Connect with us

Lifestyle

What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing, reading and listening

Published

on

What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing, reading and listening

Are we still talking about Barbie? Yes, we are.

Warner Bros. Pictures


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Warner Bros. Pictures


Are we still talking about Barbie? Yes, we are.

Warner Bros. Pictures

This week, Mickey Mouse became a murderous freak, and Disney couldn’t do anything about it; someone finally “beat” Tetris; and Katt Williams accused Steve Harvey of plagiarism and referred to him as “Mr. Potato Head” – amidst many, many other bold and brash proclamations.

Here’s what the NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend.

Advertisement

Fad Camp podcast

Fad Camp

Fad Camp is a podcast hosted by comedians Conor Dowling and Grace Mulvey, both of whom have struggled with body acceptance and diet culture. In each episode, they look at a topic related to fatness or anti-fatness, and they dissect it and laugh at it. They’ve done episodes on The Biggest Loser, wedding diets, Revenge Body with Khloé Kardashian and, of course, fat camps for children. What I love about Fad Camp is that Conor and Grace are intellectually certain about how anti-fatness is damaging — and yet they’re still vulnerable enough to admit that they sometimes struggle with their own body acceptance. It’s information mixed with vulnerability and humor. It always makes me laugh and think. — Kristen Meinzer

Silver Nitrate, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Silver Nitrate

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia came out in July 2023. It’s about two best friends living in Mexico City in the early ’90s. They work in and around the film and television industry, and they get wrapped up in a spooky mystery involving a Nazi occultist and a secret film that was never released and might contain all sorts of untold dark powers. Because it’s the ’90s, there’s no Internet or smartphones; the two characters have to get to the bottom the mystery by doing research in dusty film archives and looking in the phone book. It has a nostalgic, Nancy Drew quality to it that I loved. If you like The Vampire Diaries TV series this will scratch that itch. — Wailin Wong

The monologue in Barbie

YouTube

This is the much-discussed moment in Barbie when America Ferrera’s character, Gloria, holds forth for a couple of minutes about the contradictions of the expectations that are placed on women. Plenty of people I respect have dismissed it as eye-rolling, and cringe, and Feminism 101, and too basic, and a gross oversimplification, and a dumbing down of important issues and ideas.

I spent a couple days over the holiday break with a friend of ours: She’s in her 60s. She would never consider herself a feminist; she calls herself “a tough broad.” The minute she saw me, she asked me about Barbie, which was odd because she doesn’t watch movies. I have known this person 20 years — we have never talked about pop culture.

Advertisement

She said she rewound and rewatched that speech three times. She quoted it to me at length. She had never heard her life expressed in such a stark, and succinct, and, yes, simplified way. This was a reminder for me that critics can get jaded. For a moment, my friend felt like her experiences weren’t unique to her. And given the success of Barbie there must be a lot of people who had an experience like that. And I just think it’s myopic to dismiss it. — Glen Weldon

More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter

by Aisha Harris

I care about Travis Kelce as much as I care about football, which is to say: not at all. But this New York Times article gives an interesting peek into the well-oiled machine behind his ascendance into the zeitgeist, and is a necessary reminder that in the entertainment world, some things, like dating the biggest pop star in the world, happen [allegedly] by chance. Others are carefully crafted plans years in the making.

Speaking of carefully crafted plans, multi-level marketing schemes are the worst, right? And yet, many of us can’t get enough stories about them, be they exposés, documentaries, or podcasts, myself included. If this sounds like you, definitely check out the latest season of The Dream, hosted by Jane Marie. It’s about the insidiousness of MLMs, but also includes a deep dive into the history of “bootstrap” mentality.

And finally, Dan Levy’s feature directorial debut Good Grief is streaming on Netflix this weekend. It’s a melancholy, wintry rom-com-dramedy that features a standout performance by Ruth Negga as one of his character’s B.F.F.s. Will go down pleasingly enough with a warm blanket and a glass of red or a hot cocoa.

Advertisement

Beth Novey adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment “What’s Making Us Happy” for the Web. If you like these suggestions, consider signing up for our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Lifestyle

House Democrats accuse Trump of ‘hijacking’ America’s 250th birthday for his own gain

Published

on

House Democrats accuse Trump of ‘hijacking’ America’s 250th birthday for his own gain

President Trump speaks at a rally kicking off the Great American State Fair last week, part of the anniversary celebrations organized by White House-backed group Freedom 250.

