NO NONSENSE #22
Hey dolls,
It's time for another recommendations email – here's everything the Polyester team have been feeling over the last couple of weeks, from Scorsese movies to 90s queercore...
Gina Tonic - Deputy Editor
Film: The King of Comedy
Not been as on it with Scorsese films in my life as I should've but popped this on last night and it was the perfect Sunday eve film!! Proper funny and silly and Sandra Bernhard is just INCREDIBLE!
YouTube: 00s Bisexual Chic (Si apre in una nuova finestra)
I watched this Youtube video about emo hatred being strongly linked with homophobia and the fetishisation of bi women in the 00s, and it was so so nostalgic but also pointed out loads of niche things I kind of missed out on while living through the era.
Charlotte Landrum - Platform Editor
Film: Pet Semetary (1989)
Great classic Stephen King movie adaptation which is quite stressful to watch but really atmospheric and very 80s and features a very cute cat. NEVER watch the remake tho, it's really, really bad.
Book: Animal by Lisa Taddeo
I haven't finished this yet but I'm very much enjoying it. So far it feels like a classic disturbed, problematic woman book which is exactly what I'm into reading at the moment.
Misha MN - Culture Editor
Book: The Queen’s Throat by Wayne Kostenbaum
Queer theorist Wayne Kostenbaum’s tribute to the mysterious world of the opera gay, dissecting what it means to be a diva and how to properly worship one. An ode to the physicality of records, and the ephemeral nature of the human voice, he explores the hidden codes of pre-Stonewall gay culture and hoe that affects him as a gay men in the present.
Film: Irma Vep
French director Olivier Assayas’ masterful commentary on French cinema is made all the more stunning by Maggie Cheung’s magnetic performance. Already a star in Hong Kong, Maggie plays herself as an actress cast in a French art house film based on a 1910s silent film about vampires, and it inevitably goes wrong. This film introduced Cheung to western audiences and solidified her position as one of the most exciting stars of the 90s, and then the 00s when she became the quintessential Wong Kar Wei heroine. Great soundtrack, great outfits.
Music: Undressed by Pansy Division
Fantastic gay punk band Pansy Divison, prominent in the queercore scene of the 90s, have finally brought some of their classic albums to Spotify and it sounds as fresh today as it did the first time around. Standout tracks include Hippy Dude, about fancying a grungy vegan, Curvature, an ode to bent penises, and The Cocksucker Club, about a closeted man’s fantasies about sucking dick. “Hi honey, I’m homo!”
Lauren O'Neill - Copy Editor
Music: GUTS by Olivia Rodrigo
I know Miss Rodrigo is fully pandering to the 29 year old teenage girls among us at this point but I love this album, there are so many great 90s nods (Alanis! Beck!) and one of my favourite songs – "ballad of a homeschooled girl" – sounds like it was made by Lindsay Lohan's band in Freaky Friday.
Book: In the Cut by Susanna Moore
I always bemoan the lack of erotic thrillers in the culture in the 2020s so this novel written in 1995 is definitely scratching that itch for me – really well written sex scenes, a narrator who is just removed enough to keep the intrigue going, and a very gripping plot. Definitely one for the crime drama girls, and I'm very excited to watch the film with Mark Ruffalo and Meg Ryan when I'm finished!
Snack: Trek Cocoa Oat bars
Absolutely stunning, my 10/10 ride or die snack. Just a stunning flapjack that sorts you out whatever time of day it is. I am so known for eating them my friends once made me a Trek birthday cake. I have a box on my desk now as I'm writing this.
See you next time dolls!
XOXO
The Polyester Team <3
