Iām at awe. I know you donāt expect pick-me-ups, but I canāt help it. Itās built-in me. Iām thankful for all the work you do, and itās normal to feel that burnout, youāre human, we all go through those ups and downs, I do hope you feel better about all of this, and I do hope you have someone out there who would listen to you whenever you want to vent. Please know that your audios actually helped me with some of the times I was at my lowest, or suffered from a major burnout. I said it before and Iāll say it here again, to have you share your thoughts and talent with us is something Iāll forever cherish. What you do is not easy, and the fact that you come up with four different audios every month? Itās insane! I understand you love doing this, but do take a step back if it gets overwhelming. I know itās easier said that done but please focus on the good stuff, and donāt let any of the negativity get to you. Best believe Iāll be one (of the many of the listeners out here) that WILL follow your career however and wherever YOU put it. I donāt think there was an audio of yours that I did not enjoy, regardless of whether it was my āthingā or not. You put so much work into it, and it SHOWS, it really shows, and PLEASE, always be proud of it! All of it! I appreciate you a lot. Take care of yourself, and stay hydrated! As you always tell us, youāre safe, youāre good. šš¼
August Winter
I donāt knowww weāll see how it looksāmine is always so embarrassing my friends laughed at me last year
A š¦š
My fav thing to listen to is actually the radio when they start playing Christmas music! Iāve been doing it my whole life and at this point, the ads that I usually hate in other seasons are part of the charm. I also have a Christmas playlist, made up mostly of old songs. My fav Christmas album - if I HAD to pick - is A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. Even if you donāt know the album, I guarantee you know those versions of the songs. I like to watch The Santa Clause multiple times a year starting in the fall š I also watch the Doctor Who Christmas specials every year. This used to be via cable on Christmas Day because BBCA would do a marathon, but now in the era of streaming I have to do it by hand š And my last (for now) annual essential is one that I never hear anyone talk about, but I promise itās delightful - the Stephen Colbert Christmas Special from 2008. My parents loved watching the Colbert report and in 2008 he did a special. We have it on dvd and Iāve watched it several times a year every year since. Itās a timeless work of art.
A š¦š
i wanna give a shoutout to the most underrated christmas work of art of all time, a song called ātext me merry christmasā by kristen bell and straight no chaser. the lyrics are pure poetry, containing lines like āIāll be right here waiting for my pants to start vibrating.ā I started liking it ironically and now im genuinely convinced that itās THE greatest modern Christmas song. no one else is willing to break the mold like they were š¤
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
White Winter Hymnal by Fleet Foxes is PEAK WINTER MUSIC ā¼ļøš¦āļø also George Harrison <3333
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
Omg I think we started our listening journeys at the same time! š„¹ and yesss exactly, thereās always something to grab onto and appreciate no matter how the audios change or grow. Super rad indeed!
kenna
my forever favorite winter tunes to listen to during the season is anything by fleet foxes ! specifically songs like Blue Ridge Mountains & Ragged Wood, also a lot of George Harrison and Jeff Buckley oddly enough
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
@sarah š« itās one of the weirdest family history fun facts of mine! haha I had to bring it up with the Dickens chat (+ I do LOVE The Muppet Christmas Carol, itās an annual watch for my fam for sure!). Agree 1000%, others have said this more eloquently than me already, but I do genuinely enjoy that the audios are ever-evolving! Iām not the HBC veteran you are (š«”), but I have been a listener since 2022 and am just shy of my 1 year anni here, and Iāve never found anything released to be subpar OR monotonous OR so beyond the scope of my taste that I canāt engage. I think thereās mutual respect and understanding that this space is a sandbox for exploration for August and listeners in our respective ways. Thatās very cool! š¤š¼
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
Aw thank you, youāre too sweet lovely lambda!! š„¹š
kenna
Phoebe and sufjan !!!!!!!!!!
Dana (NoĆ«l šāļø)
As someone who doesnāt celebrate Christmas, Iāve always enjoyed the vibes; this is gonna be a fun listen AND found me a playlist and movies to binge in December! Canāt wait to listen to this in the morning!
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
Omg Rachel youāre related to THE Charles Dickens??? Thatās bonkers, holy shit! Also hard agree on being here for *whatever* August chooses to create! Itās really fun to strap in for the creative ride and see where each week takes us š¢ i think a lot of it has to do w the level of intention, vision and talent thatās consistently behind his work!
Lambda Sitta
I loved this comment, oh my goodness. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Sunshine Sarah!!!
Maia
PLEASE DROP THE SAX SOLO PLAYLIST!!!!! Iām a slut for a good sax sološāāļøšāāļø
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
Hope you have a great date whiskey!!!! Go get em šš¤ also +1 for more chatty music/media SFW content!