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

As America’s birthday celebrations kick into high gear, so too do criticisms of the preeminent national group organizing them, Freedom 250.

Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee published a 55-page report Thursday accusing the group of aiding President Trump in turning America’s milestone into a “hotbed of corruption and self-enrichment” through tactics that potentially amount to criminal fraud.

It’s titled “From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People out of their 250th Birthday.”

Advertisement

Rep. Jared Huffman of California, the ranking Democrat on the committee, told NPR that the report was months in the making. It is based on interviews with unnamed whistleblowers, sworn Congressional testimony, internal Freedom 250 documents and other written responses.

“We put it all together to really tell the story … of how Donald Trump hijacked what should have been a unifying national celebration and repurposed it for his own interests,” Huffman said in a Zoom interview. “This was a team of operatives using the Freedom 250 shell company, but it was also Donald Trump himself telling them what to do.”

The White House referred a request for comment to Freedom 250, though Freedom 250 told NPR that it does not speak for the White House.

Freedom 250 is the public-private partnership behind some of the summer’s most high-profile anniversary events, including a UFC fight outside the White House in June, a controversial state fair on the National Mall, a July Fourth fireworks show opening with a Trump rally, and the “Patriot Games,” a high school athletic competition scheduled for August.

It was created via executive order last year, and describes itself as “the national, non-partisan organization leading the celebration of our Nation’s 250th birthday.” But it’s not the only one: Congress had created a nonpartisan commission called America250 for this same purpose in 2016.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Lifestyle

Why Chanel Is Acquiring Charvet

Published

on

Why Chanel Is Acquiring Charvet
Following a runway collaboration with Matthieu Blazy, Chanel has bought France’s oldest shirtmaker as longtime owner-operators Anne-Marie and Jean-Claude Colban seek a succession plan. ‘Charvet is a beautiful jewel. Now there’s work to be done to set it up for its next steps,’ said Chanel fashion president Bruno Pavlovsky.
Continue Reading

Lifestyle

Map: See Taylor Swift’s NYC Hotspots Ahead of Her MSG Wedding

Published

on

Map: See Taylor Swift’s NYC Hotspots Ahead of Her MSG Wedding

Swift has attended fashion’s biggest night, the Met Gala, a handful of times over the years. Perhaps no appearance was more memorable than 2016’s event where it was not her dress, but her hair that made an impact. Swift’s bleached platinum bob at the star-studded fund-raiser that year was part of a short-lived era known as “Bleachella” to some fans.

Some fans believe the 2016 event, which both Swift and her ex-boyfriend, the actor Joe Alwyn attended, is where the couple might have first encountered one another. A moment Swifties think the songstress referenced in “Dress,” singing “flashback when you met me, your buzz cut and my hair bleached,” a line that describes how both stars looked that night.

Advertisement

For her first time as host on “Saturday Night Live,” a then 19-year-old Swift arrived having already written the song she would sing as the opening monologue. Seth Meyers, the show’s head writer at the time, later recalled bringing Swift into Lorne Michaels’s office, where she performed a “perfect” musical monologue and noted it was better than what the show’s writers had concocted for her to deliver. Swift has served as host and musical guest on the sketch-comedy show over the years. She’s also made repeated cameo appearances, including appearing alongside Kerry Washington and Betty White in a “Californians” sketch in 2015 for the show’s 40th anniversary.

In 2023, Swift and Travis Kelce both made cameo appearances on the show. The same day, they were also spotted by tabloids holding hands in New York City, one of the earliest public glimpses of them as a couple.

Advertisement

The iconic arena in Midtown Manhattan will serve as the venue for a private, two-day event around the wedding of Swift and Kelce on July 2 and 3. The first event will reportedly be a smaller gathering of 100 people for a rehearsal dinner at the Infosys Theater, a venue inside the Garden, while as many as 1,000 guests are expected to arrive at the venue the next day for a larger celebration, with possible stage appearances. Swift has some history with the Garden, performing there several times over the years, as well as sitting courtside and cheering the Knicks to a win during a game earlier this summer.

Advertisement

Whenever the singer is spotted coming and going from the Greenwich Village recording studio — which was founded by Jimi Hendrix and has hosted icons like the Rolling Stones and Chuck Berry over the years — fans are immediately abuzz with whispers about new music. Swift has worked there with Jack Antonoff, her longtime collaborator, on albums including “Lover” and “Folklore,” as well as re-releases of her older albums.

