Happy Friday! Every Friday is a welcome sight as we limp into fall, and hopefully, sweater weather. Jessica collected some options if you’re already looking ahead to Wine Cardigan Season. Celeb-wise, it was a pretty chill week around here in terms of fresh outfits, so we continued our look back at the Twilight premieres — this time, Eclipse — and had rollicking discussions about favorite sandwiches, musicians we wish we could have seen live, Sting and Trudie’s wedding, and all these baby-faced celebs of the 80s and 90s at an LA Dodgers event.
– At Vulture, here is a lengthy and well-reported piece on whatever the heck happened with the Jeopardy hosting fiasco (at least as of Tuesday, when it was published).
– And there’s more, some of which might be covered if they updated that Vulture piece: EW says Mike Richards taped a week’s worth of episodes beforehand that they’re still going to air — I feel for those contestants — and then it seems like Mayim Bialik will step in temporarily [LA Times]. Sony is doubling-down on him remaining as the executive producer by giving him “sensitivity training” and hiring a minder [Today]. I would LIKE to say I’m astonished by the leeway he’s being given here — it would be so easy to say, “We and Mike agree that the best thing for everyone is to move ahead to a completely new chapter” — but, t’was ever thus, right? Sigh.
– McSweeney’s did a really clever thing where they made a Jeopardy! template about the host search mess. I totally flubbed how it works and scrolled past the graphic, missing that it’s interactive and indeed the entire point. What you’re supposed to do is click on each box on the board, and as with the show itself, it gives you an answer and you work out the question. All the question-answers are printed below it.
– This headline says it all: “Josephine Baker Will Be the First Black Woman Buried in Paris’s Panthéon.” Prior to her, there were only five women there at all. [Mental Floss]
– Also at Vulture, not one but TWO stories where a celeb “answers every question we have about” an iconic movie. There’s Lori Petty doing A League of Their Own, and Rosie O’Donnell does it for Sleepless in Seattle.
– Amanda Gorman wants to run for president someday. Honestly, I often wonder what about that job — or any political office — looks remotely appealing to ANYONE these days, ESPECIALLY those who want to make a difference but see in government what feels like a string of either regressions or stalemates. So I hope she does want to run for office, and that many others like her do, too. We need good eggs. We need good, period. [Celebitchy]
– With news that Jared Kushner is starting his own financial firm, Kurt Andersen recalls Kushner buying his newsletter on behalf of the Observer and what, in my words, a weird shitshow that was. No art of the deal here. [Medium]
– Have we discussed the rumors that Channing Tatum and Zoe Kravitz are dating? They’re supposedly working on her directorial debut together, too. I feel like… you’re both hot, you’re both single, get it DONE if that’s what you want. [LaineyGossip]
– Sniffle. Michael Nader, a.k.a. Dex Dexter on Dynasty and Dimitri Marick on All My Children, has died. He had some mighty struggles in his life, but the man was married on TV to both Joan Collins AND Susan Lucci?!? A legend. [Deadline]
– Lainey also talked about the photos of Ben Affleck potentially maybe supposedly ring-shopping for J.Lo at Tiffany. I… cannot imagine this is a good idea, if true. Far be it from me to tell J.Lo what she needs, or even Ben, but shouldn’t they BOTH try finding themselves while ALONE for a while?
– They’re doing a Lion King prequel?!? Spoiler: He becomes king and has a son. (At least the awesome Barry Jenkins is doing it, so you know he’ll be adding some layers to a story whose outcome we know.) [Variety]
– At the NY Times: You Want That Wedding Dress When?
– Mandy Patinkin remains an international treasure. He responded to a fan’s question about The Princess Bride with an emotional video and a series of thoughtful tweets. Discovering more about Mandy and his wife Kathryn Grody has been sustaining during the pandemic. [EW]
– The now-grown-up baby from the Nirvana Nevermind album cover has sued for sexual exploitation: “His lawyer claims that the dollar bill in the photo transforms an innocent photo of a naked baby into a photo that suggests the baby is a … sex worker.” Spoiler: He apparently decided this was the case a few months after Nirvana declined to be part of his art show. [Pajiba]
– McSweeney’s also amused me this week with Criticisms of Michelangelo If Michelangelo Had Been a Woman.
– The Cotton Tote Crisis: This story explores whether those omnipresent reusable shoppers, positioned as a boon to the environment, are actually part of the problem. [NYT]
– It was inevitable: After season 1 of Ted Lasso was such a delicious surprise, season two has led to a swift, hard swing of the pendulum. The Ringer examines why it’s been a lightning rod. My feeling is that the Internet, or rather Twitter, rarely allows for down-the-middle feelings — either something is the BEST, or the WORST (or moves quickly from one to the other; see also: Schitt’s Creek). When in fact, 99 percent of TV shows average out to being an imperfect, up-and-down, pleasant passage of time that might also occasionally thrill or anger you. But that feeling is not as likely to foment a movement, so you don’t see it circulating on social media. It is HARD to make that many episodes of a show and maintain consistency. In that sense, movies have it easier. [The Ringer]
– A few people on Twitter pointed out this new website (there is also an app) called Good On You, which attempts to rate brands’ actual sustainability and impact on the environment, if people want to check up on their favorite retailers or find new ones. There are also articles — for example, right now there’s one up advising college students on how to build a more sustainable wardrobe. The site is new to me, so I haven’t had a chance to poke around it too much, and I’m still reading up on their methodology. But it didn’t seem like such a bad idea to pass along.
– And finally:
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Halsey went to a limited IMAX premiere of the movie associated with her new album, and Law Roach dressed her in vintage D&G. She calls it “Heart of Darkness,” and I call it the dark marriage of Madonna in “Like a Virgin” with Madonna in “Like a Prayer.” Maybe, “Like a Rock Widow.” I look at some of the vintage stuff and can’t figure out why D&G was ever such hot shit. There is a shoe for every foot, I suppose, as the cliche goes.
