11.1.24
A film. An LA home for sale. An album. And a trio of Irish novels.
Wow! To say it was a busy October is an understatement. I have been missing this space so much and I’m happy to have carved some time out to come back to it. I have been working my way out of piles of work for my “real job”, but I’ve also recently become a “cat dad” and welcomed in several other new things into my home (a new couch and kitchen appliances), but more on all of that later. For now I’m just thrilled to share some things I’ve been doing this past week and as always, I hope you’re all well.
Film of the week: Run Lola Run
Recently, a few of my friends decided that we should start gathering every few weeks to watch films (mostly foreign) as a group, and this week we all met at my house to watch Run Lola Run, a 1998 film written and directed by German director Tom Tykwer (also known for 2012’s Cloud Atlas). The film follows Lola (played by Franka Potente) and Manni (played by Moritz Bleibtreu) who are caught in a challenging situation in which they have to come up with 100,000 Deutsche Marks in 20 minutes.
Without giving too much away, the twist here is that the couple gets multiple chances to get this right, so the film follows the alternative results with slight variations of their plan. Because of this, it makes the 80-minute film feel more like you’re watching multiple acts, which reminded me of Yorgos Lanthimos’ anthology Kinds of Kindness which I watched back in Week 29.
Although there are a few brief moments that the movie felt somewhat thrown together, it’s an undeniably enjoyable film with tangible brilliance. The music, the wardrobe, and the set design (especially the use of color) are second to none. There’s a reason this film won the 1999 Sundance Audience Award amongst many of it’s other awards and nominations. And if you do any internet perusing in relation to the film you will find droves of people who rightfully love it. I would definitely say it’s worth a watch, but if you’re even more bold, between the opportunity to wear a red wig and some temporary tattoos I think Lola would make a fantastic Halloween costume.
In a June 2024 Vogue interview, Franka Potente opened up about her experience making the film, and especially recounts the way it took 8 attempts to bleach her hair white before finally using an imported dye from London to achieve Lola’s signature red.
To watch, you can rent Run Lola Run on Amazon Prime Video or Apple TV (at least in the U.S.)
Home of the week: A 1924 Hillside Cottage For Sale in LA
Tucked into Northeast LA’s Mount Washington neighborhood, this now century-old 1 bed/1 bath, 750 sq ft home is the perfect artist’s cottage. It’s brimming with natural light and aged charm. The white floors, walls, and exposed wood ceiling are a beautiful canvas for any pieces that would be brought into it. I know a lot of people aren’t fans of white walls because they think it lacks color or character, but as someone who has all white walls in their home, I feel like it has always offered me a sense of serenity but also it allows all of my art, trinkets, and cherished pieces to shine as what makes my home mine. The home has a separate 200 sq ft workshop space that would be a great place to take on new projects.
I’m really a fan of this baby pink, retro range in the kitchen. It’s not necessarily my style but I can appreciate the way that it injects some playfulness in the house when an all-white space can start to feel museum serious. As an amateur furniture maker, I also really appreciate the kitchen seating. The way these stools tuck into the table base is a really creative use of space while there’s no seating capacity sacrificed.
My personal home is ironically similar, as mine is a 700 sq ft, 2 bed/ 1 bath built in 1935. My home also has a 200 sq ft detached workspace that is in desperate need of serious renovation (if not demolition and rebuilding) that I currently use as my workshop/storage space. So when I stumbled across this home on Instagram and saw the similar details, it felt like a reminder of what’s possible in a small space like mine, but also a tangible inspiration for some future projects I have planned.
The home is currently under contract and was originally listed at $799,000.
Album of the week: Never Enough by Daniel Caesar
In my opinion, Canadian singer-songwriter Daniel Caesar is one of the few modern R&B voices that always stands out to me amongst his peers. If you haven’t listened to his previous albums Freudian and CASE STUDY 01, I can’t recommend them enough. Although the value and credibility of the Grammys has waned in the past several years, listen to his music and you’ll understand why he’s won one and been nominated for several more.
Born to Bajan and and Jamaican parents, his music has an abundantly clear Caribbean influence, yet he also flawlessly mixes in rocky guitar riffs and calming symphonic melodies with pianos and violins. Meanwhile his voice smoothly carries you like the cool side of the pillow through the whole experience. It somehow feels like you’re in space but also under a shady tree on a warm fall day.
So in May of last year, a month after this album’s release, when I found myself sitting quietly on a beach in Ocho Rios (ironically also the title of the album’s first song), I glommed onto this album. I spent the week sitting on the beach in the morning with my coffee, reading Joan Didion and Mary Oliver, and throughout each day I came back to this music. I was going through my own episode of heartbreak at the time and Caesar’s music has this calming, validating sentimentality to it that brought me so much peace. And while his music creates this space to feel some sadness it also has a distinct hopefulness and liveliness to it that carries you forward.
For me, this is a no-skip album that I almost always listen to in its entirety. But some of my personal favorites from the album are “Valentina”, “Toronto 2014”, “Cool”, “Do You Like Me?”, “Disillusioned” and “Buyer’s Remorse”.
You can watch an Apple Music interview with Caesar about the making of the album from his New York home studio here:
A trio of Novels by Irish Authors:
Earlier this year I read Karl Geary’s Juno Loves Legs and now that we’re entering the 11th month of the year I can comfortably say it was one of the, if not the favorite novel I read this year. I was talking with a friend who I was traveling with at the time I read this and I found out she was also just finishing a book by a different Irish author. We were going on about how alluring their respective writing styles were, but also found some similarities between the two that we really enjoyed.
So later in the year when Sarah Gilmartin’s Service popped up as a recommendation on my Goodreads page, I didn’t hesitate to buy a copy after finding it at my local bookstore. And now that I’ve recently finished that, I’ve moved on to what I’m currently reading, which is the the much anticipated Intermezzo by Sally Rooney, which I was given as a 30th birthday gift my the same friend I talked with earlier in the year.
Tenderly,
-Zach
