Weekend Reads #229

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saba benard lioness
Lioness, Saba Taj, 2014

Weekend Reads

Remembering Barbara Walters's glamorous social life. (W)

Your gas stove may be killing you. How much should you worry? (New York Times – gift article)

Induction cooktops and ranges are so good you may not miss your gas appliance. (Consumer Reports)

Facebook and Instagram to restrict advertisers’ access to teenagers’ data. (Guardian)

Here comes the rise of the bestiemoon. (Bustle)

Faux fur is a staple of the fashion industry. But what’s marketed as fake might actually be all too real. (Grid)

Fellow bidet fans, did you know there's a portable option? My husband got me this one for Christmas and I can tell you it works better than any other portable item on the market. Vacation was far more comfortable with it!

And if you're new to bidets, we have this one. The price is great, it's easy to install, and very reliable.

I’m the Prince from ‘Two Princes,’ and I have also written a tell-all. (Washington Post – gift article)

What does it mean to really, truly rest? (Self)

I used to swim in the lake from late April through early November. Now, I revel in doing it year-round, all winter long, embracing what was once unthinkable. It’s now hard to imagine not doing it. (Chicago Sun-Times)

A late person's guide to being on time. (The Cut)

They're vegetarian, but only when they're home. (Bon Appétit)

Do I want this hairdryer? Yes, yes I do.

Men and women asked for raises in 2022 at the same rate, but men were more likely to get them. (CNBC)

How ‘Fleishman Is in Trouble’ made me a more empathic doctor. (Ms.)

How a bit of awe can improve your health. (New York Times – gift article)

Fourteen years after the debut of her Harajuku Lovers fragrance collection, we asked Gwen Stefani about the praise, the backlash, and the lessons she’s brought into her most recent beauty venture. What she said stunned us. (Allure)

Did you know Gap is now available at Amazon?

She's a happiness professor. Her lessons are helping her beat burnout. (Time)

And finally, know that as grown-ass women in a time of fluid fashion, we can wear whatever we damn well please and can ignore trends that do not suit us and still be chic AF. So when articles like this make the rounds, know you don't need to buy a sequin tube top or a corset. That is unless this trend resurgence makes your heart sing. Then rock TF out of that going out top, my friend! (Washington Post – gift article)

Hear/See/Read

so revenge movie poste

Last weekend was my daughter's birthday and as we January babies often do, she got sick. We canceled dinner reservations and she lay on the couch, sad. I said let's watch a movie, and she suggested Do Revenge, a movie on Netflix that is extremely “aesthetic.” Starring Camila Mendes from the CW's show Riverdale, and Maya Hawke who is known for Stranger Things. Maya Hawke is the child of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke and now that you have that intel you totally see it, don't you?

do rvenge style
Camila Mendes and Maya Hawke, in what I'd wear when trying to sneak around, break into a locked greenhouse that contains exactly what you'd think is in a locked greenhouse.

Drea (played by Mendes) was the queen of her fancy-dancy high school until her boyfriend released a personal video of her; suddenly her social standing is destroyed. Eleanor (played by Hawke) is a transfer student who seems oblivious to style and social climbing and has a grudge against a former classmate who destroyed her reputation. The two join forces to “do revenge.”

do revenge feminist
So close to camp, but no cigar.

I think this movie was trying to be more campy but it failed. Aesthetics like But I'm a Cheerleader, wink wink in on the humor of Scary Movie, with teens cosplaying Cruel Intentions yet none of them pushed far enough to make it work. That being said, this movie isn't a fail. We were both entertained (though I fell asleep near the end; come to find out I caught what my daughter had).

do revenge fashion
XOXO, Gossip Girl, West Coast Edition

It isn't as cliche as it feels for the first 60-70% of the film. The twist, along with the fun fashion and lavish homes, made for an enjoyable watch. But like a binged season of Emily in Paris, I don't know if I am any better of a human for watching it, and I don't know if I'll retain a single thing I saw.

