Need a Break? Try "Dancing with the Birds"

Hi everyone,

I've slowed down a bit on watching movies lately, unfortunately, but that's in large part because I've been focusing on using my weekends for rest.  That's been a good decision and one that I'm perhaps surprisingly un-conflicted about, although I am nevertheless a bit disappointed that it means I haven't seen as many movies in the last two or three months as I would normally expect to.  The good thing--in addition to *actually* prioritizing feeling rested for maybe the first time in my life?--is that I'm still ahead of my annual movie-watching goal because of how many movies I watched in the first four months of the year, so I don't feel any self-imposed pressure to change what I'm doing at the moment.

All that said, I have watched a movie or two that I'd love to share with you!  Today's treat: a bird-based documentary!

"Dancing with the Birds" (2019) has quickly become a household favorite that my Child watches at least once, sometimes twice, a day.  Narrated with inexhaustible charm by Stephen Fry and paired with an absolutely perfect score that enhances and embraces its subjects, this admittedly not-quite-feature-length (runtime: 51 minutes) documentary profiles several birds of paradise across the world as they try to court a mate.

The footage is absolutely gorgeous, with its (mostly) brightly-colored stars set against lush, verdant jungles where food is plentiful but prospective mates are apparently hard to come by.  Evidently, and lucky for us, this creates the perfect conditions for flamboyantly plumed, artistic, dedicated little birds to go all out in attempting to set themselves apart from their fellow male competitors.

I'm hard pressed to choose a favorite bird from the rich array presented in "Dancing with the Birds", because they each bring something incredibly special and entertaining to the film.  There's the little bird near the beginning with the world's longest head plumes that does a delightfully enthusiastic swinging dance, the somewhat drab yet astonishingly multi-talented bowerbird who closes out his mating display with a zany back-and-forth dance that unfurls a shock of dandelion-yellow feathers on his head, and the inky black sicklebill whose stunning, iridescent blue accent feathers beautifully outline the incredible elongated tear-shape he forms by revealing his unusual shoulder plumes and extending his body, revealing the yellow roof of his mouth as he bobs gently, gracefully to a flying-saucer-sounding score.

This is to say nothing of the absurdly muppet-y bowerbird whose repertoire of mate-attracting moves includes dilating and contracting the pupils of his bright yellow eyes, cocking his head at a 90 degree angle, and attempting to entice his prospective mate with a blue berry clutched in his beak while he does essentially a bird body roll into a series of shuddering wing-flutters.  IT IS SO GOOD.

The movie closes with a surprisingly poignant and moving passage of the most elaborate bird dance of all, comprised of 9 distinct and painstakingly practiced dance moves in a perfectly manicured dancing arena with a specially-appointed perch for lady birds, set to T. Rex's "Cosmic Dancer".  I can't fully articulate why, but I choke up every time.

This is simply a remarkable treasure of a film--gentle yet enthralling and full of affection for the little birds hustling to make a new lady friend.  It is deeply pleasant viewing as it is also educational and sincerely entertaining.

I gave it a 5.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

{Heart}

Antiracist Accountability: #DiversifyYourFeed Quintux! (??)

Hello again!

I am writing another antiracist accountability post this month because I did not write one in April, and I've been meaning to make up for that.

So now: EVEN MORE GOOD NEWS!

You will likely remember another of our highlighted favorite TikTokers, Alexis Nelson (aka Blackforager, aka @alexisnikole).  Last September, she was featured in a New York Times article (as well as a bunch of other news coverage at the time and since).  It was so exciting to see such a positive, enthusiastic, and richly informative Black educator gain so much visibility while connecting people back to nature.

Well.

She WON A JAMES BEARD AWARD!!

It's just so nice when nice things happen.  I hope this makes your heart as happy as it made mine.

Congratulations Alexis!!!

{Heart}

Antiracist Accountability: #DiversifyYourFeed Quadrux x Supporting Black-Owned Bookstores Redux

Hello friends,

All of a sudden, I am at a happy stage of writing antiracist accountability posts that they now not only require multiple installments to track positive developments, but the subjects of various accountability posts also continue to commingle!  This is fun in a way I did not anticipate!

Without further ado:

You will remember that I highlighted Mamadou Ndiaye (aka @mndiaye_97) and his excellent animal facts content as one of the (many) reasons that TikTok, when its algorithm is well-trained, is a source of seemingly endless delights.

In April 2021, Ndiaye's content was then featured on @pbsnature's account, which seemed like a very promising sign he was moving up in visibility.

Exciting update as of this month:

He wrote a book!!

It is entitled "100 Animals That Can F*cking End You", and it is available for pre-order now!

...Which brings me to the delightful mash-up of today's post, because this is an excellent opportunity to pre-order this assuredly entertaining and informative book, support an excellent Black content creator and educator, AND support Black-owned bookstores!

