Happy Friday, friends.

It was my first week back after vacation and while it is always rough coming back to work after a week of funtimes, it was pretty quiet, considering my boss is currently on her vacation and I had some time to think and catch-up.

I also had some time to scoop up some info I would like to share with y’all.

♠ “Cary Grant is so dreamy he never wakes up” is a sentiment I have uttered more than once (often just to his visage on my TV box), and so of course this title from a 1975 story sucked me in.

♠ Clayton Cubitt inspires me to be more motivated, more confident in edging scruff, more alive…just be MORE in general.

♠ While I do love Spotify, I really enjoyed reading this from Aloe Blacc about how yes, they do pay for those songs, but it is not nearly enough. I had been thinking about it before, and this solidifies in my mind that I need to go the extra mile for singers/songwriters I enjoy: find their indie label and buy it as close to their pocket as possible.

♠ Speaking of paying artists, Molly Crabapple wrote 15 iron laws for creatives that struck me so deep I realized I was holding my breath while reading.

♠ Over last weekend, the hot streak the Phoenix weather was trying to keep alive finally broke. We are now officially experiencing a nippy (to us) 59° in the evenings and mornings. In honor of both the cold weather, and a little Noirvember, I busted open my Twin Peaks Special Edition and decided to do some fire-walking. And also reading The Horror of the Lynchian Smile.

♠ Getting into the thick of #Noirvember, Bright Wall Dark Room magazine will be putting out their Noirvember issue soon, which sounds like it will be filled with amazing essays on one of my favorite genres.

♠ Inspired by her love of mystery novels and tired of seeing Asian characters only as supporting characters on screen, rising filmmaker Yulin Kuang shot the whimsical comedy Irene Lee, Girl Detective in 2013, financed through a Kickstarter campaign and wages made from her work in the NBC Page Program.

♠ Imagine my surprise when I began listening to “The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism” when from my speakers came the perfect voice of Edward Herrmann! I felt like I had made the best decision by deciding on the audiobook rather than the book. A perfectly delightful surprise.

I hope you enjoy the long weekend, if you have a job that allows. The U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service are celebrating Veterans Day by waiving fees at day-use recreation sites and national parks, respectively. With a statement that I thorougly enjoyed, Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said: