Weekend Reads for the Long Holiday Weekend

Weekend Reads

The wellness influencer universe is resonating with people who might not otherwise be drawn to politics. (New York Times – gift link)

How I learned to love my body—especially in the summer. (Time)

Lululemon sues Costco over selling alleged dupes. (NBC News)

We’re offloading mental tasks to AI. It could be making us stupid. (Salon)

What happens when a fetish goes mainstream? (Dazed)

That dropped call with customer service? It was on purpose. (The Atlantic – gift link)

Erasing my mother's face. (Marie Claire)

A clear formula is emerging to rehabilitate certain men of #MeToo. (Slate)

The Washington Post is running out of readers willing to pay. (Forbes)

The mysterious billionaire behind the OnlyFans porn empire. (Wall Street Journal – gift link)

ADHD and menopause: What we know and what we're learning. (The Vajenda on Substack)

Introducing messaging and highlighted perspectives on Threads. (Meta)

Are you just tired or just truly burned out? (Time)

A conversation with the Dropkick Murphys front man about punk, politics, and the president. (The Atlantic – gift link)

Thank you, Linda (and Julie!), for sending this my way! Why 50,000 iconic French shirts, intended for America, sit in storage. (New York Times – gift link)

And for my local yokels… Rock radio station WRNR set to return to Annapolis air waves in July. (Capital Gazette)

See/Hear/Read

This was a busy week, and I didn't watch any movies. Just a few more episodes of The Bear (looove) and Nine Perfect Strangers (weird but still intrigued) on Hulu, and Murderbot (AppleTV), which is still awesome.

I finished Cleopatra and Frankenstein from Coco Mellors. It's a long book, and I listened to it, so I feel attached to it like one does after watching an entire season or two of a show within a short span of time. But honestly, I was underwhelmed.

Cleo is a 20-something Brit in NYC. She's a pale blonde artist. Frank is a 40-something original New Yorker who works in advertising. The two get together one New Year's Eve, and we travel through a year or so… I couldn't recall the amount of time, but it wasn't terribly long, though.

Cleo is pale. Her lashes are pale. Her hair is pale. Her small but perfect breasts are pale and a perfect place to snort a line of coke. Frank drinks a lot and talks a lot and seems to have a good amount of money.

Frank has a half-sister named Zoe who looks nothing like him and is far closer in age to Cleo than Frank. All of Cleo and Frank's friends and coworkers are like characters from movies already produced 20 years ago. Nothing feels fresh other than Cleo's art, which was so well described that I felt I could truly envision it.

Cleopatra and Frankenstein was… fine. Mellors' book, Blue Sisters, was better. I need a new audiobook. Suggestions?

Also looking for suggestions for an audiobook for an upcoming road trip with our teen daughter, my husband, my sister, and our two pups. Maybe something that takes place in Buffalo, New York, western Massachusetts, or Niagara Falls?

For Your Entertainment

Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny's music video for his song, “NUEVAYoL” was released yesterday, July 4th. The 4th of July is a day when we in the United States have celebrated the birth of our country and independence from England, yet Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory under U.S. law, doesn't have the right to vote or representation in Congress.

Genius has the lyrics of “NUEVAYoL” translated into English for us non-Spanish-speaking Americans, and I have some below with links to learn more about the references. BTW, some background for the song title. And per this article at lohud, “The track, NUEVAYol, opens with a direct sample of ‘Un Verano en Nueva York‘, a 1975 salsa classic [by El Gran Combo] that references an experience common among many Puerto Ricans back in the day: leaving la Isla del Encanto for a summer stay in New York City.”

If you wanna have fun
With charm and delight
You just have to live (Where?)
A summer in New York (New York!)
If you wanna have fun
With charm and delight (But what's this?)
You just have to live (And this cold?)
A summer in New York (Just for a bit)

Hey, hey, hey, July 4th, 4th of July
I'm hanging out drunk with my cousin, feeling fly
My people in The Bronx know what's up
Buzzing high over in Washington Heights
Willie Colón, they call me “The Bad One,” hey
‘Cause the years go by and I'm still hitting hard
Selling albums like Frida Kahlo paintings
The coke is white, yeah, yeah, the 2CB‘s pink, eh-eh
Don't get it twisted, no, no, better avoid it, hey (Hey)
A shot of rum at Toñita‘s house and Puerto Rico feels so close
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like a championship, nobody can take it from me

The best in the world
Number one, the best in the world, okay? Puerto Rico!

I feel like Lápiz in “Capea El Dough“
When I was born, that's when flow was born
With a silencer, we steal the girls, James Bond, hey
I'm in my zone, I've got no rival, no
With the Yankees and the Mets, Juan Soto