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
Okay also sorry: since you seem to really like Sufjan Stevens I recommend Iron & Wine if you havenāt heard him already!
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
This was so friggin cozy and cool, I loved hearing you dissect your movie/song choices and I esp like the heartwarming + somber tone of your choices? I think the holidays can be a time where thereās this pressure to be joyful in an extravagant way and itās nice to remember joy and cheer can be felt in small, simple ways too, even if itās mixed w a lil bit of sadness š my fave part has to be the deeply contemplative āthere is kind of a funny sadness to Gremlins?ā line while Phoebe Bridgersā haunting, beautiful voice plays in the background. This is the kind of duality Iāve come to expect in Augustopia āļø Also really appreciate your authenticity + openness, esp when it comes to talking about creative burnout! Iām not gonna get too super mushy but I just wanna say: itās been really inspiring and FUN to see you shift and grow through the years. I can only speak for myself but your creative vision has Never failed to impress, even when something isnāt super My Taste thereās ALWAYS something that resonates + highlights your talent. Part of the fun is going along for the ride to see what you come up with and imo the recent audios (esp Halloween coworker and space commander) have proven that your vision is to be trusted and your artistry continues to reach new heights. I hope you keep creating what *you* want at the pace you want bc weāll be here to support it š«” P.S. Lullay Lullay sounded like a haunted Abba song whichā¦.just, yes. Exactly the voibes.
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
wiggie: oh brother, forgot i said that hehe. can't believe this isn't my first time bringing up the muppets in the porn patreon (yes i can š) A: i actually didn't start watching it annually until i was an adult! that must be so fun to have nostalgic childhood memories of it š„¹ sarah: ššš this is my legacy in horny book club. Muppet Enjoyer
Lambda Sitta
I don't listen to music, but I am one of those "I'm watching the same movie for the umpteenth time" people, so I thought I'd throw a couple movies into the mix! I decided to go all international because I'm pretty sure all of my English ones will have already been suggested or seen. Also, none of these are really "holiday" movies per se, just movies I always watch during winter break haha 1. Taare Zameen Par, Eng. "Like Stars on Earth" (2007) A movie about a young boy struggling in school and with his family, Taare Zameen Par tells the story of compassion and understanding in the face of pressure and not meeting the typical criteria for "academic success." What I particularly like about this movie is how well it actually portrays disability. When I was a child, and I saw this movie, I felt so seen and understood. I mean, it's a 2007 Bollywood movie, so I had low expectations haha, but, in all honesty, this movie was one of the first to make me realise how much I was genuinely struggling in school. I may not have had the exact same issues as the main character, but his plight against his family and his feelings of loneliness were quite apt for what I was going through at the time. I also really like the acting. I think Aamir Khan is extremely talented, but all the child actors in this film were phenomenal. I particularly enjoyed the performance of the main actor, who somehow perfectly encapsulated this character without seeming over the top or underwhelming. Like, a well-balanced performance coupled with writing that felt authentic and realistic! Also, more oversharing time š, I was one of those kids who was super duper close to my teachers because of a tough home life, so this movie REALLY spoke to me as I watched it through the years. ALSO, ALSO if you watch the behind-the-scenes footage and learn more about the production of this film, it's crazy how much work went into making sure the script was authentic to the experiences of the people it represented. The way they treated the child actors was so š„ŗš„ŗš„ŗ. IT JUST HAS A LOT OF HEART, OKAY? Oh goodness, now I have to watch the whole movie again š (as if I wasn't going to already š). You can find Taare Zameen Par with English subtitles on YouTube for free (Aamir Khan often posts his movies for free a few years after release). There is an "English" version that's harder to find, but if I see it somewhere, I'll edit this comment. Potential CW/TW: learning disabilities, parental neglect, child abuse, emotional and verbal abuse, abandonment, boarding school, bullying, beating someone up, injury (non-serious) 2. 3 Idiots (2009) Did I mention I like Aamir Khan? This film portrays the trials and tribulations of a friend trio that traverse through life, loss, and the rising rates of stress amongst post-secondary students in India. The film furthers the themes from Taare Zameen Par (approaching academics with more compassion and less capitalism) with "grown-up" characters, and delivers a sincere message in an entertaining fashion Honestly, this is the movie that I pull out for the people who say they don't like movies. Also people who've never seen Bollywood movies. It's genuinely such an incredible movie from the acting, to the writing, to the BEAUTIFUL SCENERY?!?! I'm not even a nature person (hello severe zoophobia and entomophobia), but the NATURE MONTAGES??? Whereas Taare Zameen Par felt handcrafted with love and care, this movie felt like a long-lost memoir