2026: act i

an individual cultural diet

The first third of 2026 flung itself over the chaise lounge and won’t get up. No matter. The tell-tale sign that we are entering spring in Winnipeg is dust everywhere, my winter coat not yet in storage, and my eyelids dry and swollen. I made a mix for my friends of spring music. To me, spring music is lovely music that I am rarely in the mood for. I always want to rush past the pebble filled roads and never-ripening fruit toward summer, but spring is a time of growth. Anyway, lets talk culture!

Music

After seeing Mile End Kicks in theatres and spending too much time immersed in 2011 with Ashley, we drove north listening to Lemonade. As soon as I got home, I played the album in full in the kitchen. I danced around, sung loudly, and felt all 5 stages of grief and the 5 stages of remembering 2016 (giddy, swag, bittersweet, full-glam, confidence). It all came flooding back. Come back. I had to watch the Lemonade film and naturally found myself continually gasping at Warsan Shire’s poetic insights, specifically “ashes to ashes, dust to side chicks”. Women like her cannot be contained! (my favourite type of woman) and that was definitely one of my Instagram captions ten years ago. There has noticeably not been any 2026 album that has grabbed me as of now. I spent a lot of my walks home from work listening to BITE ME by Renee Rapp, still riding the highs of lesbian pop rock. I nearly dissociated in Shoppers Drug Mart while Love Story by Taylor Swift played. I knew Tatiana would understand. I am anticipating some albums later this year. Fingers crossed!

Food

I shared a small dish of red tuna, Calvados-poached pears, blood orange aioli, topped with shaved foie gras with Devlin on Valentines Day. I wore a halter dress that is unsuitable for winter but looks amazing on me. We also had oysters with horseradish one night and it cemented how much I rely on horseradish for tastebud based joy. Speaking of joy, Adi’s birthday theme was “spring chicken” and she had the cutest cake I’ve seen in a while topped with a chicken in a nest all made of icing.

Films

I’ve let my movie watching slow down since the 365 race of 2022. Even so, I watch more movies than many people in my life. After 4 months, I’m nearing 100 films.

My favourite first-time watches of 2026 so far are:

One Battle After Another. Yes, it won best picture. Yes, it’s great. I loved Benicio del Toro’s performance.

Forbidden Fruits. Angelica and I caught this when I was in Vancouver for a single night. We were cackling in that theatre. Some of the line reads of the outrageous script had me screaming in my seat!

Original Cast Album: Company. What I would do for a bunch of these original cast album documentaries…watching it inspired me to choose Ladies Who Lunch for an audition that weekend. I can’t confirm or deny if Anna Kendrick’s rendition in Camp pushed that decision over the edge.

My favourite rewatches of 2026 so far are:

Uptown Girls. I chose this for the monthly film club at the library and revisiting did not disappoint. It’s gorgeously shot. People hate on this movie because they look down at women’s stories and that’s just the truth.

I started the year with a tried and true pick - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. The trilogy of films changed the trajectory of so many things!

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. After seeing this at VIFF, I got a crew together to see it in Winnipeg when it released. I ran into multiple acquaintances at the theatre. It’s one of the best comedies I’ve seen in a long time and it’s such a feat.

Stick It. Jenna and I watched this before going to yoga and it brought back so many memories of being kids who are now queer women.

Television

Traitors (US Season 4) was a ride. It’s the first show that I tuned in to watch for the first time in a long time. I ate up every second of it! Put your tinking cap on and watch it already. I also watched Lizzie McGuire with Paul and Angelica (we have yet to finish and I’m not sure if we will in 2026), Seinfeld with Devlin (we just finished), I Love LA, Too Much, and Queer Eye’s final season. For me, this is a ton of television! All I want to do now is rewatch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I promised I’d wait until the fall.

Books

When Valentine in Montreal by Heather O’Neill arrived at the library for me to pick up, my heart fluttered. The cover of the book is so darling. Each chapter is titled after a different metro station. The book inspired me to go ahead and write a short story for my partner’s grandma starring her as the protagonist. I also bought a copy of Valentine in Montreal for Tatiana’s birthday. Happy birthday!

I read an advance copy of Picky by Julie T. Kinn and zoomed through it, which is always a good sign for me. I enjoyed how the pace the story matched Zillah’s life: slow and safe at first and then rapidly changing. Check it out this summer!

Hotter in the Hamptons by TINX. This book was a fun beachy read and I was giggling during some of the sex scenes. Were there homophobic tropes? Yes, however I wasn’t offended. Is that up to me? No! I just felt like it was authentic to the characters and their perspectives and bad choices. Plus, I love a character named Lola (see: Zoey 101 and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen).

Portrait of a Body by Julie Delporte. Devastating and relatable. I love her work.

A Hymn to Life: Shame Has to Change Sides by Gisele Pelicot. I read her daughter Caroline Darian’s book I’ll Never Call Him Dad Again: Turning Our Family Trauma of Sexual Assault and Chemical Submission into a Collective Fight this past fall. This story has broken almost all of the hope I had left. I don’t want to write about this topic much, but it’s very important to me.

I listened to the audiobook of Margo’s Got Money Troubles which was narrated by Elle Fanning. Cute!

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. I’m back in it!!! The Hunger Games still has it. I didn’t love Songbirds and Snakes, but this one really drew me in. It was very sad.

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Comment about what you’ve been into this January-April. I’d love to chat about it!