Linksy Bits: The Witches New Year, et al.
Get lost, go Over the Garden Wall, and re-set.
‘Tis the season of getting lost in the woods. For some of us, it’s a practice. Set out to crunch among the leaves, climb over rocks, chase waterfalls, trip over an errant root and regain your balance. I like this for us.
I willfully walk in the woods my mother haunts (or do I haunt her there?) even though woods are often cast as spooky domains where evil things are afoot (Snow White, Belle and her wolves, Little Red Riding Hood, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, et al.) It’s the dark unseen, the wild and natural world we can’t know or control: what waits for the unsuspecting Hansel and Gretel in all of us? Of course the answer is fear itself.
Maybe all this fear-casting is coming from the wrong perspective. Because what if you’re the Witch in the Woods? Honestly, did the Brothers Grimm just live next to a widowed women in her menopausal 50’s who was all: Duuuuudes, just go away and leave me to my baking and herbal sauces.
Such. Evil.
At this time of year particularly, the woods invite something in the modern world that I think is needed right now. Not just quiet and that natural infusion of “touching grass” in our increasingly algorithmically curated existence, but a chance to see change in full glory. That maple burning bright red against the bluebird sky is giving one last barbaric yawp before she falls silent for the hibernation of growth. The audible crunch of leaves underfoot, accompanied by the sweet smell of their damp decay, is a core spell cast by the dying.
One of of fallibility.
Of service to others.
Of remembrance.
Of the promise of return.
Especially right now, at a time that seems wildly uncertain on all man-made levels, when the darkness seems to be everywhere but the woods, I seek that old magic of re-set. There’s a reason this time is known as the Witches New Year.
If the woods aren’t as accessible to you, I invite you into the world of Over the Garden Wall. This little show is 109 minutes of magic in ten 11-minute episodes.
I almost don’t want to spoil the story, and don’t read the episode summaries, just dip into a world where two brothers (and a frog) are lost in the woods. This series debuted 10 years ago and has since amassed a cultish following for richly autumnal animation with layered and deep tones that manage to stay playful. It continues on as an anomaly: a series “so elaborately animated and idiosyncratic that paired family-friendly whimsy with lingering existential chill.”
Love the comment from a Letterboxd fan: “How’d they make Dante’s Inferno so cozy.”
I first watched it with the Giant Baby when he was just average-sized, but now I watch it every year, every October, and welcome a healthy serving of potatoes and molasses while I keep vigilant for the black turtles.
ps do we need to talk about Letterboxd? are you on?
WHAT TO COOK FOR WHEN you are in need of a spell cast in comfort. This potato leek soup is a sort of witchy balm that I call forth when people lose a bit of family or friend to the Unknown. Though it works just as well to provide sustenance and girding to those fighting authoritarianism, it can also simply soften Sunday scaries. Prime directive: if the bowl is chipped, the soup will be better.
» The Louvre heist? Pure brilliance. Already saw a few people dressed up for Halloween in construction vests and just dripping with jewels. 10/10 no notes. Love Liz Plank’s take on why we are obsessed.
» From the Land of Duh: They’ve discovered that Self-Silencing is Making Women Sick. This article is even two years old, but someone sent it to me a few weeks ago.
» Speaking of movies, Werner Herzog just joined social media and I’m in. So German. I’m going to practice making more declarations as such.
» Ok there’s a lot to unpack with Cool Girl Chic, but I like this woman’s take on it best: Cool girlies are creative forces who don’t worry about convention and just do what they want and dress how they feel.
And if you’re still heading up to the North Shore, here’s from last year:
My current spell: please let me find a soulmate who gets this humor
Good night my pretties! Next week I’ll post a little quick hit from Paris and then let’s have a little discourse about a second-life dating topic that came up the other night.