brought to life. Its incredible casting brings to life character development that is furthered by masterfully interwoven comedy that leaves you with a side stitch. I genuinely think this is one of the best movies of the early aughts I SHALL REFRAIN FROM THE OVERSHARING (this time), but if you or someone you love was an overachieving gifted kid, BE WARNED! YOU WILL BE CALLED OUT! YOU WILL FEEL SEEN AND PERCEIVED! Potential CW/TW: suicide (depicted on-screen for about thirty or so seconds before a funeral scene, I can provide approximate timestamps if need be), a stroke (mildly shown, the emphasis is on the ride to the hospital and the recovery), a suicide attempt (on-screen for around a minute, followed by an ambulance ride, lengthy hospital stay, and trauma/shock recovery), frosh week, men in underwear, public humiliation, poverty, guns, threatening behaviour, "kidnapping" (comedic), mild electrocution (no permanent harm, it's meant as a gag), pregnancy, childbirth (half-depicted, no nudity or anything), people fainting, face slapping, a "friendly beating up" (genuinely friendly, and no permanent harm), blood on clothes, shower scenes (no nudity), breaking and entering, and cheating-adjacent implications (think: breaking off an engagement for another man, runaway bride, etc. no direct cheating!), law enforcement (presented neutrally, just there) The warnings make it sound so crazy, and I will say that some scenes are not for everyone, but OVERALL, it's an uplifting movie with a powerful message!!! This movie WAS publicly available for several years, but it seems to have been taken down. You can find it on YouTube (with English subtitles) for purchase ($14.99 CAD for HD, $4.99 CAD to rent for one viewing) or on several other streaming sites. DO NOT ACCIDENTALLY WATCH PK THAT'S MISLABELED AS 3 IDIOTS ON YOUTUBE. The channel to AVOID is @Munjya_movie. PK is fine (it's the Bollywood version of Forrest Gump), but it's also a little weird if it's your first foray into Bollywood ššš 3. Les Intouchables (2011) This movie is about a disabled man and his caretaker, loosely based off of the real-life story of Abdel-Sellou and the late French businessman, Philippe Pozzo di Borgo. It's lighter than the synopsis would suggest, and has an interesting take on disability when you have the means/money to pay for what you cannot do. For me, this is the non-romantic (and preferable) version of Me Before You. I think Les Intouchables portrays disability in a more responsible and respectful way, comparatively. The comedy was really funny to me as a kid, and even funnier now, as an adult. I actually watched this in French class when I was young and later wrote an essay on this movie for my French media class in university. I find that this movie has room for improvement (Philippe really should have been played by a disabled actor, Driss' character could have been more fleshed out, etc.), but in its entirety, this movie is an enjoyable watch. Or, at least, I think so haha Potential CW/TW: disability, paraplegia, law enforcement, racism/racist undertones (?), poverty, crime, health issues, injury, references to past self-harm, and ableism Honestly, I'd recommend looking up the IMDb page for this one. My memory is a bit off because I haven't watched this since last holiday season. If you watch any of these, I'd absolutely LOVEEEEEEE to hear your thoughts, Insha Allah. No pressure, obviously!!!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Welcome šš§ŗ!!!!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
I'm at least going to force people to listen to Traveling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuyZ9f6mHZk
Moira
those are my favs š„¹ except the read my mind cover, I havenāt heard that one!! I just listened, that was incredible. I saw them at MGM Fenway last September, and yeah, I ascended singing not strong enough with that crowd!!
nasa (ho ho ho) š§ø
immaculate taste I fear š
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
haha you got me, Moira! š¤š¦· asking me to pick my fave boygenius song is like asking to pick a fave child, Iāll give 5? Revolution 0, Cool About It, Me & My Dog, their cover of Read My Mind by The Killers (deep cut, sorry lol), and Not Strong Enough. I saw them at sold out MSG last year (was in the pit like 3 rows from the front) and the experience of scream-singing āalways an angel/never a godā with an audience that size was an out-of-body euphoria Iāll never forget. hahaha EXACTLY I hope it was āvocal commenter (positive)ā?! š«£ š unfortunately, thereās not a day in my life where Iāve ever been able to shut-up if Iām passionate about something! Sorry about it! I KNOW, my white side has a complicated connection to him haha like some sort of removed cousins type thing!Great Expectations is the first Dickens I read after A Christmas Carol so Iām fond of that one too. I looove a literary reference tattoo! š«¶š¼
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
This group is full of FREAKS (affectionate), so Iād like to maybe add āThe Swan Princessā as a comforting found family movie???? NO FEAR šø
Heather
Another note: I write erotic stories and post them to Reddit as narrative audios, and I have often struggled with wondering whether anyone is going to like them or find anything to connect to in them. I have a tiny platform, but every single time I put something out, people comment or message me that it meant something to them. So the lesson I have learned is to do what I like, and the resonance will always follow for someone. Just my 2 cents.
