Question of the week: What needs to happen for you to truly feel in the holiday spirit? For me, it’s seeing this commercial.

ICYMI on FYA

We posted the discussion questions for this month’s FYA Book Club selection, Crier’s War by Nina Varela. It’s a unique combination of science fiction and fantasy with a sapphic love story at its center.

Sarah shared her thoughts on the extremely adorable Catherine Called Birdy in this week’s Stream It.

And in this week’s Book Reports:

Book-Related Things

Annabelle’s Book Club is a YA-themed bookstore in LA founded by a teen. (Their merch is perfection.)

This is a great list; please add to it if you can!

It’s that time of year for everyone to release their Best Of Lists. (We’ll have ours up soon!)

The Harper Collins strike is ongoing, and literary agents are threatening to blacklist HC authors from upcoming projects as a show of support.

Onscreen Things

Joel Kim Booster (Fire Island) is open to doing a whole (gay) Jane Austen Cinematic Universe.

“Nobody Knows When Movies Come Out Anymore.”

Some really great trailers came out this week:

Oop. “Theo James says acting in films like Divergent is ‘pretty f***ing boring’.”

Julie Plec and Carina Adly MacKenzie are working on a We Were Liars adaptation. (Check out Sarah’s review of the book here.)

Multimedia Things

I’m REALLY considering getting a separate tree to decorate with a Twilight theme. These examples are just too good.

(Check out our Twilight content here.)

@complextravels

Is this a Missy Elliot Dance video with a bunch of kids? Or is this a dance number from the Matilda movie musical overlaid with Missy Elliot music? #viraltiktok #matilda #musical #misstrunchbull #dance #dancingchallenge #trending

♬ original sound – Valerie Complex♓️♎️♋

Miscellaneous Things

Michelle Williams honored Mary Beth Peil (her Grams on Dawson’s Creek) at the Gotham Awards, and it’s really lovely.

“11 Rules for Writing an Original Christmas Song in 2022.”

This is a great article on the state of hit songs: “Where did all the key changes go?”

“Dragons, Ghost Dogs, and Doomslugs: What Are Your Favorite Fantasy Animal Companions?”


What’d we miss? Add your fave distractions of the week in the comments.

Mandy (she/her) is a manager at a tech company who lives in Austin, TX, with her husband, son, and dogs. She loves superheroes and pretty much any show or movie with “Star” in the name.