Cate is a U.N. goodwill ambassador, so she dropped by to speak to the Security Council about Myanmar and the Rohingya Muslim refugees. There is a story about her speech in the Fresno Bee, and while I’m sure they exist in countless larger outlets as well, I like giving a smaller paper some love. I am absolutely not trying to take away from the gravity of that subject matter here, but I also did have to note: Cate looks FANTASTIC. I was, of course, not worried that she would show up wearing sweatpants made of palm fronds and a gold-dipped tank top. Cate Blanchett knows how to dress for an occasion. However, I cherish that she wore a full suit for this — tie, waistcoat, and glasses that match. [EDITED: Y’all, I got sucked in by an optical illusion. I thought he chains were stripes on a tie, and so that made me think the folds in her blouse were a waistcoat. I… might need my own matching glasses.]
I would listen to her all the time like this. The whole effect somehow reminds me of Mastermind, this super serious, intense British game show where the contestants are experts in extremely narrow fields of study, and the host asks persnickety questions while they sit in a black leather chair in a dark room under a spotlight. You have never realized you cared about whether someone could correctly answer 15 questions about The History of the Lancashire County Cricket Club, but suddenly YOU DO. Maybe Cate can host the celebrity version of that. It could just be Cate asking people about things she read on the Internet that week, and shooting withering looks at them when they’re not totally sure whether she’s talking about “musk” as in Elon, or the unique smell present among contestants on Bachelor in Paradise.
“Obviously it’s a reference to Paradise,” she thinks, pouring a class of water to try and remain calm. “I have an entire book’s worth of thoughts on how terrible the supply of men is this season.”
