Sweet Shit Round Up
April 2020
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Time doesn’t exist anymore.
March felt like it lasted about 6 months while April feels like it only started a couple of days ago. But alas, we have reached the last Friday of the month which means it’s time for a round up!
This month has been devoted to a few books, a lot of movies, and a lot of convenient apps. If I hear of a single person trying to take money from the arts when this whole thing is over I’m going take every piece of media they own. Don’t want to fund the arts? Then you don’t get to enjoy them. Anyway, here’s the shit that made April just a little bit sweeter!
Books
On the Come Up - Angie Thomas
- Angie Thomas is great at writing books that make me feel worried and uncomfortable, which is a great thing. On the Come Up is a young adult novel following an aspiring rapper named Bri as she navigates through high school, stereotypes, and her dreams of making it as a hip hop artist. As a white woman, I’m never going to truly understand many of the issues plaguing the Black community but through her books, The Hate U Give and now On the Come Up, Thomas gives an authentic glimpse into a community that is otherwise underrepresented. Don’t let the YA tag fool you, these books are tackling real issues in a real way. Everyone’s ending isn’t a happy one but the characters are doing their best to survive and thrive in a society that is stacked against them.
The Long Walk - Stephen King
- Me? Talking about a Stephen King book? Weird. But for real, this is the second time I’ve read The Long Walk and I still think it’s such an interesting concept. In some future year, a contest is put on starting every May 1st where 100 boys from across the United States meet in Maine and start the long walk. That’s it. That’s the whole thing. The book spans the five days these boys are walking, never allowed to stop, sit, or slow below 4 mph unless they want to punch their ticket. During the story you get to watch as this group of boys form bonds and friendships all while knowing that in order for one to win, the rest have to die. It’s a little different for a King book, probably because it was written while he still used his Richard Bachman pseudonym, but I like that it’s not the supernatural or one guy that’s the villain but rather the whole of society that let this event happen who are seen as the bad guys. There’s something about the whole thing that feels very real, like The Long Walk could start happening here at any time. So you might want to check it out and learn the tricks for the walk before it’s too late.
Hulu Documentaries/Movies
- Clowns, right? Lotsa people hate them. But what if you could use that fear to your advantage? In this documentary, an anonymous man takes on the role of Wrinkles the clown, a masked clown meant to scare the bad out of all the kiddos in town for the right price, and ya’ll…look at that clown mask. The horror. Including interviews with psychologists, “friendly” clowns, and the man himself, Wrinkles the Clown takes on the idea of local legends and if their impact on society is all fun and games or detrimental to developing youths. Find it on Hulu and decide for yourself!
- I wasn’t alive for the bulk of the Satanic panic that took the country by storm in the 1980s - early 90s but boy was it stupid. So much misplaced fear and anger got a lot of innocent people hurt just because they played Dungeons & Dragons, wore black, and listened to heavy metal music. While Christian zealots might still see the evil of Satan everywhere, here in 2020, the Satanic Temple has revamped his image. In this 2019 documentary, we follow members of the Satanic Temple and their co-founder, Lucien Greaves, as they fight the good fight of social justice taking on local governments in the name of religious equality. If you’re able to keep an open mind and separate any potential religious affiliations you may have, Hail Satan? is a cool look into a religion that many people would rather ignore but whose followers are just looking for the equal treatment they deserve.
- Oof. This documentary was a ride! What starts as a journalist discovering and looking into documenting the world of competitive tickling, (yeah it’s as weird as it sounds,) turns into a story of blackmail, legal threats, and fake identities. I honestly can’t even go into it that much without giving away the general what the fuckness of the whole thing but trust that you’ll spend the 90 minutes with a furrowed brow most of the time.
- I’m not sure I know anyone who wasn’t hoping for Parasite to win at the Oscars. Now that I’ve finally had a chance to check it out, I know that all that praise was worth it. This movie is a lot of fun. It’s got humor, it’s got thrills, it’s got the most realistic sex scene I’ve ever seen in my life. You can’t help but to root for the Kim family to thrive in their schemes. Between the almost criminally oblivious rich family and the parasitic (get it) poor family, the lines of villainy are incredibly blurred. Go find your reading glasses and check out Parasite tonight!
