I Don't Speak German but I Can If You'd Like

Big words! Dying 18th century New World religions! Recession pop!

Enjoy your Friday read :)

The Reading Nook

No need to applaud but I've finished another piece of classic literature on my own time.

Frankenstein was full of correcting things I thought I knew about this book from pop culture.

1. It is far more depressing than I imagined it would be and I would've been so upset reading this in high school. I would've been defending the monster with my life even though he's also a little shitty. He's trying his best! He just wants to be buddies with the French exiles!
2. How'd we get to the green guy with terf bangs from this source material? Like what was the progression of media that got us to the image that comes to mind of the monster now?
3. Why'd I think that this took place in England? My guys were traversing all of the EU and didn't come close to the borders of the UK.

All in all, I found this really interesting, especially the perspective switching between Frankenstein and the monster and the conversation between them through the middle of the book. Loved learning that incels existed even 207 years ago and their thoughts and feelings have not changed in all those years. There was also some really excellent verbiage used throughout. I loved taking vocab quizzes in school, these would be on my quiz if I were making one for this book:

ameliorate /verb

• make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better."the reform did much to ameliorate living standards"

indefatigable /adjective

• (of a person or their efforts) persisting tirelessly. "she is an indefatigable defender of human rights"

ignoble /adjective

• not honorable in character or purpose."he had ignoble feelings of intense jealousy"

sagacity /noun

• acuteness of mental discernment and soundness of judgment. "the politicians sagacity allowed him to realize he would not win a reelection."

Overall, I give Frankenstein 4/5 stars.

Shakers n' Movers

I worked an artist talk at the ICA last week that was about a group exhibit featuring works from artists who lived with the last remaining Shaker community in the world. The exhibit's very cool and up until August, highly recommend a visit (it's free entry on Thursdays after 5pm).

First of all, had to look up what Shakers are. In case you are unfamiliar, they are a restorationist (believing OG practices of Jesus were lost or altered in the Bible, wanna get back to the real thing), pacifist (fundamentally opposed to violence and war), Christian sect group formed in England in the 1740s who moved to New England in the 1780s. They live a communal lifestyle and do not believe in a gender hierarchy. The real name for the religion is The United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing but colloquially they're known as Shakers due to the dancing and movement done during their worship services. A core tenet of the religion is a commitment to celibacy. As such, you cannot be born into this religion and so numbers have dwindled significantly from their formation in the mid-1700s. Currently there are 2 Shakers left in the world living in Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in New Gloucester, Maine but they're always looking for new converts if y'all are looking for something to do.

At the talk, artist Pallavi Sen spoke about the works she created for this exhibit and how she was struck by the "gift drawings" that were an art style prominent during the height of the Shakerism movement in the 1840s-60s. These drawings were bright and intricate and colorful and were mostly done by women who were 'gifted' these visions by God. Sen talked about her connection to the idea of being 'gifted' a creative outlet by God and how it relates to her experience growing up in India. How artistic pursuits in her native culture are talked about as "God gifts" - that it's not just you creating a thing, but that you are compelled by someone or something else to make things, be it visual art or music or whatever.

Anyway! Thought it was a very cool talk. Here are some Shaker gift drawings and also the paintings Pallavi Sen did for the exhibit.

Gaga for Gaga

Too much learning! Not enough dance pop!

In honor of a certain reader and another certain reader's little brother working on a one Friday-night Coachella headliner's project, I am releasing my official ranking of her solo studio albums and favorite song off of each. Fight me about it. Also if you're looking to make plans for tonight at around 2am EST, you should look no further than the Coachella YouTube livestream and maybe admire the lighting design and video graphics.

1. Joanne - John Wayne
2. Born This Way - Judas
3. Artpop - Venus
4. The Fame/The Fame Monster - Bad Romance
5. Mayhem - Abracadabra but also LoveDrug
6. Chromatica - Chromatica II + 911

See Ya

Congrats on making it to the end of this one:

a song i'm loving:

• I've inundated this post with Gaga even though that's truthfully all I've been listening to this week, so I'll go with Perfume - The Dare

a movie i watched:

• Dune (1984) - this thing has it all. Baby Kyle MacLachlan, terrible CGI, the baron being flung around on barely hidden wires, a score by TOTO, Sting, the list goes on. Undeserving of hate in 2025.

a book i'm reading:

• Have not started a new one yet. I'm thinking Daisy Jones and the Six so I can watch the tv series but if anyone has recs for my recs section lmk

Until Next Time!