Hello hello! After a week of 70 degrees and sunny and still light outside when I leave work I am feeling ALIVE. 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.
This is week three without finishing a book, truly the worst slump I’ve been in in years. Not even an audiobook! Send HELP. I am such a creature of habit and when I get out of a reading habit it is SO hard to get back into it. I am on a mission this weekend to force myself back into it.
Articles
What’s the Price of a Childhood Turned Into Content?: We are about to be in an era of children of mommy bloggers speaking out about their childhoods and I am going to read them ALL. And it’s going to be so dark. This article talks a lot specifically about the money aspect of this, and how there’s basically no regulation here. Parents can profit off their children to the tune of literal millions of dollars without being required to save any of that money for the kids themselves. One girl in this article says that when she started menstruating her mom made her do brand deals for period products…I don’t think that detail will ever leave my brain. These kids who have grown up online are now about to really be grown, and able to speak about this stuff in a way we haven’t really seen before. The journalist who wrote this article just announced this week that she’s writing a book on this. I’ll be reading.
Things I Watched
TV
If you’re looking for a show to watch, try this list.
Love is Blind (Netflix): What a MESS. I have been keeping up with this over the past few weeks but I haven’t really talked about it online anywhere because I truly had nothing nice to say about any of these people. I didn’t really like any of them! For me, the discourse is more fun than actually watching this show at this point. I don’t want to be left out, I want to be in on the gossip, but so many of these people are infuriating. I did not like Clay, I did not like AD because she liked Clay, I did not like Jimmy, I did not like Chelsea for making me side with Jimmy, I did not like Laura, I did not like Jeramey, Amy and Johnny were boring, and I already forgot about Ken and Brittany I literally just had to google the cast to figure out who I was missing. I don’t even know what to say because this review does not sound positive at all but I will undoubtably watch the next season. I can’t look away. Mess!!!
Movies
Oppenheimer (Peacock): Anyone heard of this movie??? I snuck this in just under the wire and watched it on Sunday morning before the Oscars that night. I do not know why but I had a real brain block about watching this movie….I just could not make myself care about this despite all the hype last summer and in the months since. But I have the type of brain worms that makes me NEED to watch every Best Picture nominee, so I knew I needed to watch this before the ceremony (especially because I knew it was going to win everything). So. I sat on my couch for three hours and finally watched this movie everyone else saw 6+ months ago. I put my thoughts on this on Instagram and several people have told me this is a bad take but I’m gonna stand by it— this was not interesting to me at all I’m SORRY. I am not a huge Christopher Nolan fan…the man cannot write a woman character to save his life. Women in his films exist to further the plot lines of the men at the center of the story, every time, every film, they are all like this. I don’t like it! There are so many white men in this movie I found it almost impossible to keep them all straight. I can recognize that this movie is good. It’s incredible visually, the acting is all very good, I get it okay. I understand why it won so many awards. But I just did not *care* about it. I’m sure this was better in a theater and that’s my fault, but still. I’ll never watch this again. Sorry to these men I guess!!
The Lost City (Hulu/Paramout+): Opposite vibe here, but I used this movie as an answer in Movie Grid earlier this week (my favorite daily game!! this movie fit in Channing Tatum + title starts with The) and then that made me think I should watch it again. It’s still a fun time!! This stars Sandra Bullock as a reclusive romance author whose newest book is about a buried treasure. When an evil billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) kidnaps her to make her help him find the treasure, her cover model (Channing Tatum, HOT!!!) comes to rescue her. This feels adjacent to Romancing the Stone and is just a silly, goofy time. It knows exactly what it is and is very self aware, which I think is a key component to making a movie like this good instead of insufferably dumb. Sandra and Channing are both so good, I love her in everything and he is so good at playing a hot dumb guy. Newly minted Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph also makes an appearance! This is the type I movie I could watch 12 times. It truly makes me LAUGH.
Things I Bought
You can read about my full skincare routine and favorite products here. If you need a sunscreen recommendation, try this list.
Reeboks: Someone I follow on Instagram is constantly talking about how these are her most comfortable sneakers, and then two weeks ago she posted that they were on sale for $45. Couple that with the fact that I’m going to Europe next month and wanted new cute walking shoes for the trip, and these went in my cart so quick. They are super comfortable and I have no regrets. I got my normal size.
One Last Thing…
I have been listening to this on repeat all week!! It’s so GOOD. I am particularly obsessed with we can’t be friends, which sounds like Dancing On My Own by Robyn, one of my favorite songs of all time. I also love bye and i wish i hated you, but I really have just been listening to this whole thing on a loop. So good.
That’s it for me! I am traveling next weekend so I’ll see you all back here in two weeks, by which time I swear I will have finished at least one book oh my god.
TTYL,
Emily
As with all relationship reality shows, I think Love is Blind kind of tanked after the first season. People are just messed up lol. The current season of Married at First Sight yielded exactly zero couples staying together. I think these shows are losing ground.