↳picks
↳2025
gaga!!! the pitt!! west end girl!!! addison rae (again!!) drag race!!! heated rivalry!!! this year might’ve been a bit pale, but it ended with a bang.🎉
3/1/2026 10:35PM
it’s that time of year again!!!!🥳🥳🥳 yk it’s been yearss since i’ve started this. and i've tried out a bunch of different blogging websites. some discontinued, some of them aren't available in my country anymore (like tumblr. that's why i'm moving back to blogging here). but anyway, i'll keep doing this until there are basically no platforms left for me to write on. so… let's begin, shall we?👀
it’s that time of year again!!!!🥳🥳🥳 yk it’s been yearss since i’ve started this. and i've tried out a bunch of different blogging websites. some discontinued, some of them aren't available in my country anymore (like tumblr. that's why i'm moving back to blogging here). but anyway, i'll keep doing this until there are basically no platforms left for me to write on. so… let's begin, shall we?👀
this week, i watched sentimental value (2025, dir. joachim trier, 🐈🐈🐈🐈½meows) and hamnet (2025, dir. chloé zhao, 🐈🐈🐈🐈🐈/meows) on back-to-back nights (DO NOT try this if you want to stay sane. i lost count of the number of tears i shed over the past two days). anyway, i can't stop thinking about how strangely similar they feel to each other. about the "sentimental value" of things, not just objects, but places, family heirlooms, wounds passed down like inheritance, and even art itself, whether it's a theatrical play unfolding within the story or a film reflecting on its own making.
what fascinated me most is how both films portray a physical space as something deeply sentimental. the fractures and conflicts all begin in one place. and that space then gets passed down from one generation to the next. in sentimental value, the house feels less like a backdrop and more like a character. it observes. it absorbs. it remembers. at times it even feels like the narrator of the story.
when there is tension, the house feels tense. when everyone leaves, it feels abandoned. it is like a container that stores the emotional fragment of everyday life, layer after layer, year after year. that is what transforms a simple structure into something sentimental.
in hamnet, space means something a little different. it feels closer to tradition and heritage. agnes refuses to give birth inside william’s house because that space does not hold meaning for her. instead she wants to give birth in the forest. the forest is her sentimental place. it carries a spiritual belief that has been passed down through generations, that the women in her family come from the forest. so that house feels unfamiliar and unsettling to her. it does not carry the same emotional or spiritual value. for agnes, safety is not about a shelter. but it is about the connection to the land.
maybe that is what ties these films together for me. sentimental value is never really about the object or the structure itself. it is about what we attach to it. over time, a house or a forest becomes more than a place. once a space holds that kind of meaning, it is almost impossible to see it as just a space ever again.
got so obsessed with this movie that i immediately had the urge to PICK UP A PEN (well, a keyboard, actually) and start writing. i've just finished watching it for the second time, which should give you an idea of just how obsessed i am.
it's funny bc the last film i wrote about was also one where architecture and space felt like a protagonist (here). maybe that's becoming one of my favorite tropes? idk. but i absolutely love the way this movie turns space itself into a horror antagonist like... girl… i literally had goosebumps near the end. the creativity behind making something as familiar as architectural space feel so deeply uncanny is genuinely impressive. and the fact that all of this originated from a single image????? kane parsons, you're a genius. (and props to the og creator too. i don't know who you are, but i hope you've received all the flowers you deserve.)
with madonna releasing the sequel to the bible of pop (confessions on a dance floor... part one), and after recently coming across sam murphy's video series *this* where he asks artists what their perfect pop songs is, i couldn't help but start asking myself...
what is my perfect pop songs?
i knew this was going to be fun but also difficult to choose because i have so many songs that i love and would easily consider a solid 10. but if i really had to choose, well what would it be? what actually makes a pop song "perfect" to me? and what kind of pop should even qualify for this list?🤔
so i decided to set a few criteria.
for me, the immaculate perfect "pop" song has to be:
1.) a song with an instant hook. whether it's the first beat or a catchy chorus, it has to make me feel connected or alive every single time it plays.
2.) a song with layers. whether it makes you feel something (sadness, happiness, goosebumps, whatever) or has a strong message behind it, it needs more than just a catchy melody.
3.) a song that can bring people together through its universal theme or emotion.
4.) and lastly, just to narrow this list down a little, i'm mainly sticking to electronic and synth-driven pop. think of the stereotypical version of "pop" that most people picture. i have way too many songs that lean more indie or rock sonically, so i'll save those for another time.
after setting those criteria, these were the first eight songs that instantly came to mind. i'll be doing a little deep dive into why each song made the list. will probably keep updating this whenever another song randomly pops into my head but first... let's get into it.🥳🥳