new look, same great taste
A pleasing tile fence, Judy Blume, a joyless redhead, the Dior show in Mumbai, soft clothes and a drink to save your marriage?
After a lengthier-than-expected hiatus, I’m back! (in other words, if I can’t write this when there is a months-long strike going on then all hope is lost)
From my friend Mason Currey’s Substack: a quote by British painter and sculptor Maggi Hambling, “It is not difficult to make a work of art, the difficulty lies in being in the right state to do it”.
I watched Basic Instinct for the first time and can’t stop thinking about Sharon Stone’s wardrobe. So many earth tones and two-piece sets (someone recently told me to “buy brown pants for Fall”), cozy coastal grandma cashmere sweaters and wraps. Everything looked stylish but more importantly SOFT- a winning combo.
The Sopranos watch club I’m in recently watched the series finale after starting the show early in 2021, pre-vaccine, in our own homes, discussing on group chat. We slowly started to gather for each season’s premieres and finales. Cut to May 2023 and we made a giant baked ziti and cranked up “Woke Up This Morning” by Alabama 3 one last time. It’s been one of the most satisfying viewing experiences of my life.
I’ve loved the new seasons of Dave and The Other Two. I took myself to an 11.35am screening of Past Lives yesterday because I’ve been so desperate to see it. Cried, loved.
Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret was also so good. My one gripe was that it never actually showed any blood- the whole movie is about periods and I had really hoped they would have to help normalize it for all the many young girls who would be watching! The fact that it’s still transgressive is wild. I came home and followed it up with the new Judy Blume documentary Forever and remembered how much she meant to me in my formative years- starting with Peter & Fudge and Sheila the Great and ending with Forever. Watching the doc, I thought about how I had moved, by that age, from Australia to India to England (where I was reading the books) and felt that this middle-aged Jewish woman from New Jersey understood me better than ANYONE in the world.
The beautiful Dior show from Mumbai. I loved seeing the exceptional artisans from India celebrated. Come for the clothes and stunning backdrop, stay for the music, especially by tabla virtuoso Anuradha Pal.
Continuing the desi pride, here are just a few of the South Asian women-founded brands on my #topshelfie lately. I love to see a brown woman capitalize on the ‘trend’ of Ayurveda as so many white, Westerners are. The smells alone transport me back to India.
I came across this tour of Marjon Carlos’ Brooklyn apartment in Domino and the best part was the sweetest comments section.
I tried stand-up for the first time recently. Primarily because I think it helps to write comedy but also because every now and again, I’ll have the urge to get out of my comfort zone and do something that scares me (hello, clown school). I posted about it and quite a few friends reached out (see below) with the some version of the same message. I see you. Not to get all preachy on main but here’s my motivational pep talk of the day for you: DO IT. Whatever your scary thing is. It was an open mic, it’s not supposed to be perfect or even that good. I felt proud to come home and tell my daughter about it and even to say “I wasn’t that good but I’m glad I did it”. She said “can you tell me the joke?”
If you’re a poog hag, you might have heard Kate Berlant rave about Moon Juice’s Deep Chocolate milk. Here is the write-up she discusses (a drink that saved their marriage!) and recipe below.
This clip is from a while ago. It cuts off at the start unfortunately but basically, the Asian woman at the bottom is really excited and celebrating and may have accidentally bumped up against the utterly joyless redhead woman. She apologizes, still smiling. I just can’t get the redhead woman’s look out of my head. She’s acts so disgusted and sort of shocked that the woman may have made bodily contact with her. It really captured for me how she wanted to quash this woman’s joyful moment, to signal to her that she’s being “too much” and that there was something inconvenient and untamed about it.
Baking my way through Alison Roman’s Dessert Cookbook ‘Sweet Enough’. Highly recommend the banana bread topped with mascarpone and a drizzle of local honey (it’s allergy season).