Newsletter

T-Rex March 2022

Teresa Van Santana

14 Mar 2022 — 6 min read

‘Sup y’all. So imma break my recommendations out into this, their own subzine, T-Rex. Looking to do this at roughly the middle of each month.

Let’s get into it, shall we …

Movies

Y’all. I’m alone while being an Xer on Letterboxd. Ya gotta look me up so I don’t look so lame.

Anyway, these movies are discussed over there, too.

Zola (Showtime)

I dunno what it says about us that this is the movie we chose to watch on our 20th anniversary, but. That’s what happened. It’s wild af, tho, srsly.

Princess Cyd (Hulu, Tubi)

Just the right blend of indie naturalism, gay, and lowkey-ness. Compare and contrast with the lowkey, naturalistic and disappointingly not gay indie The Rest of Us starring Heather Graham (yeah, you read that right).

A Forbidden Orange 🍊 (HBO Max)

I mean … this is kind of a skip-it rec. Like, watch it if you must, but it’s not gonna be what you’re looking for. It’s more about fascist Spain than ACO. Which, you know, word. But probably could have been better made if that were its subject.

And then some rewatches:

Chinatown (Criterion Channel)

Probably the best neo-noir ever and certainly one of Jack’s better roles. Faye Dunaway’s character is more interesting, but you know. Misogyny. Facts: if you dig the characters and want more, Nicholson made a very inferior sequel called The Two Jakes; and if you want more of a similar vibe, check out Altman’s The Long Goodbye.

She (1985) (Paramount+)

Guaranteed to be one of the most batshit movies you’ve (n)ever seen. The incomprehensible story follows (kind of) the warrior goddess She (played by Sandahl Bergman, who you may recognize from the 80s Conan the Barbarian if you’re old) through a post-apoc wasty populated by all manner of foul fuckers. Here’s the real talk, tho: it’s the closest thing we’re getting to a Fallout movie for the foreseeable. If you dig it, check out the much better made (but in some ways slightly less fun) The Bad Batch by Ana Lily Amirpour and starring Suki Waterhouse, Jason Momoa, and Keanu Reeves (yeah, you read that right).

Coming to America (HBO Max)

Supposedly EMurphs and John Landis just effing hated each other on this movie. It’s got the kind of cishet progressivism you could expect from dude movies of the time period, mixed with a lot of regressive tropes, especially when played for jokes. I used to watch it every weekend, so it’s kina burned into mah brain. Tbh, I fell asleep rewatching it? The beginning and end were about like I remembered, so the middle has got to be too, right? They’ve made a sequel, but I haven’t watched it. If you have, let us know down below.

Spaceballs (Prime)

Again, fell asleep. But made it a bit further into this one. Rick Moranis pretty much carries this one, though I liked Princess Vespa, too. A lot of the rest is, well, wack. What’s crazy to remember, though, is there was a time in the early 90s when so few big budget sci-fi movies existed that this was one of the only available.

TV

Upload (Prime)

Okay. <takes a breath> First off, I could (and probably will) write an entire newsletter just about this show. But I’ll be brief here, out of respect for your time.

I love The Office. I liked more episodes of King of the Hill than anyone should, and I liked most of Greg Daniels’ eps of The Simpsons. But he’s showing his age here in a most unflattering way. This is less a spec-fic show about the future and uploading consciousness and more a cishet White Boomer tryna dunk on all the wacky shit that people are into now. It only works if you start from today, meaning it already feels dated and is set in 2033. There’s a glaring example fairly early in, where a gender change is handled badly (not terribly, but certainly not well), and it underlines how little social change has happened in the reality of the show—but not purposefully. It’s own ignorant handling of gender tropes is handwaved away with a casual mention of the gender spectrum. There are self-driving cars and 30 minute flights from NYC to LA but no nonbinary people? And transpeople aren’t really around? Again, we could wave this away by saying that the protag is in the most exclusive richy-rich of metaverse afterlives, but, y’all. Anyway, despite this and other irritants, I’m watchin’ it … cos I’m kina crushin’ on Andy Allo …

Oh! And I totally had people eating printed food back in 2013 in Everything Fails, m’kay. T gets no propers. Which is fine. Life goes on, just without me getting paid or any recognition. It’s fine. Besides, someone else probably did it before me, and I just don’t know about it yet. Humility!

