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[PREVIEW] 'You' Hops Across The Pond Feb 13, 2023

Show notes

We’re trying something a little bit different this week! We are introducing a free preview of our paid subscriber podcasts, so that our free subscribers can get a taste of what we on the Rich Text podcast. And because we want to make sure that *everyone* gets our weekly recommendations, we are moving that part of our newsletter into its very own entry, dropping Wednesdays. Let us know what you think of this new format!

Last season of the Netflix thriller “You” ended in an almost absurdly climactic way: Joe Goldberg, the main character and arch-villain of the series, killed his murderous wife Love Quinn, burned down their house, faked his own death, and left his baby son with a couple who would make better guardians. He then took off to Paris to find his new love object, Marienne, who had fled there with her daughter to escape him.

Season 4 finds us in an unexpected place: London. Joe has found his way to a new city, a new identity (Jonathan Moore), a new gig (American literature professor), and a new role in the drama. Joe, for three seasons, has been a serial killer and an irredeemable stalker; however much he may live in denial of his own nature, he has never strayed far from the role of Big Bad. But almost as soon as his story in London commences, Joe wakes up one morning to find that his colleague, Malcolm, has been knifed to death and left on his kitchen counter. In a panic, he disposes of the body — only to learn, from encrypted disappearing texts from an anonymous figure, that he did not kill Malcolm in a blackout fugue. He is being framed. Joe the villain has become Joe the victim, and, very quickly, Joe the detective, as he frantically tries to uncover the real killer.

That’s right. The first half of season four (the second half drops next month) is, as Joe himself realizes with a lit-snob groan, a whodunnit. His new milieu and social circle, a crew of sociopathically self-involved blue-bloods, are straight from an Agatha Christie novel, albeit a century later. And Joe himself is both the victim of a framing and the unlikely gumshoe. Ever the reader, he turns to reading Christie books himself to try to figure out how to untangle a mystery like a pro.

But this leaves the “You” viewer with all kinds of questions: Is the show really turning Joe into a victim, after three seasons of insisting on his villainy? Is Joe really someone who can be redeemed through a season of heroic efforts to protect some old-money elites from a serial killer? And what is the purpose — aside from keeping things fresh and entertaining, which, fair enough — of giving the season such an overt and kitschy genre conceit? What does it mean to take a dangerous man who always manages to maintain his own delusions of victimhood… and make him the victim of a cold-blooded murderer’s conspiracy?

With five episodes left to go, there are many possible answers to those questions — or perhaps the questions themselves will be invalidated by end-of-season developments. But we couldn’t resist hopping on the mic to dissect the first half of season one. We discuss its class satire and its meta-commentary on eat-the-rich entertainment, the murder-mystery conceit, and Joe as possible victim. Hope you enjoy! xo

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[PREVIEW] 'Love Is Blind: After The Altar' 3 Gives Us One Final Enemy Feb 10, 2023

Show notes

Our Dallas “Love Is Blind” crew has officially returned to the small screen. And with them they brought some drama, some laughs, some true clubwear-at-brunch *lewks*, and a lingering question: When the hell was this thing filmed?

Here are a few things we knew:

Bartise said on Instagram that he had filmed three shows — “LIB,” “Perfect Match” and “After The Altar” before any of them aired.
They repeatedly reference it being a year since the weddings on “After The Altar,” and we know that filming wrapped on the original show in June 2021.
It appears to be summer as SK is on his first summer break after 1 year of graduate school.
The reunion was, according to production, filmed during a similar time period — “early autumn” 2022.
In both the reunion and the After The Altar special, Cole and Zanab indicate that they haven’t spoken since their wedding.

This may seem silly — who really cares? — but the lack of timeline made it hard to place the events of “After The Altar” in context. For example, how much time passed between SK *re-proposing* (!!!!!) to Raven and the cheating allegations that ultimately led to the end of their relationship? (See: The aforementioned NEW ENEMY in the headline of this post.) Did the proposal happen before or after the reunion was filmed? Did Zay and Cole have a conversation at Alexa’s 28th birthday party and make nice before going at each other during the reunion? It’s all a bit confusing.

After recording our whole recap and debating the timeline, we finally got an answer confirmed, which made it all make sense: “After The Altar” was filmed up to AND shortly after the reunion. Mystery solved! Hallelujah!

On this week’s pod we discuss more than the timeline (we promise!!). We get into the thriving marriage of the Lemieuxs, Matt and Colleen’s living situation, Bartise’s fuckery (especially when it comes to Nancy), SK and Raven’s disappointing end, and how absolutely mismatched Cole and Zanab always were. Enjoy! Xo

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We’ve been reading…

I’ve started reading the galleys (early reader copies) of two of my lovely friends’ forthcoming novels: Laura Hankin’s “The Daydreams” and Alison Rose Greenberg’s “Maybe Once, Maybe Twice.” 10/10 recommend pre-ordering both of these absolute gems. -Emma

“The Daydreams” is so good!!!! Can’t wait for everyone to get to read it.

So, my recommendations in last week’s newsletter were a bit of a cry for help, and hopefully also marked the rock bottom of my winter depression! This week I saw a glint of daylight amid the clouds, so I decided to make the most of it and expend the energy to do things that actually make me happier. I made pancakes with the toddler, folded the laundry mountain that had been accumulating for weeks, got work done on schedule, and finished reading Katy Simpson Smith’s “The Weeds” instead of staring at my phone during every free moment. I’d been having trouble getting into the book, with its fragmented, dual-narrator structure and its frequent botanical digressions, but once I made time to surrender to its flow, the momentum soon carried me. It’s out in April. -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

The first two episodes of the new season of the investigative “Smoke Screen” podcast. This season, “Smoke Screen: Deadly Cure” investigates the story of former missionary Mark Grenon and his three sons, all of whom were indicted in 2021 for selling toxic bleach (dubbed Miracle Mineral Solution) as a fraudulent cure for everything from Covid-19 to malaria to autism. -Em ma

