SAVE $30: The Petlibro Automatic Pet Feeder (5 liter) is on sale at Amazon for $69.99, marked down from the standard price of $99.99. That’s a 30% discount.

All pet owners know the cat or dog is arguably the most important member of the family. Taking care of their needs is a high priority. If you won’t be home during feeding times, there’s an easy way to keep pets fed, and it’s on a great sale today at Amazon.

As of Feb. 19, the five-liter Petlibro Automatic Pet Feeder is on sale at Amazon for $69.99, marked down from the standard price of $99.99. That’s a 30% discount.

The Petlibro Automatic Pet Feeder can hold five liters of food for your furry friend. Petlibro mentions that’s about a weeks worth of food for dogs and up to 20 days of meals for cats. In Mashable’s review of the best automatic pet feeders, the Petlibro earns the top spot as the best model for portion control.

From the Petlibro app, you’ll be able to schedule up to 10 meals per day at designated times. And as an extra fun bonus, you can record a message that’ll play to your pets at each feeding time. Adding to that feature, you can record up to 10 customized messages to play during different feeding times and set each at an appropriate volume. That’ll be great for late-night cat meals when the kids are already asleep.

The pet food sits in a stainless steel container that’s designed to keep food fresh. Knowing some pets would love to sneak in an extra meal, Petlibro designed the automatic feeder with a twist locking lid.

When food is getting low, the Petlibro app will send an alert to your phone so you can top up supply before your pet misses a meal. You can also share the feeder in the app with up to five users, so several family members have access to the feeder. That’s also a great feature to share with a pet sitter when you’ll be on vacation.

While it’s on sale for under $70, upgrade to the five-liter Petlibro Automatic Pet Feeder. It’s perfect for keeping meals on scheudle without having to worry about if you’ll be home on time.

I sometimes worry that Black History Month is counter-productive. Yes, it’s nice to have a platform to celebrate the culture and shine a light on the continued struggles around race in America. And I’m glad that it’s a month (originally it was just a week!). But BHM commemorations often feel like box-checking: ‘Here’s the time of year when I remember to support Black causes/businesses/artists.’ How great would it be if, instead, these things were just part of our lives, year-round?

That’s my dream, so this Black History Month, I’d like to highlight some favorite things to enjoy all year…

An IG account that keeps me learning: @ashleytheebarroness creates videos on obscure — sometimes intentionally disregarded — corners of history, tracing each topic to the present. I’ve learned more from her than all of my high-school history classes. One recent post breaking down white supremacy (“White Narcissism,” as she calls it) had me fully in its clutches and saying, “Amen!” Watching Ashley feels like sitting in a lecture with a charismatic, clear-eyed professor.

A favorite poem: When I was a teenager, I won a competition for my recitation of For My People by Margaret Walker. I remember wishing I’d chosen a shorter poem because it’s long. But it’s also epic and beautiful, and brims with pride and resistance. We could all use more poetry in our lives — and more artists speaking truth to power, which Margaret did so elegantly.

Home decor with a message: How inspiring are these pennants from Rayo & Honey? They make great gifts. I also love their totes, keychains, and pens — and the fact that it’s a business built from the heart of a Black woman.

A must-have skincare product: I recommended Beauty Stat’s Vitamin C Serum as a product fave back when I did CoJ’s Beauty Uniform. Five years later, my passion endures for this illuminating serum, created by a pioneering Black chemist.

A TV show I’ll always re-watch: For five seasons, Insecure — starring Issa Rae, Natasha Rothwell and other incredible actresses — made me laugh, cringe, cry, and agonize over a fictional love triangle that I was more invested in than my own love life. Tell me if you’re Team Daniel or Team Lawrence. (Bonus recs: Survival of the Thickest, Harlem, Run The World, and of course, the OG classic, Girlfriends.)

Wine by two sisters: Red wine calls to me on these cold, dark winter evenings. The red blend from Black Girl Magic Wines is one of the all-time bests, but really, you can’t go wrong with any of their bottles; they’re great quality at a reasonable price point. And if you need new stemware, check out the gorgeous sets by Estelle Colored Glass (the amethyst! So pretty!).

A novel I can’t wait to read: When Tayari Jones publishes a book, it’s an event. Her fourth novel, Kin, comes out next week, and the excitement has been building for MONTHS. It’s about two friends from Louisiana, whose lives take vastly different turns. I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

A gem of a bookstore: There’s been a gratifying rise in Black-owned bookstores these last few years. Kansas City’s Bliss Books is run by two sisters who dreamed of opening a bookstore together (awwww!) and actually did it! I also love Loyalty Books, in Silver Spring, Maryland, my hometown. And if you’re in NYC, check out Liz’s Book Bar, The Little Bookshop and The Lit Bar.

A beautiful night out: Admittedly, I’m not the most cultured person when it comes to fine arts — but I do love (love love) dance. I’ve seen the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform several times, and it’s soul-stirring. The company was founded in 1958 to “uplift the African American experience while transcending boundaries of race, faith, and nationality with its universal humanity,” and almost 70 years later, they remain steadfast in their mission. Art funding is so precarious at the moment — especially BIPOC art — it needs our support!

