january field notes
a monthly roundup of some stuff that i like <3
i have always loved reading and watching people talk about their monthly favorites online, and i also have always wanted to make my own version of that so here we are. this was actually really fun for me to write, and i plan on doing more in the future!
recent reads
men, women, & chainsaws: gender in the modern horror film by carol j. clover (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
this was my first (re)read of 2025 and i honestly forgot why i picked it back up. i've read the book several times before but never as quickly as i just did. i love a good nonfiction audiobook and listening to this at 1.25 speed while working was actually a fucking blast. i lowkey feel like it says a lot about me if listening to someone talk about horror movies and gender theory while packing orders in the storage room at work is considered entertaining. like yes queen go give us nothing !!!!!
death's acre: inside the legendary forensic lab the body farm where the dead do tell tales by william m. bass & jon jefferson (⭐️⭐️⭐️)
this book was another one of my “autism reads” while working. i wasn't expecting much but i also wasn't really expecting this to be more of an autobiography william bass. i do wish the book spoke more about what things they discovered from the body farm's creation
the price of salt by patricia highsmith (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
this book was both extremely up my alley and also something that i probably never want to read again. that’s a lie, i’ll probably end up buying a copy to annotate. i just think i feel a little unwell having just finished the book and rewatched the movie immediately afterwards.
recent watches
so i watch a lot of movies and according to letterboxd, i watched 32 of them in the month of january so instead of talking about all of them, i will be picking out like 10. hopefully less (btw the titles are linked with my review of the movie).
knights of badassdom (2013) - i do need to preface that this is not a movie i would normally watch, i’m mainly here because i’m a fan of the director, joe lynch (and if you like horror, i suggest checking out his work!! especially his most recent film; suitable flesh). anyways this movie is like if a supernatural episode went horribly wrong except it was still fun.
you’re next (2011) - good, family, horror fun!!!! no, literally. the family is experiencing the horrors but it’s kinda fun and lowkey really good becuase they suck! the soundtrack fucks, and by soundtrack i mean one specific needle drop of looking for the magic by the dwight twilley band. it was also really fun to start clocking the cast members as different people from the v/h/s films and other horror movies. literally, i jumped with joy at seeing barbara crampton on screen! recognizing actors in movies is like enrichment to me. also the final girl is such a fucking badass, and she really is. i don’t want to spoil it if you haven’t seen it but once she locks in, she’s good. you know she’ll make it.
cruising (1980) - holy fuck dude! first of all, wow um… al pacino, hey babygirl hmu. second of all, i get the hate. truly, i understand it so perfectly and it’s valid. i also do not care and really liked this movie. it is in my nature to enjoy a movie that features people being “freaks” (al pacino is the freak here) and also people being freaks (the people getting nasty at the bars are the freaks here) and i mean that so sincerely.
querelle (1982) - this is a movie i didn't know existed, i discovered it because after i watched cruising, i spent a solid 2 hours just researching the production history. someone in the comments of like a 6-year-old blog post mentioned the movie alongside interior. leather bar. which i do not recommend watching at all, like genuinely there's nothing worth watching there. i don’t even know where to begin, i just thought it was so beautiful and atmospheric. i just loved the way it explored masculinity and sexuality. like there’s moments where someone will drop a straight up line of poetry and then move on like it was nothing! it was just so so so good!!!!!
mulholland drive (2001) - i put off watching this for years but the moment i learned about david lynch's passing i knew i wanted to work my way through his filmography. to me, this movie is the epitome of the director trusting their audience. i did have moments where i was like okay yeah what the hell sure, but also even those moments i was able to internally link it back to something else so it was fine. also i could not stop thinking about naked in manhattan by chappell roan, purely because of the pre-chorus.
the shape of water (2017) - a beautiful movie that has never failed me and also what is wrong with me why are the fish guys kinda.. you know… anyways! yeah. i literally have nothing else, i don’t think i have a single complaint about this movie.
what’s been on my mind
the more i learn about love, the less i understand it but the more i want someone to share my life with. it can be a romantic connection, purely platonic, or whatever secret third thing that exists beyond decentering romance from my own life.
disregarding that last bit i think i might be touch starved which is not really fun but whatever i guess!!!!!
magnetic poetry is so fun to play with. that’s it. i think people should make fun and silly poems. also it’s lowkey really helpful because i love a word bank.
matthew lillard in scream 7? i’m sure the writers can find a way to rationalize stu being alive, but me? i will not be. i will be at home and probably watching something better
or worse.jane schoenbrun’s criterion closet episode. there are many more eps that i love like nathan lane, bill hader, pamela anderson, ayo edebiri, etc. but like this one has been rotating in my brain for like two weeks now. it’s the, “filmmaking is an act of faith,” while talking about eraserhead that makes me feel crazy.
Loved the "thoughts" section never seen that in a monthly favs post!