Despite shaking off my doldrums a bit, I have not gotten my podcast mojo back — lately, anything that goes in my ears seems to bounce off my brain, and I keep turning off shows after realizing I haven’t absorbed a single word. A positive listening experience from this week: On Saturday, I put on Camera Obscura while I made dinner with the toddler, and it turns out he’s finally old enough to hear “grown-up music” without having an entire meltdown and demanding to put on “The Wheels on the Bus.” -Claire

We’ve been watching…

I craved a comfort watch this week, so I went back to one of my all-time favorites: “The First Wives Club.” This 1996 gem has it all: Diane Keaton! Bette Midler! Goldie Hawn! Maggie Smith! Sarah Jessica Parker! Stockard Channing! ‘90s New York City! A revenge plot! Female friendship! A Gloria Steinem cameo! Just perfection. -Emma

We finally saw a movie! Our evening free time keeps shrinking (the child has decided his bedtime is 8:30 and we have been unsuccessful in nudging it back) and movies, meanwhile, seem to be getting longer? What happened to a tight 90 minutes? So we rarely even try these days. But finally we set aside two whole nights to watch “Tár,” which turned out to be much trippier and more intriguing than the discourse had made it sound. Although, yes, obviously it is concerned with “cancel culture” and the tension between pure aestheticism and moral judgment. Definitely worth two nights of my life! -Claire

We’ve been buying…

Well, it happened again. The new Hill House drop got me. I am absolutely obsessed with two of their new silhouettes: the Adeline dress, which is a perfect tenty mini (so comfy! so cute!), and the Matilda, which can be easily dressed down for a city dinner or dressed up for a wedding. (And yes I have actually already tried both of these on because I went to the Rockefeller Center store.) -Emma

We all know I’m also a Hill House girlie, but my order hasn’t arrived yet so I’m not making any recommendations as of this moment. Instead, a little life update: We finally just replaced our mostly-white quilt, after six years, innumerable pee splatters (from the baby) and poop smears (from our somewhat incontinent but snuggle-happy cat), and countless (surprisingly successful) washes. The final straw? Our son had an explosive nosebleed all over our bed. We actually did get the blood out, but I had already made up my mind; we deserved a new bedspread. I ordered this pick-stitch striped quilt, which was on sale at the time (sadly no longer) and matching shams. On the pro side, it’s heavy and sturdy and not literally dissolving from hundreds of scalding-hot washes; on the con side, it doesn’t fit in our small washing machine, so I have to figure out how to make sure the cat never touches it. -Claire

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[PREVIEW] 'MILF Manor' Takes Fauxcest To TV Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

When a dating reality show called “MILF Manor” was announced not long ago, the reaction was immediate and unanimous: Wasn’t that a fake show on “30 Rock”? It does seem like a desperate TV exec, over a decade after the “MILF Island” episode of “30 Rock,” cribbed the concept of a reality show about hot moms for their own pitch.

But in practice, “MILF Manor” is somehow more tawdry than its fictional predecessor. “MILF Island” (tagline: "25 super-hot moms, 50 eighth grade boys, no rules”) seemed more akin to “Survivor” than a dating show. The bikini-clad moms competed in challenges, and the boys voted them off the island. “MILF Manor,” on the other hand, seems more akin to the scene-setting portion of a YouPorn clip than a dating show.

The eight hot moms who arrive at the Mexican villa, ready to date some younger men, quickly realize that the dating pool is made up of their own sons — one of them as young as 20. And while some attempts at romance are made, the show (at least the first two episodes) revolves more around forcing mother-son pairs into uncomfortably sexual situations: sharing rooms, touching their son’s bodies while blindfolded, and disclosing sexually graphic secrets. It’s the wink-wink-nudge-nudge it’s not really incest but isn’t it so taboo? formula that has produced an ever-growing wave of fauxcest porn featuring stepsiblings and stepparents. As Naomi Fry put it in her essay “The Mother Lovers of' ‘MILF Manor,’” the show is “haunted by the spectre of incest.”

It’s a striking contrast to another recent dating show about older women, “Back in the Groove,” which took “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” as its inspiration (down to the occasional presence of Taye Diggs as a host). “Back in the Groove” features three women in their early 40s, each looking for a fresh start after a season of struggle, who will be dating from a pool of 24 younger men. Though there’s a similar twist — one mom’s son turns out to be among the suitors — their relationship is treated respectfully rather than pruriently. And, more broadly, the show allows its three leads to be complete people with varied and complex desires, rather than setting them up for mockery and humiliation.

In this episode, we discuss the two shows — especially “MILF Manor” — and what it means that we need special, niche dating shows about older women dating younger men, plus the incursion of porn trends into reality TV and the freak-show-to-prestige-show reality TV spectrum. Enjoy! xo

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We’ve been watching…

Comfy rewatches. I’ve spent the last couple of months in a bit of a depressive slump, which has reached its nadir in the past two weeks. Winter, which I used to love, is a bitch to get through now that I’m so careful about indoor socializing. The weather has been gray. I’ve been working through some old griefs that have resurfaced lately. Everything is fundamentally fine, but the zest has been lacking from life — and even from TV. Yes, I’ve been struggling to enjoy TV shows. That’s how you know you’re in a funk.

The best I’ve been able to do is fall back on an old favorite, “Lovesick,” which I’ve been watching in the evenings. If you’ve never seen it, it’s a delightful little show about a group of friends in Glasgow navigating love and friendship; the spine of the show is that one friend, Dylan, has contracted chlamydia and needs to contact all of his former sex partners to notify them. Despite this premise, it is, at its heart, a romcom. -Claire

I started Rian Johnson’s new Columbo-style procedural show, “Poker Face,” which stars Natasha Lyonne as a human lie detector who is on the run and solves a new case every week. I have only watched the pilot, but it was fantastic, and the case-of-the-week format allows for Johnson to get some really high-quality guest stars (Dascha Polanco! Benjamin Bratt! Adrien Brody!). -Emma

We’ve been reading…

Honestly, I’m having a bout of winter exhaustion which is impacting my ability to pay attention while I’m reading. Maybe it’s the fact that the sun has barely been out for the last two weeks, and thus I'm feeling antsy and a little low. So starting new books has been a bit of a slog. I have however been finding comfort in Heather Havrilesky’s Ask Polly columns, which feel like a salve on the days that feel the most hopeless. -Emma

