Midnight Snack Vol. 6

Vintage Getaway Cars, Your Toxic Pantry, a Bougie Restaurant to Try, & More!

May 13, 2024

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Hello Night Crawlers, welcome to to Vol. 6 of The Nocturnal: Midnight Snack, a weekly recap of anything I found “shareable” over the last 7 days. Sometimes I write these notes intermittently throughout the week, jotting things down as they happen or come to mind. Otherwise, alike tonight, I leave it all to memory and, come 10 pm, break into a panic trying to remember what the heck I did this week. How was the Met Gala watch party ONLY 6 days ago?! So here I am, rushed out of my usually leisurely shower, forgoing a reddit check-in on my latest obsession (a true crime story I dare not mention bc I’m on team “conspiracy coverup” and these people are powerful!) and getting my freshly exfoliated hands to work.

Now, let’s go into this week’s recs for what to See, Listen, Talk, Taste, & Shop:

See: 3 New Films with 1 Common Thread

I don’t know what was in the water in Hollywood in 2022-2023 when all of these films were ideated, but someone clued them in that Americana and 70s nostalgia were going to be trending hard in 2024. Even if set in the present day (as I think two of them are), there are so many vintage visual references you’ll have to google to be sure. Since plot summaries aren’t my forte (or interest), I’m going to leave you with the IMDB one liners, but trust that I’ve seen a LOT of bad movies lately and these three are thrilling and actually kept my attention. Also, in a super weird coincidence, they all have involve an “on the run” element with the flee-ers jetting off in very cool vintage cars.

LaRoy, Texas

When Ray discovers that his wife is cheating on him, he decides he's going to kill himself. His plans suddenly change when a stranger mistakes him for a low-rent hitman.

Hilarious and stars one of my favorite funnymen of all time, Steve Zahn.

Marmalade

Follows a man in jail who narrates the colorful tale of a romantic bank heist to his cunning cellmate to escape and reunite with the alluring love of his life.

I LOVE the deranged characters Joe Keery plays in movies (if you haven’t seen Spree go watch it right now) and though I’d never seen Camila Morrone in anything prior, I really loved her take on this manic pixie dream rebel she plays. It starts slow, but keep going —it’s worth it.

Rust Creek

An overachieving college student gets lost on her way to a job interview. A wrong turn leaves her stranded deep in the Kentucky forest.

This one is VERY SCARY. I’d liken it to Deliverance but I’ve actually never seen that movie—I only know the reference because my native New Yorker parents said it “felt like Deliverance” when we drove through some frighteningly dark, wood-lined streets on a cross-country trip in 1996. Sticks with you!

Listen: Alternative music is BACK with Lords of Acid

Despite my post last week about the BRILLIANT song that is redrum by 21 Savage, I’m getting the inkling that rap/hip hop, which has overshadowed alternative music for the last decade, is about to fall out of the lead. Maybe it’s that I’m still suffering major secondhand embarrassment from that awful instacart jingle I’ve been hearing all week, or maybe it’s a personal shift fueled by my own desire to revive the hot alternative music days of the 2010s. Regardless, on a quest for a fun show to go to this coming weekend, I discovered an old band that is new to me: Lords of Acid, a Belgian 90s group that the internet describes as “industrial and electro-rock.”

Favorite Song (so far, I’m new): “I Sit on Acid”

Talk: Did you know that you’re TOXIC?

And I don’t mean the sexy Britney Spears kind.

Don’t you love it when group text chains find ways to infiltrate and influence other, lightly connected, group text chains? As someone who’s avidly trying to control my screen-time, I belong to a maximum of ONE active group text chain. “Active” meaning that it’s used daily, usually throughout the entire day (and NO, my family “wordle” chain we use to share our scores/compete does NOT count). So while I was chatting with my one and only, the Editorial Squad (will dive into that name selection another day), my sister shared a wild new app that her other text chain had discovered. So what’s the deal? Well, it’s called Yuka and, I’ll warn you now, the mere download of it may lead to you emptying all your cupboards and medicine cabinets on a detoxifying rampage.

Basically it’s a nifty little tool that allows you to scan the barcodes of your food and beauty goods and determine how TOXIC they are, using a toxicity percentage to identify what you should keep and what you should toss. And the results are SHOCKING.

Who knew my Neutrogena sunscreen, SUPPOSEDLY derm recommended, is no bueno?!

Or that my fancy, moderately expensive, no-bump speciality shave gel is a major NO?!

Yikes. What’s a girl to do when she had both of those products on a monthly prime subscription and has a few more bottles to go through? Despite my dismay that some of my favorite bougie products are TOXIC AF and my inexpensive drugstore classics (shoutout to Dove bodywash!) are good to go, I’m totally using this app when I shop here on out. However, I’ll admit I’m still a bit shy about overtly scanning products around the store. I felt MAJORLY called out this week at Sephora when I was approached by an associate who saw me scanning and asked if I was “searching for clean products.” I brushed her off with a flustered “nah, just browsing!”, but we all know the truth. Give it a go and let me know what my sister’s other text chain (still mad she has one!) has ruined for you.

Taste: Cafe Carmellini

We had the loveliest Mother’s Day Brunch here today! Located in the ever-evolving Nomad area, Cafe Carmellini is SUPER POSH. The decor is exquisite and the food, which I expected to be Italian due to the name, is actually more so savory french cuisine. Still a win. Best dishes: Crab Mille-Feuille, Duck-Duck-Duck Tortellini, Spring Beet Pansotti, Grilled Wild Salmon, Carrot-Ginger Sauce, and the Fior di Latte Gelato, Fraises des Bois (a delicious cream gelato with balsamic glaze and strawberries).

*the elevator bank by the restroom is even glam*

Shop: Swimsuits I really want right now

I actually have a LOT to do tonight (Sunday Scaries alert!), so my shopping shares will be short this week, but I’ll make it up to you next week with a full Summer Wish List. The anticipation!