Weekend Reads #300

Weekend Reads

He’s been king of the Ren Fest for 22 years. The crown is weighing on him. (Washington Post – gift link)

The CMAs don’t deserve Beyoncé. (Harper's Bazaar)

The fat old lady in the mirror. (Burnt Toast)

After Shark Tank, Mark Cuban just wants to break shit—especially the prescription drug industry. (Wired)

Farewell Madewell: When they stop making your size. (Big Undies)

Y'all know I love Colleen Rothschild skincare. This week, Colleen Rothschild launched Hydrashine Lipstick Balm, a glossy pigmented lip balm in chic packaging. I got a preview of these, and really like the feel, the non-sticky shine, and the colors. The brights are very pigmented and need a careful hand, but the subtle shades like Bisou Bisou and Santorini Whisper are those perfect put on without a mirror and go lip products. Big fan; use OXYGEN20 for 20% off your order at Colleen Rothschild.

How a fringe online claim about immigrants eating pets made its way to the debate stage. (NBC News)

The young woman making Kamala Harris’ strongest case on abortion rights. (Politico)

With the popularity of Americana Chic, L.L.Bean launched The Icons Collection sharing the classic bestsellers of this American company, their story, along with the year they were launched. Did you know the iconic Bean Boots first hit the scene in 1912?

Twilight of the emoji. (The Atlantic – gift link)

Rather than being a cringey personal failing, awkwardness is a collective rupture – and a chance to rewrite the social script. (Aeon)

The midlife marriage tuneup. (New York Times – gift link)

For decades, brides have fought to get their weddings covered in Vogue magazine. Considering how quickly many of those marriages fail, it might be a curse, not a blessing. (Air Mail)

Is food political? (La Briffe)

When I set out to improve my tainted reputation with chatbots, I discovered a new world of A.I. manipulation. (New York Times – gift link)

For those looking for a dress that works for most anything (wedding, funeral, work, cocktail hour, networking event, date night), this dress is under $100, three-season appropriate, stylish yet free of trends so it will remain stylish for seasons to come.

Is Maximalism starting to come back? (The Back Row)

Senators target influencers, telehealth firms for misleading weight-loss and other drug promotion. (Wall Street Journal – gift link)

FDA approves Apple AirPods as hearing aids. (Washington Post – gift link)

And for my local yokels… I sadly am not available but if you are free October 7th, Law Roach will be at the Howard Theater!

See/Hear/Read

In the Wardrobe Oxygen Community, we've been discussing The Perfect Couple, a six-part series on Netflix based on the Elin Hilderbrand book of the same name. I mentioned recently I have been reading a lot of Hilderbrand's books but I have yet to read this one. That didn't stop me from diving into the series!

Starring Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber, both my husband and I enjoyed this series, though the ending was a bit… lacking. I have heard similar about the book. I also heard the series is not the same as the book, so if you loved the book there is a good chance the series will annoy you.

This is a beautiful series. Gorgeous people, great acting, lovely clothes, fantastic decor and settings… but awful characters. But they are supposed to be awful. Even what seems charming or admirable at the beginning loses its luster. That is supposed to happen, but I don't think the anticlimatic last episode was supposed to be so odd. I mean, a character dropped a major bomb on the family and it took up like six minutes and then everyone moved on.

A few factoids I've gathered about the show and some interesting articles to get the discussion going:

• Eve Hewson who plays Amelia, her dad is Bono
• The woman dancing with the cast at the end is the series' director, Susanne Bier
• The cast was so against the dance scene, they created a WhatsApp group text to get it shut down. (Variety) And that dance number was actually supposed to be a dream sequence (The Wrap).

I don't want to share spoilers here, but come on over to The Wardrobe Oxygen Community on Facebook to chat or share in the comments below. Heads up, there may be spoilers in both locations!

Wanting to watch something new, we checked out Bad Monkey, a series on Apple TV+ starring Vince Vaughn. This series has us intrigued and wanting to find out what happens next. It also has Jodie Turner-Smith, who is breathtakingly beautiful and stunning to look at in this show. But yeah… it's not really good.

The problem with this show is what was wrong with 80s shows like Magnum P.I., and Miami Vice, and Dukes of Hazzard, which this show seems to want to riff off… it isn't realistic. And in 2024 the TV viewer expects better.

A suspended 54-year-old cop/health inspector is living in a small but charming house on the water next to a McMansion. He can afford that property (and relatively recently as he used to work in Miami) and decorate it with MCM furniture but can't afford a car.

A beautiful, smart, and savvy 40-year-old medical examiner has sex in the morgue and steals clothing off corpses to wear to clubs. Folks roam around with corpse body parts in their pockets, don't have passcodes on their phones, don't have Ring doorbells or security systems, and Vaughn's character is able to find clothes in the Keys that fit his 6'5″ frame yet I am a professional online shopper and struggle to find jeans for my 6'4″ husband. Unrealistic.

Based on Carl Hiaasen's 2013 novel of the same name, Bad Monkey feels like a book made into a TV show. It just feels too glossy and fast-paced, and the satire is lost by Vaughn's quick-talking, confusing income and all these characters who can throw it back just as fast and witty. And there is so much quick wit you barely realize how horrible, terrifying, and unrealistic these folks are.

That being said, I keep wanting to know what happens next, especially regarding the storylines taking place in the Bahamas. Are you watching Bad Monkey? What do you think?

For Your Entertainment

My husband and I love awards shows. We may not have seen the movies or plays, may never heard the music, but it's a great way to get a compilation of the best or most popular, dressed and choreographed to look and perform their best. It's fashion, pop culture, celebrity, style, and art trends all mashed into a couple of hours.

Schedule your DVR, and you can finish dinner first and fast-forward through commercials, generally staying on the same schedule as the social media feed or the group text and pausing to go to bed at a reasonable hour.

This week was the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs,) and it was the 40th anniversary of the awards show. I know I am not the only one who remembers that first awards show and iconic moments from the VMAs over the decades. And this year, the VMAs celebrated its history with flashbacks to previous years, presenters and performers with MTV history, and many contemporary artists having their music, stage setups, and fashion inspired by previous VMA performers and attendees.

I saw plenty of online jokes about being too old to know who is performing on the VMAs, but that is exactly why I recommend watching it. Nothing wrong with pausing the screen and opening up a browser to learn who is the guy performing with Lenny Kravitz (Quavo, also see Weekend Reads #292), if Benson Boone used to be a gymnast (acrobat), and how old is Flavor Flav (65).

By seeing artists at their best, and in front of an audience of fans as well as peers, it helps you see why some of these new artists are so incredibly popular, even if you have never heard them before or find their song on the radio to be “mid.” The MTV VMAs site has videos of all the performances. This article from Variety offers a slideshow of red carpet fashion at the VMAs. Harper's Bazaar has better photos and more looks but sometimes they put up a paywall.

Below, I share my personal favorite performance from the night; Sabrina Carpenter. My kid was the wrong age to remember her from the Disney Channel and I know nothing about her career or life but she has some seriously catchy songs and she brought it to the 2024 VMAs.