It’s officially “Cranes in the Sky” season. Despite the eerily hot past few days, seasonal depression is really trying to rear its ugly head. The temps are dropping (or at least they should be); Tr*mp is back in the news; and the world is probably (definitely) going to end in the next fifty years.
If you can’t tell, I’ve been in a bit of an anxious place the last few weeks (hence the utterly nihilistic—though true—look at the state of the world). I’ve taken to journaling again. As well as typing random little poems in my notes app.
Here are a few for some light reading:
My notes app officially looks like it did when I was a teenager. Regression or renewal in the face of the end of the world? Time will tell.
I suppose it’s comforting that, in spite of everything, pop culture, how ever it might (will) change, remains a constant.
SHOULD WE MOVE TO ITALY?
We’re two episodes in to the new season of The White Lotus, and I’m hooked. Okay—I was hooked at Theo James’ prosthetic penis in the first episode, but you get the point. Spoiler’s ahead…
Jennifer Coolidge has returned as Tanya, the character that won her an Emmy for the first season. Only now, she’s got a man in tow (you might recall she picked up a suitor in the tropics of season one). Oh, and a blundering gen-z assistant played by a brilliant Haley Lu Richardson. Tanya is intent on living out her Italian fantasy. She wants to eat pasta, luxuriate in the Italian country side, and ride around on vespa like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. Of course, it being the haplessly unfortunate Tanya, none of these fantasies are quite being achieved. (When she asks the hotel manager—the c*ntiest of c*nts—who she looks like—hoping for Monica Vitti—the manager quizzically replies: “Peppa Pig.”)
Aubrey Plaza is also getting quite the moment to shine. Plaza, who got her start as the dry, deadpan April on Parks and Recreation, is finally getting the prestige treatment in The White Lotus. She plays Harper, the wife Ethan (played by the hot as f*ck Will Sharpe). Harper and Ethan are on vacation with another couple, Cameron (Theo James) and Daphne (Meghann Fahy). While Cameron and Dahne are rich, seemingly perfect, and oblivious to the state of the world, Harper and Ethan are much more down to earth—they argue, they care about world issues, and they are only just breaking into the world of luxury.
As Harper, Plaza is perfectly biting and hilarious. She’s exactly how I picture Joan Didion might act on vacation with another couple—subtly yet devastatingly awful. She immediately begins bumping heads with Cameron. The now infamous prosthetic dick scene happens when Cameron changes into a swimsuit in full view of Harper, who is freshening up in the bathroom. The scene sparks what has got to be an ensuing love triangle between the two couples. Seriously, if Aubrey Plaza and Theo James don’t f*ck by the end of this season, I want my money back.
THEATER GIRL ARI
Ariana Grande might be one of the biggest pop stars in the world, but she is a theater girl first and foremost. After being announced as Glinda in the upcoming Wicked movies, the pop star has official returned to her roots. She got her in start in 13, the Musical on Broadway after all.
While not much has been revealed about the upcoming adaptation (which will be split in to two movies), Ari’s Instagram indicates that they are currently filming.
The blonde! I love Ari, I really do. Let’s hope she doesn’t f*ck this up.
Anyway, I’m going to go drink some coffee and scroll Pinterest until the end of time.
X, Bryce