Finding cupcakes: a fridge poetry game, media, history, dachshunds

Website and Writing:

Remember fridge poetry, or are you not old--I mean Gen X--like me? It was boxes of individual words on small rectangular magnets, separated by themes. You could spell out either goofy or creative things on your refrigerator. Well, now there's a website using a similar idea to encourage both play and creativity, and saving your work for your own posterity. It's called Koble: "Koble is a daily word puzzle where every paragraph becomes a sentence only you could write." It's not exactly like a social media site; you can't follow me, but you can check out my profile, I'm carlaclara. I also can't link to my profile, but you can see my work amongst the daily prompt offerings. They are all different, with their own cluster of words; for example, today's prompt was "Last Page" and the limiter was to describe that prompt, using only the words given, in eight words or less. My offering was "he stared — the midnight ceiling, the nightstand book".

(Ooh! People are creating sets on Etsy! Here's a physics set.)

Books:

I am excited about my libro.fm subscription choices for the month that I chose today:

1. Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation by Elaine Pagels, narrated by Lorna Raver, 6h27m
2. Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by President Barack Obama, narrated by the author, 14h4m

Revelations has been on my to-be-read list for a very long time. Elaine Pagels is a marvel in my eyes; she learned Ancient Greek as an undergraduate so she could properly read the Gospels. To learn more about her, her many works, and the awards she has won, here's her website, her faculty website at Princeton, and her detailed Wikipedia page.

Plus Lorna Raver is an excellent narrator. Many of you know how picky I am about my audiobook narrators, and she is on my nice list. If you check out the book's page, you can listen to a sample of her reading it, and see if you agree. She has also narrated Pagels' award-winning work The Gnostic Gospels. It's on the Modern Library's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the 20th century.

And, given the current climate, I need 14 hours of Obama talking to me about his past and his identity. Intelligence, kindness, curiosity, community. And a lovely, soothing voice. Exactly what the doctor ordered.

Also on deck, after I finish the 17 hours and 18 minutes of the haunting The Demon of Unrest: The Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Break at the Dawn of the Civil War by the esteemed historian Erik Larson, narrated by another of my favorites, Will Patton (so relaxing and calming):

Rita Moreno: A Memoir by Rita Moreno, read by her 9h25m (I have the Rita Moreno commemorative Barbie doll! I will have to photograph her.)

Judy Blume: A Life by Mark Oppenheimer, read by Molly Ringwald 12h46m

and finishing A Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

I am using Hardcover.app to track my reading, and I absolutely love it. I've become a librarian, and I'm certain the creators and staff must be tired of seeing my name on merges of titles and correction tickets. But I know they appreciate my attraction for detail. Have a look at Hardcover, it has a really interesting setup and design. My profile is carla. Of course, I am still at My StoryGraph under theremightbecupcakes, and I still have the Harvard University Bookstore Top 100 Reading Challenge set up there.

Music:

Tori Amos' new album is out, and I really like...almost all of it. One of the songs doesn't really resonate with me. Otherwise, I am enjoying Angry Tori; she is much needed.

In reading Murder Ballads by Katy Horan, I discovered thanks to her a band that I am enjoying in its eeriness: Lankum. You may know them as from the theme song to the show Peaky Blinders, "Hunting the Wren". I made a deep listen of their album False Lankum, and it felt like I was listening to something I shouldn't, something old that came from deep in the forest, deep from the moors, ancient and knowing.

Movies:

I've been on a run of watching horror short films, with uneven results (my Letterboxd diary, if you are curious to watch them yourself--if you click through to one and look, usually, the most popular review contains a link to view it online). Examples are the short films of Curry Barker, the director of the outstanding Obsession (2026) (my 5-star review). As I noted with a link to Does the Dog Die, this is an incredibly difficult watch if you have a pet or are sensitive about animals; it's a full subplot. Check out what other people say if you need to: https://www.doesthedogdie.com/media/1350693

Short horror films are fascinating me as a writer. I'll read a complicated plot setup, and then see a runtime of only a few minutes listed. How? How can you do this? Such an interesting endeavor. My favorite so far is probably Call of the Ocean, accomplished in 3 minutes without a jump scare. It's directed, written, and filmed by David F. Sandberg, the director of Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, and shot on Super-8. You can watch it, and all his others, on his Youtube account. Here's the direct link for Call of the Ocean; if you watch it or any of the others, let me know what you think.

Family:

Exciting news: I am enjoying the anticipation of awaiting the birth of a new mini dachshund! I have so missed dachshund energy in my house. Long-time listeners remember Ellie, I used to joke that she was my producer, because if I said I was going to go work on the podcast, she would run into my office, often beating me in there. One time, she raced me in there and jumped up into my office chair, like "I get the typey-typey chair this time." We have placed our deposit, and we are third in line to choose from two litters that are arriving at the same time, one long-haired and one short-haired. First choice is short-haired, and I even have that momma's ultrasound from the other day. I was transcended by the cuteness of four tiny in-the-womb mini dachshunds. I can't wait for Toby to meet the new addition. He is such a caregiver, and a partner dog; he has been lonely since last year when we lost our Arlo. I can't wait to watch long-legged Toby protect his little dachsie. Pictures will be coming, of course, probably more than you want. Since Toby's name is literary (Sherlock Holmes' dog was named Toby, and so was Shirley Jackson's; and his middle name is Holden, because he can spot a phony at fifty paces), our new baby should have a literary name...

Let me know what you have been enjoying, either here in the comments, or easily by replying to this email. New episode to follow. I'll talk about the hiatus in the next episode. Until then, I hope you have enjoyed these cupcakes I have found, and I hope you are finding some of your own in these stressful and scary days. Stay safe.