My Monthly Media Diet | 10.24.25

The Matchbook

Holy poodle, somehow it’s been a month since I’ve updated you beauties on my media diet munchies. What I’ve been digesting, what I’ve been titillated by (besides Lady G DUH), what I’ve been bored by, what I dug, didn’t dug, and what really did float my bubble. Yeah. It’s time.

Before I get to that, I do need to address an elephant that’s currently in this room. I’ll be brief, I promise, but I need to speak up before it’s too late and this place falls by some sad wayside:

I KNOW that times are tight right now, I know that people are panicking about life, about money, about the slow decimation of democracy, about the stealing of funding for so many necessary features and projects that keep life moving, I know. I also know that this project, this piece of art, this Signal Fire that serves as beacon that alerts, but also that warms, so many people scattered across this planet, is struggling. I’ve seen quite a few paid memberships disappear over the last 6 months, again I totally understand but oof, it hurts. I’m like NPR now, ONLY funded by you, the readers/listeners/community members, and so I’m needing to do a bit of a fundraising drive in order to turn things around.

IF you can, if you think this place has value, if you think it matters, now is the time to help…again, only if you can. I’m going to be offering 20% off all annual subscriptions to anyone who signs up over the next two weeks. Simply click the button below or go to https://www.tylerknott.com/20off and it should sort you out. Every single paid member helps keep this place alive, as I pour hundreds of hours into its creation, curation, and moderation. It’s a labor of intense love, so if YOU love it too and can swing it, it’d mean the world. Ok, pitch over, onward.

My Media Diet As Of Late

• Angel Down by Daniel Kraus - There’s no way to say this lightly: This book is WEIRD. This book is brutal. This book is sad. This book is hilarious. This book, as of the 60% I’ve read so far, has yet to have a single period. Yeah, you heard me right. Not a single period. This book, well the 60% into it I already am, has been one long sentence with a million commas, and even chapter breaks, but no period. It’s breathless. The entire book follows one man as he makes his way through World War I, the dirty trenches, the unbelievably inhumane fighting, the disgusting desecration of humanity, and what happens when he is tasked to recover a shrieking something from the middle of No Man’s Land. I don’t want to spoil it more than the title does, but just trust me when I say, it’s worth the read. I cannot wait to read each night, for the language used, for the story told, and for the breathless panting pacing.

  

• Task on HBO - Holy shit. Some shows are music, are poetry, are photography, are art. This is that. The story is intense, the action is fantastic, but most of all, I found the quiet grace in so many scenes, the grace of goodness to be the most powerful in the entire story. Mark Ruffalo is perfect, but it’s Tom Pelphrey as Robbie, and Emilia Jones as Maeve that truly steal the entire show. I am sure you’ve seen plenty about this limited series, but if not, I absolutely refuse to give anything away. Just watch it, fly blind into the storm that is Task, and be happy you did. It’s beautiful in so many hard ways. What a thing.

  

• The Chair Company on HBO - On the total opposite side of the spectrum, is The Chair Company. Fans of Detroiters or I Think You Should Leave will feel right at home here. It’s so damn weird, but it’s so damn funny because it’s everything that everyone always says, does, and attempts to quell the awkwardness that is human interaction, on full display. The whole premise is, a man at a very normal job has to give a presentation one day after his promotion. After nailing it, he goes to sit down on stage, and his chair breaks. That one moment sets him on a downward spiral of investigation and some sad determination to find the chair company that manufactured the chair. I’d say hijinx ensue, but that’s putting it so far beyond lightly, that I don’t think it does it justice. If you like Tim Robinson at all, you’ll love this. He’s just so good at being so weirdly normal.

  

• Word Witch by

  Kate Belew
  - My dear friend Kate Belew is many things. She’s a poet. She’s an author. She’s a witch. She’s a magic creature that understands the world in a way few do, that feels it in a way even fewer can. She’s got a stunning new book out, Word Witch, as she is the original Word Witch, and it’s packed with writing rituals, lessons on words, on magic, on intention, on the importance of building a creative practice that’s completely rooted in magic. It’s beautiful, it’s inspirational, it’s actually magical, and it makes complete sense that it is all of these things, as she is all of those things. I HIGHLY recommend it, and that you give her newsletter a follow too. Kate, thank you for your friendship, for calling ME a fellow word witch (the highest praise I’ve ever received), and for just being such a ferocious force of rad and good in this world.

  

• Jack Skellington BOOule by

  Riff Raff Baked Goods
  - Aka my beautiful wife! Sarah is making these unbelievable sourdough boules with her micro-bakery, Riff Raff, that she calls the Jack Skellington BOOules and they are so amazing and creative and wonderful and I just love how much intention, effort, creativity, care, and love she pours into every single loaf of bread she makes. That she also donates weekly her loaves to the Helena Food Share is even more beautiful. If you live in Helena, I strongly urge you to order some bread, or stop by our weekly honesty box Fred The Bread Shed anytime after 2pm every Wednesday, and try it for yourself. It’s the best bread of all time, and I don’t say that because I have to, I say it because it’s just fucking amazing.

  

  I would love to hear what amazing things YOU are reading, watching, listening to, or digesting. Media or otherwise, I care not. Let’s share what we love, and let’s spread the goodness around.

And please, join us here as paid subscribers.

I don’t say it lightly:

NO YOU, NO ME.

I love you all. Be good.