Recently we found that that JZ's cousin got COVID, lost her sense of smell, recovered it and then she got the weird side effect that everything smells like rotten meat. It sounds so horrible.

Wow this is exactly what happened a friend of mine! How awful.

Meara, I bought one of those Occulus things and still haven’t opened the box. I’ve been considering leaving all social media owned by FB for a while now, and hate that Occulus would be another tentacle. But it does sound fun.

Holy cow, the USPS driver just hurled a package from our lawn, over the porch railing, onto the porch, where it hit the screen door and bounced. I know this because I watched it happen. It was a light package, and unbreakable (maxipads), but they didn't know it was unbreakable. (And I feel like they should assume that a storm window on our fucking door MIGHT BE BREAKABLE.) Jesus, our USPS service is so goddamn lousy. I guess I should be grateful that they didn't light it on fire before they launched it onto the porch.

Ugh, Steph, that is a lot of weighing and dealing.

Can I go back to Joss for a second?

One thing that the Vulture article mentioned was that Buffy was considered feminist, but wasn't really. And, I think that claim suffers a bit from being made in 2022. When Buffy came out, I think it was pretty feminist for its milieu. But culturally we've moved past it. Which is a good thing, but cultural context does matter.

I totally agree with this. Here's a thing I tried to say to my mother last night, that she wasn't buying: I blame Bill Clinton for a lot of this, because we knew he was basically a garbage person, but we were weighing it against the good he could do and gave him a pass. I think that passed along to people like Joss as well, because we were used to it. The issue my mother had was that politicians can actually DO things for people, unlike media figures, but I think she is underestimating the impact of media figures.

I realize this is half-baked at best, but does that resonate for anyone?

There's something to that, Jesse. And just that general thing of how rules don't apply to auteurs or artists or geniuses or statesmen or whatever exceptional category any particular actually average but successful white guy can manage to wedge himself in to which did not START with Clinton but could have been beaten back more then and wasn't.

I hope Tim feels ok about visiting his dad. There are some weird guidelines about TB tests, it may just have been required because of the move. And damn, that's kind of impressive about the package! Wow.

And just that general thing of how rules don't apply to auteurs or artists or geniuses or statesmen or whatever exceptional category any particular actually average but successful white guy can manage to wedge himself in to which did not START with Clinton but could have been beaten back more then and wasn't.

Definitely. I guess what I'm getting at is that applies especially to the men "we" "like" for whatever reason.

Covid tests.gov is up a day early! I just ordered! Got knows when we will actually get them, but it’s something.

Also, y’all may be as entertained as I am by this—the kid is an ex’s (we’re still friends) and it’s cracking me up:

[link]

Steph I'm sorry everything is so hard with Tim's dad.

Also the USPS shouldn't treat packages like that.

that applies especially to the men "we" "like" for whatever reason

Absolutely.

OMG that Midnight Society thread is beautiful! Every time I read one I think I should stay on Twitter more just so I can follow Midnight Society but I can never manage it. Thanks for the link, Consuela!

Also, y’all may be as entertained as I am by this—the kid is an ex’s (we’re still friends) and it’s cracking me up:

I already shared that to a group chat! That kid is outstanding.