Hello hello! Wow, what a bad week. Everything is terrible! I hope you are all safe from terrible weather and the pandemic and have access to any and all types of healthcare you may need. Here’s a recap of my week:
Things I Read
Books
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon: This was soooo good. It’s about a girl named Shay who works at a public radio station that is struggling to pull in an audience. They need a new show, and come up with an idea for a show called the Ex Talk, where Shay and her coworker Dominic talk about their failed relationship and other topics about dating. But, Shay and Dominic never actually dated and it’s all a lie. You’ll never guess what happens! This was so good, I stayed up until 2am to finish it because I got in too deep and couldn’t put it down. Very good rom com.
Articles
The Roy’s Summer in Italy: Hunter Harris is truly living the dream. She went to Italy for two weeks to interview the Succession cast, and she got paid for it? How do I get this job? This article about the cast and filming for the new season was so good, the photos are incredible, I loved this and cannot wait for the show to come back.
Beanie Feldstein Is More Than Your Bestie: I have been a fan of Beanie Feldstein since she played Saoirse Ronan’s best friend in Lady Bird, and then she was one of the main characters in Booksmart, which you all know is one of my favorite movies ever. Between the new season of American Crime Story, where she plays Monica Lewinsky, and the fact that she is playing Fanny Brice in the first Broadway revival of Funny Girl next Spring, she is about to be very famous. I really liked this interview where she talks about playing Monica.
The Sacklers, Who Made Billions From OxyContin, Win Immunity From Opioid Lawsuits: The news really sucked this week. The Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case is finally over, and the Sackler family has been given full immunity from any further opioid related lawsuits. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead because of opioid addiction, and this family walks away without having to admit any responsibility and comes out of this richer than they were before. This sucks so much. It is supremely, extremely unfair. Ugh.
Things I Watched
TV
Pen15: I think this show is brilliant. It so perfectly captures what it was like to be an 11-year-old girl. It’s about two girls, Maya and Anna, who are in seventh grade and best friends. The catch here is that they are played by Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine, who are both in their 30s. The rest of the kids are played by actual children. This sounds weird, but it is so good. It’s so funny and so real and just such a good show. The back half of the second season is supposed to come out sometime this year, but this week they released a one episode animated special. It’s not as good as the regular episodes, but I still enjoyed it and it made me very excited for the rest of the season.
Naomi Osaka: This is a three part documentary series that follows Naomi from her win at the US Open in 2018 up to very recently. There were things I liked about this and things I didn’t—it moved very quickly and without a lot of explanation, much more showing than telling. It touched on her backstory some, but I wanted that more. I do think I understand her more having seen this, and it made me appreciate even more the steps she has taken in recent months to stand up and take care of herself. I loved this statement she put out this week. She seems so stressed out in this documentary! I want her to have more fun! On Netflix.
Nine Perfect Strangers: I’m not really sure what to make of this. I read the book a couple years ago and remember thinking it was fine, and I barely remember the plot. It’s about a bunch of people who go to a very bougie woo woo retreat lead by Nicole Kidman. Weird stuff is happening. I’ve watched the five episodes that are out and, much like the book, I think this is fine. It’s entertaining and since I don’t remember the ending I’m intrigued to see where it goes, but I don’t think this will stay with me at all and I think I’ll probably forget about it fairly quickly. On Hulu.
The Good Fight: This has just finished its fifth season and it continues to be one of the best shows on tv. I will scream about this forever: everyone should be watching this!!! This is a spin off from The Good Wife, but it really does not matter if you’ve watched Wife. This show is brilliant—it is dramatic and funny and touches on current events in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s trying too hard. It stars Christine Baranski (ICON) as Diane Lockhart, a partner at a top Chicago law firm. I was worried coming into this season because two of the main characters left at the end of the last one, but this is just as good as it has always been. The cast is amazing, and they shoot this in NYC so there are countless cameos from Broadway stars (the newest season had Mandy Patinkin in a recurring role). This is incredible television, and no one is watching it because it is a Paramount+ exclusive. This is absolutely worth the $4.99 a month for this streaming service. I pay for it while this show is airing and then cancel it in the off season. It’s already been renewed, so I will be yelling at you all about this next year once again! Watch it!
Movies
The High Note: This is a fun, upbeat, low stakes movie. Tracee Ellis Ross plays Grace Davis, a pop superstar, and Dakota Johnson plays Maggie, her personal assistant who aspires to be a music producer. This is pretty dumb, but its fun to watch and I think the music in it is very good. On HBO Max.
The Kissing Booth 3: What a truly terrible movie. This is so bad. These movies got progressively worse as the trilogy went on, and they simply did not start out good enough to be able to withstand this steep of a decline. The plot of this is so dumb and makes no sense, the humor is so stupid, this is genuinely not worth watching. I give it one trash can. The first one is the only one that was worth it, but it’s still only three trash cans, at best. Jacob Elordi and Joey King must be so happy to be free from this MESS. On Netflix.
Magic Mike XXL: The audible gasp that came out of my mouth when I saw this under “Just Added” on HBO Max!! If you know me well, you probably know that I love the Magic Mike movies. I will not be apologizing for this opinion—these movies are good and anyone who disagrees is a boring person who hates fun. I loved the first one, and then I went to see this sequel in theaters the day it came out. Every time I hear Pony by Ginuwine I start hyperventilating. I would let Channing Tatum ruin my life if he wanted to. This is CINEMA. This is ART. This movie barely has a plot (they say “hey, we should go to a stripper convention,” and then they go to a stripper convention) but listen, we are not here for a “plot”. That is not the point. I love both movies, but I honestly think the second one is better. And again, because it doesn’t really have a plot, I don’t even think you need to watch the first one (you should, though. You deserve it). What a film. Five stars. No notes.
The Edge of Seventeen: This is such a great coming of age movie. Hailee Steinfeld plays Nadine, a Junior in high school, who is just going THROUGH it. Her dad has passed away, her mom is a mess, she has a bad relationship with her brother, and has a falling out with her best friend. This movie is a visceral portrayal of being a teenager, but it also manages to be funny and uplifting. Hailee is very good in it. On Netflix.
Things I Bought
21 Days of Beauty is happening at Ulta! Every day a few different products are 50% off.
Things I have already ordered (all are new to me, so I don’t know what I think yet):
Things I plan to buy:
9/10: Indie Lee Brightening Cleanser (this is one of my favorite cleansers and I buy one every time I see it on sale) and Zitsticka KILLA pimple patches (these are the best for cystic bumps).
9/13: Korres Greek Yoghurt Foaming Cream Cleanser (have heard great things so I’m excited to try)
One Last Thing…
This is the part where I talk about abortion. I am extremely, extremely upset about the Supreme Court decision on the Texas abortion law. I cannot stop thinking about it. I had too much to say, so put all my thoughts here yesterday. I linked to a bunch of things I read this week on that post as well.
Support your local abortion fund (find them here), support organizations in Texas that are already doing this work (here’s a list), and do not vote for politicians who support horrific laws like this. We do not have to rely on the Supreme Court to block bad laws (they will not do this anymore, they simply do not care) if no one in the state legislatures is passing them in the first place.
That’s it for me! I hope you all enjoy the long weekend.
TTYL,
Emily