Colin From Accounts, Poor Things, and Mean Girls.
Week 164.
Hello hello! Josh Hutcherson is on a press tour and I feel 15 again. Don’t ask me about by Youtube home page right now. Now I just need him to make a movie I actually want to see!!! Here’s a recap of my week:
Things I Read
Books
If you’re looking for a book to read, try this list of contemporary romance recs, this list of other fiction recs, or this list of non-fiction recs. I also track everything I read on Goodreads.
Burn it Down by Maureen Ryan: I thought this book was good, but also a huge bummer. Maureen Ryan has been a television critic for decades, and this book is basically about all the ways in which the industry is just rife with abuse. Some chapters focus on specific people, some focus on specific shows, and at the end several chapters cover some ideas for what could be done to try to start to fix these problems. This is scathing and she is not afraid to name names. I learned a lot, but it is quite heavy at times. If you care about television as an industry I think you will find this interesting. I listened to the audiobook and liked it.
Articles
no, calling out hyperconsumption is not sexist: a newsletter I’ve been loving recently is
by Clara (who you may know from TikTok). She writes about a lot of the niche internet stuff that I also spend way too much time thinking about, as well as books and movies and other pop culture stuff. I really liked what she wrote this week about Stanley cups and overconsumption and feminism and capitalism. Subscribe!
Things I Watched
TV
If you’re looking for a show to watch, try this list.
Colin from Accounts (Paramount+): I liked this weird little show. It’s about a guy named Gordon and a girl named Ashley who meet when she does something that causes him to run over a stray dog with his car (the dog lives! no dead dogs here). They end up having to care for the dog together for the next few weeks, and they have a messy and complicated but also kind of nice relationship. They are both a mess, and weird, but they kind of work well together. This reminded me a lot of You’re the Worst, I show I loved, which is also about two weirdos. This is very funny, and it’s a quick 8 episodes so I watched it very fast. It’s written by a couple who also play the main characters and I think they are so funny and great together in this show. They’re making a second season, which I’m excited to watch!
Movies
Emma (1996) (Paramount+): I had (shockingly) never seen this and since I finished the book for the first time recently I finally watched it. I…did not really like it! I don’t love how Gwyneth Paltrow plays Emma in this. Emma is not very nice throughout a lot of this story, but in the book and in other adaptations I’ve seen she mostly comes off as childish and immature. In this movie she seemed too grown to be acting the way she acts! Ewan McGregor was peak hot in 1996 and they put him in a truly terrible wig, a travesty. And they cut out Mr. Knightley’s best line, the best line of the whole book. Explain???? I just would never watch this when I could watch the 2020 version instead, I like that one so much more.
Poor Things (theaters): I loved this WEIRD ass movie so much!!! Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (who most recently made The Favourite), this stars Emma Stone as Bella Baxter, a woman who died and then was brought back to life by an eccentric scientist (Willem Dafoe) and has to relearn how the world works and how to be a person. This movie is so zany and absurd, but if you just accept that and lean in and let it happen it is so good. Visually this is incredible, every frame a work of art. The score is also amazing. Mark Ruffalo is here and very good (and…hot?? unexpected but I’m not mad), Ramy Youssef also a standout (and also hot). But the highlight is absolutely Emma Stone, giving one of the most incredible performances I’ve ever seen in a film. We watch her build a person from the ground up, I’ve never seen anyone do anything like this. She’s absolutely getting an Oscar nom and as of right now I want her to win. This movie is funny and moving and, again, extremely weird. And while it could have been 30 minutes shorter, I truly loved it. A favorite of the season. Don’t watch with your parents!!!
The Iron Claw (theaters): I cannot think about this movie without crying. It is so sad, so soul crushingly sad, and then I think about how it’s based on a true story that is actually even worse than the one told in the movie I actually cannot deal, oh my GOD. This is about the Von Erich family, a father and his many sons who changed the sport of professional wrestling in the 1980s. I knew nothing about this story, and I don’t at all care about professional wrestling, but this movie was so good. There’s a lot of wrestling but at it’s core this movie is about family and siblings. Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson play three of the brothers at the center of the story and they’re all very good. Zac Efron in particular is incredible in this film, he’s on the edge of the Oscars conversation and I hope he makes it in. I didn’t read anything about the family before watching this but I would maybe recommend you do that if you don’t want to be depressed for days after. I liked the movie, it’s very well acted and the immersive and I was very invested. But this is just the saddest story, woof.
Mean Girls (theaters): I can’t figure out what I think about this movie. This was orignally supposed to go straight to streaming but ended up getting a theatrical release (a smart move, as it’s on track to do quite well at the box office), but it just feels like a streaming movie (read: it’s full of egregious product placement and social media montages and appears to have had a budget of $5). I have seen the stage show and knew all the songs, and I think you will like this more if you have, too. They cut a lot of the songs, and I think that leaves the plot a bit of a mess! We all know this story so I don’t think that matters that much but it just doesn’t really stand on its own, as its own thing. The songs they kept are updated to be much more pop than musical theater, and I think that mostly works in the context of the movie. The highlight of this is absolutely Renee Rapp, singing circles around everyone else. Avantika as Karen is also very good. There are some very funny jokes in here and I ultimately had fun watching this, but it is not a Good Movie by any means. I will be listening to Renee sing World Burn on repeat for a while, though.
Things I Bought
You can read about my full skincare routine and favorite products here. If you need a sunscreen recommendation, try this list.
I have had very good luck at Old Navy recently and I liked these three things so much I bought two of each:
Extra High-Waisted Jogger Sweatpants: My new favorite sweatpants!! They are so soft, I like how high waisted they are, and they aren’t too baggy. I have them in grey and black.
Slim-Fit T-Shirt: my never ending quest to find the perfect white t shirt continues (I don’t want it to be sheer and I also don’t want it to cost $100, but I don’t think this item exists), but this is a good option. It’s very close to being opaque enough to wear on it’s own, it’s very soft, I like how it fits, and it’s so affordable I can’t be mad. I sized up and am happy I did.
High-Waisted Pull-On Pixie Wide-Leg Pants: These are my new favorite work pants. I have been trying to figure out how to wear a wide leg and so far this is my best attempt. They are very comfortable, super stretchy, but also hold their own shape and feel like real pants rather than leggings. I have them in navy and black and have been wearing them a lot.
One Last Thing…
I never really set resolutions or goals for the new year, but this year I do want to try to be more intentional about my reading. One thing I want to do is read more older books, so I made this list of 10 books I want to read in 2024. My thought is that saying this on the internet will help me actually do it. I’ll keep this post updated to track my progress as I go if you want to follow along!
That’s it for me! This week I’m going to hopefully finish the book I’ve been reading since Christmas and watch the Emmys. Happy awards season!!! I hope you all have a good week.
TTYL,
Emily