Okay so— unsurprisingly— asking you guys to send in your Guaranteed Seratonin Booster videos was an inspired choice because, Dames Nation??? You have great taste.
This video was submitted by someone who does not request attribution, they “just want people to see a grown adult be excited about nature and his job.” And I want the same thing for you, friends, because this video made my whole face light up. THUNDERSNOW!!!! Who would have thought??
And if you could read the following description (submitted by a different Margaret, whom you can follow @m_frainier on Twitter) and not immediately click through to watch, well, you’re no kin of mine.
Frankly, it's astonishing this video has only 565,640 views. This is a masterpiece of perfectly edited scenes from various (mainly BBC) period dramas, set to the evergreen 1983 disco hit "It's Raining Men". This video has EVERYTHING - duelling men in billowy white shirts! Regency-era miscommunications! Kate Winslet sobbing in the rain! Not one but TWO Mr. Darcys! If there isn't time for the full serotonin reset that is watching an entire miniseries/film, and you need a mood-lifting boost fast, this video will do the trick in less than five minutes. It has been a permanent part of my bookmarks folder for many years, and I heartily recommend it to Dames Nation.
God, I love the overly literal editing of early era fan videos. A lost art!! The submission form will be open indefinitely and Sophie and I will be sharing these videos a couple at a time over as many issues as we can.
Dame Margaret’s Emotional Flotation Devices
I have to admit: I read this tweet and I couldn’t even retweet it, it seemed too arrogant. Lately, my performance as a high-functioning human in a crumbling society is like… barely worthy of a Golden Globes nomination. I think I’m just barely managing Best Performance as a High-Functioning Human (Comedy/Musical), but even then we’re all pretty sure it’s one of those nominations that’s the result of behind-the-scenes bribery. AND EVEN THAT FEELS LIKE A MASSIVE ACCOMPLISHMENT, TBQH! Here are a few of the things that are keeping me just barely worthy of metaphorical, possibly corrupt attention from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association:
After reading about it years ago and thinking “Huh, wow, that sounds pretty good and not terribly unhealthy??? And easy enough that even I could make it?”, I finally actually made Helen Rosner’s semi-famous Roberto soupand I am here to tell you, the lady was not kidding when she called it life-changing. Especially if you get your kale pre-washed and torn, Roberto is a breeze to put together and a genuine joy to consume. My modifications (evidence I am a Real Cook): (1) despite Helen’s warning, I went ahead and used pork sausage and had no grease issues and (2) rather than choosing between a base of either broth or water and wine, I opted for four cups of broth and one of white wine (Bota Box Sauvignon Blanc, to be exact, following a one-cup-for-the-pot-and-one-for-the-chef model I highly recommend) and in my opinion, it is perfect. Having this in the house has made me 66.7% more likely to remember to eat lunch!
After finding myself embarrassingly winded while biking up a hill I would previously have characterized as “mild” en route to a friend’s house a couple weeks ago, I realized that quarantine may actually have left me too indolent. So I have been making a concerted attempt to build more deliberate physical activity into my life and I have found one method I think I really like: Dance Church. Much as music is the only way I can trick myself into doing chores, cooking, or showering, I knew music would be a great way to trick myself into exercising. The problem is most music exercise classes think I can do both choreography and unfamiliar exercise moves simultaneously and reader? I sure as hell cannot. Dance Church, conversely, does a great job of convincing me I’m just casually bopping around to some music but suddenly I’m doing high knees and wow I’m really sweating huh??? If you, like me, are looking for something that will get you moving rather than make you self conscious, I highly recommend it.
I also highly recommend this 36-color set of Zebra Clickart Knock Sign pens. Their 36 colors: vibrant! Their felt-tips: sturdy and an excellent medium width! Their clicking mechanism: intensely satisfying. Best of all, they aren’t expensive enough to seem like a WILD indulgence, but at $38 they cost just enough to qualify you for free shipping from Jet Pens Dot Com, the best website on the internet.
Perhaps most important to preserving my sanity, I decided twinkle lights season was NOT allowed to end when my Christmas tree went out, so I bought a metallic pink tinsel tree to be my Valentine’s Conifer. She has been christened, by my genius friends, Branch Devereaux. Coming up with decorations and traditions around my Valentine’s Conifer is exactly the sort of low-stakes frippery my life needed most at present and I am determined to make this a MOVEMENT. There are twenty-two 3-foot tinsel trees still remaining at the website where I found mine. Come. Join me in my willfully constructed festivity. I am printing out pictures of all my highest quality crush objects and Modge Podging them into ornaments for the tree this weekend. It’s going to be glorious.
And finally, because I do not want to burn myself out on the perfection that is Dua Lipa’s Tiny Desk (from Home) Concert, I have branched out a little and tried Chloe x Halle’s. I am here to declare: this shit’s great and these young women have the voices of angels.
Two Bossy Dames is brought to you by:
Annie Hathaway swathed in an array of metallic fabrics!
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