Summer is Summering
I'm not a leading lady. (Or the theater kind anyway.) Plus, lots of links, cringey songs, and RIP Richard Simmons.
First things first: I didn’t get it. I’m sorry I kept you hanging for so long, and if you had high hopes for my singing and acting abilities well, then, I thank you for your confidence. But, alas, there will be no memorizing of lines and doing facial exercises in front of the bathroom mirror at night for me this fall. If I still want to participate in the Long Beach Theater Guild’s upcoming production of The Music Man, I can join the ensemble. TBD on whether the life of a chorus girl is for me, but I don’t have to decide until after Labor Day.
Other than that, no new news to report. Summer is summering here in New York and I’m enjoying my beach time on Long Island and my urban stints dogsitting in the city while continuing the hunt for new work and where to settle more permenantly. Seeing clips of the Olympic fever and fervor begin in Paris, specifically with the torch relay, has ignited a bit of FoMo. But I remain happy to be here and will watch from afar in my bleu, blanc et rouge, and my red, white, and blue as it were.
Rather than waffle on some more, which will cause me to overthink, reread, and edit further hence prolonging this letter yet another week, I’ll leave you with a hefty amount of high-quality content from other well-informed and entertaining people (see: the Clickable section below) and some other of my regular bits and bobs. Bon week-end, friends. xx — Sara
Clickable
Razzle-dazzle: The making of Olympic gymnast’s uniforms. | WaPo
Critic vs. AI — whose review would you trust? | The NY Times
Speaking of, Pete Wells signs off as eater-in-chief. | The NY Times
Substack and traditional media: just be friends, yo! |
iPhone killed the slang star and now “‘exformation’ is endangered.” | The Atlantic
Being grown doesn't mean you can forget and forgive. | The Guardian
Meanwhile, are you a Rememberer or a Forgetter? | The Cut
Why restaurants have no clocks: an investigation. | The Supersonic
“A true raw dogger takes no indulgences.” | GQ
For those who experience it, trauma is not unique. | The NY Times Magazine
Where Parisian chefs eat on their days off. | (Me for) TripAdvisor
Lena Dunham’s new change of pace and place. | The New Yorker
Watchable
Listen, I try to keep things positive—in this letter and life, in general. But every so often I come across something so bad it’s good; a can’t-look-away, car-crash form of entertainment that seems worth sharing if not for its merit, than for its ridiculousness. Enter Katy Perry’s new song and video, “Women’s World.” The internet is awash with hot takes because this is the world we live in now (women or otherwise). I enjoyed
’s explanation for why Katy took this direction via this gem of a graph:“Woman’s World,” as a song and a music video, makes the mistake of presenting Katy Perry as a resident of reality. She does not live here, with us. She summers in a technicolor Candy Land and winters in a jacuzzi stock pot with diced vegetables.
When I first watched it, I thought it was a joke—and it appears that’s what Katy Perry, who received a ton of backlash for her outdated take on feminism, has come out to say. But I’m not so sure. I think she was trying very hard to keep up with the Kardashians, bu which I mean Dua Lipa, and continue to ride the Barbie wave despite it being an entire year later. Ick. What do you think?
Sticking with the theme of cringey performances, this week we also have country singer Ingrid Andress singing the National Anthem at the MLB all-star derby as if she were Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally. Her excuse was that she was drunk and is now getting help, but I suppose if it’s any consolation to her, those of us who, er, didn’t know who she was before this embarrassing rendition do now. Meanwhile, the performance came on the heels of watching Trevor Noah’s hilarious “Where Was I” special for the third time in which he goes on a rant about how and why Americans feel the need to always put a spin on the Star Spangled Banner. If you haven’t watched it yet, please go and have yourself a laugh.
Currently Overthinking…
…which towns in the Hudson Valley to visit (and where to eat, naturally) during a quick 24-hour trip over Upstate Art Weekend.
Souvenir: Sweatin’ to the Oldies
In honor of the recent passing of everyone’s favorite short-shorts-wearing, fro-rocking exercise coach, I’m throwing it back to Richard Simmons and his famous workouts, “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.” While his life took a strange turn in recent years (listen to the fascinating “Missing Richard Simmons” podcast for more on his sudden disappearance from society), those of us who loved his dancefloor antics will remember him fondly. My sister and I took one of his Slimmons dance classes in Beverly Hills a while back and won’t ever forget how weird it was. (In a good, but we’re-not-quite-sure-what-happened-it’s-all-a-blur-but-we-wore-tutus-and-laughed-a-lot way.)
I vote yes to chorus girl! ✊🏻
Spot on with the Katy Perry analysis ! Major cringe!