Inventing Anna (Netflix)

Probably everyone in the world has watched this, so rather than recommend it or not, I’ll just tell you my expy wit it. Basically my wife watched it, so I watched it. You know, kind of. The lead is very good and I found her bonkers accent fascinating, but the character and the story are repellent. Viewing it also seemed to beckon Julie back to Shondaland, so it’s been all Scandal all the time ‘round Casa Van Santana and … it’s the worst! She hates Chinatown, tho, so fair is fair.

Star Trek TNG (Prime, Paramount+)

I really can’t recall what impelled me to watch TNG again, but that’s what happened. It’s been, you know, fine. Probably the best Star Trek ever got. Jezuz, Wesley is insufferable, tho, and Tasha gets killed off way too soon. Love that hair. Related: we started Picard but didn’t stick with it. Anyone think it’s worth finishing? And how’s Discovery?

Books

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine

I’m just getting into this one, but so far, so good. It’s kind of Dune-y, but with, you know, less Whiteness. First book in a series.

Gender Mosiac by Daphna Joel, PhD & Luba Vikhanski

Here’s TVS’ fave pull quote:

“But the startling finding, reported in Psychology & Sexuality in 2013, was that about 35 percent of participants perceived themselves as both a man and a woman. And these were people who self-labeled as ‘man’ or ‘woman,’ not as ‘transgender’ or ‘other.’”

<eyebrows>

Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon & illustrated by Ashley Lukashevsky

My six-year-old picked this one up off the coffee table, looked at it, and said, “This is a pretty cool book!” Which is peak endorsing, so I have nothing to add.

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Ashley is a transwoman, so buy it, okay? Also, I haven’t read it yet …

Black SF Reading List

So last time I gave y’all a fem sf reading list and apparently crossed the streams on awareness months (apologies all around) so here is my list of spec-fic by black authors:

Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany, the grandaddy of them all, 800 pages of awesome

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler; also, Lilith’s Brood

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor; also, Who Fears Death

M. Archive by Alexis Pauline Gumbs

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

Rosewater by Tade Thompson

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavelle (thanks to Ryan for the rec!)

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

Help me expand this list by making your own rex down below!

Newsletters

The FLARE

The FLAREA multi-genre collection forging a connection with self and community. Short fiction | Poetry | Personal essaysBy Chevanne

I always tell y’all to read The FLARE and that will not stop until you all do! So get on it. Paid subscription, pls.

Chills Girl Who Reads

Chill Girl Who ReadsI write metaphors and frothy lil anecdotesBy Amy B

Just what it says on the tin. Is good.

Salt for Melons

Salt for MelonsSaturday morning letters of the sweetest things.By Jane

Happy lil newsletter that’s kina random.

Things I Know Nothing About

Things I Know Nothing Abouta series of events that prove all the clichés about love, growing up and embracing the chaos.By Aphrodite Sakka

Basically a perzine by a young Greek gal. Good stuff.

Contests/Writing Ops

Here is a utopian cli-fi contest that I plucked from another newsletter. I didn’t mean to be a lousy pickpocket; I just didn’t sub and forgot to write the name down. (If anyone knows which one, tell us in the commies.) Anyway, deadline is May 5th, so get crackin’. [Update: the newsletter is Flourish Fiction.]

So this list of gothic/dark fantasy publishers is nearly four years old, but still worth a look, if that’s your bag.

Sabbatical

At some point I will lose you

Double Occupancy

The Wrong Impression of the Jungle