material girls

November Nonsense

Welcome back to The Monthly Hoot: Witch, Please Productions' Newsletter!

Witch, Please Productions

— 8 min read
November Nonsense

Hi lovely people!

We hope that in the last few weeks you’ve been able to spend time with loved ones or be outside or consume art that means something to you. It’s been a tough go, but for our part, the strength, resilience and beauty of our WPP community is a real balm and we’re grateful for it every day!

We hope you find pockets of joy in this silly newsletter, where we will recommend some of the things that make us feel good during the apocalypse and tell you a little bit about what else we’re up to. Lots of love to you all! <3

xoxo,

Gaby, Hannah, Marcelle, Coach, and Zoe

PS: Gaby here. Here’s a picture of my new kitten, Linus. His brain is so smooth. I try to channel his energy at least once every day.

In the spirit of Halloween, we talked about Twin Peaks! In this episode, Marcelle explores why this show, that began as a hit, fell in ratings so quickly. Hannah and Marcelle then discuss the power of cult followings and how pieces of pop culture are kept alive for decades after their initial heyday. If you're a fan of Twin Peaks, or if you're someone who doesn't understand its lasting impact on television, then you're going to love this episode that gets into the details of the show's rise and fall and, most importantly, its fandom.

Next up, it’s a new Material Concerns! Hannah and Marcelle talk phone games, the Witch, Please team as different types of witches, and genre conventions! As a reminder, for just $5 USD/month on Patreon you'll get part two of their conversation, our extensive backlog, ad-free episodes, and oh so much more! A steal!!

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We’ve made Making Worlds available to the public!

Wow, check it out! You can now watch Making Worlds for FREE as soon as it comes out. We’d still really love it if you joined us over on Patreon as it’s how we can afford to make all our shows happen!

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Naturally, we decided our most unhinged episode yet was the way to kick off this new Making Worlds journey. In this completely NSFW episode, Hannah talks with ME, Gaby, about AMC's adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, and fanfiction! We discuss how the show is a subversion and reclamation of Anne Rice's original text and why gay people love fanfiction, among other things not fit to print.

(Also, Mom, I know you subscribe to these newsletters but this episode is not for you <3)

Gender Playground is Looking for Voicemails!

We're still in pre-production for Season Two and we want to hear from you! 

Use this form to leave us a voicemail with a question you have about gender affirming care for kids! 

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Is there a general topic you want us to cover? You can also leave that in a voicemail and let us know why you're curious about it so we know how to approach your suggested topic.

It’s time for me to recommend some reads!

For Emily: I am going to recommend Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, since you mentioned you enjoyed queer literary fiction. This book is so beautiful, and focuses on identity and how our families shape us. The writing is gorgeous and the audiobook is superb, if you enjoy reading that way! I read it back in April and haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

For Emily: Since you mentioned you’d like something to slow down and savor, I think you would really enjoy Briefly, a Delicious Life by Nell Stevens. This is one of the most voice-y novels I’ve ever read, with words I wanted to scoop up with a spoon. It follows a lesbian ghost who falls in love with French novelist George Sand (stay with me here) and it’s the perfect mix of funny and melancholy.
For Kristina: Listen, I’m not quite sure if this technically qualifies as an autumnal read or if I only think it does because I first read it in autumn, but I think you’ll enjoy Experienced by Kate Young. It follows Bette, who came out as a lesbian in her thirties and jumps headfirst into her first queer relationship—but her partner suggests they take a break so Bette can get the queer experiences she missed when she first came out. It’s my platonic ideal of a rom-com!

The vibes really are very Ben Affleck smoking a cigarette in despair. Here’s some music about it. Get your playlist on Spotify or Apple Music here.

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It's officially cozy season aka potato season aka the season when I try very hard to eat as many potatoes as possible. My top way to eat potatoes is to mash 'em but sometimes you want to eat more than JUST mashed potatoes (I GUESS), in which case, enter shepherd's pie.* "But Hannah," I hear you crying, "aren't you a vegan?" Friends, I am. But I'm also of the controversial opinion that vegan shepherd's pie is superior to the meaty original. This recipe, which I particularly love, is essentially a savoury lentil stew topped with mashed potatoes and if that isn't a perfect meal then I don't know what is. *A friend once said that vegan shepherd's pie is a double misnomer (not a pie, not shepherd-based) and insisted we call it gardener's casserole.
Did you know that every November I host a weekly Keanu Reeves film festival? That makes it sound a lot fancier than it is, but A GAL CAN DREAM. Every November, I gather (remotely) with a dedicated group of cinephiles for one night a week to watch a selection of films from Keanu Reeves' vast catalogue. We call it.... Sweet November. When I first started Sweet November the movie selection process followed strict guidelines: one sports movie, one action movie, one romance, and one "Good One." (Good One generally meant critically acclaimed, like My Own Private Idaho, or artsy like A Scanner Darkly, but rarely meant enjoyable.) We actually used to gather in person for this festival and I would live tweet our commentary, but the pandemic and other horrors separated us and moved our commentary into private threads. November 2025, though, will be the festival's 10th year, which is unbelievable (and defies my understanding of math because we started in 2016), and I have fantasies about renting the local indie theatre to host it. Like I said, A GAL CAN DREAM! So this month, I am recommending that you treat yourself to a sweet November of your own by watching a Keanu Reeves movie remotely with a bunch of pals. His repertoire is so wild and vast that you can apply any selection criteria you want and still pull together a fun list of movies. One year we only watched movies where Keanu Reeves plays a character named John. This year we started with Constantine (a re-watch from the John year; it's a banger) and next on the docket is Super Pets (first time viewing). If you're unsure where to start, may I recommend Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure? It's a perfect romp. Here's wishing you and yours a Sweet November!
Something I love about Trader Joe’s is that their workers flirt with me they name their items with a clarity I appreciate. May I recommend, as your $10 or less treat, SNACKY CLUSTERS??? They are snacky. They are clustered. They are snacky clusters of clustered snackiness. I love them and I highly recommend. If you’re in Canada and can’t get them, I’m sorry, don’t hate me.
Ever since the Bad Thing happened last week I have been reading as much silly, fun, flirty, hot, smutty stuff I can get my nasty little grabbers on. The series that has been getting me through is the Mead Mishaps series by Kimberly Lemming. I was first drawn in by the cover, which featured BIPOC leads! And if you read romance you know that most books have two white main characters, and that it is unfortunately rather rare to see two BIPOC main characters. So naturally I had to read it. Lemming is the master of cozy— her characters are so delightful and they have such great chemistry. My favourite character is a talking sword named Alexis, just to give you an idea of the sort of silliness you will be getting into. Its so cozy and nice, ya’ll. Do yourself a favor and read it.
I have been reverting back to the coping mechanisms I used in 2016 (literally who could possibly imagine why) and that means I have been re-listening nonstop to Gilmore Guys, a podcast where two men watch Gilmore Girls and discuss it. I listened to this show as it came out in the time after the 2016 election and, uh, well, here we are. It’s so funny and so soothing to me, and I really recommend listening if you’re a GG fan!

Okay, bye! xoxo

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