November holds within her a sacred occasion– Blackout Wednesday, arguably the most emotional night of the year. This, and the family dynamics of Thanksgiving, give the month of November an almost painfully drunk feeling that we encourage you to jump headfirst into. Let those walls drop and sit in discomfort!! Although Elon’s $44 billion side-project has made an ironic mockery of feeling your feelings, we’re adults and we insist that it’s actually underrated.
There’s a beauty in being really *insert feeling* and letting yourself really feel *insert feeling*. However, do not fear!! To avoid true earnestness we will absolutely abuse this phrase to focus on underrated feelings that are more good-humored in nature. Like the small joy you feel when you see someone jam out to a song in their car but they don’t know anyone’s watching. Or being absolutely awful at something and throwing your ego out the window because it’s okay to Not Be Good At Everything. Even the relaxed state that’s induced by your first sip of tea being *just* the right temperature (I personally have never experienced but I dream it will happen to me one day. Stop interrupting. Okay! Sorry.). There’s a whole slew of small feelings that come together by certain moments. And I think if we all took some time to identify and acknowledge those small feelings, along with the bigger ones, we’d all be better off.
It is perfectly okay, even human, to stop after a feeling washes over us and go “Hm. That’s an interesting one”, or understand that a certain feeling is only produced by certain circumstances and it’s actually a pretty cool part of life. Everything listed below are underrated things that have initiated certain feelings in us. They’ve made us laugh, they’ve made us cry, they’ve made us feel really fucking good about ourselves, and they’ve given us a space to sit with some sort of feeling. They’re things that we don’t think are talked about enough, and we hope they create some sort of feeling in you.
Currently Consuming
Matty Matheson videos
I know we’re all sick of memes from The Bear. If Jeremy Allen White wasn’t so hot, I would be too. But, unfortunately, I can’t help myself with literally anything related to him. The show took me down a months-long rabbit hole of Matty Matheson’s YouTube channel that I have yet to escape. He was always someone on my radar, but I never gave him the time of day because I’m actually sooooooo (read: sooooooooo) sick of watching men cook on YouTube (Babish and Weissman are deeply unlikeable :) will not elaborate :)). So when I finally got over myself and started watching his Just A Dash series, I was hooked. He’s charismatic and has a cooking style I admire, meaning– less precision, more feeling. Matty, if you’re reading this, anyone in the comments giving you shit because you don’t talk about measurements enough probably can’t even microwave. Stay up king! This is when any straight male reader (do we have those?) would scoff and say “Uh….duh? We’ve known Matty?” to which I would say I’m hotter than you, of course I found out about him later? But I digress. Matty’s channel has recipes that range from the fairly simple to the deeply complex. It helps that I actually want to make what he’s cooking (looking at you again Babish :)). His entire channel and, truly, existence is completely underrated in the sense that he should be a household name across generations. He’s funny, he’s skilled, and he makes viewers feel like you can be a complete fool in the kitchen and still put out something noteworthy.
StraightioLab
When we say everyone should be listening to this podcast we’re not lying or being hyperbolic. Like whenever you feel the need to put on that little Armchair Expert pod or whatever, play StraightioLab instead. Comedians Sam Taggart and George Civeris are long time performers in the alt-comedy scene in Brooklyn and came together to form this show back in March 2020 (a famously gorgeous time to start a podcast). The premise, that they stick too about as religiously as we stick to a theme, is to examine straight culture from a queer lens and bring their guests in on the action. They have one of Currently Consuming’s favorite podcast segments, “Straight Shooters,” where they present their guest with two ideas: things, concepts, etc from straight culture and their guest has to choose between on the spot. No questions or takebacksies allowed. If you're egregiously straight, our apologies. You might not get why some of these things are the butt of the joke, to which we repeat our same sentiment from last week’s song guide– take this as an opportunity to educate yourself a bit? They also do TRL-esque shoutouts at the end of their pod which makes my little Zillennial-no media-supervision-as-a-child self cackle while thinking about 2002. These two both have fantastic podcast voices and, for a bit of more synergy (prepping for Succession Season 4), Sam is actually in season two of Los Espookys, which we famously wrote about during spooky season. After two successful seasons, the podcast was bought by Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players Network, which is also home to the hit pod Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. Who said two gay cancers with wisdom teeth can’t host a podcast?
