March Favorites

March flew by but I also kinda say that every month – after missing two months of sharing what I loved, I´m officially back on track. My broken finger fully healed, and I can type words into my laptop faster than the slow snail I was for weeks.

March has been a good one, most of my time spent in one of my favorite cities, Mumbai, before returning to cold Berlin last week. I didn´t really read that much (I did read, but nothing worth mentioning) but I´ve listened to a lot of records and had my eyes on a few good movies that I´m excited to share.

Honestly, I didn’t get Brat summer hype when it was going on, I was barely on Social Media at that time, I knew it was a music album but I didn´t understand where the whirlwind of attention came from. I just remember brand logos turning slimy green with a random seeming font and the Duolingo owl twerking to some kind of high-pitched electro pop - I didn’t get it, and wasn’t interested enough wanting to understand. I did listen to some songs of the album that I liked none of.

To me, Charli XCX is Boom Clap, a song that almost every Beauty Youtuber I watched back in the day used as their intro, to me she is I love it, a song that was playing on every radio station every goddamn day in summer of 2012, to me, she is Break the Rules, a song I religiously listened to every day at 7 am on the bus on my way to school in 2015.

So to me, Charli XCX is mostly connected to nostalgic memories.

Even though I didn’t like the album nor understood brat summer hype (I think I get it now, and I´m surprised because Brat summer sounds exactly like my kinda summer) I chose to watch the movie, mostly out of curiosity, because I love music movies, and was already sold when watching the trailer.

And what can I say, I´m super surprised by how well done it was, it´s a mockumentary starring Charli XCX as a fictionalized version of herself, handling the pressures of fame in the music industry.

Edit: After writing this, I checked some movie reviews to satisfy my curiosity about what other people were saying - not that it would matter, but it´s nice to broaden my horizon by letting in other opinions. I´m genuinely surprised by the overall negative feedback and criticism, and I honestly don´t agree -  I think it´s a great movie. Maybe it´s not a super deep movie that changed my life, but it doesn’t have to be – I just had fun sitting in the movie theater being present in the moment (hehe) watching this.

I loved the visuals, especially in the first few minutes, and the overall creative vision of turning just another concert movie into something truly unique and creative, which is very much in brand with what I understand Brat is. Maybe there are concert movies with a similar concept out there (probably!) but this was my first. Making fun of the phenomenon Brat and the music industry in general to me is such a genius move - I don´t know anything about marketing but something about this feels very much right.

It was fun to watch, it was ironic, and not taking anything or anyone too seriously which I think has gotten quite rare. And I might go and watch it again when I have the time.

When I got home after the movies yesterday, I felt drawn to the album in some way. I typed the album into the YouTube search bar and gave a new chance to a record I have written off from the start. And to my surprise, I loved it. I genuinely loved it, and I think I get it now. I might be almost two years late to the hype, but ever since yesterday, Brat became my soundtrack for doing random chores at home, for brushing teeth, for bus rides, cooking dinner, the list goes on.

I was motorbiking around Mumbai a lot (as a passenger, not the driver) and one of the albums that painted the perfect soundtrack was Blood by Then Comes Silence.

My friend Dagi who I was living with in Mumbai introduced me to the song Flashing Pangs of Love that I obsessed with the second she showed it to me one night when we were hanging out at home. After religiously listening to it the following days, I quickly started discovering the whole album, only to realize it was as great as flashing pangs of love.

Listening to this feels like freedom, like cutting all ties with my current life and running away to a different country, like riding on the back of a motorbike surrounded by big city lights. It´s just a good one, and I highly recommend it. It also shaped my travels and it´s an album that will always feel like Mumbai to me.

I don´t really watch TV Shows, in my teenage years I used to be obsessed with watching every series out there, everything from Gossip Girl to OC California to Prison Break to Greys Anatomy. Times have changed, and it´s been a long time since I´ve sat down to commit time to watching a series. Writing this now I feel a strong urge to retwach OC California, maybe I´ll see some episodes just for the sake of nostalgia.

Anyways, when I was living with Dagi this month, we watched a lot of TV Shows – mostly Korean Drama because that was what she currently obsessed over, and since I had no idea what series are even out there, I just hung out in her bed watching whatever she was watching.

One night, she told me about this Show that just launched that her coworker recommended to her – Unfamiliar.

A German drama which Netflix describes as follows: “When the past catches up with two former spies, their biggest challenge isn't car chases, shootouts or fistfights — it's telling each other the truth.”

I remember us sitting down just to watch the first minutes to see if we´d enjoy it, and those first ten minutes turned into us watching the whole show in one sitting.

It sounds way more dramatic than it was since it was only six episodes, which is about five hours. I don´t think any of us even got up for a minute while watching, just because it was so thrilling.

So for the first time ever, I´m recommending a series in my favorites post: Unfamiliar.

I´m including another very hyped movie I watched in the cinema in Mumbai. Even though I wouldn´t rate it as 10/10, more like 8/10, I still loved it, it was a very intense watching experience, to say the least.

It´s a drama about character Marty Mauser from New York following his dream of becoming the world´s greatest table tennis player, which sounds a bit boring, but if there´s one thing Marty Surpreme wasn´t it´s boring. The movie is very fast paced; a lot is going on most of the time and Marty goes off on many side quests to fulfill his ultimate goal. Since my grandpa was a great table tennis player, my dad is playing as well and I sometimes play too but just for fun (I´m not good but I enjoy it) I felt personally connected to the whole story.

I LOVED the cinematography, it was absolutely beautiful, and Timothees acting was outstanding, which was expected. However, I just felt like there were too many loose strings that didn´t get tied up in the end - the end felt very surprising and abrupt, I guess that was the point of it, but I was hoping that everything would be sorted out, instead I was left with so many questions. Again, probably the point of the movie, but I didn´t like the storylines that weren´t finished.

What I did love was the soundtrack and overall feel of the movie - I was very invested in the storyline to the point I was almost stressed out (like, in a good way) so I wasn´t distracted by thoughts not relevant to the movie.

This is very random, but I obsessed over this advertisement poster from an organic supermarket chain in Mumbai. I almost peed from laughing when I first saw it and continued routinely walking past said grocery store to look at that poster.

I sent it to Etienne and he didn´t even think it´s that funny, but to me, it´s absolutely genius and one of the funniest things I´ve seen in a while. Also I obsessed over Indian Mangos (how could I not?) so including this feels on brand and ending this piece of writing on a rather funny note.

Those were what I loved in March – what media did you consume, and which of that would you recommend? I´d love to check out some recommendations from the comments.

Until then, take care, and I´ll talk to you soon.