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
omg good luck whiskey!! I hope itās everything you want and moreš
Moira
also after seeing Phoebe in interviews (her ātoo tired to piss, too full of piss to sleepā quote is emblazoned in my head) I think she would love the comparison lmao
Jingle Bell-nie ššš¶
@Gabriella screaming in Simple and Clean
Heather
This was such a pleasure to listen to. I laughed when you said you had to stop yourself from making a whole Sufjan Stevens playlist because he comes to top of mind for me for the holidays, too. Also: petition for you to do a whole SFW audio on Joni Mitchell in which you sing snippets of your favourite songs. Thanks, August! PS: Iām relatively new here, but Iāll say that I am consistently pleased with and surprised at what you create. I connect to it, for sure.
Moira
I do be tip taping! itās me, here I come, lol. thank you āŗļø
Heather
Thank you!!
Moira
RACHELLLLL UGH SUCH GOOD PICKS! so whatās your favorite boygenius song? š but fr, love all of your choices, particularly the Rudolph x Little Saint Nick and the Little Women x Foolās Gold pairings! hahaha the āvocal commenterā made me go: https://imgur.com/gallery/monkey-looking-away-3hpd9mX Youāre Related???? To Dickens???? Thatās cuckoo bananas! I love Bleak House!! Iāve had a great expectations idea for a tattoo forever, which is cliche but I love it.
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
This audio was SO cozy and I was cheering at your taste the whole time. I canāt believe that you think (per past AMAs) the music you like is āweirdā. I think everything you shared is genuinely so cool? ā¦is this is how I find out that *Iām* weirder than I thought? *insert Jughead āIām Weirdā meme here*! š„“ OKAY here are my movie x music pairings! I was tempted to do commentary on each choice like you did in the audio, but knowing me thatāll make this comment quite literally 1800 words and nobody has time for that. I will say that the first two movies are childhood/nostalgic picks and the second two are recent additions to my holiday movie roster! šThe Snowman (1982) x A Dreamerās Holiday by Julien Baker šRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & the Island of Misfit Toys (2001) x Little Saint Nick by The Beach Boys šLittle Women (2019) x Foolās Gold by Lucy Dacus (a NYE song, but still holiday!) šThe Holdovers (2023) x baby jesus is nobodyās baby now by Julia Jacklin Other Christmas/winter songs I love that I donāt necessarily have movie pairings for: - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas by Phoebe Bridgers - A Marshmallow World by Darlene Love - Sleigh Ride by The Ronettes - Step Into Christmas by Elton John - Youāre a Mean One, Mister Grinch - Dublin City Sky by Fontaines D.C. (winter song but it gives Fairytale of New York vibes imo iykyk) - Salt Throwers off a Truck by Grian Chatten - The Frost by Mitski A few other things I want to respond to (sorry, āvocalā commenter here lmaoooo): ā¢ The Grand Budapest Hotel is one of my comfort films ahhh I was so happy to hear you talk about it! I currently live on the opposite coast of the U.S. from my family/where I grew-up and have to do long-haul flights when I head back home. There was a period of time when, every time I made that flight, I would watch TGBHāso it has become deeply associated with home/holidays for me. šāļø ā¢ You dressing up as Jacob Marley as a kindergartener is so fucking endearing I canāt cope!!! āļøš Iām related to Dickens in a convoluted way via marriage on my maternal side and have always had an interest in his work bc of that funny familial connection. Iām a 19th C novel girlie in general, but his prose really is so fun to read. I love Bleak House! ā¢ I said this on the Dirty Talk, but I wanna reiterate my gratitude for your transparency with us. It means a lot that you value your audience to the extent that you care to share the realities of accomplishing your creative work. Speaking for myself, but youāre spot on in saying that I am in fact *here* for *whatever* you create. You could release an audio reading Patreonās Community Guidelines in silly voices and Iām sure Iād find something to write an essay-long comment about. š©š»āš»š¤ Iāll be here excited to listen to whatever you make until you turn the lights out on this thing! ā¢ Re: us seeing you in your work (+ I hope this doesnāt come off as weirdly parasocial bc I do not mean it to *at all*)āI wanna acknowledge the audience/creator symbiosis here in that I feel like you saw us Americans struggling with the election in comments earlier this month and really showed up with the Anxiety Talk #2 bonus. Iāve been using it as a sleep aid all month and Iām out within 5 minutes every time. I canāt thank you enough for that! š«£ Oopsss I feel like this got way sappier than plannedā¦ Iām blaming it on the āØholiday spiritāØ! haha Anywayyyy SO HAPPY to be here with you all and Happy Sag Season from this Gemini with a number of beloved Sags in her life!!! āļøš«¶š¼
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Do not get me STARTED on Utada
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
I could feel your little tip-tap footsteps as you typed!!! I hope this doesn't feel patronizing, but I'm proud of you!!!