Clearly we’re both in a deep pit of the winter doldrums. I look back on my carefree summer self as if she were a completely different person, someone who could process multiple complex sentences in a row without needing a nap. Anyway! Articles have been my salvation this week, perhaps the emotional highlight of which was the opportunity to leave my apartment to go to the cardiologist. After my appointment, I sat in a nearby diner, ate a stack of pancakes, and read Molly Fischer’s delicately cutting New Yorker profile of former New York Times Book Review editor and current opinion columnist Pamela Paul. Paul held a hugely influential position in the publishing world at the time when I covered books regularly, and her new role as an opinion writer (a terrible opinion writer) has been, um, retrospectively illuminating. So is the New Yorker profile. Then Paul put out a column revisiting, inexplicably, the “American Dirt” kerfuffle from several years ago, which inspired an immensely satisfying response from Max Read. Nothing like a little book world drama to make you feel alive again. -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

The latest episode of “If Books Could Kill,” about the ‘90s runaway bestseller, “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus.” Extremely unsurprisingly, this bible of gender essentialism was written by a misogynist grifter! I honestly only knew the broad strokes of this book — I absolutely first heard about it via “Clueless” — so this deep dive was both fascinating and disturbing. -Emma

That episode is one of the few things that actually made me laugh this week! Thank you to Michael and Peter for your service. -Claire

We’ve been buying…

It’s incredible that I have reached 35 and yet I am still discovering so many new ways in which I have been doing my makeup wrong for years. I recently went down a rabbithole of makeup tutorial TikToks which led me to refresh my makeup. (Plus, a bunch of my most-loved products were fully running out.) I picked up the Dibs Beauty Desert Island Duo in shade 2, Charlotte Tilbury Lip Liner in Pillow Talk, my tried and true Make Up For Ever HD Foundation, and Make Up For Ever Ultra Matte HD loose setting powder which comes with a very cute little powder puff to apply it. -Emma

Emma, that’s because they keep coming up with new ways to do makeup! I promise you, it’s not your fault.

I have been trying to gently get back into exercise with a weekly yoga class, but all of my sports bras either have gaping cups or make me feel like my ribs are being cracked. Why is it so hard to find a sports bra for someone with essentially no boobs but a ribcage more than 28 inches around? I finally decided to invest in the Alo Yoga Wild Thing bra, which came highly recommended for my body type (flat), and it’s a winner — both comfortable and cute. And with just one yoga class a week, I only need to be able to afford one sports bra, right? -Claire

[PREVIEW] Prince Harry Doesn't "Spare" Much Jan 23, 2023

Show notes

Let’s just be up front: we are by no means royal obsessives or enthusiasts. But we do live online, and the online chatter about Prince Harry and his buzzy new memoir “Spare,” which sold 1.5 million copies on its first day of publication, has been *loud.* The more we thought about it, the more it seemed like the Windsor family’s cultural resonance was worth discussing.

Like so many middle/elder millennials, any feelings of connection we do have to the Royal Family, originate with Princess Diana: the people’s princess, the woman who spent time in New York City’s AIDS wards, the mother of princes William and Harry, the tragic figure who died in a car crash in 1997 at the age of 36. (And for those of us who were children in 1997, a coveted purple bear Beanie Baby.)

After Diana’s death, her teenage sons became international media spectacles, becoming the targets of the same paparazzi who hounded their mother.

Even from across the pond, we knew that Will and Harry were H-O-T — especially William, with his floppy blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. So it’s not totally surprising that at least some Americans would sustain an interest in where the princes’ romantic lives ended up.

In the wake of Harry and wife Meghan Markle’s very contentious and public split with the monarchy — and retreat to Santa Barbara, California — we have gotten a veritable overload of royal headlines. This culminated with a Netflix documentary about Meghan and Harry, and then the release of “Spare.”

On this week’s pod, we get into all the juiciest revelations from “Spare,” why the monarchy is a human rights violation, and which royal sounds like the worst. Enjoy! xo

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We’ve been reading…

Naomi Fry on new TLC reality show “MILF Manor” for the New Yorker. She explores what it says about the culture that there is now “a May-December dating show haunted by the spectre of incest.” A perfect essay, no notes. -Emma

“The Weeds,” a forthcoming novel by Katy Simpson Smith, which interweaves the stories of two botanists, over a hundred years apart, scouring the Roman Colosseum for every species of flora it contains. Both women are humble researchers working for established male scholars, and both are heartbroken, seeking solace in their rote, painstaking work. Taking the structure of a botanical encyclopedia, the narrative advances slowly, through emotional vignettes that begin to tile together and overlap, and it definitely requires some intentional focus to get into — but as a bonus, you will be inspired to Google Image search all kinds of obscure plant species. -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

Season 3 of the “Queen of the Con” pod, because I cannot get enough of scam stories. This season focuses on Danielle Miller, a self-proclaimed con artist who cut her teeth in some of New York City’s most elite institutions. -Emma

About a million years late, I have started listening to “Who? Weekly”! I think I resisted out of stubbornness (who among us hasn’t randomly decided to really stick it to the man by not consuming a piece of media we’d clearly love?), but I wanted to get into a new pod for the first time in a while, so I gave it a shot. It’s obviously deliciously funny and already keeping me more informed about all the randomly famous people out there. -Claire

We’ve been watching…

Screeners of Netflix’s forthcoming crossover mega reality dating show, “Perfect Match,” and let me tell you… from what I’ve seen I am HOOKED. We’ll be covering this one over on bonus episodes of “Love To See It,” and I am very excited to discuss the larger Netflix reality universe. -Emma

Screeners of the the upcoming season of “You,” which has kept me feverishly guessing in a way I didn’t think the show could still manage in season 4. There’s some genre experimentation, some absolutely bonkers twists — I can’t wait to have an in-depth discussion of it. -Claire

We’ve been buying…

Well, I did end up buying the Vince Camuto boots I wrote about last week, in the root beer suede, and they are FAB. Also got a new NEST reed diffuser for my living room, and it’s been so lovely to walk into my apartment every day and know it will smell good. -Emma

