lately I’ve been enjoying some queer novels in the folk horror genre— my personal canon for folk horror includes The Wicker Man, Children of the Corn, The Blair Witch Project, and now Widow’s Bay.

one creepy book that I enjoyed, due out this fall, is Quaint Folk — a family from the US goes to a very quaint-seeming remote UK town where everyone is getting ready for the cute annual celebration of Tigglestide, but it turns out Everything Is Not As It Seems.

I’m currently reading The Jellyfish Problem, which has a lesbian marine biologist summoned to a Widow’s Bay type remote New England island at the request of a woman she loved in college to investigate seriously bizarre sightings of a bio-luminscent jellyfish larger than anything anyone has ever seen before.

I decided to get a lightweight backpack for my trip. my attempt to iron on the iron-ons was not a success, but it turns out that safety pins work just as well. I have so many patches, and I may just decorating with them more often

Some recent books I’ve read:

Furious Violet, Sarai Walker (2026) — a twisty thriller that starts with a true crime writer receiving an anonymous note on her windshield, and has a lot to say about women on the margins, literary celebrity, and the complexities of motherhood

A Morbid Passion (2026) and A Queer Case (2025), Robert Holtom — fun gay mysteries set in 1920s London, playing on Agatha Christie type tropes. A Queer Case won the Lambda for best LGBTQ mystery.

The Tainted Cup, Robert Jackson Bennet (2024) — Hugo Award winning novel about a Holmes/Watson pairing in an intense fantasy world with no handguns or internal combustion engines but lots and lots of biohacking of people and plants

Love Stories, Jonathan Ned Katz (2001) — history exploring what we can recover of the romantic and erotic lives of 19th century men who loved men

The Rainseekers, Matthew Kressel (2026) — a dangerous expedition by a group of pilgrims on Mars trying to see that planet’s first ever rainfall

dear god the premiere episode of latina royale was absolute perfection. starting with a ball challenge was very smart, because these girls came with one goal: murder each other on the runway.

so many looks were fantastic, but Tina and I were absolutely gagged by Lolita’s judging look: it featured a painting of Sor Juana holding a blood-red rosary with her teeth and holding it over the Condesa’s open mouth. somehow it looks both like spit and communion.

I always feel bad when some international girl clearly does not have the resources as the rest of them; this time it’s Desiree from Brazil, who also has a language barrier.

next week is the talent show, and I cannot wait.

Charli XCX’s Yeah is the purest and most stupid CXCX lyric I’ve ever heard and I think it’s brilliant. Love that the next track is Wink Wink

sometimes I see that someone like Phoebe Bridgers has new music and I get excited and then I remember that the singer I was thinking of was actually Maggie Rogers

we arranged our vacation to make sure we were back in time for the 25th anniversary Hedwig screening with John Cameron Mitchell (and Peaches Christ)

she has it all figured out

I’ve been listening to the Womack Sisters (who are the nieces of Bobby Womack) and I’m excited for their debut album on Daptone.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/womack-sisters-daptone-debut-album-1235587390/

I would like to manifest one last truly great Janet album please

if you want a late era banger, I recommend “shoulda known better” from unbreakable.

now that I’ve successfully worn my tee-shirts in rainbow order, I can relax

had a fantastic morning snorkeling on the other side of the island. I took a nap after we got back; we are headed out later for a fun luau on the ocean

dragged my chair out to the lanai to read while housekeeping is in the room

we had our anniversary dinner last night; we’ve been married for 19 years now

busy day — snorkeling in the morning, new shoes because the bottom of my sandal broke, farmer’s market, dropping off and picking up laundry, napping

went out to look at this sunrise, and walking back I saw what appeared to be a very large housecat that was somehow wagging its tail like a dog — turns out it was a wild boar

here’s my view when I was taking this selfie

found a little spot of beauty while in a tiny strip mall parking lot

had a leisurely drive to poipu this afternoon

there was an art walk happening, and we quickly found parking near our favorite mexican restaurant when we saw a band of mariachis performing for a tentful of people in the blocked-off parking lot. we had just eaten here for lunch, so we got ice cream and sat down for the show. turns out this group is from las vegas and they come here every year for a mini tour — they were on oahu on friday, and had two kauai gigs on the fourth. later today they are performing at lunchtime in the south of the island at a branch of the same restaurant.

they were the real deal — best mariachis I’ve heard in ages and ages. there’s a different terrible mexican restaurant in this same town, and we walked past it later — it was full of drunk old white tourists eating awful food and listening to a crappy band playing van morrison’s brown eyed girl way too loud.