Potluck Thoughts
What’s been on my mind —
Comfort Food
Mid-November is when I start transitioning from depressed, horror goth to melancholy, rom-com nerd. I’ve already told some of my close friends about this particular recommendation, but I wanted to put it out there to the masses: Starstruck on HBOMax is a must watch series for rom-com enthusiast.
It’s British. It’s short. It’s funny. It’s hot. It’s wholesome. It is the perfect show to watch over the course of the evening in a pair of your loosest fitting pants after your third Friendsgiving of the month.
Just this caption from Britney Spears
All Too Well
I know I don’t have to tell you this, but Taylor Swift released her version of Red at the end of last week, and a bunch of women between the ages of 25 and 35 lost their collective sh*t. The rerelease included the holy grail TSwift track—the ten minute version of “All Too Well”.
Don’t worry, I am not going to Ted Talk about the personal and cultural importance of this particular album or track, but I do want to direct your attention to Swift’s SNL performance over the weekend. It is one of her best live performances, and it has a bewitching quality to it.
This line from Sally Rooney
I finished Beautiful World, Where Are You Sunday night, and though I do not considered this her best novel, I do think it is her most mature and frank entry into the Rooney-verse. I thought it was one thing the whole time I was reading, but then it morphs into something completely new in the last 50 pages. Her observations on motherhood and domesticity resonated with me.
I would consider it a long exercise in the general dissatisfaction of your late twenties, early thirties and the evolution of friendships by interior and exterior stressors.
Also, it’s very, very sexy.
To Die For
I’ve been thinking a lot about Nicole Kidman, who has been going through bit of a TV renaissance the last few years, but I’ve been watching a lot of her stuff from the 90s, as of late. One such classic is Gus Van Sant’s 1996 dark comedy, To Die For. Kidman stars as a narcissistic woman willing to do anything to become a news reporter. On her single-minded journey paved with death and deceit, she finds infamy instead of fame.
I knew about this film, seen bits of scenes, and generalities, but I had never seen it in its entirety. I am glad that I ramified that because it is one of the best films I’ve ever seen. The settings, the hair, the outfits! It is the perfect distillation of 90s garishness, but the subject matter still feels prevalent with the popularization of true crime and the always present desire for fame, whether TV or TikTok. (I think the most recent equivalent, in subject matter and theme, is Ingrid Goes West [2017], though that is more a work on misplaced grief and To Die For is about poisoned ambition. In both cases, the main character loses—for lack of a better word—because the odds were always stacked against them, and that makes their tragedy feel human.)
I am just going to end this post with a parade of screenshots from the film because…why not!
Peace