Ponytail Picks #51 - Inside

Mar 01, 2024

We don’t want anyone to feel like an outsider here at Ponytail Press. Come on in, circle ‘round, everyone’s welcome.

WATCH

Curl-up worthy interiors

Joel here. It’s rainy and cold in my part of the world right now, plus Andrew has been down with the sickness so I’m all by myself this week, so I thought it would be a good time to dig up some comfort in the form of some cozy and cute indoor spaces that I’ve seen on the big screen. Share yours in the comments!

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

This movie’s the cutest: this family moves into an old creature-infested dwelling and the dad goes “I’ve always wanted to live in a haunted house!” before they all giggle away bogeymen while in the bath. Ultimately, the key to coziness, haunted house or not, is to surround yourself with stacks of books.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2008)

Can’t get any cozier than a home in a tree decorated by Wes Anderson.

Little Women (1994 or 2019)

The warmest little attic where creativity and companionship come alive for the four little women.

Ponyo (2008)

A beautiful seaside home on a hill where mom makes you ramen when you’re feeling cold.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)

Another treed home that I would be happy to curl up with my honey in (or astral project, depending on how I’m feeling).

LISTEN

Emotive throwbacks

One of the great things about music, of course, is how it can express some of the deepest and often most difficult feelings we may have inside our hearts and heads. One period of life that often brings with it a lot of these sort of feelings is puberty and teenage-hood. And so I present to you some of the tracks that were blasting on the stereo of teenage Joel (who had it pretty dang good, mind you) two decades (!!) or so ago:

Linkin Park - “Somewhere I Belong”

I wanna heal, I wanna feel like I’m close to something real
I wanna find something I’ve wanted all along
Somewhere I belong

Simple Plan - “Perfect World”

I never could’ve seen this far
I never could’ve seen this coming
Seems like my world’s falling apart

Sum 41 - “Pieces”

I tried to be perfect
But nothing was worth it
I don’t believe it makes me real

Good Charlotte - “The Young and the Hopeless”

And if I make it through today
Will tomorrow be the same?
Am I just running in place?
And if I stumble and I fall
Should I get up and carry on
Or will it all just be the same?

Relient K - “Pressing On”

(Fun fact, I remember watching this music video for the first time on a compilation of CCM rock/pop/hip-hop music videos on a VHS tape of all things. Grits’ “Here We Go” and Bleach’s “We Are Tomorrow” are other entries that have stuck around in my head.)

Somewhere back there I left my worries all behind.
My problems fell out of the back of my mind.
We’re going and I’m never knowing… where we’re going.
To go back to where I was would just be wrong.
I’m pressing on.

READ

The interior lives of Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

A wonderful recommendation from my partner Rachel. I’m still making my way through it but I feel like I’ve read enough to pass the recommendation on to you, dear fellow readers!

The main story is an enthralling one, giving off big The Social Network vibes with its tale of young tech-y geniuses pouring themselves into their brilliant creative work (video games instead of social media in this case) and then dealing with the fame and disillusionment that follows, but it’s the character work that has compelled me the most, particularly with how author Gabrielle Zevin dives deep inside not just one but multiple characters’ thoughts, feelings, and histories throughout the years-long story.

The relationship at the heart of the book is an intense one, and knowing where both characters are coming from in such an intimate way makes the conflicts, when they come up, all the more heartbreaking and almost torturous for the reader when the characters themselves do not communicate with each other as fully as Zevin communicates with us about each of them. I haven’t read anything quite like it before. Read it today (or tomorrow, if that works better).

Our time of introspection is over. Two weeks from now we will look beyond ourselves for wisdom as we listen to (and watch, and read) what our

elders

have to say.

Ponytail Press