Taylor Schilling was a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers. She had such a goofy fun energy and it was fun to watch. She’s promoting her new show on Hulu, Monsterland. It’s a horror anthology and is getting pretty good reviews. I’m going to try to watch it as I love horror and need to prepare for Halloween. Taylor kept laughing and joking about the fancy puffy shirt she was wearing. She also said she judges people’s books in their Zoom backgrounds. Oh and she brought her dog, Tank, on too! That was a highlight definitely. Here’s more of what she said.
She’s sleeping a lot in response to bad news
I’ve become a bit of a narcoleptic person. I’ll fall asleep in different areas, in new places, it’s uncomfortable.On her choice of a plant for a background
I thought ‘should we do books?’ but every time I see a Zoom interview I judge their entire life by what books are on display. We’re seeing probably 2% of people’s real books. Everybody spends a lot of time thinking about what other people will think of their books. ‘She’s had that since high school.’ That’s what I think about some of these books. ‘You read that in tenth grade, friend.’On not being able to do full makeup for Monsterland
I [get] panic attacks when there’s silicone on my face. I had to tap out. I was about to put a whole mask on and I laid back in the chair and I started to ask if they could make the nose holes and eye holes bigger and then the visual effects guy is just like ‘I’m going to call this, you need to leave, I’m not going to finish putting makeup on your face.’ I thought that was very charitable. He was able to stand up for me in a way I wasn’t able to stand up for myself. If there was anything I learned from Monsterland it’s that I cannot have silicone over my nose holes or my eyes.
[From Seth Meyers on YouTube]
I took a movie makeup class over Zoom from Austin School of Film. It was the “Last Girl” class and we talked about the final girl horror movie trope where one heroine survives until the end. I loved it so much and would do another movie makeup class any time. I don’t mind putting silicone on my face on an non-essential area, but like Taylor it would freak me out if my nose and eyes were covered at all. That’s understandable. Also I like that she’s into napping as I am a napper too.
As for judging people by their books, I don’t do this unless they’re really obnoxious conservative books. (If you have Ayn Rand displayed, I’m judging you.) I am one of those weird people who doesn’t keep books after I read them though. I know this is sacrilegious to some of you, but I read books on Kindle and give them away when I’m done. I realize this is a whole thing for book collectors though, to curate and display both their favorites and the books they think will impress other people. It’s ramping up during quarantine, which makes me think I should at least improve my Zoom backdrop. Mine is just my office looking kind of empty, but it’s not like I have many books to put back there.
Here’s the first part of the interview. Her dog comes in at 4:30
The second part. Her dog sneezes at 5 minutes in!
Taylor’s dog can say “I love you”!
She’s so pretty.
Embed from Getty Images
I’ve only seen one episode of Monsterland and it was really gritty, grotesque, and disturbing. It wasn’t my taste but I can recognize that it’s good, if that makes sense. Just a lot of the upsetting parts were about humanity’s flaws and messed up interpersonal relationships, not just the monsters. But that’s probably the point.
I don’t own a single book, and until my local public library closes down, I never will. No reason to spend money on something you can get for free, especially when it’s literally a two minute walk away…
I don’t have a set spot for zoom – with friends it’s wherever I’m comfortable, and for work it’s at my desk or table, depending on what we’re doing. I do think it’s funny how many people try to have a perfectly curated backdrop of bookshelves.
I don’t keep most fiction books either – I have a great library system and get books/audiobooks through them, and what I do buy gets donated or given to friends. I do keep a few favorites, and have a lot of art books and antique books I’ve collected, but novels usually get passed on to others to read.
People are so weird about books. I love reading but I’d never judge people on their book situation on Zoom or IRL. Maybe most of their books are in another room? Maybe they use the library or donate books often or listen audiobooks? Despite being a slow reader it took me a very long time to get into audiobooks because I had this idea it wasn’t really “reading,” which is silly. Now I love them and listen more than physically read.
There’s a lot of judgement around reading — how often people read, how many books they read in a year, etc. — that I find detrimental to actually encouraging people to read. It’s an intimidating, odd culture. Remember how many people willfully misunderstood Marie Kondo’s idea of donating some books to reduce clutter ONLY if that’s what the individual chose to do?
I read in another one of my gossip sites that she often doesn’t have her wallet and says she will pay late but never does. Truth? Idk.
I love to read but I do it all via Kindle, which allows for books and audiobooks. It’s so easy and convenient but I do regret that it has affected my ability to curate a cool physical library of my own.
I’m a nerd that studied literature in college, and I collect books. Some of my books I didn’t like when I read them, but I a keep them because that they are of literate importance. My goal is to have a bookshelf that is like a history of literature.
I really hope that nobody judges me because of the books I keep in my bookshelf.
I am guilty of keeping books, but I am nowhere near as bad as, say, WAPO’s Michael Dirda. I keep favorites only. The rest I resell as used – and I buy quite a lot of books used to save money because many of the books I want to read just aren’t at the local library sad to say – or I give them away. I am about to gift some gently used books to friends and my sister in honor of Halloween: books of spooky subjects for fun.
However, as an artist, I keep a lot of art books around for reference purposes and for inspiration since I moved far away from culture where I used to live (near DC). I need my books for my work and will not give them up willingly.