Video Games
- Yeah I know I already wrote up a whole review about this game (read about it here) but it’s played a big part in my April! I’ve played through it like a dozen times already, which isn’t hard cause it’s maybe 5 hours long even if you watch the cutscenes and take your time. There are challenges and new weapons to earn/buy with points that keeps the game fun and easy to keep going back to. Plus, if you’re up for a real challenge, playing on Nightmare or Inferno mode (the two highest difficulties) is like playing a practically new game. If you still haven’t picked it up yet and you’ve got some of that stimulus left, go order it!
Apps
- I think I’ve seen my friends more during this quarantine than I have in the 3 months before it started. Zoom has a lot to do with that. I don’t know where this site came from, it was just suddenly here one day for all of our social and business needs. While I don’t always feel the need to get my Zoom on, it has made social distancing a lot easier when you know you can be in each other’s houses with the click of a button.
- I haven’t printed pictures since 2018. I always meant to but it was daunting to go through the hundreds of pictures on my phone and when I did the cost for shipping was too much for me to justify. But, now I finally had all the time in the world to look through every single photograph I’ve taken over the last 2 years to decide which were worthy of the cost. Luckily, I stumbled across the Free Prints app which offers 85 free 4x6 prints each month with only the cost of standard shipping (starting at $1.99 and never more than $9.99!) Real talk…these photos printed out so nice and glossy and got to me so fast, even during the pandemic. Now, I ordered almost 400 pictures on this first go around so obviously, I had to pay for more than just the shipping, but 4x6 prints are only $0.09 each which I felt was a decent price. So if you’re like me and have been putting off printing out the pictures on your phone use all this free time to go through them and print out 85 for free. You can find the Free Prints app in the App or Google Play store and if you use my code jmatovich2 it’ll earn us both 5 bonus free prints a month for 6 months!
- I’m a big fan of passively earning money. So far, the best method I’ve found is using the S’more app! S’more allows your phone to display advertisements on your lock screen. Every day that you use your lock screen you earn 10 points. Once you hit at least 500 (or $5.00) you can trade those points in for gift cards to places like Amazon, Game Stop, Target, and more. I cashed mine in this month to cover an Amazon purchase I’ve been putting off. The Smore app is only available through the Google Play store cause Apple doesn’t allow ads on their phones….sorry Iphoners. And the ads themselves? It’s pretty easy to not even notice them after a couple of days. Use my code YZCFXY when you sign up to earn 25 points from the jump and to give me 25 points too!
- People are def still having sex during this pandemic. If you’re quarantining with a significant other there’s no doubt cause what the hell else is there to do. If you are someone who is able to get pregnant, the Nurx app should already be on your phone. Nurx is an easy way to get your birth control without visiting your doctor in person, you can get your prescription from your own home delivered right to your door…yep, Nurx has been social distancing for years! You fill out a form explaining your needs and a real doctor will review and approve it within a couple of days. Most prescriptions can be covered by insurance or start as low as $15 without insurance. If there’s ever any issues, the Nurx care team is quick about responding and helping to solve whatever problem may arise. Nurx even provides at home STI tests, emergency contraception, and HIV PREP. I’ve been using the app for like 3 years and no joke it’s like the best thing to ever happen to me, I can’t recommend it enough. You can find Nurx online or download the app from the App or Google Play store!
Miscellaneous
Stimulus Check
- What can I say, that stimulus check was a big ol’ highlight for April. Is one $1,200 payment enough to help everyone stay on their feet right now? Hell no. That’s why the proposed Emergency Money for the People Act that would provide $2,000 a month for at least 6 months would be so clutch. But for now, I’m grateful for the amount we got and what it’s helped me to pay off this month.
What made your sweet shit list this month? Leave a comment below!