Starr's Log

One of my all-time favorite video games is Opus Magnum . It's a puzzle game about building building molecule-like shapes from atoms or smaller molecules. Each level gives the player some set of precursor atoms, which need to be bonded or split or transfor

I was going to call this "inside you there are two middle aged detectives" but, critically, one of these men is John Banville's Quirke. Quirke is not a detective, but a pathologist and a man in the grand crime tradition of "guy who gets to come along...fo

I started this draft in December as an "end of the year perfume diary" but alas, it is now the beginning of a different year! If only there was a designation of time that spans both... What I took to New Mexico : Reve D'ossian I mentioned Oriza Legrand's

One of my least clearly articulated but nonetheless household-shorthand level concepts is "Ghibli gender." The seeds of this idea were planted when I finally watched Porco Rosso at the inappropriate age of 30 (the appropriate age is 40). When Porco needs

The other day I posted a Substack note about The Nutcracker : So you know how a lot of girls will cite Labyrinth as an early sexual awakening moment? I would like to see how many of those girls grew up to be a little too into Hades and Persephone in their

The household has been miserable with illness this past week-some kind of vile mashup of cold and norovirus symptoms has felled all three of us and left our daily routine in shambles. There's been a lot of miserable, huddled TV-watching, is what I mean. L

The popular writer I am tired of is talking about the disappointing void of meaning in marriage without religion today. Once again I do have to hand it to her that she's good at saying things people are already thinking. I remember reading a blog post fro

I've decided that I'm too lazy to properly do accent marks on this little blog so you'll have to imagine them. Consumption John Banville As a fan of John Banville's Quirke and Strafford books, of which the fourth really seemed like the last, I was excited

"I can't believe these seasons finished the same way," I half-joked to my husband as the credits rolled on season 3 of The Diplomat , an extremely stupid show. The other "these" was season 2 of AMC's Interview with the Vampire , an extremely good show. Pa

Package I thought was lost but showed up weeks later This little box from the delightfully old-school website The Perfumed Court contained some real heavyweights (and a coffee caramel candy), and I also think I got one of the last port...