A timely article that made me feverishly nod my head: I read a lot of long-form journalism — a lot — and I’m still thinking about this recent Atlantic article by Clint Smith, which hit on so many points about why Black history matters, and why it’s so critical in our current moment that we keep fighting against its erasure. Other Black journalists I admire for their insightful takes and having their finger on the pulse: Tressie McMillan Cottom, Mitchell S. Jackson and Ta-Nehisi Coates.

A cause I’m glad to support: As a child of the ‘70s/’80s, I can’t forget the iconic TV ads for the United Negro College Fund (especially this one — the end still makes me cry!) In the post-Civil Rights era, UNCF helped launch a generation of kids into the middle-class by giving them access to education. Decades later, their good work continues. I used one of my book events to raise funds for UNCF, and I can’t think of a better way to honor BHM than by supporting this worthy organization.

What are your own recommendations? I hope you’ll share them with us, too.

Christine Pride is a writer, book editor and content consultant who lives in Harlem, New York. Her latest book is All The Men I’ve Loved Again, and you can read her past Cup of Jo posts here.

P.S. A reading challenge, and five more things I want to tell my white friends.

(Photo of Christine Pride by Christine Han for Cup of Jo.)

By Robert Scucci
| Published 13 seconds ago

This may sound like a controversial opinion, but if you’re trying to warn the woman you’re infatuated with that she’s being stalked by a potentially dangerous third party, there are better ways to communicate that than stalking her yourself. 1984’s Body Double, written, directed, and produced by Brian De Palma, drives this point home through its protagonist’s voyeuristic tendencies, none of which do him any favors when he finds himself peeping from afar, then snooping where he shouldn’t be snooping, and finally suspected of murder for a crime he didn’t commit. There’s no real reason to believe he’s guilty, yet he keeps showing up in the wrong places at the worst possible times.

Body Double succeeds as a neo-noir thriller, and its erotic edge makes sense in a world of aspiring actors obsessed with appearances and making the right connections. There are genuinely uncomfortable moments, but the heart of the story is cautionary. Not every opportunity is created equal, and sometimes your best instincts seem like your worst when you’re caught in the middle of a murder conspiracy you were pulled into by proxy. When you sense something terrible is about to happen, you have to question not only your own motives, but the motives of peers who may be involved in something much bigger than you realize.

You Might Remember Me From Thrillers Like “Peeping Tommy Knockers,” And “Is Voyeurism Really A Crime?”

Body Double first introduces us to Jake Scully (Craig Wasson), an aspiring actor who just lost his latest gig for an embarrassing reason. He’s cast as Dracula in a B movie, but his claustrophobia causes him to botch his coffin scenes every time his director yells “action.” To make matters worse, he walks in on his girlfriend having an affair shortly after losing the job, and since she’s the leaseholder, he suddenly has nowhere to live.

In what feels like a stroke of good luck, Jake meets Sam Bouchard (Gregg Henry) in an acting class, and they quickly hit it off. Sam, another struggling actor who knows what it’s like to live in the trenches while chasing steady work, offers Jake an opportunity. After landing a cushy housesitting gig for a wealthy friend where all he has to do is water plants while living rent free, Sam lets Jake take his place because he’s booked a better job that prevents him from doing it himself.

On his way out, Sam shows Jake the owner’s telescope, which overlooks the Hollywood Hills and points directly into Gloria Revelle’s (Deborah Shelton) bedroom window, where she can be seen dancing half-nude like clockwork every night. Without thinking much beyond how much fun it’ll be to ogle a stranger from afar while crashing in a cliffside, flying-saucer-shaped house that resembles Troy McClure’s place in The Simpsons episode “A Fish Called Selma,” Jake starts sneaking peeks whenever he can.

Unfortunately for Jake, this is where things get messy in Body Double. During one of his nightly spying sessions, he realizes somebody else is watching Gloria, and it looks like he’s waiting for the right moment to hurt her. Instead of contacting the authorities, Jake takes matters into his own hands and follows Gloria wherever she goes. He is an unemployed actor, after all, so he has plenty of time to kill during the day. 

The Skin Flick Connection

All of this in Body Double culminates in Gloria’s murder. Naturally, Jake, the man who’s been peeping on her and trailing her around town all week, becomes a primary suspect. Unsure how to clear his name or find the real killer, Jake spends a night drinking whiskey straight from the bottle and watching porn. That’s when he notices the woman in the video he’s watching has the same tattoo on her buttocks that Gloria had, leading him to suspect she was a paid actor posing as Gloria, though he can’t definitively prove it.

After learning the actress’ name is Holly Body (Melanie Griffith), he tracks her down through her agency and befriends her under false pretenses, hoping to figure out why she would pretend to be Gloria and put on a show specifically for him to see from his living room window.

Body Double is one of those noir thrillers that keeps dragging you into places you’d rather not go. Like Jake, you’re pushed into uncomfortable situations that seem to lead nowhere, until the mystery blows wide open and the conspiracy reveals how deep it runs. Is Jake on the verge of a psychotic break after losing his job and his home, or is his new friend setting him up to take the fall for murder?

To experience all of the erotic misdirections that Body Double has to offer, you can stream it for free on Tubi as of this writing.