Dry shampoo from Rabbit Brush, which is applied with a brush instead of an aerosol spray and made from clay, clove, and black walnut hull. It’s very crunchy and “toxin-free,” but it also works really well, at least where I need it most: the bangs. Most dry shampoos leave mine just as stringy and limp as before I applied it, and this stuff actually makes them look soft and full again. Bonus (to me): it smells like cinnamon and clove. -Claire

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[PREVIEW] 'Emily in Paris' Hits the Skids Jan 16, 2023

Show notes

In three seasons and less than a year in the life of Emily Cooper, our plucky Chicago girlboss’s Parisian adventures in love and marketing have somehow gone from infuriatingly absurd to deflatingly dull. Season three revolves around endless workplace furniture-moving that ultimately leaves our core Savoir team almost exactly where they began; on the romantic front, Emily, Mindy, and Sylvie all find themselves locked in deeply forgettable love triangles. After two vibrantly chaotic seasons about the misadventures of an American girl with all the depth of an Instagram photo but an unparalleled ability to inspire instant loathing, this season found the show treading water.

So what happened? Mostly, it’s the original sins of the show coming home to roost: a protagonist written with minimal emotional depth, and played with even less by a lead actress who struggles to display chemistry with any romantic interest; the show’s fixation on work and Emily’s workaholism, which set the stage for endless networking conversations and mind-numbing meetings; the absence of real stakes from any relationship except, perhaps, Camille and Gabriel. These flaws often added to the hilarity of the first two seasons, but by season three, they’ve settled into tedious ruts. It’s time for Emily to show some growth, or at least take a first step in that direction by experiencing an emotion more profound than mild regret.

In this episode, we offer our unfiltered takes on Emily’s funky blazers, basic-ass marketing pitches, and inability to have a conversation without turning it into a business meeting. Enjoy! xo

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We’ve been reading…

“Spare,” by Prince Harry — not because of personal choice or interest, per se, but because of professional obligations. Lots of purple prose and scenery description, lots of sly jabs at Prince William. Stay tuned for more reactions! -Claire

Lol. SAME. Willy! Pa! The todger! Can’t wait to discuss. -Emma

We’ve been watching…

“The Circle” season 5: the all-singles season, baby! Absolutely delighted at this twist on the “Circle” formula, which amps up the sexting quotient to a significant degree. Eggplant emoji, peach emoji, eyes emoji, send message! -Claire

A screener of the upcoming Reese Witherspoon/Ashton Kutcher Netflix rom-com, “Your Place Or Mine,” which I *cannot wait* for it to come out next month so I can talk about it with people. It is such a treat to see some stars with big star power (and production power) really taking the rom-com seriously again. -Emma

We’ve been listening to…

Aubrey Gordon on the Burnt Toast by Virginia Sole-Smith podcast. I love Aubrey’s work and Virginia’s work, so to hear them in conversation is just brilliant. -Emma

We’ve been buying…

Even though I’ve been treating my nails like garbage lately (biting them, not oiling them or caring for them in any way), I got optimistic and bought some more Color Camp press-ons in the winter wool design. Love a neutral nail with a little bejeweled detail! Maybe I’ll even be inspired enough to apply them soon, despite the winter doldrums I’ve been idling in. -Claire

A soft, ultra-flattering, knit maxi dress from Abercrombie — currently 20% off! They were sadly sold out of my size in petites, so I went for the regular length. Also contemplating these embellished Vince Camuto knee-high boots, which have a rare wide-enough-calf for my legs and are absolutely gorgeous and also half off. -Emma

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[PREVIEW] We're Still Thinking About 'White Lotus' Jan 09, 2023

Show notes

“The White Lotus” is one of those shows that sticks with you.

Mike White’s masterful series, which follows a new group of wealthy Americans (and locals) each season as they travel to a different White Lotus hotel, wrapped its second season in mid-December, but we’ve both been thinking about it ever since. So by popular demand, we finally got our act together to podcast about it.

White loves a Big Juicy Theme, and this season it was sex, specifically of the transactional variety. As Jen Chaney put it in her Vulture review, “Season one established that practically every relationship is transactional, and season two goes a step further by suggesting that satisfaction can only be achieved when one understands that essential truth.”

In this week’s episode, we get into the power of transactional sex, what it takes to sustain a longterm sexual partnership, Tanya’s dramatic exit, and the most gorgeous (Valentina’s suits, Daphne’s dresses, and all of Harper’s wardrobe) and chaotic (cough, Portia, cough) fashion moments. Hope you enjoy! xo

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We’ve been watching…

The new all-singles season of “The Circle.” I took a break on this Netflix reality show for the last few seasons, but I came back to it in the new year and I find this season totally delightful. They made every player on this season play as a single, and it really creates some great and cringe-worthy opportunities for text-based flirting / mayhem. -Emma

“I Hate Suzie Too,” a British show starring Billie Pieper as a somewhat washed-up actor — still working, but seemingly with her glory days in the rearview mirror — who is about to score a huge new role when hackers obtain sexual photos of her and leak them. Her marriage and career immediately veer into freefall as she desperately tries to manage the fallout. It can be a bit woozy to watch, with camera and sound effects layered onto panicky moments to induce the same wobbly, unsteady feelings in the audience, so I’m taking it in smaller doses. Pieper is outstanding as Suzie, a highly strung ball of energy forever trying to find the right balance between gregarious fun and self-destructive intensity. -Claire

We’ve been reading…

Jana Casale’s novel, “How To Fall Out Of Love Madly.” It follows three women in their early 30s, all struggling to navigate romantic relationships and the failures of the men they have put their trust in, but all in different ways. The writing is fun and the perspectives are sharp. The perfect book to get me back into the swing of reading novels. -Emma

P.G. Wodehouse’s “The Inimitable Jeeves”! Wodehouse and Agatha Christie were my gateway-to-adulthood authors, the writers of non-children’s books who eased my transition to grownup literature. When we were at my family’s home for Christmas, I spied a whole shelf of their books on my childhood bookcase, and idly found myself rereading some of them. It’s absolutely corking stuff, as Bertie might say; Wodehouse is a shining example of a writer who knows his groove and has found ingenious ways to reuse and refresh the same story template and tropes to equally hilarious effect each time. -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

