Pop Culture Care Package Pt. 17: A Stroll Down Memory Lane
Things we've loved & shared this week, 2015-2019
Dames Nation, it’s Sunday night in the US of A, and I have fully procrasti-cooked my way into forgetting that I was meant to write something today. WHOOPS.
You know what we have a lot of here in the Dames Aerie? Back-issues. You know what they contain? Great content I have so long forgotten about that it may as well be new! So I’m spelunking in the archives & bringing back some vintage treasures for you.
Enjoy, and may we all continue safe, healthy, and strong for at least another week. Dame Margaret & I will be here to share interesting & lovely things with you on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
From 2015, Laughs and Shaking a Tail Feather
Bar Fight Insults as Academic Papers: “Leisure Activity as Identity in the Modern West: Asking Whether You Even Fucking Lift”. Still very chuckle-worthy after all these years.
Just TRY to watch this dance-in-the-movies compilation video of Walk The Moon’s “Shut Up and Dance” without leaping up to shake your own tail feather, via our friend Angie, who always finds these things a moment or two before we find ourselves in desperate need of them!
From 2016’s Biggest Cultural Crossover Event
We were very excited to announce that we would be doing a hosting & writing switcheroo with our darling pals Craig & Andrew of Overdue fame. We took over their show so Dame Margaret could rant to me about V.C. Andrews’ iconic 80s trash classic Flowers in The Attic and I had an absolute ball, while also trying not to flash back to my own experience of reading the entire Dollanganger series in middle school (as well as the first two Heaven books and the truly bonkers My Sweet Audrina, which I later ranted about in turn on our brilliant chums’ Renata & Kait’s podcast, The Worst Bestellers).
From 2017’s Work Of Powerful Pop Crush Mysticism
Aw, it’s the first time I ever wrote about Harry Styles for TBD, which prompted beloved Kathryn to curse my very name (is there a higher compliment to an influencer? Surely not), and so many of you to fall under the spell of One Direction and the lads’ subsequent solo careers.
You’re welcome!!!
From 2018, You Know, Loving Pop Music Is A Real Mixed Bag Sometimes
A brilliant and painful self-own occurred to me that week in conversation with my friend Joslyn. One of my favorite feelings that listening to music elicits is saudade, which I’ve yelled about here before. What if part of what I love so much about One Direction is that they’re gone, and (whispers) maybe never coming back? What if that’s the most acute & profound part of what I love so much about the Beatles? What if what I love so much about books like Persuasion is the delicious agony of worry that Anne & Captain Wentworth won’t reconcile (while having the comforting reassurance that they definitely will)? 2020 Dame Sophie can only say, well, what of it? Surely, this type of self-understanding is a good thing!
From 2019, A Shoppers’ Alert
Dermstore hacks from our If We Were Writers For The Strategist issue. You may want to hold off on placing an order until we’re out of self-isolating territory, but at minimum, file this info away for later: as someone who strongly prioritizes skincare over makeup, Dermstore has replaced Sephora as my go-to source for good deals on great products, especially using their Subscription service and their Favorites feature. If you sign up for a subscription of regular deliveries of certain products (usually items from pricier brands like Deva Curl, Dr. Dennis Gross, and Paula’s Choice), your monthly, bimonthly, or quarterly purchases of those items are always 15% off. That’s better than waiting for one of Sephora’s two big sales.
I recently learned that if you add items from more moderately-priced brands like La Roche-Posay, Weleda, or COSRX to your favorites and then order them by clicking on the link to each item from within your favorites, you get 10% off. Dermstore’s regular pricing is on par with what I find at Amazon, Target, and CVS, so yes, I will happily take an extra 10% off my favorite cleanser (which is both a straight-up better cleanser and considerably more reasonably priced than Glossier’s Milky Jelly Cleanser). You can’t stack these with sales (I have tried & failed, but if you know a way, I am all ears) but you can redeem your points on the 10% off purchases from your Favorites. I’ve noticed that my points accrue much more quickly at Dermstore than at Sephora, which is another detail in their favor.
Goodniiiiiiight! Dame Margaret will be gracing your inboxes again tomorrow!