MILA JARONIEC is the author of Plastic Vodka Bottle Sleepover (Split Lip, 2016). She teaches fiction at Catapult.
My current favorite book is: The Master and Margarita. Mikhail Bulgakov is a forever favorite but he’s got the top spot now. I’m at a time in my life when I’m paying extra attention to love and grit and supernatural phenomena, so the literature that comes through has to speak in blood language.
My current favorite film is: Corpus Christi—directed by Jan Komasa, who is easily my favorite director. Everything he does is revelatory. I like that we’re close in age and get to evolve together. Also, I still think 300 is a good movie. I love everything that’s over the top.
My current favorite television show is: …I just finished bingeing the second season of Virgin River and I disliked it so much I loved it. Can’t wait for season three.
My current favorite musician is: Juice Wrld, pretty much exclusively. “Conversations” was my #1 track in that judgmental Spotify roundup.
My current state of mind is: stupid in love. High on oxytocin. Can’t eat, can’t sleep, reach for the stars over the fence.
My current chemical romance involves: that love. It’s bad, I can’t get anything done. It’s taken me three days to answer one email. My face hurts from smiling and I feel like an absolute lunatic. I barely sleep at night and when I do sleep I miss him in my dreams. It’s worse than drugs. I can’t get enough.
My current favorite word is: “Phalanx.” I’ve never consciously thought about it or used it deliberately but now it shows up in everything I try to illustrate. Maybe that speaks to something deeper going on in me, an emphasis on shielding, protection.
My current mode of transportation is: Angelica, my scratched up 2010 silver Honda Accord.
My current favorite fast food item is: …I can’t remember the last time I had fast food, don’t judge me. Anywhere I go though I order fries with all the available sauces, and Dr. Pepper with crushed ice. Anything is edible with the right sauce. Algae. Pears. Gorilla feet.
My current workout routine consists of: Mary Helen Bowers’ videos—she’s the ballerina who trained Natalie Portman for Black Swan. Nothing about my workout routine is consistent. In the summer, when it was warm, my son and I used to jump on the trampoline every day. I didn’t have a trampoline as a kid and always wanted one, so I was really living.
My current regrettable decision involves: …I don’t believe in regret.
My current hopes and dreams are: [that] people figure out how to love each other. It’s like, it’s all we’re supposed to do in this life and we can’t even do that. But I also really want a German Shepherd and a VETEMENTS hoodie and a Nobel Prize. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask.
My current projects/hobbies include: …I’m writing my third novel right now but I have been really enjoying the hell out bedazzling generic weekly pill organizers. Would you like a blingy pillbox? Email me.
Brian Alan Ellis runs House of Vlad Press, and is the author of several books, including Sad Laughter (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2018). His writing has appeared at Juked, Hobart, Fanzine, Monkeybicycle, Electric Literature, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Funhouse, Heavy Feather Review, and Yes Poetry, among other places. He lives in Florida.
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