The four-part “Shameless” series on the inner circle of NXIVM, hosted by Vanessa Grigoriadis, who does a lot of reflecting on the reporting she did on NXIVM back in 2017 after the first explosive NYTimes story was published. I just cannot seem to get enough cult content in my life. -Emma

So much nostalgic music. We were profoundly blessed that our toddler chilled out with his iPad and a bunch of Disney movies for the better part of our 12-hour drives to and from Indiana, which allowed me to put in my earbuds, eat candy, and zone out to all the corniest emo shit I used to love in high school: Jack’s Mannequin, Dashboard Confessional, The Starting Line. Jimmy Eat World still slaps, and so do sour gummy worms. -Claire

We’ve been buying…

A high-waisted faux leather skirt designed by an influencer whose style content I genuinely love. I have been trying to focus my clothing purchases on versatile pieces that can be worn with multiple other pieces I already own and this fits the bill. -Emma

I can’t believe I’ve become this person, but: the Dyson Supersonic hairdryer. Winter has made my hair so limp and sad, and nothing was helping, so when I saw a rare post-Christmas discount on the fuschia dryer at Best Buy, I bought a hairdryer that cost about three times as much as I ever believed I’d spend on a grooming appliance.

And it was worth it. I’m so sorry to report this. I wish it weren’t true. For years I’ve used a pro Babyliss dryer with a diffuser for my wavy-curly hair, and I chose to believe that a pricier dryer would not be meaningfully better. But the results were always pretty frizzy, as the excess airflow from the diffuser whipped my flyaways around my head like gale-force winds, and the heat damage to my hair added up. With the Dyson diffuser (on low heat and speed), I get dry, bouncy, almost glossy curls in 25 minutes — even better than the results I get from air-drying on a beautiful summer day. A thousand apologies for this recommendation. (I’ve since read that the cheaper Shark knockoff is also a curly girl favorite.) -Claire

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[PREVIEW] 'The Spirit Of Christmas' Can Haunt Our Holidays Anytime Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

The idea of love as the perfect Christmas gift from Santa – whisked down the chimney and tucked underneath a fragrant, be-tinseled Scotch pine, “all my own in a big red bow” as Britney Spears memorably envisioned – is at the heart of most holiday romantic comedies. And yet, we’d argue, most don’t go far enough in bringing Britney’s vision to life. What sort of man actually can be produced from Santa’s big toy sack and given to you as a holiday gift, flawless and utterly devoted to you? Well, one who pretty much wasn’t real to begin with, and was merely summoned into being to ensure a happy holiday for one lucky woman.

And “The Spirit of Christmas” goes there, summoning a soulmate for one hardened Boston lawyer (Jen Lilley) from the realm of ghosts.

Much like “White Lotus,” “The Spirit of Christmas” is hard to pin down on the genre front. Is it a romantic comedy? A romantic… drama? A murder mystery? A ghost story? A costume drama? Honestly, all of the above. It ticks more genre boxes than any made-for-TV flick has any right to attempt.

For Emma, this is an old favorite. For Claire, it was always a tough sell – for one, the concept sounded like sheer chaos, not the neat and tidy romcom she typically sought out, and also, ghost romances are annoying. But we finally came together for a “Spirit of Christmas” viewing and discussion this holiday season, and soon the film had minted a new fan. It’s not that it handles the chaos by executing everything it attempts well – the costumed flashbacks, set in the Prohibition era, are only slightly less brutal to watch than a high school play – but rather that it plunges into everything with gusto and a pretty charming cast. It’s never boring, rarely completely incompetent, and always utterly off-the-wall.

In this episode, we recap “The Spirit of Christmas,” rate it out of 10 doors mysteriously swinging open, and revel in the most romantic haunting ever committed to the Lifetime Channel.

This is our last podcast of 2022! We will be back with more pods in January. Happy holidays, everyone!

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We’ve been reading…

This New York Times report on how pricey daycare chains have figured out how to make big money from providing childcare, while undermining political efforts to subsidize costs for parents. It’s bleak reading, a look inside the process by which something that should be a public good (like libraries or the post office, or at least the subway) has been not only privatized, but kept private for the benefit of for-profit companies and their investors, to the detriment of the people who most need the services they offer. -Claire

Amy Kaufman’s recent L.A. Times investigation into 15-year-old YouTuber’s media empire and the abuses her mother allegedly committed against the other minor YouTube talent who worked with her in her “squad.” This investigation raises a lot of interesting and important questions about the burgeoning social media celebrity industry, and specifically “kidfluencers,” who have operated in a gray area of child labor laws for years. -Emma

We’ve been watching…

In my free moments lately, I’ve been catching up on season 2 of “Abbot Elementary,” which is just such a delightful, perfect network comedy.

Greg and I have also, belatedly, started the newest season of “The Crown,” and are so far a bit perturbed at how well Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and Prince Andrew (three of the worst British men) are coming off. A kind of astonishing number of “isn’t Prince Philip terribly wise?” B-plots this season. Odd! -Claire

“Something From Tiffany’s,” a charming, well-executed modern holiday rom com directed by Daryl Wein, which recently was released on Prime. It stars Zoey Deutch as a (Jewish!) bakery owner named Rachel Meyer and Kendrick Sampson as handsome writer Ethan. After Rachel’s boyfriend is hit by a taxi exiting Tiffany’s and helped by Ethan, who has just purchased an engagement ring at the store, the two end up accidentally switching gift bags. Hijinks ensue, romantic connections are made, the holiday season is bright and merry. This is the best new movie in this genre I have seen in quite awhile and I am so grateful to my dear friend Alison for bringing its existence to my attention. Absolutely recommend. -Emma

We’ve been listening to…

The “Beanie Babies” episode of “You’re Wrong About” with Jamie Loftus, which was bountiful with weird nuggets about the truly strange and unpleasant man behind Beanie Babies, Ty Warner, and also informed me that I was the only kid who, like, played with her Beanie Babies. (I had maybe three of them, and I thought they were so cuddly and fun. I have always lacked the entrepreneurship gene, and occasionally — very occasionally — it saves me from bad investment ideas.) -Claire