Swift has been spotted plenty of times at this Italian hot spot in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, most recently in May, celebrating Lena Dunham’s 40th birthday. If you can’t get a table, try your hand at making their famed — and delicious — salad dressing.

Advertisement

For a period between 2016 and 2017, Swift rented a four-story townhouse in Manhattan’s West Village. The pad appears to have inspired her 2019 track “Cornelia Street” from the album “Lover.” It’s a road she’ll never walk again, at least according to her lyrics.

Fans still regularly visit the house, even though it has been nearly a decade since Swift inhabited the home, which has an indoor swimming pool. In 2023, some Swifties made pilgrimages to the location after news broke on her split with the actor Joe Alwyn, whose relationship fans believe to be the inspiration for many of the tracks on “Lover.”

Advertisement

Swift’s residence in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan has grown over the years. She initially bought two penthouses from the “The Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson in 2014. A fan who once visited the apartment recalled Swift’s father saying that when his daughter first viewed the place, the actor Ian McKellen, who had been living there, was sitting in the kitchen. She has since purchased several adjacent properties.

Fans have seen glimpses of the home on social media over the years and, more recently, watched Swift use a fire extinguisher to put out a small candle blaze in the kitchen in a video posted by Swift’s recent musical collaborator Gracie Abrams.

Advertisement

Good luck getting a table here if you are not Swift or Kelce. The upscale American restaurant in SoHo is known for comforting dishes like a French dip sandwich and an ice cream sundae, as well as its savory sour-cream-and-onion martini from the cocktail menu. Swift has visited several times — including outings with Gigi Hadid and Sabrina Carpenter.

In “Delicate,” Swift sings of an unnamed “dive bar on the East Side.” Swifties believe this dark speakeasy on East Seventh Street is that bar. Fans also believe the song was written about Swift’s ex-boyfriend, the actor Joe Alwyn. The pair broke up in 2023; later that year she met Kelce.

Advertisement

This exclusive, members-only club in Lower Manhattan is frequented by plenty of celebrities, including Swift. The club bans photography and videos, as well as members of the media, and patrons are barred from identifying others in the room on social media or to the press.

Still, even with the privacy rules, there have been plenty of posts and photos documenting Swift coming and going from Zero Bond. There was a visit in 2023 with the actor Miles Teller and his wife, Keleigh, as well as a recent celebratory evening with the Haim sisters in June after the group watched the Knicks win at Madison Square Garden in matching shirts. There have also been multiple visits with Kelce over the years.

Advertisement

Swift spent part of her 34th birthday celebration at this rustic American restaurant on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Wearing a black minidress bedazzled with a moon and stars — a nice nod to the visual themes of her “Midnights” era — she partied the night away at Freemans’ upstairs cocktail bar with guests including Jack Antonoff, Blake Lively, Zoë Kravitz, the Haim sisters, Sabrina Carpenter and her childhood best friend, Abigail Anderson Berard, who was immortalized in Swift’s song “Fifteen.” The pop star was also seen dining here with Gracie Abrams earlier that same year.

Advertisement

People line up for hours — yes, hours — to secure a spot at this restaurant in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn. The brick-oven pizza spot, which is B.Y.O.B. and cash only, is a favorite of pizza connoisseurs — though not those at The New York Times — and celebrities alike. (Its owner has said he does not accept reservations.) Beyoncé, Jay-Z, the Beckhams and, of course, Swift have all been seen dining here, though unclear if they had to sweat it out in the line like us mere mortals. Swift, who once sent her dad to hand out pizzas, though likely not from Lucali, to fans camping out in New York to watch her perform on “Good Morning America,” has shared meals here with famous friends including Blake Lively and Selena Gomez, as well as a date night with Kelce.

The Brooklyn neighborhood where, if Swiftie lyrical interpretations are to be trusted, Swift left a now-infamous scarf at the home of one Maggie Gyllenhaal around 2010. Swift was dating Gyllenhaal’s brother, Jake, at the time and their relationship is believed to have inspired Swift’s “All Too Well,” a 2012 heart-wrencher of a song beloved by many fans, which Rolling Stone once ranked as her best song. “You keep my old scarf from that very first week,” Swift sings. In 2017, Maggie Gyllenhaal told Andy Cohen on “Watch What Happens Live” that she was “in the dark about the scarf.”

Advertisement

Swift later released an updated, 10-minute version of the track in 2021. A red scarf featured prominently as a thematic motif in “All Too Well: The Short Film,” which Swift also released that same year.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending