Jespmas & Its Discontents
In yet another brutal week here in the US of A, we are so relieved to have one truly joyous sentiment with which to open this newsletter: MERRY CARLY RAE JEPSMAS!
Not live footage from inside the Dames Aerie, but not too far off.
For many reasons, this Carly clone food fight from the music video for her newest single “Too Much” looks like an ideal method of celebrating the release of DEDICATED, Carly Rae Jepsen’s first full-length album since 2015’s masterpiece EMOTION. Neither of us have spent enough time with the album to have Thoughts of Value to share about it (presently Dame M’s favorite new song is ALL OF THEM), but we do know this much: in honor of its 15 tracks, we are going to be donating 15% of the newsletter’s income this month to abortion access funds in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Ohio. If you want to follow suit, there is great information about other funds and ways to do so beyond donations to be found here. Our fury and misery about the laws these states have recently passed functionally outlawing abortion is not eloquent— if we felt less, we might be able to talk about it more. But Dame Sophie does have one plea to make to those of you with more capacity to address it:
One of the things I most hate to see following the passage of these draconian laws all but outlawing abortion are the reflexive calls to let those states secede or for us to amputate them at the federal level. I’m going to take this opportunity as a former espouser of that opinion to say that I now think it’s a horrible thing to say or think, even as a bleakly humorous howl of pain. First of all, most residents of even our reddest states don’t favor outlawing abortion. Why are we even talking about leaving 75% of them behind? That’s cruel garbage. Secondly, we’re in this fight together, and that is the only way we’re going to make it out. Some people aren’t going to survive these laws. Some people— too many— have already lost their lives due to bad, inhumane policies that bad actors keep enacting. Unsurprisingly, the people most affected by these laws are poor women of color.
I think often about how, even when abortion was fully outlawed nationally in this country, both my great-grandmother and grandmother were able to procure safe abortions, because they had money and connections and access to white middle class-ness. In their memories, and in solidarity with every person with a uterus who does not have that kind of privilege here in 2019, I won’t countenance even the mildest jokes about turning our backs on anyone else who might be left behind by these laws, and I ask you not to tolerate them, either.
Dame Margaret’s Nouveau Riche Affectations
This scene will always be the first thing that comes to mind anytime someone mentions tennis lessons.
Much to my surprise, the best thing I read this week was about tennis lessons, specifically ones taken up in adulthood as a late-in-life attempt to learn the pleasure of being mediocre. Written by Laura Lippman, long a favorite Twitter follow of mine, this essay is full of both laugh-out-loud lines (“Muscle memory is real, and most of my muscles have no memories”) and painfully relatable observations about how difficult it is to persevere at something when (1) excellence eludes you and (2) you’re incredibly competitive. Lippman is a former Baltimore Sun reporter and present award-winning mystery author— if you have any recommendations about where in her sizeable oeuvre I should dive in, please DO @ me. Barring any guidance, I may start with her forthcoming noir Lady in the Lake, as the excerpt shared here is quite tantalizing.
While we’re on the subject of things famously affiliated with rich people, did you know that seersucker, the sartorial embodiment of people who use summer as a verb, was initially considered a working-class fabric? Its trajectory from engineers’ uniforms to monied leisurewear is traced in this terrific piece from the late, lamented fashion website Racked, authored by another of my favorite Twitter follows, Tom Ripley replicant John Leavitt.
Following along naturally from seersucker, let us now delve into Southern lawyers, and why The Undefeated’s Soraya McDonald is relieved that Aaron Sorkin’s new adaptation of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ did not receive a Tony nomination for best play. It is both a trenchant piece of criticism on how Mockingbird frames racism, inaccurately, as an issue with “Those Racists Over There” rather than systematic oppression that permeates all levels of our society, and an informational listing of all the shows that were nominated for Tonys— a group which includes my eternal beloved, the folk opera Hadestown, in a truly gratifying number of categories.
And one more brief bulletin pertaining to summer: a new Korean sunscreen variety with which skincare expert Rio Viera-Newton has fallen deeply in love is 25% off on the website YesStyle through Sunday, along with a lot of other Korean skincare mainstays like Laneige’s Lip Sleeping Mask, Dr. Jart’s Cicapair Re-Cover, and Son & Park’s Beauty Water toner. This seemed like information MANY of you would relish.
Quite unrelated to all of the above, one of my favorite songs of all-time, “Your Ex-Lover is Dead” by Stars, has just turned 15, which led to this glorious back and forth wherein the CBC Music’s Melody Lau and Andrea Warner dissect its unique excellence. I was so moved by this piece that I stopped listening to Carly to play through the album where the song originated, Set Yourself on Fire and, guess what? It’s still great. Whether it’s an old favorite or a new friend, I recommend making its acquaintance.
And finally, please join me in delighting in the following news: the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. was just gifted a collection of more than 3,000 miniature souvenir buildings, including lipstick case modeled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa pictured below. I am making plans to visit this collection as soon as possible and I must assume that many of you will find yourself possessed of a similar need.
I have no words to express how deeply I covet this lipstick case.
Dame Sophie’s Even More Beatlemaniacal Than Usual Reflections
(After A Bit of Non-Spoilery Fleabag Yelling)
Mmm. And as you know, only love can break your heart. Don’t say I didn’t, say I didn’t warn yaaaaaa
Today, I indulged in a tiny bit of unemployment privilege by gulping down all of Fleabag Season 2 (and applied for a job, too, don’t you worry, State Department of Labor!!) and now I don’t want to talk about anything else but Fleabag Season 2 but hardly anyone in the US has been so foolish as I am and now I have to wait until the rest of you watch it and I hate waiting. It spoils nothing to say that as good as Season 1 was, Season 2 is even better. Phoebe Waller-Bridge gives every actor more nuances and complexities to work with, and boy do they ever rise to the occasion. This is such an act of writerly generosity, while also suggesting that Fleabag herself has more psychological bandwidth this season to notice and process others’ emotional states.
Remember how wildly profane Season 1 was? Season 2 leans way into that vibe while also making plenty of space for several types of sacredness, too, and you know how I love that juxtaposition of moods. I bow down before Waller-Bridge’s ability to write scenes that turn on a dime from hilarity to devastating poignancy and back again and then back another time. Treasured DamesPal & literal Doctor of Television Kathryn VanArendonk has a whole folder of S2 gifs ready to go for various reviews & thinkpieces and you’d better believe that I nudged her to send me a couple of them for your enjoyment & edification. So! Please, I beg you for your own good, watch Season 2 of Fleabag as soon as possible and come yell with me about it. If you watched Season 1 more than 6 months ago, definitely rewatch! The reinvestment of those three hours will pay some top-quality plotting & character development dividends.
I need to read at least 750 words on Fiona Shaw’s wardrobe and whether that magnificent ring is from her own collection
They wanna hold your hand
This week, K-pop sensations BTS continued their steady takeover of American airwaves and hearts by appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. They sat for a charming interview and then staged a performance/tribute to the Beatles’ first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show that was so apt, so adorable and well-executed that it should be categorized as a weapon. “Boy With Luv” is also a banger. I’d bet you anything that Sir Paul has watched this performance at least 5 times and loves it.
Speaking of the Beatles! Tangentially! I did a little Royal Baby round-up for paid subscribers last week when young Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor was born and even created a 6-song playlist which features both good songs and me being an unbearable Clever Dick about my unshakeable belief that the wee Sussex princeling’s parents both watch Riverdale and correctly embrace George Harrison as their favorite Beatle.
Summer is on its way, and with it, many many wannabe action movie blockbusters. I love a good shoot-em-up, but always want to make time & space for small & mid-range movies, sooooo here’s a round-up of my favorite movie trailers of the week:
Ali Wong’s romantic comedy for Netflix, Always Be My Maybe, makes some big promises in both the romance and comedy departments, and features a perfectly revealed casting twist at the end that made me (along with all of Twitter) shout “Oh my GOD ARE YOU KIDDING???” What a delight!
Blinded By The Light, directed by Gurinder Chadha, who also gave the world Bend it Like Beckham, was made in a lab for me. It’s about a Pakistani-British kid in the 80s whose friend turns him on to the genius of Bruce Springsteen. I mean. The second “Dancing in the Dark” comes on, I started crying & did not stop. There’s a moment in the trailer where the protagonist unfurls a black-and-white poster of Bruce and I hollered “I KNOW WHERE THAT HOUSE IS!!!!” (I do, it’s in my hometown & is now also the cover art for his memoir). This Jersey Girl can’t wait for August 14 & just hopes that the sublimely silly/moving Yesterday is out at the same time because what a perfect double feature that would be.
Charlie Says is about the Manson Family and their heinous crimes, and will be focusing on the experiences of the women he inveigled into his supremely messed-up cult of personality. The cast, writer, and director are all top-notch and I’m going to re-listen to the 10-episode season about Charles Manson’s Hollywood on You Must Remember This to prepare.
A funny and sad multi-generational tale about family and love and grief and living across two cultures? My butt is already in a seat for The Farewell.
You may know Drew Magary as the author of the howlingly funny annual takedown of the Williams-Sonoma Christmas Catalog. In December, I waited & waited, and eventually became mildly irritated, and then quite worried, when this beloved feature of the holiday season did not appear, and then Christmas came and went, and still it had not appeared. Turns out Drew had a massive brain hemorrhage following the Deadspin Awards party and was in a medically-induced coma for two weeks before waking up & needing to do things like learn how to walk all over again. It’s a miracle he’s alive, and his account of what he and his family experienced, and his incredible good fortune in having really observant colleagues there when his brain went kaflooey, is the best thing I’ve read this week.
And finally, back to a serious note with a shout-out to the young Methodists in Omaha who refused confirmation in their congregation because they disagree so strongly with the Methodist Church’s refusal to affirm and embrace its LGBTQIA+ members. As noted above, I hate it when fellow lefties talk trash about flyover states & substantive glimmers of hope like this are exactly why. Things are bad now. They’re bad, they’ve been bad, they are getting appreciably worse. But as I like to chronicle every week here, not everything is garbage, and like one of our greatest singers, I really do believe the children are our future, whether they’re talking to us from Queens or Omaha or Boise.
As someone who gets emotional about fonts, I appreciate the attention to detail here
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