(Don't) Turn the TV Off
Sterling K. Brown and Dan Fogelman mess with our heads in 'Paradise' (complimentary). FireAid rocks the USA. Mr. Styles turns 31. Netflix f*cks with 'Little House on the Prairie' + more.
Hi hi.
We did it. January ended. Yes, this is what it still feels like.
But we did it—and that’s not nothing.
Let’s just hope we don’t get persistent “Mondays stuck in an endless February” energy from the month ahead.
This is why we must celebrate the gifts that February 1 brings us. Rage, rage against the dying of the light!
Today, a certain British man/fruit witch I like just a wee bit turned 31—a number of much significance in my life. Happiest Harry Day to my Coven of Psychos + everyone else who celebrates 🕺
As I said on social, I’m missing the days when we used to celebrate such milestones1 together. I posit that a Harryween 2025 in celebration of whatever magic he’s crafting for HS4 would be a great time to revive this tradition.
The first and only birthday show he’s ever played was glorious and of course I had to relive it all this morning. I will forever be the person who does, in fact, rewatch every last one of her shittily-filmed2 concert videos over and over again.
You’ll always be famous, Palm Springs N2.
I realized I never ordered any of Brooke’s prints Palm Springs and the final LA shows. This will be rectified immediately so they can be added to the stack of about 30 various pieces I need to get framed3.
I miss this so gd much.
HBD, H 🍌🍒🍇🍉🥝🍓🍋🎂🎈
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It’s the first day of Black History Month, racists and fascists be damned.
White people, a reminder we shouldn’t continue to need, and yet…
Don’t try to outsource your continuing education to the Black people in your life and ease off on the centering of whiteness and the need to shout “NOT ME I’M NOT ONE OF THE BAD ONES!!!!!”
It’s Pro Bowl weekend, which is basically a meh. But I love my Manning brothers and anything that allows for more Joe Burrow content.
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IT’S DUKE-UNC DAY!!!!!!
At Cameron. Tonight.
Our blue is ABSOLUTELY better and we are overdue for a W in this storied rivalry. It truly never disappoints, even when one of us is having a garbage season. I will be pacing furiously around my apartment as soon as the ball tips4.
It feels appropriate that I started this podcast earlier in the week on my way down to Bloomington for class. (There’s only one ep up so far.)
And I’m certainly into this being the foundational energy in the building today. Get after it, Crazies.
If you haven’t watched Cooper Flagg hoop yet, I highly recommend it. I hope he balls the fuck out this evening5.
GTHC, GTH!6
Something’s Lost, But Something’s Gained
The FireAid shows on Thursday night were absolutely incredible. I was riveted and emotional and so happy for everyone who got to experience that in person as a release from all they’ve been living through these past few weeks.
Some of the moments that got me real good.
Joni’s “Both Sides Now”
Duh. Full weeping. Again.7
Stephen Stills + Graham Nash reuniting for “Teach Your Children”
I got close enough to my wish from a couple weeks ago.
Dawes, Stills & Nash mini-tour or residency when????
Also…
Pink’s “Me & Bobby McGee”
This cover took me OUT. Obsessed.
A surprise Nirvana reunion with Kim Gordon, St. Vincent, Joan Jett, and Violet Grohl8
Gwen Stefani (No Doubt Version)
This is the Gwen I enjoy so very much.
Gracie Abrams + Aaron Dessner’s “A Long December”
Anderson Paak, Dr. Dre, and Sheila E. dominance.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
Ally Maine at the piano
Or Lady Gaga doing two bangers from A Star Is Born and a new song she and her fiancé wrote just for the benefit. I’m so excited for a new Gaga album, but was also taken back to the time when ASIB and the soundtrack were my whole personality for a minute.
Honorable Mentions:
Gracie + Olivia photo op.
IYKYK re: reasons this friendship might have been rocky for a bit. But they’re two born and bred LA girlies and dumb stuff about a boy (maybe!9) is nothing when you’re hometown is in need.
Jessica Simpson liking this video of John Mayer’s “Free Fallin’” performance10.