An very easy way to do that: Victoria Alexander is an anti-racist equity and justice educator based out of University of Maryland who also has great content on TikTok, including this video explaining a great, easy-to-use resource for purchasing books from people of color-, queer-, and women-owned bookstores instead of relying on Amazon.  She also provides several curated booklists on various antiracist topics.

If you want to use that book-buying resource pre-order Ndiaye's book AND benefit Loyalty Bookstore, one of the Black- (and Queer-) owned bookstores featured in my previous post about buying from Black-owned bookstores, you can use their bookshop.org link by clicking here!  (You can also buy through Ms. Alexander's personal link here, which will give her a small commission and is therefore a nice way to compensate her for her immensely important work!)

Enjoy!  And congratulations Mamadou!!!

{Heart}

Antiracist Accountability: When Awful Stories Have Happy Endings

Hello again,

Now for a brief antiracist accountability post, which is ever more crucial given that I did not write one last month.

You may remember the awful episode in May 2020 in which white woman extraordinaire Amy Cooper, aka the Central Park Karen, called NYPD to make false allegations against a Black man just trying to enjoy some birdwatching.  While this was unfortunately only one of a dizzying array of examples of white women abusing their immense privilege and thereby risking getting their Black neighbors and fellow citizens killed, it was particularly ugly to watch her concoct her plan to lie to the police out loud to her potential victim, only to then actually have the audacity to carry that plan out.  The man she could have gotten killed through her attempts to mobilize the violence of the state is Christian Cooper (no relation, obviously?).

It was recently announced that Mr. Cooper will be hosting a 6-episode series on National Geographic (available through Disney+) called "Extraordinary Birder".  Mr. Cooper, who has evidently enjoyed birdwatching since he was 10 years old and has a career history that illustrates that he is extraordinary in many ways beyond his birdwatching, will happily now have the opportunity to share his beloved hobby with viewers worldwide.  Mr. Cooper is clearly a treasure, and the fact that he will now have a larger platform on which to share his love of birds is sure to be a huge treat.

One of the unexpected gifts of being home almost constantly during the past 2+ years has been that I have gotten more and more interested in birdwatching.  I installed a bird feeder I can see from the window over the sink in my kitchen, and it's become a daily pleasure to top up the feeder and feel like a modern-day Disney princess as our neighborhood birds immediately descend to get some snacks.  Even better, my Child has been enjoying several excellent board books profiling a variety of native birds and providing audio of their calls, and is now so keenly aware of birds that he can correctly identify them in the wild from their calls alone.  It is such a joy to share this interest with him, and I am so excited to share Mr. Cooper's show with him!

Be sure to tune in with us!

{Heart}

"Julia" Is A Delicious Treat

Hi team,

I am going to do my best to write two very quick entries before the end of the month.

So here we go:

Let's talk about the most recent movie about famous chef and cookbook author, Julia Child: "Julia" (2021).

Despite its relatively short run time, this film was a rich, dense biography of the life and career of a beloved food icon.  It provided insights into Child's childhood and early adulthood, the important relationships that shaped her, and how her earliest experiences in France forever captured her heart and ultimately changed the history of American cooking forever.

While the movie is deeply affectionate toward the woman at its center, it does not shy away from some of the more complicated and at times ugly chapters in her life.  For example, it explores the at times strained and contentious relationship between Child and her co-author, French chef Simone Beck.  It also acknowledges Child's history of overt homophobia, although it also allows her some degree of redemption by highlighting her remarkable about-face after her lawyer and dear friend Bob Johnson, who was gay, died during the AIDS epidemic; she later went on to become an early celebrity voice advocating for awareness, research, and treatment for AIDS.  

Unsurprisingly, one of the most prominent themes throughout the movie is Child's immense impact on the average American home cook.  So much of her life's mission was to reclaim nourishing and delicious cooking for all of humanity--to take "fancy" cooking out of the kitchens of exclusive and elitist restaurants and make it accessible and accomplishable in every home's kitchen.  Hers was a deeply admirable and humanitarian aim to reconnect people with their enjoyment of creating food they can love and be proud of.  It is a wonderful gift to her fellow human beings and an enviable legacy.

With that in mind, I found it particularly rankling with Ruth Reichl, chef and food writer, discussed with some pride how Child eventually lost influence and how the next generation of chefs--presumably Reichl's cohort of food professionals--"elevated" cooking again by emphasizing niche and artisanal ingredients not available to the average family.  It doesn't seem to occur to Reichl that the impact of her generation of chefs is actually to push excellence in cooking backward, again to a point that it is so "fancy", exclusive, and expensive as to be unattainable or intimidating to the average home cook.  It's a strange thing to congratulate oneself and one's colleagues for, especially in the context of this particular film celebrating the inclusivity and general empowerment of Child's cooking legacy.

At its conclusion, this movie is heartwarming and uplifting without being overly saccharine--a true honor to its subject.  I gave it a 5.

{Heart}