June 2022 media
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Everything I Need I Get from You: A book about “how fangirls created the internet as we know it,” as the subtitle puts it, with a particular focus on the One Direction fandom. Easily of my favorite things I’ve read so far this year. (I think that, between this and the podcast Homestuck Made This World, I have a burgeoning interest in fandom studies—let me know if you have recommendations!)
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The Jeff Gerstmann Show: I was never much of a Giant Bomb guy, so I’m surprised by how much I’ve liked this new solo effort. Three hours of loosely structured rambling with digressions to talk about energy drinks or pro wrestling isn’t what I’m usually looking for in a video games podcast, but it’s working for me here—there just aren’t many people who have been covering games for as long as Jeff and can take the long view on the industry.
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Hello, Bookstore: A documentary about a small bookstore in western Massachusetts. Ostensibly the major narrative event is the GoFundMe drive that keeps the store afloat during the pandemic, but that doesn’t get that much focus. Instead the film largely feels like a slice-of-life story about a pillar of the community: proprietor Matt Tannenbaum tells stories from his childhood, gossips with favorite customers, reads favorite passages aloud, plays with his grandchild, and sells books.