The Rescue, Figure Skating, Royal Watch, & Who Should Host the Oscars?
What I'm Watching, Reading, & Listening To This Week
Happy Sunday, friends! You may have noticed that Hannah’s Weekly has officially moved to Sundays. I would like to be able to say it’s “because of God” like Sally’s days-of-the-week underpants — but it’s actually because Friday is a so-called “work” “day” in which I must labor for “money” and “paying” “clients.”
But THIS is my happy weekend place. :) Thank you for being here, as always!!
This week, we’re doing something a little different. Tonight is my regular roundup of pop culture, focusing just on “In the News” and what I’ve been watching. And TOMORROW I’m gonna hit your Inboxes again with some recommendations for honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. — things to watch, read, and listen to.
My reasons are twofold: (1) It would be against my beliefs and personal sanctification not to spend time on that, and (2) it felt super tone-deaf when I tried to include it here — like, “Kanye hates Pete Davidson! Fritos are slutty now! Also….civil rights?” Nope, not a good look, white girl.
So, look for that tomorrow morning if you’re seeking ways to honor the day, contribute to the cause, and keep learning — I commit to those things with you.
And with that rather serious intro, let’s move on to this week’s topics!
In the News
Maya Angelou graces a new special edition quarter, which is wonderful, beautiful, deserved, and uplifting news. *pauses for celebration*
Now I would also just like to LOG that I think what we ASKED FOR was a woman on the $20 bill!? And we got—*checks notes*—a 25-cent piece!?! This is like when your job says “We’re giving everyone a raise!” and then it turns out to not even make up for inflation. Maya deserves better!
The Oscars reportedly WILL have a host this year! But, instead of having an actual plan, they basically got drunk and tweeted out, “Hey bestie, who do YOU think we should invite???” Andrew Garfield suggested Tom Holland, which seems like a tall order for someone busy gently massaging Zendaya’s knee. Others suggested Only Murders trio Steve Martin/Martin Short/Selena Gomez, which could be fun despite her new watercolor back tattoo? Maybe Keke Palmer? Or Bennifer for the ratings? Is Obama doing anything right now?
Who would YOU pick? Got any fresh ideas? Drop a comment and we will crowdsource this!
Fritos' new slogan is “The go anywhere, dip into anything, down for everything chip.” (!!) I cannot stop laughing at this! The Down For Everything Chip? That headline again: Fritos Enters Her Promiscuous Era! I am, honestly, THRILLED! What a world.
You can now DoorDash your Girl Scout cookies so I will see you in 2023!!! [Also, there is a new flavor called Adventurefuls which was clearly named by a third-grader but looks delicious.]
Apparently, not all rats are slime demons haunting New York City’s subways. SOME rats are HEROES. And this week, we honored the life of Magawa, a rat from Cambodia who spent his life sniffing out land mines that, oops, the U.S. was partially responsible for. Please enjoy this photo of Magawa wearing his MEDAL FOR GALLANTRY. May he rest in peace.
Royal Watch
They’re at it again, folks!
The Good: Kate Middleton, aka the Duchess of Cambridge, released three new photo portraits for her 40th birthday. As always, she looks GORGEOUS and she also looks forty! Which we love!
The Bad (ish?): Despite the fact they make sense for royal portraits AND are giving “Your Future Queen Regent,” I am NOT a fan of the two black-and-white photos. They have a very “Victorian Ghost, Taken in the Flower of Life, That Haunts This Mansion” quality to them, and to that I say no thank you.
The Very, Very Ugly: The sexual abuse allegations against Prince Andrew, third child of the reigning Queen of England, continue. This week, the major news items were a judge upholding the case and the Queen *!*finally*!* taking away his military titles. Elizabeth Holmes, a royal fashion writer whom I avidly follow on Instagram, wrote a thorough and thoroughly readable explanation of the whole sordid affair.
Saturday Night Live Highlights - Ariana DeBose
The first episode of 2022 was pretty solid and hosted by West Side Story star, Ariana DeBose, with last-minute musical guest Jack Antonoff [after Roddy Ricch got Covid].
Highlights: (1) Ariana’s fashion and star power — she carried herself with more confidence and style than most A-list hosts! (2) The Cold Open, (3) “Urkel Reboot,” and (4) The Monologue, which got long but gives a great idea of the powerhouse that is Ariana DeBose (also, who doesn’t like watching Kate McKinnon “doing Broadway”?).
Lowlights: (1) Che thinking it’s funny for him to make jokes about lesbians?? (2) the phrase “swamp butt,” and (3) the Elmo sketch, which was fine but literally just redoing Sesame Street so maybe get off Twitter and write sketches?
Movies - The Rescue on Disney+
ZOMG.
If you want to watch Yellowjackets but you’re too scared—or you ARE watching Yellowjackets and you need a palate cleanser: May I recommend this TRUE story of a REAL soccer team that ACTUALLY got marooned out in the wild??? AND will make you feel warm and emotional about the world and humanity?
The Rescue, out on Disney+ last month, is just that.
Okay, remember the international news story from 2018 about the boys’ soccer team in Thailand that got trapped in a cave and launched a global rescue effort? [Including Elon Musk offering help from SpaceX engineers, only to turn around and call one of the actual rescuers “pedo guy”? Big ups and downs with Musk, prayers to his fans now and always.]
Think you know the details of the story? THINK AGAIN! This documentary is out-stand-ing. It is utterly mind-boggling what that team of children went through, how their coach kept them alive, and the heroic international-scale rescue that followed. I can’t describe it, you have to see it to believe it. There’s even basically an “Avengers, assemble!” scene except, again, IT WAS ALL REAL.
*[Note that it’s told from a very Western-centric lens, which is something that plagues National Geographic still, though they’ve improved somewhat. It’s still fantastic, but I just like to regularly ask myself, “Okay, who is centered here and who is not?”]
TV - Meddling on Peacock
I guess it’s documentary week because here’s another documentary for ya, this time a TV series about one of the biggest Olympics figure-skating scandals of our lifetime!
Remember THIS incredibly sexy figure skating pair from the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002?? [No? Maybe you don’t, but their names are written ON MY HEART.] Remember how they skated an actual perfect routine but then came second to the Russian pair (who made a mistake in their routine), unleashing a SCANDAL that sent shock waves through the entire skating world, not to mention MY 13-year-old body, spirit, and soul??
This new four-episode documentary revisits that Olympics scandal, the four skaters involved (the Russian pair’s story is so amazing, too!), and the mystery surrounding “the French judge.”
It’s fabulous.
Since China is so problematic, you will find me rewatching the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics next month in lieu of this year’s events.
A Post-Script on Figure Skating Rewatches:
While we’re on figure skating, it’s time for our annual rewatch of Michelle Kwan’s iconic “Fields of Gold” skate from that same 2002 Olympics.
Michelle Kwan is maybe the greatest figure skater of all time [certainly the most famous?] who somehow never got an Olympic gold. Salt Lake City was her last Olympics and everyone expected her to win…but she got bronze. Devastating. Then, at a pre-planned “exhibition skate” that happened after the competition was over, she came out and did a PERFECT routine in her GOLD dress to “Fields of GOLD” and smiled through her beautiful, heroic tears!!! THIS IS THE SPORTS I WANT.
Also, did anyone else know that Michelle Kwan is now the nominated U.S. Ambassador to Belize AND just birthed her first child mere weeks ago?!??!? GET IT, GIRL!
why must you draw my attention to a figure skating rabbit hole for me to fall into? brb while I marathon this ish.
I was not allowed to watch TV when I was younger EXCEPT my parents would bring the TV out of the closet (lol) every two years to watch the olympics.