The solstice has passed and the summer is well and truly underway, but here in Portland it is very June Gloom, which makes it an especially good weekend to stay indoors and catch up on all that reading I have been failing to do. Alternately, to go outside and take walks without melting. Something for everyone! I cannot promise there is something for everyone in my weekend suggestions below, but I can promise they span a pretty good range, whether you like fairy tales, vampires, or middle-aged men making very bad choices. As always, hug your friends, call your reps, and stay cool out there!
Through Dangers Untold and Hardships Unnumbered, Labyrinth Turns 40
Tomorrow, Saturday, June 27th, is the 40th anniversary of the release of Labyrinth. I feel like there should be a holiday to mark this milestone. Perhaps a masked ball? With some sort of peach pastry and some artisanal goblin ale? In the absence of any sort of worldwide celebration of Jim Henson’s still-delightful fantasy film, you could, perhaps, celebrate on your own; it does seem like Labyrinth is presently available on just about every streaming service. Think of how much better you have it now than we did in the late ’80s, watching David Bowie look like that on VHS, nary an HDTV in sight! Say it with me now: “You remind me of the babe…”
“Get in the Lambo, shitbird:” Jackass: Best and Last
Let’s take a hard veer off to one of my other favorite things: Jackass. I know I’m not supposed to admit it in public, but I love Jackass. My partner and I went to the previous Jackass movie as one of our first—possibly the first—movie outings after the worst of COVID had passed. We pulled down our masks to sip beer and we snorted with laughter. It was Valentine’s Day and the theater was packed, because some people know how to celebrate. Now we have Jackass: Best and Last, which is apparently part greatest-hits and part all-new chaotic prankery. I say “apparently” because I have not watched a single trailer. I will wait for the ludicrous glory on the biggest of screens.
Short Stories With Long, Creepy Tails
A few months ago I read a short story that I have not stopped thinking about since: “Approved Methods of Love Divination in the First-Rate City of Dushagorod” by Kristina Ten. This story was first published in 2023, but I met it in Ten’s collection Tell Me Yours I’ll Tell You Mine, which, for me, pushed some of the same buttons that Kelly Link’s creepiest stories do. Anyway, in this specific story, people in the titular city go to love diviners to find out who they’ll marry. It’s all taken very seriously and it is all the things you might have done as a very young person: apple stems and those flippy-flappy-clappy folded paper fortune tellers that I cannot remember how to make. Serious business! This story was delightful. And then I read “Bunny Ears,” which you can read online here, and which may haunt you as it does me. I feel like you might want to keep an eye on Kristina Ten. I can’t wait to see what she does next.
Sugar: Let’s Watch Colin Farrell Moon Around Los Angeles
Here at Reactor, Leah Schnelbach is the resident Colin Farrell expert/superfan. I can usually take him (In Bruges) or leave him (Crazy Heart). But then there’s Sugar, a series about which I am lightly obsessive, because it’s so unexpected that it shouldn’t work. But it does, in large part because Farrell walks lightly through it, intense as hell, but with that almost apologetic expression. He is a [redacted] and a private investigator, and the Los Angeles he lives in is one where the usual PI scenes are replaced with movie clips. The language is cinema. There’s also a lot of driving around in a very nice car, and the first season has both Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Amy Ryan, both of whom should be superstars. The new season premiered last week and I haven’t watched it yet, because I’ve been vampire-obsessed. But also because I might need to watch this one in one big luscious California chunk.
Sugar is on HBO Max.
What Does The Vampire Lestat Smell Like?
Speaking of being vampire obsessed! It has been established, via my previous shrieking about Yoshi-egg bath bombs, that I am susceptible to entertaining media tie-in objects, especially when they smell good. This one is more up my alley than I can explain: Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab just released a line of perfumes inspired—in an official, licensed manner!—by The Vampire Lestat.
The Brat Prince himself has not yet made his appearance, but Louis is there with the most delectable combination of scent notes (dark vetiver, bitter coffee, bay rum, osmanthus, magnolia, scorched sandalwood, dry patchouli, blood), as are Armand, Gabriella, and a Vampire DJ of Some Renown. Also, there are scents for some of Lestat’s songs (“Black Licorice” went straight in my cart). Wait… what does Daniel Molloy smell like? I hope I get to find out. Black Phoenix has been doing literary and cinematic collaborations for decades now; their previous efforts include scents for Only Lovers Left Alive and Crimson Peak, as well as a whole pile of books and comics. This one just seems like an extra special treat.
