April 2026

Spring break trip, four great books, one more cat, and finally a few movies to report too.

Happy April! All the headers this month are film pictures from my wonderful trip to Mexico City. April is such a melancholy month, full of highs and lows, but ultimately I had a good month and I’m excited for warmer weather in May (hopefully)! <3

Spent so much of the month listening to this song on repeat.

This song too. Kinks are most underrated band.

A Bjork fav of mine.

1. Vengeance is Mine (1984) - Michael Roemer (4.5)
   Took a break from watching movies last month, and came back full force with this one, two hours of intense palpable unforgiving tension. Amazing performances by everyone, especially Brooke Adams.

2. Stray Cat Rock: Machine Animal (1970) - Yasuharu Hasebe (3.5)
   Incredibly fun and silly, the motorcycle chase was my favorite scene. I saw this at Spectacle and it’s so effing cold in that theater, like a fridge…

3. Lost Highway (1997) - David Lynch (2)
   Aside from two amazing scenes, this movie was really not for me. Fell flat in every way.

4. Gang of Four (1989) - Jacques Rivette (5)
   Every movie I have seen of his is so full of life and imagination— I want to be friends with all of his characters.

Very wonderful reading month despite a weird lull in consistent reading.

1. Star by Yukio Mishima (4/5)
   Accidental back to back books about actors, this tiny novella really packed a punch. Full of Mishima’s subversive ideas, extremely easy to read, and the perfect size to fit in my pocket. I liked his ideas about performance as a distancing technique in relationships and in acting. There is a similar theme of having a single trusted semi romantic but mostly platonic confidant in this book and in the Baldwin I read last month.

2. Contempt by Alberto Moravia (4/5)
   Extremely complex look at a dissolving relationship, reading the narrator try to read his wife’s mind was fascinating and frustrating. Apparently based on Moravia’s relationship with Elsa Morante. I didn’t quite understand the comparison Moravia was making to The Odyssey as I haven’t read it, but I enjoyed the book and thought it was really interesting— sort of a companion to My Husband by Maud Ventura in the ways the narrators realize they do not know their spouses in the ways they thought. Brutal ending btw.

3. And the Earth will Sit on the Moon by Nikolai Gogol (5/5)
   Hard to believe I haven’t read him before— genuinely some of the most hilarious, delightful, sometimes tragic and ultimately brilliant short stories. Old World Landowners was my personal favorite (naturally), about love and companionship, but I also loved The Nose and The Overcoat. I read this short story by Emmanuel Carrère titled The Moustache which was definitely directly inspired by The Nose.

4. On the Calculation of Volume, IV by Solvej Balle (4/5)
   I adored this installation. I don’t want to spoil anything, but this volume talks a lot about semantics and wording— when to create new words for new feelings or appropriate old words to new feelings. More characters are introduced, dynamics are created, and Tara’s November 18th world continues to expand in the most interesting and complex way. And of course, there’s an epic cliffhanger. I can’t wait for the next installment, November can’t come fast enough! At the end of the day, this series is a love story.

In

• CDMX… I knew I was going to love it and I really did

• We adopted Lou!! Cat #2 <3

• When I watch a movie or TV show and see a scene of a gif of I’ve seen online and then I’m like that one meme of Leo where he’s pointing to the screen

• Taking a lot of pictures on my walk

• Martini from Panina

• Abby came back from Japan and showed us her film pictures from her trip on her TV which felt like back in the day when you would get pictures on slides and project them for your friends. Not that I ever had to do that because I am Young but I’ve seen it in movies or whatever

• I won me and Milo’s gin rummy tournament this month!

Out

• Crying babies on the plane

• When it’s a beautiful day but I HAVE to do homework

• Speaking of homework, I accidentally completely forgot about an essay I had to write

• Fell asleep on the L train and missed my stop

• “Protect your peace” rhetoric

• Klay Thompson

• Balenciaga city bag— it’s so oversaturated, I’m sick of seeing them

I think Valeria Luiselli is incredibly smart and well spoken, and it was so special hearing her read and dissect Julio Cortazar. I just absolutely love this podcast— I look forward to a new episode every month and am constantly revisiting old ones.

Why Did Bad Things Happen to Lena Dunham? She’s Still Trying to Figure It Out. | The Interview

If you don’t think I watched this immediately when it came out then you don’t know me at all.

Some pics of the boys to end my Substack <3

Thank you for reading! Love you!