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
I *cannot* start ranting about hot fictional animated men, I just canāt. Patreon will kick me out. All I can say is YES HARD AGREE!! Awww omg I know close to nothing about astrology but I love that lil factoid š„¹šāļøāļø
Jingle Bell-nie ššš¶
Exactly! I'm here for the art, the surprise, the craft. Watching the audios evolve is just as interesting as feeling nostalgia for old favorites.
nasa (ho ho ho) š§ø
your love for lullay lullay is so real + this whole audio is the definition of cozy, the chosen songs used in the background while you talk about how it connects to the movies is just so AJDGAJHDJA, it's so nice to have these types of audios
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Okay, actually having listened to this lovely fireside chat, I worked based off my favorites artists because Christmas isnāt my wheelhouseā¦ šDirty Projectors - Winter is Here šThe Beach Boys - Merry Christmas, Baby šKelela - Rewind. The spirit of looking back at relationships that have come and gone. A crying in the club song. šSleigh Bells - You Lost Me
Jingle Bell-nie ššš¶
You've Got Mail!! I will always watch/read any enemies are secret pen pal's movie/book.
Moira
UGH DIMITRI MY LOVE ā¼ļø heās really ruined me for all men, I love a bad boy š«¶š¼ also capricorns + cancers are very compatible friends!
Moira
also, re: general audio thoughts, ik you donāt need comfort or maybe just donāt want the conversation to be abt you, so Iāll yap abt me! This is my first year of working a job that relies pretty heavily on me being a Creative Person consistently and without help, and itās been a change for sure. Itās very different working a job where you have to be producing things, and have new ideas, and have to be imaginative on a schedule. Even when everyone at work is very kind and talks abt how my work is very good, itās still hard. And I guess, part of it is that I have to trust my colleagues that they trust me, and trust my work, and trust my ability to provide? So yeah! See you, feel you, on that. āš¼secondly, yeah youāre right wherever you go in audios, Iām down to follow. *insert Gilmore girls theme* bc I trust your skills, and Ik that even if you do something that goes outside my comfort zone, the work is always really good quality, and there will definitely be something in there that Iām into, or youāll change my mind abt something! *also it felt really silly to post a semi serious comment with this pfp lmao
Maia
Thank goodness. I was worried I wouldnāt have a podcast to listen to at work tonightšš
morgan.
Neeeeed this.
Jingle Bell-nie ššš¶
I haven't watched Gremlins since I was a kid and I always thought it was a scary movie because Gizmo accidentally gets wet and everything goes wrong š . I should rewatch it now and see if it's really not a scary movie. My small music contributions are 1) Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence by UTADA because that's the song that introduced me to the movie! The motif is so famous that I didn't know it was from a movie first. 2) Winter by Tori Amos. My high school teacher made a mix cd for her seniors and this song is equal parts wintery and coming-of-age/life changes. Thank you for being open about some of how you're feeling, especially when you were feeling down already before making this audio. Hearing your thoughts was a good way to understand your vision for your audios and a good reminder for us that you're a person and not a blank wall to say things at.
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
SAME!! š„² (Iām a Capricorn tho haha) āfound familyā will alllllways make me emo and the animation + score is so beautiful and sweeping. Also also Dimitri?? *swoon*
Moira
I canāt watch Anastasia without crying tbhā¦ I cry a lot (insert I just cry sometimes meme) (Iām a cancer ffs) but the music in Anastasia just GETS ME So Emotional. š hahahahhaa, ugh I feel so seen š«¶š¼
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Not Christmas releated but, I've been playing Cult of the Lamb, and the little guys from that game have been destroying me with how cute they are, little hats especially! Relating this to Charlie Brown and cuteness feeling!
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
@Moira i LOVE āonce upon a December,ā that scene/song gives me goosebumps and makes me tear up every time š„ŗāļø itās such a great ābelt out in the carā song!! also dude i fuckin fast forward that part EVERY. TIME. I hhhhate Rasputinās underworld scenes, theyāre super yucko š«£
Moira
I LOVE Anastasia sm (I sang once upon a December for a recital at band camp lmao) but did the dancing bug scene with Rasputin freak anyone out as a child??? (also now, oops š«£)
Moira
GOOD LUCK, BABE š on your date! also i will definitely be checking out that podcast, ty for the rec!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Literally I āteehee!ā aloud every time. Delightful! Wow. Life is beautiful!
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
PFFTDTST Iām dying at āit was a movie!ā š„“ Ty for your review, Iāve been wanting to see it but I still need to watch the first Gladiator hehe I looove Greek/Roman historical stuff so I totally feel you! šļø
Moira
haha @gabriella, just had to get in the šāØJingle MoodāØš
Moira
tbh Iām in it for Paul and Pedro looking hot and everything else is just gravyā¦ but will report back going to see it on Monday š«”
whiskey got-run-over-by-a-reindeer
I'm a little more than halfway through this as I count down to a virtual first date (š« šØš¤”!!) in twenty minutes and my immediate thoughts: - Gremlins used to scare the shit out of me (positive) as a kid, love that it's on the list - Annie Lennox is one of my favourite artists omfg (the things she does in her version of I Put a Spell on You? Oof) - WHY ARE YOU PLAYING JONI MITCHELL RN, THIS SONG MAKES ME CRY AND MY MASCARA IS NOT WATERPROOF - sorry i drank some water and calmed down, i'm back now - Follow up: the tiny geek outs over vocal choices and song production made me feel so seen!! If you started a music podcast, I would listen 24/7 - In the same vein, this is me encouraging/telling you to take my money in the form of music-related-yapping-sfw-audios, if this kind of thing is fun for you - Follow up to the follow up: if you are a music podcast girlie (gender neutral), and if you appreciate Chappell Roan -- or at least the hype around her -- maybe you'd like this Switched on Pop episode about her?? So here ~ https://open.spotify.com/episode/5mLRRETGoiISEYRBUgHNhg?si=Qna49yNrTBa2q3FgAl1DzA - (Idk why, but it's just a very fun, technical, lovely review of her latest album + "Good Luck Babe", and I recommend it to anyone who lets me) - And finally, this audio's critique of American Exceptionalism makes this my NSFW exclusive of the month, ty and g'night āļø
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
This is AMAZING MOIRA holy moly
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Iām going to add song suggestions, but your pfp is bringing me so much joy. I have to say that immediately.
Moira
Ooo, ooo, I just went to go see Sammy Rae and the Friends who have super excellent sax solos throughout their songs, but Iāll suggest āKick it to Meā and āCool-Doug, at Nightā for the smoooooooothiest of smooth sax solos
Moira
haha fine, youāve convinced me. letās get jingle-y with it
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
š£ļøBilly Ocean SARAH YESā¼ļø the range between these two songs is astronomical but they both make me wanna dance my feet offšš¼
Peony
The timing of this is perfect because I want to put up my tree and decorate the house this weekend, but I havenāt been feeling like itās even close to Christmas at all (probably thanks in part to unseasonably warm weather). My favourite non-Christmas but Christmas-y movies: ā¢ In Bruges ā¢ Youāve Got Mail ā¢ The Grand Budapest Hotel ā¢ The Sound of Music ā¢ Almost Famous
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
May I humbly add: Caribbean Queen by Billy Ocean šāāļøšš· peak dance-ability saxy goodness (solo starts @ 2:34ish). I lowkey just want August to walk us through his killer sax solo playlist
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
sorry to BOG THE COMMENTS iām silly and donāt listen to the whole audio before I start to yapš«„ may I suggest Fable by Intervals for your sax solo playlist, absolutely KILLER solo around the 2:20 mark š·
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
@Gabriella āgrandmamaā¦itās meā¦anaSTASYIAā¦.šµš¼ā i am moving furniture right with you!!! The way my sister and I would shriek/sing āJourney to the Pastā in the kitchen as kids is like, peak childhood nostalgia. You get it!!
Grace
Please!!!
santa-liyah š§£
gabriella my love š«š« i totally relate to not rly *experiencing* the cozy holiday things that make memories, esp. when people are with their big families or significant others. this time of year tends to bring me down a little for that reason (even though iām a cold weather fiend). i hope everyoneās suggestions make your wintertime oh so merry and bright š¤!!
hc
Updated my grogu photo to match the festive vibes of this audio š
Grace
Thank you guys! Iām feeling better already š©·
santa-liyah š§£
@Gabriella HEHE i decline to confess anything at this time ^__-āļø iām glad you like them!!
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Ladies..... It was a movie!!! I would love to say I loved it like I loved the first. I did not. BUTTT Denzel is so good and having the time of his life. Paul is also so good and is giving Daddy issues (he has 3-5 fathers in the film). I am also a Classics nerd, so waving Greco-Roman things in front of my face will make me happy...... It was only okay, and I had a great time!