The latest episode (#50) of “Heavyweight,” about a man named Nick, grief, music, and the bonds that tie even the most unlikely of friends together. Jonathan Goldstein is just so very good at what he does. -Emma

We’ve been buying…

Leggings and sweaters, as cozy season is here to stay. After several weeks of feeling that none of my sweaters were truly snuggly enough, I just impulsively bought this enormous Everlane cloud turtleneck. For years I’ve gone for lightly cropped sweaters, but I’m honestly tired of trying to make them work with wide-leg jeans for everyday wear: it’s time for leggings and long, blanket-like sweaters. -Claire

I have never been a statement earrings person, in large part because they are heavy and my ears are very sensitive. But my friend Liv turned me on to Hair Candy by Han’s rainbow (shaped) earrings, and I am officially obsessed. Just bought them in Cobalt Black and Champagne, and can’t wait to use these accessories to dress up otherwise casual outfits. -Emma

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[PREVIEW] 'Menorah In The Middle' Tries To Make The Hanukkah Rom-Com Happen Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

Why is it so hard to make a decent holiday rom-com that centers Jews?

That is the topic we are exploring on this week’s podcast as we dive into the absolute student-film-esque mayhem of Hulu’s “Menorah In The Middle.” This Hanukkah romantic comedy follows Sarah (Lucy DeVito, daughter of Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman), as she returns to her hometown of Sol Viejo, California for Hanukkah with her goyishe supervillain boyfriend Chad (inexplicably played by Chilean-American actor Cristián de la Fuente). Her parents’ adorable local bakery is struggling, her cute neighbor Ben (Jonah Platt) is hanging around, and oh, did we mention the intermittent troubadour singing? And the Sarah Silverman cameo?

We were hoping “Menorah In The Middle” would be wacky in a fun and highly watchable way. Unfortunately… it was more of a total mess. Virtually none of the characters act remotely like actual human beings, and the wackiness is more distracting than delightful.

But we still appreciate what the movie was trying to do: create a “holiday time” (i.e. Christmastime) movie that centered Jews as full human beings with their own cultural identity. Hallmark and Lifetime have both tried in the last few years to integrate Jews into their Christmas movie content, with mixed results. It’s hard to do well, in large part because the way we as secular Americans think about “the holidays” is, at its core, centered around Christianity.

And yet, some of the most iconic American Christmas cultural content was created by Jews. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer? A Jewish creation. Jewish composers and songwriters also brought us “Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree,” “Holly Jolly Christmas,” “Let It Snow,” “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and “White Christmas.” (Composer Irving Berlin wrote all of the music for the film “Holiday Inn,” and “White Christmas” was such a breakout that a whole movie was crafted around it.) More recently, Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron, both Jewish, created iconic holiday-centric rom-coms like “When Harry Met Sally,” “Sleepless In Seattle,” and “You’ve Got Mail.”

The point is that Jews have long brought their Jewishness — themes of community, of otherness, of isolation and the ways in which that isolation can be solved by forming new connections — to the entertainment we associate with the holiday season. That’s why we want more (and better!) than “Menorah In The Middle.”

In this episode, we go through all of “Menorah In The Middle’s” completely unhinged details, as well as the bigger themes it brings up. And we rate it out of 10 flaky pieces of rugelach. Hope you enjoy!

Stay tuned: Next week we will be watching and recapping “The Spirit of Christmas,” Emma’s absolute favorite made-for-TV Christmas rom-com.

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We’ve been reading…

We’ve been recording so much in preparation for taking a holiday break that my reading has seriously been lacking. I have however found time to read all of the chatter about Something Navy founder Arielle Charnas and the (somewhat unexciting) Business Insider piece that recently published about her seemingly failing business. Even when I’m exhausted, I love some gossip. -Emma

Like Emma said, it’s been a weirdly hectic month. Holiday movies don’t take exhaustive notes on themselves, as I had imagined! So I am another week closer to self-inflicted illiteracy. I did read some coverage of the dreadful “Twitter Files” threads from the hacks Elon Musk hired to comb through his own company’s internal documents, and Eric Levitz’s New York Mag piece was clarifying and appropriately withering. -Claire

We’ve been watching…

I finally started Netflix’s “Wednesday” after my friend Laura Bassett described it to me as “perfect.” I’m about halfway through and I can attest that it is a very good time. Jenna Ortega is a god damn delight as Wednesday Addams, and I love that Christina Ricci (our OG Wednesday) has a supporting role. It’s creepy and funny and has some of that great teen romance I love. Plus… a murder mystery. What could be more fun? -Emma

I’ve been deep in screener-land (did you know “You” returns to Netflix in February? And “Emily in Paris” in just a couple weeks? *eyes emoji*) whenever I’m not plowing through holiday movies, and boy, is it a festive mixture. I’ve also now reached the point of “Sister Wives” hysteria where I pore through sneak peeks of each episode for signs that Janelle will leave Kody come Sunday. I just want Kody’s dream of being a polygamist patriarch to finally be crushed! -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

The latest season of “Articles of Interest,” which is focused on the history and cultural impact of Ivy style, the forefather of preppy. Avery Trufelman does a fascinating deep dive on the origins and iterations of this style, taking listeners from the docks of New York City to 1960s Japan. She deftly argues that Ivy style, once the uniform of elite male college students at Princeton, has become so ubiquitous that today we simply see these pieces as basics that transcend trend. If you like clothes and history, this pod is absolutely worth a listen. -Emma

I saw that the “If Books Could Kill” pod had launched a Patreon for paywalled episodes about Substacks, so I obviously hit “subscribe” so fast I almost broke a nail. The first episode, about Bari Weiss’s Substack, was a delightfully illuminating conversation about a pundit I had almost managed to forget about, until her abysmal installment of the Twitter Files dropped. -Claire

We’ve been buying…

My favorite wintertime candle, the Apotheke Charcoal candle, which is currently on sale at J.Crew. Trust me, it makes your home smell HEAVENLY. Also, I bought a refill of my favorite concealer, the Ilia True Skin Serum concealer, which I absolutely love for covering up minor blemishes and brightening my under eyes. -Emma

