Clooney Heard You're Holding Out for a Hero
Celebrity craziness, the best TV shows out now, that Stranger Things finale, and the new fashion trend sweeping the nation
Greetings and happy 4th of July to you all! This week we are chock-full of entertainment and celebrity news, plus a few TV shows I’ve been watching that are giving me LIFE.
BUT FIRST—I just have to say that I finished Season 4 of Stranger Things AND I NEED TO TALK.
The end of Volume 1 was MIND-BOGGLINGLY good and, no spoilers, but I don’t know that I feel the exact same about the end of Volume 2!! Also I really thought this was the final season??? But it’s NOT??? Needless to say, your girl was DISTRAUGHT.
In celebration of Stranger Things, Spotify released a personalized “Upside Down Playlist.” [In this season, music helps them resist the bad guy.] You can find your playlist by typing “Upside-Down” into the Spotify search!
I’d love to hear what’s on your Upside-Down Spotify Playlist — but most of all I want to know: What would your ONE SONG be??? A song powerful enough to pull you out of despair and back into yourself.
Mine would obviously be “My Heart Will Go On” by Ms. Celine Dion, and Ben’s is “On To The Next One” by Sir Jay-Z. Drop a comment and share yours!
In the Entertainment News
Get out your magenta leotards, because this is the summer of BARBIECORE™️ While head-to-toe neon, “more is more” maximalist fashion might seem untenable, I say anything is better than those godawful prairie dresses at Target.
George Clooney and Julia Roberts are making a rom-com together and the Earth is healing!!!!! [Unfortunately, only half of that is true.] Welcome back to the movies, Julia Roberts’ Iconic Hair!
Usher did an NPR Tiny Desk concert. It was very sexual! The memes were thriving! As one writer put it, Give Usher a Tiny Desk Residency!
Kit Harrington is making a Jon Snow spinoff. Do we need? No! Do we want? YES!
Cameron Diaz is “coming out of retirement” to make a movie with Jamie Foxx and Tom Brady—famed retiree—helped announce it! Leading the rest of us to wonder when she retired [2018!] and why? [But also why not!?]
WATCHING - The Bear on Hulu
The first 1.46 episodes of this show are sheer, unadulterated STRESS AND CHAOS. For all of you out there who have worked in a commercial kitchen, The Bear says, “I see you—and now everyone else will feel you.” If you can make it through that, this show will reward you SO much. It’s witty, dark, hilarious, sad, realistic — everything!
[Thanks to Sarah and Sergei for encouraging me to push through the first episode, which truly had me so stressed I was yelling at inanimate objects to shut up!!]
Two Other Shows That Made Me Happy This Week
Loot on Apple TV+. Maya Rudolph plays a billionaire’s ex-wife who decides to get into philanthropy [not even a thinly veiled reference to Jeff Bezos and MacKenzie Scott] and it’s hilarious. I would watch it just for her wardrobe, but also I am CRYING LAUGHING at the charity-world of it all, which used to be my bread and butter at The Bowery Mission.
I Love That For You on Showtime. This one took a little while to grow on me, but Vanessa Bayer is worth it until you realize the true star is Jenifer Lewis and honestly give her the Emmy now.
READING - the “Celebrities: They’re Just Like Us!” Beat
[Okay, yes this is really just MORE NEWS but I’ve been reading some hilarious/wild/fascinating celebrity profiles and stories this week.]
It’s summertime and the celebrity livin’ is capital E Extra. Sometimes celebs try to act normal, but we all know they’ve forgotten what it’s like to stand shoeless in the airport security line or buy your own UTI treatment at CVS.
Let’s start with an example: Ben Affleck’s 10-year-old son backed a Lamborghini into a BMW while J Lo was in the back seat! I mean, we truly have ALL BEEN THERE!!! [Readers, we have not.] Moving right on to the week’s biggest celebrity profiles:
Brad Pitt was profiled in GQ, where he and the author swapped pottery and quoted Rumi to each other and somehow it wasn’t sexual. Normal!
The most important thing I learned is that Brad once got scammed into buying thousands of dollars worth of treasure-hunting equipment to look for buried treasure on his French estate. [Reader, there was no treasure. Though some might say the treasure is in our hearts.]
Dakota Johnson was profiled in Architectural Digest AND Vanity Fair and we are given to understand that she does not walk, she trips along like sun on water!!!
Also, I JUST found out her grandma is Tippi Hedren, the lead actress from The Birds!? Some other normal facts: (1) Her dog’s name is Zeppelin. 🙄 (2) Antonio Banderas was her stepdad. (4) Her boyfriend is Coldplay’s Chris Martin. (3) “She remembers delivering an Easter basket to Madonna in 1996.” (!!)
A Gastby-themed wedding at “one of NYC’s most iconic venues” with Adele and LeBron présent. Normal!!
The bride and groom, who look like siblings in a Ralph Lauren ad, are NBA star Kevin Love and model Kate Bock, and they chose the New York Public Library for their Great Gatsby wedding because they both *checks notes* “love literature.” Which honestly sounds like something from my Pinterest board in 2010 right next to my Phantom of the Opera mural ideas.
Taylor Swift and her *alleged fiancé* Joe Alwyn are in the Bahamas staying in an Airstream trailer owned by Lenny Kravitz?!
As you do! This HAS to be an ultra-luxe glamping sex bungalow, but then it probably also has no door on the toilet so Taylor and Joe are making eye contact every time one of them has a sh*t??? Taylor is nothing if not authentic.
Penn Badgley’s wife Domino is a doula and Amy Schumer fired her for being too beautiful!!
And I quote: “I can’t have this Botticelli goddess floating around my home when I am, like, bleeding out.” And THAT is the most relatable thing I’ve ever heard!!
[Schumer shared this on Badgley’s podcast so there are no hard feelings.]
The first on my "Upside down" was uptown funk X)
I’m gonna have to give Loot a try!!