Ynara
The music playlist gave me goosebumps, immaculate taste. I'm not the biggest fan of movies but for me Christmas is all about the animated classics from my childhood. Annabelle's Wish, The Tangerine Bear, A Christmas Carol (1997) are my top three!! Just thought how much I like the SFW audios where you just talk about stuff, I'm excited.
August Winter
What the heckkkk the cover!! Thank you!!
Moira
hahaha thank you, I whipped that together in 2 secs in Canva. My marketing degree put to work! š
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
+100000
roxyyy āround the š
Omg the playlist cover you made is so cute š„°
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Let me be exTREMEly clear, the Carol + In A Sentimental Mood pairing is so me, I am convinced you're my NSA agent. Confess. But all these recs are A1!
Moira
ā yesssss
roxyyy āround the š
I live abroad away from my home country so Iāve been spending a lot of recent Christmases alone so this playlist is much appreciated since Iām always looking for good movies and tunes to get me in the holiday mood! š canāt wait to give them all a try! Also Die Hard 2 is a Christmas movie??? š (Edit: just had a listen and I actually love that some of these are not explicitly Christmas movies but give like a the wintery holiday vibe because most Christmas movies these days are honestly just really cheesy and bad š„²)
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
ANASTASIA (DAAAAAAAHLING)???? Don't make me move furniture out of the way to perform "Journey to the Past". Lovely list!!!
santa-liyah š§£
GLADIATOR II HIVE YESS nothing says festive like hot guys beating the fuck out of each other
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
the connection he made between the Gremlinsā maximalist, voraciously greedy lifestyle and a Phoebe Bridgers song is killing me (positive)
Moira
also Iām working on a moans edition so keep a lookout, and keep commenting your song recs!!
Moira
Okay so Iām a bit of a Spotify whore, so hereās Augustās playlist, unadulterated: https://tinyurl.com/AITWplaylist (Iām hoping if it doesnāt link in the comments, this wonāt be a pain in the ass to type into a web browser)
kira āØ
OHHHHH SECONDED
kira āØ
OH IāM SATTTTTTT
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
Before I drop my list, re: holiday song cover, can I lightly and respectfully advocate for an August River cover? I fear I need it? š OR Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)ā¦ this is my wishlist, but obv any of them would be a Christmas miracle! šš
morgan.
Living far away from my family, thereās a special place in my heart for (Thereās No Place Like) Home for the Holidays by Perry Como. š
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
throwing this into the wind after hearing the spotify mention, petition for a sfw audio going over your wrapped? is this thing on?š¤
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
@wiggie YOU FRICKEN KNOWWW š«µš¼ fleet foxes always makes me think of cozy wintry times š„¹š¦
August Winter
That part is so wild omfg
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
radiohead and fleet foxes YEAAAAAAAHHH
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Iām so giddy!! I am not a person who experienced the foundational warm holiday memories (kisses to any other Moans with an absence of Holiday Feeling š«), so I really am criss-cross apple sauce ecstatic to read peopleās suggestions!!! Iām growing my Christmas feelings like a chia-pet šŖ“
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
@Deedee HAVE YOU HEARD!! THEREāS A RUMOR IN ST PETERSBURGāļøāļø
Deedee š«¶š¾
ANASTASIA!!!! Your mindšāāļøšāāļøšāāļø
Deedee š«¶š¾
I forgot to drop my 3 buttt Movies: Home Alone 2 The Grinch (the original and animated both sleigh š¤) The Nightmare before Christmas Songs: Last Christmas by WHAM Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea A Nonsense Christmas by Sabrina Carpenter
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
Movie Talk: Christmas edition LETS GOOO! āļø Iām not a super Christmas freak but I do love winter and the general holiday spirit so this sounds super fun!!! Some fave wintry movies + songs: ā¢Little Women (any rendition but specifically 2019) ā¢While You Were Sleeping (1995) ā¢Fellowship of the Ring (2001) ā¢Anastasia (1997) ā¢Two Sleepy People - Julie London ā¢No Surprises - Radiohead ā¢Sea of Love - Cat Power ā¢WHITE WINTER HYMNAL - FLEET FOXESā¼ļø ā¢Cherry Wine - Hozier ā¢Why Try To Change Me Now - Fiona Apple Also dying at Empire Strikes Back on your list omg
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
That sucksss I hope you feel better Grace! š¤
snowplowed sarah š«āļø
KY I INSTANTLY THOUGHT OF YOU at the muppets mention šøš„ŗš«µš¼
Deedee š«¶š¾
Gremlins and Phoebe Bridgers a comparison no one saw coming but makes a lot of sense
Moira
Right??