JM was awesome, as he typically is. I have a complicated relationship with that man, but the music is never the issue.
This kind sweetie with all the Big Feelings™ meeting Katy Perry
You can find the whole setlist here and the full show in a number of places online. It’s all just fabulous.
Screen Time
So what else have my tired eyes taken in of late?
Paradise (Hulu)
My friend Sarah texted me to make sure I was all over the latest from Dan Fogelman, creator of This Is Us, as soon as the first three eps became available on Hulu. She’d seen a larger chunk of the season thanks to screeners and was all in. I trust her taste implicitly and she was CORRECT. I am obsessed and have texted some of you directly to make sure you’re getting on board.
This is the kind of well-done network drama that gets me so excited and I think it’s very much the energy we need right now. Don’t let the word “political” turn you off. It’s still escapist.
I don’t want to say too much because…reasons. But think political thriller that isn’t just a straight political thriller—and also brilliantly weaves in grief and emotion so beautifully. In that Dan Fogelman way.
Sterling K. Brown is a Secret Service agent, and as impeccable as ever. I love him so much. That man never misses and is filled with charm. James Marsden is the president and I love seeing him in good projects. Julianne Nicholson is another one who is just consistently excellent. In Paradise, she plays the world’s richest self-made woman.
Please join me. I feel like this is one we’re all going to want to discuss together.
Watson (CBS)
I love a network procedural when it’s done well. I’m not sure I’m fully sold on Watson or even how I landed on this pilot. But I’m definitely doing to check out more. I guess I’d call it House, but with a Sherlock Holmes framework. So it’s Dr. Watson with a backstory about going off a bridge into the water after he ran away to solve mysteries with Sherlock Holmes…I think?
Oh, and the doc is played Morris Chestnut. He remains ridiculous handsome.
Now, I don’t really know a lot of Holmesian lore nor have I ever been into a ton of Sherlock content, including the original IP. So maybe some of these updates are very obvious to those in the know.
We’re led to believe Sherlock is dead (I bet he’s not, guys 😉) an in the will has funded a rare disease clinic for Watson to run, alongside his own Pennyworth type person (who might also be betraying him?) And Watson hires outcasts…who maybe have personality disorders?
I know Moriarty is a Holmes villain and he’s here too. There’s also a ex-Mrs. Watson who is also a doctor and likes to operate to “Rainbow” by Kacey Musgraves.
Sidebar: Kacey dropped a little mini doc about the making of Deeper Well ahead of tomorrow night’s Grammys.
The Hunting Party
Continuing on our journey of the new network pilots, I also watched this one about a jailbreak from a top-secret prison filled with serial killers. A team of agents has to track them down, natch.
Our main girlie is Michaela (Melissa Roxburgh) from Manifest, that airplane mystery show that wanted to fill the Lost-sized hole in America, failed, and still had me watching from the original NBC pilot through its back from the dead thanks to Netflix era to finish its run. She was a cop on that one too, so I guess she just plays law enforcement?
Sartorial Snacks
A few fashion moments of note this week. Will this be a new franchise that I use with fairly regular consistency for at least a few months before I drop it without realizing I’ve done so? Maybe. Lolz. At least I know myself. Even if I can’t explain myself.
Alessandro Michele’s first Valentino couture collection
I love it. This should not be a shock to anyone. I will once again remind people that literacy matters in fashion too.
Here’s what I wrote when he surprised us with that first giant batch at the house. I think a lot of this sentiment continues to hold true for his first couture showing.
You can peruse Twitter or, more likely, the comments section of any fashion IG post about the new pieces and you’ll find a lot of people thinking they’re the first ones to make a “Vucci” joke and lamenting the end of a famous house, etc etc.
I think a lot of these criticisms were missing something in their knee-jerk analysis (shocker!). Now, I realize I’m extremely in the bag for Alessandro and his general aesthetic. I always have been6, so I am predisposed to like what he designs wherever he designs it because his inherent personal taste/eye/philosophy/whatever you want to call it really shines through in everything he does. To that end, I don’t think Valentino was under any impression that Alessandro wasn’t going to Alessandro all over the brand. But that’s just my personal POV.