For Your Entertainment

sza

I dunno, if I were Solána Imani Rowe (stage name SZA) I'd make a video like this too. She's an extremely popular artist right now (have you heard her song that was in an SNL skit? It was definitely making the rounds on social media last month). She's gorgeous, she's talented, and she's at a point in her career where she can get the money and the team to craft such a well-produced video.

Directed by Christian Breslauer and produced by Luga Podesta, two heavy hitters who have created amazing videos for artists like Lizzo, Lil Nas X, and Jack Harlow, the video for “Kill Bill” pays homage to Tarantino films while letting SZA live out some serious fantasies. She's a badass assassin taught by Vivica A. Fox, she's turned into anime, she gets revenge, she looks hot AF hanging in shibari.

I think of a quote from Schitt's Creek by the character Moira Rose. “Take a thousand, naked pictures of yourself now. You may currently think, “Oh, I'm too spooky.” Or, “Nobody wants to see these tiny boobies.” But, believe me, one day you will look at those photos with much kinder eyes and say, “Dear God, I was a beautiful thing!” That's what SZA did with this video and if I were SZA I'd be doing it too.


A woman with curly hair wearing a plaid blazer holds a green fur coat over her shoulder on a city street.

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8 Comments

  1. Really hard to relate to the happiness professor who can up and take a sabbatical from Yale (and whose husband can apparently take a similar break from his employment) and relocate on Cambridge, MA, to deal with her burnout. If I could just go somewhere for a year with my husband with no financial worries and know we’d have our jobs when we returned, I could probably be a lot happier, too!

  2. I loved the article about cold water swimming. It’s a big thing in my hometown lake (in Vermont) and I got a friend to take me when I was visiting. It’s an incredible feeling at 33F! Burning hot, tingling, totally alive and invigorated feeling to be in water surrounded by ice.
    I’m also always intrigued by bidets but haven’t yet gone there. I think now is the time.

  3. Thanks for posting the article about rest – I needed that!
    Curious about the Gap selling on Amazon…I know they have a partnership with Walmart too. Are they diluting their brand??

  4. I love my Luxe Neo bidet attachment, too, and I was eager to try a portable device. But the one I bought—made in Japan, like your recommendation—came with instructions in Japanese only. Alas, I’m not the sort of person who can look at a gadget and figure it out; I need detailed instructions in a language I understand. I returned the bidet.

  5. You have knocked it out of the park again with this Weekend Reads. What great, diverting, and intriguing information. I especially thought that the pieces on rest, awe, and happiness had so much value.
    Decades ago I was watching a general news show (maybe 60 minutes?) and a reporter interviewed three ministers. What stuck with me was the one guy who said, “You don’t have to go to church once a week, just spend one day a week not shopping.” For some reason that really hit home.
    Not shopping one day a week has become, over time, a day of rest. Once a week. I freely admit it could not be done, at least by me, with young children. But maybe this idea will help someone.
    Really, every single article here was great. Thank you.

  6. That is wild about Gap at Amazon I had no idea. Hair dryers… I am getting the Bellissima Diffon (on amazon). I air-dry my hair most of the time which is not really ideal for me. The main reason is I hate the form factor of a blow dryer with a diffuser attached. I hate taking them out, adding the attachment, the weird way the weight is distributed, and traveling with them. I did not know there was such a thing as just a diffuser. I was all in a panic about how I was going to manage a wash day for my upcoming trip to the arctic in a carry-on. This diffuser looks perfect!

  7. One plus of being fuel-flexible and eating meat when you go out is that it makes it easier to go out.
    Hubs tried being a vegeterian a few years ago and we’d go through so many possible resturants looking for one with good vegeterian options. Many meaty resturants have mundane vegeterian options, and he was forever rejecting places.
    Eventually he switched to a low-meat diet and it’s a lot easier to meet-up with people and go out. If only CVOID hadn’t come along….

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