A micro Hung Up-date: This week, the total email list reached 175,000 readers! Holy shit!!!
I am not superstitious — knock on my giant forehead — but I get worked up and in my own head about benchmarks of any kind. Anniversaries make me nervous; I love to cry on my birthday. But I don’t write this newsletter to 175,000 people; I write it to make you laugh, to make my best friend laugh, to make myself laugh, and to get a screenshot of my friend’s dad texting her to ask, “What has Drake done now?”
I really try to read every comment and message in the chat and all the email replies, even the ones where someone clearly read up until the paywall and had a question that was answered just after the paywall. This is a solo operation; there is only one person on the other side of this email, so I appreciate your grace. Sometimes there are typos and little errors, and I forget to start the Severance chat because I was running late to meet a friend for drinks. I’m always writing to impress you or thrill you or offer a different point of view or remind you of Elle Fanning walking barefoot through LAX or that Amy Adams will win an Oscar for the Tree Paine biopic and not a moment before or that I have one (1) true celebrity crush.
When I sat at my breakfast table and started this newsletter four years ago, I thought an email list of 25,000 readers would be cool and that an email list of 50,000 readers would be a miracle. We’re well past that now, but I still get self-conscious when I turn down a magazine cover story or big feature. I don’t want to do a single thing that takes me away from what we do here! I hope that you find the weird, small, obsessive ways we talk about entertainment, and culture, and celebrities just as fun as I do. :,)
Some superlatives:
Most read post: “I Love A Man With A Job” (3 million views!)
Most shared post: “The Taylor Swift Manicure That Has Unsettled My Spirit”
Most comments: “Hung Up Discussion Thread: Pop Culture Conspiracy Theories”
Most likes: “John Krasinski is an Alive Man”
My favorite headline: “Death by a ̶T̶h̶o̶u̶s̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶C̶u̶t̶s̶ Bootcut”
Headline I swore was funny when I wrote it, but then just felt lame: “Two Plus Two Equals Seven In This Man's Head” and I liked this post too! I just thought the headline undersold it
Best Custom Art: It’s still “Who Gets Custody of Timothée Chalamet?”
The one I’m not sure I agree with anymore: “Like I Said: Joe Alwyn” — a cross-country flight a week after a breakup will really have you listening to Taylor Swift with fresh ears…
Ahead of its time: “Oppenheimer Is for Gossips and Haters”
Behind on the time: “What Will Tree Paine Do About Brittany Mahomes?” (As we learned, Tree would ultimately do nothing!)
The one THE most unexpected people want to discuss all the time: “This Is What You Do When You Can’t Get an Architectural Digest Tour, Btw”
Biggest mention: Amy Adams talking about the prophecy (coincidentally made by me and circulated by me) that she will win an Oscar for Tree Paine’s biopic
Regarding Amy Adams Winning An Oscar for Playing Tree Paine
It will not be Jessica Chastain. It will not be Julianne Moore (but she can have everything else). It will not be Isla Fisher. It will never be Debra Messing, though she has chained herself to the doors of the audition room and is threatening to sue if she’s not allowed to read for it. It will not be Emma Stone or Rachelle Lefevre or Kelly Reilly or Amanda Seyfried.
The event recap:
The podcast launch:
The first post:
The most recent post:
I resist the urge (and, frequently, advice) to try to make Hung Up bigger or grow it more intentionally or strategically. I’m not a growth marketer or whatever; this is not a startup or a media company or a brand. All I’ve ever wanted to do is be a writer, to write about movies and music and TV, to write about how much I love men gossiping in Oppenheimer or wonder if J.Lo has covered up her Bennifer infinity tattoo. (I think she has.)
Anyway, whatever, sorry to be earnest 🤢 I feel extraordinarily grateful that I get to send this writing to you. Thank you for being here, and if you’ve been lurking on the free list I hope you’ll upgrade for $5 a month or $50 a year — girl you’ve read this far after all…
I believe the one thing *tech* and *private equity* has ruined completely is online culture. Niche communities and people who just like oddities just doesn't exist anymore like it did even a decade ago.. You used to be able to get on your big family computer and scroll the internet for hours seeing forums and poorly made websites about every interest you had and the people making them cared. Was it important? maybe not. did I hang on to every word? absolutely. Thats why, you (and club chalamet I fear) are one of the last great American dynasties. Indulgent for sake of indulgence. This newsletter feels like one of the few places left online where someone cares about things that don't matter passionately.
one time I asked you on twitter to re-share a tweet about mads mikkelsen laying pipe and you did and i thought, yeah, that's the woman i'm following into battle