My son celebrates his birthday, Hanukkah, AND Christmas every December, so allow me to recommend the Melissa and Doug tabletop easel, which has made him a very happy almost-three-year-old. I also just replenished the whole family’s winter socks with a shipment from Bombas, and they really do live up to the hype. -Claire

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Our wonderful friend Esmé Weijun Wang, a brilliant writer and teacher, is offering a webinar for writers on December 17 that will help you reflect on 2022 and get ready for 2023 (something we all desperately need right now) and we’re spreading the word! Here’s info about the event:

What’s the difference between stepping into 2023 with a confident, step-by-step, and flexible plan for how to approach your writing life… and spending the new year tangled up in worries about your limitations and tied up in The State of the World Today?
I’m Esmé Weijun Wang and I’m teaching a webinar next month called Looking Back & Intention-Setting for 2023: A Workshop for Writers, and the best thing about it is that it untangles the knots of your weird and wild 2022—and smooths out the confusion about approaching 2023—in one actionable, clearly defined get-together with me and other writers with limitations like you. (Because it’s heart-healing to spend time with other people who understand what it’s like to be overly aware of your body and/or mind.)
You’ll be answering questions about the last year, defining your limitations, and making clear your goals for 2023 so that you can approach the new year with a step-by-step plan that can adjust to flares of illness, unexpected health crises, and… well, the situations that happen in life that make you set up an autoresponder that says, “Due to this thing that I wasn’t expecting, I’m being much slower about emails right now.” And you’ll feel more certain and confident about the year to come, while being sure to look back at exactly what happened in 2022. Because it was a lot!
Whether you’re a successful working writer or someone who wants to write more than you currently do, you’ll reflect and plan for 2022 in a way that hits goals that make sense for your life—and feels as good as a cozy, beautifully knitted shawl.
This workshop taught by Esmé will be at 11 AM PT, December 17, 2022. Learn more, and sign up, right here (https://bit.ly/writers2023).
Bio: Esmé Weijun Wang is a novelist and essayist. She is the author of the New York Times-bestselling essay collection, The Collected Schizophrenias (2019), and a debut novel, The Border of Paradise. She was named by Granta as one of the “Best of Young American Novelists” on its decennial list in 2017 and won the Whiting Award in 2018. Born in the Midwest to Taiwanese parents, she is the founder of The Unexpected Shape™ Writing Academy for ambitious writers living with limitations. She can be found at esmewang.com.

[PREVIEW] We Want A Little More For Christmas Than Freddie Prinze Jr. Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

Another week, another Netflix holiday movie with two dead moms, a daughter who desperately longs for her hot dad to find her a new mom, a privileged princess who learns to be domestic stepmother goddess material… and a former teen idol playing a starring role.

In “Falling for Christmas,” Lindsay Lohan swept us off our feet, reminding us why she was a star to begin with. In “Christmas With You,” ex-heartthrob Freddie Prinze Jr. steps into the crimson glow of the Netflix spotlight. And it’s… fine. It’s really fine. But he’s not really the star. Instead, it’s Aimee Garcia, playing the glamorous (but lonely) pop icon Angelina Costa, who grabs the eye whenever she’s onscreen.

Angelina, a J.Lo-esque diva who hasn’t had a hit — or much inspiration — in a few years, is stunned when her label director Barry insists that she produce a Christmas single in a matter of days. At a creative standstill and humiliated by her rapid fall from grace at the label, Angelina decides she needs to connect with her fans. So she and her manager spontaneously visit a young fan, Christina, who made a video tribute to Angelina and her own late mother. And, believe it or not, they get snowed in! Forced to spend the night with Christina and her adorable music teacher father Miguel (Freddie Prinze Jr.), she quickly connects with Miguel over songwriting and asks him to collaborate on her Christmas track. And maybe… fall in love? Only her PR fauxmance with a hot telenovela star and the demands of her fast-paced entertainment career could possibly stand in the way!

In this episode, we recap every beat of this holiday flick, assess Freddie Prinze Jr.’s hot dad energy (final ruling: let him be dapper before the big gala scene! you’re leaving way too much dapperness on the shelf here!), review Angelina’s music, contemplate how hard it would be to write a pop hit ourselves, and rate the movie out of 10 original holiday bops. Hope you enjoy!

Stay tuned: Next week we will be watching and recapping the Hulu flick “Menorah in the Middle.”

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We’ve been reading…

It has been a truly fallow period in my reading life. I have to admit the thing I’ve spent the most time reading lately is the Sister Wives subreddit, because Kody (the most prominent polygamist follower of the Curly Girl Method) is such a consummate reality TV villain this season that I have succumbed to the troubling urge to read endless threads of people ripping him a new one. Also, the holidays are not a calm time when you have a toddler who was born in December and who celebrates both Hanukkah AND Christmas. Please send me enough focus to read literally five pages of a book this week. -Claire

I just started my bud Kase Wickman’s new book about the history and cultural impact of “Bring It On,” and it is truly so much fun! The title gives you a hint at the upbeat, cheeky and sharp tone of the book: “Bring It On: The Complete Story of the Cheerleading Movie That Changed, Like, Everything (No, Seriously).” -Emma

We’ve been watching…

Now that the election is (mostly) over, my husband and I are occasionally able to squeeze in some TV over dinner. We’ve been alternating “White Lotus” and “Fleishman Is In Trouble,” one of which I feel has grown almost alarmingly lurid (and very impressed with its own freshman-seminar-level insights on gender) and the other of which I find weirdly boring, and yet both of which I absolutely love devouring with a sleeve of cookies. -Claire

It will come as a surprise likely to no one that my boyfriend and I are also watching these same two shows. I am thoroughly enjoying both. I also watched Hallmark’s “Ghosts of Christmas Always,” at the suggestion of Davita in our Substack subscriber chat. It was, as she said it would be, “bewilderingly delightful.” -Emma

We’ve been listening to…

“Crooked City: The Emerald Triangle,” a podcast by a journalist who began investigating after he heard that his high school friend was the main suspect in a brutal murder. The crime took place in a stretch of rural Northern California where massive amounts of marijuana are produced, and the victim and suspects were all involved in the as-yet illegal industry. It’s packed with true crime pod tropes — the purple descriptions, folksy needle drops, even wishful references to being like Hunter S. Thompson — but I have found myself sucked in despite it. -Claire

The “If Books Could Kill” episode about Neil Strauss’ The Game, the book that permanently made “neg” a part of our mainstream vernacular. I continue to love Peter and Michael’s wry observations, and though I would not have immediately thought of The Game as a classic airport book, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. -Emma

We’ve been buying…

The Black Friday sales really did me in… so many purchases, and now so many returns of things that didn’t work. But two pant-set purchases (formal and bedroom casual) made the cut: The posy navy pant and buttondown set from Hill House, and these patterned waffle-knit PJs from Madewell. (Per reviews, I sized up one, and I’m glad I did.) It’s pants season, and I’m ready to have all my limbs covered and cozy. -Claire

I too have been in a frenzy of sorting through deliveries and inevitable returns from my Black Friday blackout. But I did buy two beauty tools that I feel very excited about and will *not* be returning. First, the Shark FlexStyle has truly changed my life. If you haven’t heard about this magical hair tool, it is essentially just the Shark version of the Dyson Airwrap, except instead of $600, it’s between $250 and $280, depending on how many attachments you need. I went with the pick 3 option and got the paddle brush, round brush and curling attachments and holy shit this thing works so well! My hair takes forever to dry and curl, and doesn’t hold a curl well, and this product solves for both of those issues. Of course there’s still a bit of a learning curve involved, and it’s not a 5-minute process, but it dries my hair way faster than other hair dryers and allows me to add some really salon-worthy waves if I want to without using any product.

My second rec for the week is the Solawave. My skin is super reactive, and I have long struggled with adult cystic acne, especially around my periods, so I am always up to try anything that might help me calm that shit down. I got the red light therapy wand which is supposed to target minor wrinkles, fine lines, dark circles, blemishes, and dark spots, and the Bye Acne tool which lets you target small areas on your face where you get frequent breakouts. I have only been using them for about a week, and skin stuff is so hard to review because everyone’s skin is different / I am not an expert, but I do think it’s made a difference. I’ve seen my cystic bumps recede more quickly, and I have also just enjoyed adding something quick and relaxing to my skincare routine. -Emma

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[PREVIEW] 'Falling For Christmas' Brings Lindsay Lohan Back To Us Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

The Lohanaissance has arrived and it feels so good.

For the two of us, Lindsay Lohan was synonymous with the best parts of girlhood when we were growing up. Her bright red hair and visible freckles were icons in their own right. She was there with us navigating sibling relationships (“The Parent Trap”), parental relationships (“Freaky Friday”), and friendships (“Mean Girls”). We grew up alongside Lindsay, and then watched as the media delighted in her fall from grace, her struggles with addiction, her difficult transition from child star to whatever comes next.

But now it’s 2022, and a lot has changed for the women of the “Bimbo Summit.” Britney is free, Paris is bringing awareness to abuses in the “troubled teen industry,” and Lindsay is back on our screens, charming as ever. And we are *extremely* here for it.

“Falling For Christmas” is a delicious candy cane of a movie. It’s the first of Lindsay Lohan’s multi-film deal with Netflix. Lindsay plays spoiled hotel heiress Sierra Belmont, who gets into a ski accident after an engagement shoot with her influencer boyfriend goes very wrong, and wakes up with amnesia. A down-on-his-luck local lodge owner, Jake, takes her in and (duh!) sparks fly as Sierra learns to appreciate the less luxurious things in life.

Is it formulaic? For sure. Full of completely absurd plot holes and details? Absolutely. Is it a whole lot of fun, thanks in large part to Lindsay? Also yes. We had so much fun watching “Falling For Christmas” and discussing it, and we hope you enjoy our chat just as much. Xo

Programming note: We will be taking the week off for Thanksgiving, so no episode next week! We will be back in two weeks.

We’ve been reading…

Jessica Valenti’s terrifying and essential newsletter, Abortion, Every Day by Jessica Valenti. So much is going on in this country that it can be easy to just tune it out for our own self-preservation. Jessica's newsletter tells us not to do that, to stare at the ugliness right in the face, and then figure out what the hell to do about it. -Emma

In what marks a real low point for my reading trajectory, I can’t remember reading anything this week. I must have, right? I’ll read when cold and flue season is over. -Claire

We’ve been watching…

Finally started season two of “White Lotus.” (It is one of the few shows that my boyfriend will happily watch with me, so I like to save it for us to enjoy together.) Sometimes the sophomore season of a buzzy show disappoints. But so far, this season slaps. Some of the themes (like the class divide) remain, but it feels like this season is diving deeper into gender and sexuality. I’m especially loving Meghann Fahy (shout out to my “Bold Type” stans!) and Aubrey Plaza as Daphne and Harper, respectively. Anyone else feel like one of them is going to murder someone? -Emma

“Turning Red,” the 2022 animated movie about Mei Lee, a Chinese-Canadian 13-year-old who has spent her life as the perfect daughter and student — until she starts transforming into a red panda whenever she she feels a strong emotion. The strong aughts energy (it’s 2002 and Mei is a boy band stan) really brings me back to my own adolescence, and it’s a sweet, heartfelt exploration of growing up and exploring your independence. Also, the toddler is home sick again so I’ve watched it around seven times, conservatively. -Claire

We’ve been listening to…

I’ve been really enjoying the first two episodes of the “Infamous” podcast, about Girls Gone Wild and its predatory founder, Joe Francis. Hosted by journalist Vanessa Grigoriadis, who covered Francis in the early aughts, it’s fascinating. -Emma

Nothing new this week, but I do have all the boy band songs from “Turning Red” seared into my brain now. -Claire

We’ve been buying…

Yes, it is the one time a year when all of Hill House goes on a 30% off sale, and yes of course I did purchase this tartan Tatiana skirt and this navy Sylvie sweater dress as a result. (Also… I’ve been *swooning* over their new party platforms.) -Emma

Ugh, yeah, I got the whole family matching PJs, which I guess means I’m now the Instamommy I never dreamed of becoming. I promise not to hire a photographer to take pictures of us having a pillow fight in them. -Claire

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