TW: Earnestly Reminiscing
Celebs doing crazy shit
This week Jennifer Aniston said there are no movie stars left, or, cosigned a friend saying it, and it has spurred some Thoughts. I need to make it clear that I truly don’t care that she said this, but I have enjoyed watching tw*tter go nuts (for various reasons) and bring rightful current movie stars to the forefront (Anya Taylor-Joy, Florence Pugh, Chalamet). The Thoughts this little declaration has created are more along the lines of genuinely missing when celebrities just did absolutely insane shit. Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton wearing each other’s blood in a vial around their necks? Disgustingly iconic. Lady Gaga walking down the VMA carpet in a dress made of raw meat? Actually could *not* get enough. It seems like controversies today have actual gravity to them: Armie Hammer being a cannibal (?); Billie Eilish dating someone 11 years older than her that she’s known since she was 15 (??); literally any celeb involved in scientology (???). It just seems like the appreciation for shock value for the sake of shock value has been lost. A dying art if you will. I would be remiss not to mention there are a few beacons of hope i.e., Matty Healy eating raw meat on stage at MSG and the general circumstances of Ben Affleck and J. Lo getting married. But it feels like less chances are taken in the age of social media and visibility where a camera can capture a celebrity’s soon-to-be viral moment in a second. Maybe it’s because most celebs don’t understand memes and what makes the internet laugh (looking at you Lea Michele). Or the opposite is true, meaning whatever stunt they pull will be mistaken as earnest and enough of the world won’t get the joke and we’ll be reading one too many tw*tter threads about it for weeks on end. Whatever the reasoning is, it sucks. Celebs are so deeply fun to laugh at (or with, depending on context) and it just seems like no one wants to laugh these days!
Overpriced Body Care
Between “growing up'' and the death of the modern American shopping mall, our ability to walk into an establishment with no plans or purpose and walk out spending $88.13 on a body mist, shower gel, and lotion set in Japanese Cherry Blossom has been deeply restricted. For shame! How are we supposed to feel our feelings without a perhaps ineffective body care routine with a smell as quickly to dissipate as our childhood memories? (No one ever talks about how depression causes memory loss)
After perfecting my skincare routine during the first half of the pandemic, I looked south for more frontiers to exfoliate, dermaplane, and moisturize. This may have been triggered by sudden changes to my skin due to a new IUD but that’s one secret I’ll never tell. And as I can never engage in anything in a chill way, I’ve collected my favorites below that almost make me feel like a Sweet Pea again. The commodification of the self-care movement rears its ugly head yet again!! No sponcon (though we’re entirely open to it, brands reach out!! We’re family-friendly).
Cremo Palo Santo Reserve Collection Body Wash
This smells so fucking good and so expensive but it’s only $10. The girlies even claim that it smells almost identical to Santal by Le Labo.The scent will stick around in your bathroom for a bit more and it will almost feel like you have a boyfriend this winter (sorry).
Jennifer may have been wrong about the lack of movie stars in our current day and age but when she signed that contract to be the face of Aveeno? She made a decision so correct, she never needs to be right again imo. This shit right here?? Is the answer to my sensitive skin girlies’ prayers. Throw any of those physical exfoliants (St. Ives, Coffee Grounds, Tree Hut Shea Sugar Scrub) AWAY. Your legs will thank you!
I am a self-proclaimed itchy girlie with dry skin and this has been an actual savior. Healing my skin barrier worked so well for my face I thought it may also work for my body and not to toot my own horn but I’ve never felt better. I often will use it on top of the Aveeno exfoliating lotion and it is so light-weight while moisturizing that it almost doesn’t feel like you have lotion on. The only unfortunate thing is the bottle is a little small at 7 fl. Oz. but a little goes a long way!
Naturium The Perfector Salicylic Acid Skin Smoothing Body Wash
My skin has never been so soft. That is all!!