My avid readers, thank you all for joining me for the third issue of Momo Mail! I hope that you guys are having a wonderful spring! The spring semester is coming to an end. By the time this newsletter is released, I will have graduated with my B.A. in Psychology! It only feels like a small step for me in my career path, but I’m feeling good about accomplishing that. The future seems scary, but I’m glad that I have people like you in my life!

A Day in the Life

Continuing on the San Diego trip I took in April, I wanted to show some really sweet film camera pics (loaned to me by my lovely girlfriend) of some beautiful animals I saw at the San Diego Zoo!

If you haven’t been to the San Diego Zoo, it’s an incredible experience! There is so much to see here and there’s an astounding amount of sections to explore! The San Diego Zoo has one of the largest collections of animals in the world. My favorite animals I saw there were the Red Pandas, the African Elephants, and the Komodo Dragons. Most of the zoo is accessible via bus, and you can travel from one end to the entrance via the Skyfari gondolas. I highly recommend checking this zoo out if you are in the San Diego area.

Fun Fact: The cover photograph on The Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds was taken at the San Diego Zoo!

Evan’s Picks:

Antlers by The Microphones is a blissful and quiet acoustic track on Song Islands, a compilation album of Microphones rarities, released on August 20, 2002. The song begins with layered fingerpicked acoustic guitar and features Phil Elverum’s iconic whisper-singing. The lyrics and sound work to create beautiful imagery: I can imagine a mighty stag slowly strolling through the beautiful Washington mountains and forests inviting you to join him. The song ends with a robust vocal harmony and an eerie piano outro.

“Find winter nights with me, hang in your hammock high over me and over flight and all fright to me”

Like so many of Miyazaki’s films, The Boy and The Heron (2023) is hard to describe briefly. The film follows Mahito, a boy who loses his mother, and moves in with his father and his new wife (his mother’s younger sister). Mahito discovers a grey heron (voiced by legend Robert Pattinson) who leads him into a beautiful other world. The visuals and uniquely quirky characters and creatures are unforgettable. The film straddles and depicts grief, violence, and existentialism. I’m grateful to have been able to see this one in theaters, and will hopefully be able to catch some of Studio Ghibli’s other films in theaters this year too.)

This month I started playing Ufouria: The Saga 2, a sequel to the original 1991 NES game Ufouria: The Saga. The game is a very chill and easy game that lets you play as cute characters that all have different abilities that you can unlock via vending machines. The graphics are cute too: the world is made up of crafting materials similar to Yoshi’s Crafted World and each section of the world is randomly generated. It’s not a deep game, but it’s quite fun to turn your brain off and laugh at the quirky dialogue and characters while you collect coins and soda cans. The best way to describe it would be: a metroidvania for the casual gamers out there.

Your Picks:

Here’s what you guys had to say about your favorite animals!

“Pretty basic answer but I like cats, I’ve had pet cats since I was 11 so I've just been around them for over half my damn life now and they're laidback and cool and of course cute as we all know. I'm a cool gamer and I'm playing Bayonetta right now, but it's not as good as Devil May Cry 3.” - Cacodemom Jr.

“My favorite animal is the octopus! They are so smart and unique looking! they are like aliens that live in our ocean” - Jeremy

“Hanging out with my beloved! :) My favorite sea creature is the sea bunny or the Narwhal.” - Julia

Thank you guys so much for submitting!

The winner of last issue’s submissions is: Jeremy! The $5 Amazon gift card has been sent to your email! Good luck to everyone next time! ^_^ We didn’t get as many responses this time as the last issue, so if you want to enter the drawing, make sure you submit this time!

I’d love to hear from you guys! In each newsletter I want to feature things that you guys submit. Each issue I will provide a prompt in case you don’t know what to submit, but I want to hear about anything.

The next newsletter will be summer themed! Here’s a prompt for you: What are your summer plans OR what is your favorite summer activity?

If you are an artist or musician, feel free to post about anything you’ve made!

One randomly selected submission will receive a $5 Amazon e-gift card sent to your email, so don’t miss out on that!

The last day to submit a response will be June 20.

Thank you guys so much for reading. I hope that you are enjoying this newsletter as much as I am putting it together.

With Love,
Evan (Momo) <3