One can hate/dislike/critique the collection for any reason one wants to. It’s fashion. It’s art. It’s subjective. There are many arguments that you could make about why this isn’t working for you—and you could start with how MUCH is being shown. Fair! It’s excessive in a very Alessandro (and Abby) way, but I get that.
To me, claiming that there’s nothing Valentino in it means you don’t know enough fashion history. I’m no fashion historian or proper critic, though we know I believe deeply in understanding context and history before wildly running your mouth about something as if you’re an expert. It definitely doesn’t look like Pierpaolo’s Valentino, which wasn’t always my personal taste, but was work I often found quite beautiful and significant.
We must also remember that this is couture, not RTW. I think it’s fucking stunning.
My first thought was that this was some version of me, as a couture Alessandro creation.
You can see the whole collection on Vogue.
These are some of the older Valentino vibes that I felt pulsing through this heightened collection.
Quilted “clashing” patterns and such are always going to be a yes for me.
Zoe Kravitz at YSL
This is perfect, down to the surprise pops of color on the shoes. Anthony Vaccarello and YSL continue to crush it.
Katie’s backward button-down at Patou
Need. Want.
David Beckham for Boss
Yeah, that’ll do.
Gap Vintage
As a self-appointed, unpaid Gap influencer who’s been telling everyone this brand is back for a few years now, I am very into this situation.
Nicky Campbell + Jenna Lyons looking back at some of her fashions11
Ick Me Once
So many things are icky in America right now, but we’re going to continue to stay on the lighter side of things.
Ever wonder how to enrage women in their 40s in an instant…fuck with our beloved Little House on the Prairie. Netflix, you keep your poorly lit paws off of Pa and Ma and Half Pint and Mary and her blind school teacher-turned-husband who I had a crush on as a child.
Gen X Moment of Zen
A palate cleanser, made even more entertaining when you picture me trying to learn the choreo.
Oh, and…
Top Chef is back on March 22. Thank god. That show is very soothing for me, even when the chefs are frantic … Paulina Porizkova is back at Estée Lauder. Perhaps my dad’s favorite celeb sighting ever was when my parents were visiting LA (both my sister and I were living there) and we saw Paulina and Ric Ocasek—and I think their kids—at dinner. Big fans of both The Cars and Her Alibi in our household growing up, lol.(Also, shout out Jar and the extremely aughts hat era I was in circa 2005, which was on display that night!) … I would very much like to see Babbo and Lupa rise to gastro glory again … Okay, Harrison Ford … Nothing will make me leave you, Diet Coke … Is it Fever season yet? We resigned Kelsey Mitchell and Caitlin told the NBA that she’d be saving her talents and clout for the WNBA All-Star Game in Indy later this year. They’ll have to find their All-Star ratings boost elsewhere—which is NOT the wording she used, but it was implied and baller.
Until next time, the icon Marianne Faithfull, who died this week at the age of 78. RIP to one of the coolest people who’s ever lived.
xA
Two of my birthdays and one of his, to be precise.
I will give myself credit for improving drastically over the past few years on the road 😉
Insert your own Seinfeldian rant here about how fucking expensive framing is.
Update: Not having to pace is GREAT. This is going v. well.
WE LOVED THE FIRST HALF!
“Go to hell, Carolina. Go to hell!”
See also: Stevie + “Landslide”
Is there a cynical read of Dave Grohl back in front of a big ole broadcast audience with female leads? I guess maybe, but I’m gonna leave it back in the corner of my brain along with the sound issues they had.
I have a very good source on my intel and I’ll leave it at that.
Dave Matthews had to drop out due to a family illness. Hoping all is okay on that front.
For the record, I loooooooove her Balenciaga reunion robe and head wrap.
Love that you still ride for network procedurals. They are my favorites for my treadmill walks. May I recommend Will Trent on ABC? I think it’s actually pretty good! Also the two enola holmes movies on Netflix are great plane movies!