The Lesson of the Fake Paintings
Good morning, you marvelous beauties.
Throughout the pandemic, I’ve found a level of hilarious solace in playing Animal Crossing. It’s this incredibly low stakes Nintendo Switch game where you basically putter around your own island picking up shells, sticks and doing some light weeding while taking care of the villagers who live there - who tbh don’t help out as much as they should. (eyeballs)
In the game, you have a museum on your island (as you do) and you must purchase art from a fox named Redd - who while selling the genuine articles, also sells fake versions. There are whole websites dedicated to parsing out the fake from the real and yes I have them bookmarked and an ongoing Google doc with the art I’ve purchased. I’ve done pretty well buying just real art and staying away from the fake stuff… until recently.
It started two Redd visits ago. I stood in front of a lovely winter landscape - checked the Animal Crossing Fake Art Website and saw that if dogs weren’t in the painting, it was a fake. I looked at the fake, looked at the painting in front of me, noted that there weren’t any dogs and then promptly bought the painting, smug that I’d outwitted Redd YET AGAIN. This painting now hangs in my little Animal Crossing bedroom, because the Know-It-All Owl at the museum was like.. yeah, this is fake, we can’t hang this in a museum.
Redd Returns.
But, this time… I was like… OKAY. I will not let that happen again. This time I stood in front of a new painting (The Girl with the Pearl Earring) and checked the Animal Crossing Fake Art Website and saw that if the earring was a star instead of pearl, it was fake. A fact which - I might add - is something I know in real life, as well. I looked at the fake, looked at the painting in front of me, noted that it was a star earring and then promptly bought the painting, smug that my fake buying art days were LONG GONE. This painting now hangs in my little Animal Crossing living room, because ONCE AGAIN the Know-It-All Owl at the museum was like… yeah, this is a fake, we can’t hang this in a museum. (eyeballs)
I tell this story, because as much as we think we understand the impact of the trauma of this past year - hell, the impact of the trauma of this past WEEK - this is going to be a much longer process than just… oh, we’re back to normal now and one fun dinner out with friends will cure what ails ya.
We need to have gentle patience and compassion with ourselves as we step out into this re-entry phase and think we’ve got a handle on things only to find ourselves with a fake ass Girl with a Star Earring painting hanging in our living room as proof that we, in fact, might not have it as much in hand as we previously thought.
It’s still a beautiful painting, but it’s also a gentle reminder that I’m not quite my genuine article just yet.
Each month, I’ll gather:
❤️funny tweets
🤩stuff to watch, read and listen to
🤝great follows on social media
🌈 music to soothe
🕯calming things
*****
❤️
🤩
This NYTimes article by Adam Grant, There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing is REALLY good. And I love Edith Zimmerman’s take on it.
I’m always in for a good music documentary, so I really loved Supersonic, a doc all about Oasis. (It’s on Hulu)
I loved this Song Exploder podcast episode with the Black Pumas about their beautiful song, Colors. (thank you to Daniel for this one)
Loved every second of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Can’t wait to see what comes next and looking so forward to Loki.
James Acaster’s Cold Lasagne Hate Myself is really good (here’s the trailer). It’s a brutally funny two hours where he masterfully and vulnerably winds through politics, mental health, breakdowns, The Great British Baking Show, career shit and everything in between. So good.
I’ll always link to a Questlove Spotify playlist - and this one is for Any Heartbreak and this one is the 100 Essential Songs You Should Know.
🤝
Follow Blk Mkt Vintage for amazing antique finds and a swoon worthy love story.
Follow Musemo Handahu for beautiful fashion and far too many styling ideas for clothes you don’t have, but definitely need.
Follow Rayo & Honey for beautiful hand crafted banners.
🌈
(thank you to Daniel for ^ that one)
🕯
You can thank Eileen Cook for this one, but these are THE BEST headbands ever - they look SUPER cute and? They don’t squish your head or give you headaches.
You know those items you buy and think… oh yeah, this is one of those Pandemic Purchases where… you know what? I probably shouldn’t overthink it. But, yeah, THIS is definitely that. (blame Annie for this one)
I bought this adorable t-shirt for my friend’s ridiculously adorable little boy and I love everything about it. (don’t worry you can modify it to just be Marvel or DC depending on your allegiances)
There’s a Sandlot Baseball Club team that’s called… The Nashville Dollys. And YES. There is merch. (thank you to Zoë for this brilliant find)
I’ve really loved joining Erik Patterson’s weekly Sunday (and Wednesday night) sprints - it’s such a safe two hours of guided writing prompts that's become an oasis for me and my little addled brain.