Weekly Favorites #25

Hey friends!

It’s the mark on the wall where the doorknob hits, Sam Cote, here with another Weekly Favorites! It’s been a couple weeks, so let’s dive into it!

What I’m Reading: During my social media break, I’ve been checking out a lot of graphic novels from the library. They’re proving to be a great way to refresh my brain after spending months staring at plain words on a page. My favorite one so far has been On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden, which is also available for free as a web comic. I love the art style, and it might be the best example of cozy sci-fi i’ve read; right up there with the likes of A Psalm for the Wild Built. It has cover blurbs by Becky Chambers, Martha Wells and Ann Leckie, so you know it’s good. Here’s what I mean by cozy sci-fi: the author isn’t bending over backwards to prove that anything within the book is scientifically possible in the way it is portrayed. The spaceships look like koi fish and there isn’t a single EVA suit in the whole book. It uses space as a setting (or set of settings) to make the story possible, and asks us only to get on board– it makes for a seamless worldbuilding experience that keeps me from needing to nitpick the details. It allows me to relax about the whole endeavor of setting a story in space, and focus on the character relationships at hand. I also started Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle, which I could make a whole blog post about. As a wise clown once said: I’m lovin’ it.

What I’m Listening To: Now, Not Yet by half•alive. I knew a few songs off this album from TikTok and a cappella covers, and recently gave the whole thing a listen. It has that hard-to-pinpoint cohesion that makes it sound like an album, and I’ve listened through a few times in the past couple of weeks. As with The Oh Hellos, I later realized that this is explicitly intended to be christian music by a christian band– it’s readily apparent in the lyrics once you know what to look for. I don’t personally care too much, but I’m glad I know what to filter for as I listen. I tend to skip over one section of a song that is just spoken word about how everyone involved in the band’s tour has faith in Jesus. I’m here for the tunes, not the preaching  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

What I’m Watching: Season 44 of Survivor! I’m really enjoying it so far. I think the players have a lot of strategic and dramatic potential, which is always great to see early in the season. I’ll refrain from speaking too long on it for spoilers’ sake 👀

What I’m Making: Job applications and my capstone paper! These have been the slow-grinding, high-volume, higher-stakes projects weighing on me. While they’ve both got a deadline (more or less), being “done” with either is a pretty flimsy concept. There’s always more to work on.