Friday marks three years since I sat at my little breakfast table, pressed βsend tweet,β and effectively started this newsletter. I was so anxious about whether it would be good, or whether anyone would want to read it β I closed my laptop and walked down the street to get a coffee because thinking about who would read my tweets and decide βactually more of her, pleaseβ was too overwhelming. But I wish I could mentally transmit a message back to that version of myself: You will be fine, this will be fun, donβt buy that white sofa, and this is the best decision youβll ever make.
Itβs not always easy: being on the hook for two (ish) newsletters a week is daunting. I need a divorced man tantrum or a bad-but-addicting Netflix reality show to give me something to write about. Daily, it feels like, I sit at my computer and go through a dozen variations of Is this funny? Am I good at writing about anything other than Succession? How many more blogs can I wring from Martin Scorsese not wearing his glasses? But writing this newsletter is the greatest job Iβve ever had, even though my boss1 is frequently taciturn, never on time, and a Leo. I live to talk about this stuff β Barbie, Club Chalamet, Hannah Bronfmanβs bunker apartment, Passages, those heels that are the bane of my existence, the way Tom Cruise tells Jamie Foxx to buy his mother flowers, Usher β and I get to do it for an audience thatβs as engaged and observant and funny (sometimes funnier! Not to gas yall up) as I am.
I spoke to a few NYU classes2 last month and each time someone asked the difference between watching something for work and watching something for fun. (My therapist even asks me this, but in a more work-life balance way.) I donβt have a good answer! I want to watch everything and read everything and listen to everything, because Iβm obsessive and insatiable, because thereβs always a chance there will be something odd or unbelievable or hilarious or gratifying for me to come back here and report to you.Β
If you read this newsletter and like it, if you read this newsletter and donβt like (true hater energy, I respect it), if you send it to your friends or share it with your family (dads who love Greta Gerwig and hate Drake really do hold me down): thank you! If you like a post, or comment on a post, or share it online: thank you! If you believe that the things right here, in this newsletter, are worth paying for: thank you, slightly more than those other people, like, thank you the most.
Read Max proprietor Max Read put it best: βIβve been in positions where millions of people were reading my writing every month (caveat about internet metrics: βmillionsβ of βpeopleβ were βreadingβ), and itβs never been as exciting or creatively satisfying as writing to a much smaller number of much more engaged readers, readers who βget itβ and want to enable the production of a publication that also βgets it.ββ And to quote my favorite Oscar acceptance speech of all time: βItβs my privilege. Thank you.βΒ
So now itβs time to take accounts: Along with my undying love and gratitude, hereβs what you got for your $5 a month this year, and what youβll get more of next year. And if you arenβt on the paid list yet but want in? Girrrrrrl do I have a link for you:
Letterboxd Equivalent
What I Watched in October
What I Watched in September
What I Watched in August
Succession Power Rankings
401: βWhereβs All Your Kids, Uncle Logan?β
402: βYouβre Not Serious PeopleβΒ
403: βThe Wedding Grinchβ
404: βCoronation Demolition Derbyβ
405: βHanna-Barbera Business Schoolβ
406: βHuman ChernobylβΒ
407: βThe Great Toxificationβ
408: βI Donβt Think of Things Such As Thatβ
409: βGlad-handing the Sad Facesβ
410: βThe Endβ
Season four in review: βAre There Any Positives to the Nightmare Weβve Shared?β
Seven Ways to End Succession
Kendallβs Name Was on a Piece of Paper
The Adventures and Misadventures of Taylor Swift
The Tree Paine Fanβs Guide to the Eras Tour Documentary
Our Long National Nightmare is Over: Taylor Swift and Matty Healy Broke Up
Matty Healyβs Non-Apology Non-Tour
Need To Go Back to Not Knowing Who Matty Healy Is
Not Sure If Youβve Heard But Karma Is That Girl, Like
Taylor Swift is Headlining the Sophie Turner-Joe Jonas Divorce
Who Should Taylor Swift Date Next? (Evergreen, if weβre being honest!)
There arenβt really any βreviewsβ on Hung Up, but these are review-ish
Oppenheimer
Passages
Babylon
Elvis
Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour
The Bear Season 2
Love is Blind Season 5
Drake/For All The Dogs
Line Readings
Personal Faves
Me, obviously.
I believe children are the future! And/or I would love to speak to your class, if you teach one!
There can be 100 ppl in a room ... if hunter has no fans iβm dead ... etc etc long may she reign π«‘π«‘
I donβt care about whatever you said youβd do in exchange for the $. You are a creative, a curator, a commentator, and if all you have to say is βIβm tired, only 1 this weekβ thatβs good enough for me.
I consider this community your old-world-style patrons, people who just wanna support u for the joy of seeing whatever you feel like sharing.