squid party 02: Cephalo-injustice?
and finally, there's a book club book
Hello squid party go-ers, it’s me. In the however long it is has been since my last message, I’ve gone through a lot: a serious white lotus phase, a small crisis about not reading “enough,” most of Pokemon Scarlet, many rejections from pickles the cat. I have also learned (from my cephalopod google alert) that most cephalo-news seems to be about evolution and genetics. Do you remember RNA? Or the better question—should you remember RNA? I personally think no. I’ve included a more concrete piece of news instead. This is all to say, this squid party is emergent and iterative and fractal and murmuration. Please, no further questions.
book club digest
It’s finally happening! It is scheduled! We are reading The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich. I sent another extensive email about this so I won’t continue. This book club choice revealed to me that I am very indecisive…maybe you have witnessed that Other options that were considered: The Sentence, Future Home of the Living God, The Light Pirate, Interior Chinatown, Babel.
cephalo-news
I have always said “eat what you love,” but should what-you-love be raised in captivity for you to eat?
Meet Octopus Farming as covered in this LA times article (PDF copy). This octo aquaculture start up is located in Hawaii. You can book tours. The whole operation is run by Jacob Conroy, a self-described “motivated, organized, and enthusiastic graduate of Hawai’i Pacific University with a Bachelor's degree of Science in Marine Biology Research.” 🚩🚩🚩
Right now, all octos we eat are wild caught. This start up wants to protect wild octopus, but apparently wild octopus are doing just fine / aren’t in danger of being overfished. For everyone who saw My Octopus Teacher (or Finding Dory), you know these invertebrates are smart cookies (against all evolutionary odds). So putting them in a boring white tank with a few bath toys seems morally questionable. And also letting randos pay to poke them is weird, no? All to solve a problem that may in fact not be a problem.
Also did you know that octopus, squid, and cuttlefish* aren’t considered animals by the US Federal Government? What!! They are so inventive and seductive! Sensual and perceptive! If they aren’t animals, then I am definitely not an animal.
So I’ll leave you with this—is this octopus farm actually more fyre festival hubris from someone who might be a white man? Is this PETA being anti-future? Is there any ethical consumption of sentient beings under capitalism?
*disclosure: squid party is funded by this trio of cephalopods*
what i’ve been buying
OV Rectreks! Easy to move in, water resistant, holds up to abrasive surfaces. Too big in the waist, too tight in the thighs. Write that on my tombstone. They also look suspiciously like the pants my elderly mother wears…
Essie gel nail polish. Easy!! No setup, just normal. It does really stay on much better than non gel nail polish. I think it is worth it but the color selection in limited aka I haven’t been able to find “emo black.”
Hubble frames… BAD! A Black Friday failure. They weirdly floated very far off of my face. They even floated very far off of EWAN’S face, which is much pointier than mine own. Worst $5 restocking fee ever spent.
spotlight: WHITE LOTUS (spoilers)
Headlines:
DOES MIKE WHITE HATE WOMEN?
It’s good until it’s bad
SOS: Mike White can’t land the plane
I’m disappointed in him. But honestly, I am disappointed in myself. I should have known better than to expect something phenomenal from this guy who already disappointed me with White Lotus season 1.
At this point, I’ve discussed why I don’t like Tanya’s ending 1 million times. I’ll just underline how much I did not like start of her death sequence—where she finds the gun and the rope. Tanya is obviously distraught! Terrified! As a scene, it was so not funny at all. Awful to watch! Out of tone with the rest of the show! Impending death gives the White Lotus its tension and mystery and it drives the plot. And all of that is good until someone actually dies. Maybe there is no world in which the reveal will not be a let down.
Anyway, I got *two* fancy old white lady scarves from a dead fancy old white lady. I will be wearing them and channeling Tanya.
Here’s I am left with from White Lotus 2 weeks after the frenzy
do I hate portia because she reminds me of the worst parts of myself?
lots of good ambassadors for small boob nation
is Daphne actually happy? is playing toxic games the only way for (straight? rich?) couples to be happy?
justice for valentina
does Mike White hate people?
white lotus seems like a show where people *could* defy your expectations (carefully built characters, kind of subtle, very “smart”), but then, maybe because it is satire, everyone just goes for the **worst** option and is the absolute worst version of themselves. That’s so boring! Everyone and everything seems like the worst these days. It might be cool to challenge the audience more instead of just confirming
where’s lou?
idk 😭 she could be anywhere :’(