A š¦š
omg i loooovedd that one as a kid i literally still remember what the vhs looked like
Deedee š«¶š¾
Thanks! All those movies are movies Iāve heard of but never watched smh š§š¾āāļøbut Iāll get on it! Also Nothing New is my favourite red vault track, which is crazy because of the amount of emotional damage š ALSOOOO thanks for reminding laufey has sooo many christmas renditions x
santa-liyah š§£
@rachel A+ TASTE <3 it immediately entered my letterboxd top 4! next time i go to boston iām 1000% visiting that bookstore they went to
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
PLS very 2002 codedāØ
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
yes.
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
I LOVE The Holdovers! š«¶š¼ thatāll also be on my (eventual) list!
Deedee š«¶š¾
Added to the list! š«” Also why do they serve so much on the album cover š¤
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
sorry this reminded me of the comment you made a while back about someone calling you and your muppets ringtone interrupting [REDACTED] itās nuts how often I think ab how funny that is
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
awww feel better soon grace! š«¶š¼
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
HOW WAS IT OMG
Gigi
I called it !!
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
I am your local obsessive Elf enjoyer so itāll be nice to get some different media in the rotationāš¼
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
deedee: respectfully, why would ya!! š¤© gabriella: gonzo is real lil freak representation āš¼
santa-liyah š§£
grand budapest hotel mentioned š„³!! my own pairings, right off the bat: ā¢ the holdovers + christmas wrapping by the waitresses ā¢ carol + in a sentimental mood by duke ellington & john coltrane ā¢ eyes wide shut + kinky love by the pale saints ā¢ eileen + louise by TV girl and, even though i canāt think of a good movie to pair it with, i think everyone should listen to the cocteau twins version of āwinter wonderland.ā you should at least know it exists!
Moira
omg Twinsies! Movies: -The Santa Clause -The Holiday -A year without a Santa claus Songs: -nothing new by Taylor + Phoebe Bridgers (sad, ik!!) -Santa baby by laufey -o tannenbaum by a Charlie Brown Xmas
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
wishing for a speedy recovery and hugs to you! (gentle hugs donāt wanna make it worse)
wiggie winter hymnalāļø
I also listen to and watch the same things every seasonš¤ I frequent the When it Snows album by The Blenders, it truly might be the only Christmas CD my mom had growing up bc I swear it has been on repeat since I was born. somehow I am somehow NOT sick of it. lowkey banger and I love some good a capellaš„°
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
I would follow Grover into war, he could convince me of anything tbh
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
The way this post has taken me out of Gladiator 2: Paul Mescalās Thighs is š„“ā¦.. Lemme šµ
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Lmaoooo ānot in our sport of choice šā. Iām so sorry, get well soon š
Deedee š«¶š¾
a MUST rewatch every year, i canāt even watch the normal one anymore haha
Deedee š«¶š¾
a nonsense christmas and is it new years yet? šāāļøšāāļø triple platinum in my ears fr
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
Just taste on taste on taste! Very exciting! I watched The Merry Gentlemen today while I did notes for work, so I am *primed* š
Deedee š«¶š¾
omg purr i literally just commented the same thing šāāļø
alisha-ilent night āļø
oh no, get well soon, grace!! š
Deedee š«¶š¾
Would other people be down to share their top 3 movies and songs they like to watch/listen to around xmas/the holiday period? I feel like I just watch/listen to the same stuff every year and need some recs šāāļøšš¾ please and thank you!
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
sometimes you just don't understand something until a muppet explains it to you. it be like that sometimes!
Agatha Merry Li-ttle Christmas š š¼š
I just saw Gremlins for the first time ever this week! I had avoided it as a kid because I thought it was a scary movie, but just realized now that it wasnāt š My fav part: āā¦and thatās how I found out there was no Santa Clausā played completely straight by her š š¼šš³
Gabriella-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la ā
I watched it for the first time last year, and it was the literally the first time I understood the Christmas Feelingā¢ļø. Iconery āØ
Moira
Iāll start: Sabrina Carpenterās Fruitcake album šš
rachel the š“-nosed reindeerš¦
I think Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) is one of the BEST Christmas songs of all time, I feel like itās so underrated! Also Joni and Phoebe! š«¶š¼ I always look forward to Phoebeās annual Christmas covers! Her version of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas is š¤š¼āØā£ļøš
Moira
can we make this the Christmas/Holliday/Winter song rec suggestions thread? (Then Iāll make it into a public Spotify playlistā¦?)
Grace
I threw out my back today (not getting railed unfortunately š) so this will be good entertainment while Iām stuck in bed
R
I really enjoy these <333 the holidays take me by surprise too!
a muppet christmas ky-rol ššš
oh!!! muppet christmas carol!! you've summoned me!!!!!!!!
Moira
AHH! Phoebe! Joni! Sufjan! Taste šš» Iām ready!!
