Content for Your Memorial Day Weekend
Plus, my thoughts on the 'Summer House' finale
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Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I hope you have something gorgeous planned to kick off summer.
Sharing some recommendations for you to pass the time over the next few days in case you’re looking for something good to read or listen to. Enjoy!
Read
“‘Vanderpump Rules’ Star Lala Kent on Being Right About the #Scandoval: ‘That’s Why I Feel So Vindicated’” by Louis Staples (Variety)
“‘Vanderpump Rules’ is ‘The Thunderdome’: Inside the Year’s Biggest Reality TV Scandal” by Yvonne Villarreal (The Los Angeles Times)
“Tour a Historic New York Town House Restored by Sandra Bullock” by Sam Cochran (Architectural Digest)
“Should Making It in Fashion Be This Hard?” by Jessica Testa (The New York Times)
“Can You Love the Art and Hate the Monster?” by Melissa Febos (The New Yorker)
“The Cat Who Could Kill Horses: Chef Liz Johnson Accused Her Husband Will Aghajanian of Killing Their Cat. That’s Just One Part of The Story.” by Ezra Marcus (Grub Street)
Listen
Ariana Madix on “Call Her Daddy”
This is the interview. Ariana might’ve broken her silence on Scandoval during her post-finale “Watch What Happens Live” interview with Andy Cohen, but she spent two hours with Alex Cooper getting into the nitty gritty. After spending so long invested in this controversy, it’s worth taking the time to listen to her side of the story — finally! Listen to it below.
Jonas Brothers on “Armchair Expert”
I love how introspective and self-aware the Jonas Brothers have become since their comeback a few years ago, which is evidenced by this interview. They’re extremely candid, don’t take themselves nearly as seriously as they once did and they seem to be down to talk about pretty much anything. Listen to it below.
Kim Kardashian on “On Purpose”
Jay Shetty, who hosts “On Purpose,” isn’t necessarily for me, but I always tap into the few interviews that the Kardashians do when new seasons of their show are coming out — it tells you a lot about how they are trying to present themselves to the world. Particularly Kim, who stayed fairly vague throughout the course of this interview (which, of course, is on purpose).
Watch
“You Hurt My Feelings” (in theaters)
Went to the theater to see the latest A24 movie, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who I will see in anything. She reunites with director Nicole Holofcener (“Enough Said”) for one, in which she plays a writer in a seemingly steady, happy marriage whose world gets thrown upside down when she overhears a damning conversation between her husband and her brother-in-law.
Bravo, Bravo, Fucking Bravo
“Summer House” Finale
Ever since rumblings began at the end of last summer that Lindsay Hubbard and Danielle Olivera might’ve had a falling out during season 7, the presumption has been that Lindsay must’ve done something egregious. We knew that Danielle didn’t post about Carl and Lindsay’s engagement, their dynamic at BravoCon was icy at best and Lindsay’s been embroiled in much more drama over the course of the show’s run than Danielle has, often blamed for whatever trouble she was involved in. With that in mind, I kind of kept on waiting for the other shoe to drop this season: While neither of them is totally blameless in the dissolution of their longtime friendship, most of the issues came from Danielle’s side this season (issues they were never fully articulated). That other shoe never dropped, though. Until the proposal and Danielle’s reaction to it, it felt as though things could’ve been resolved between them. She’d get used to the new reality that Lindsay and Carl were together for the long haul, get used to it and, thus, get onboard with their relationship. Of course, that’s not what happened.
In the finale, Lindsay and Danielle had their final “face-off” of a conversation, during which Lindsay stonewalled Danielle. She barely showed any emotion as Danielle started to tear up; Lindsay remained stoic and didn’t give her much to work with. It was anticlimactic. But do you blame her? She’d heard about Danielle’s reaction to the happiest news of her life and had finally had enough. For her, things were past the point of no return — at least for the foreseeable future. One conversation the week after the proposal wasn’t going to change that, but she engaged for the sake of the show. After the conversation, Danielle turned the corner to find the rest of the women on the cast huddled around, having been eavesdropping on the conversation to get the tea. Don’t get me wrong, I’d probably do the same in their position. But when they told Danielle they were there to support her, it kind of felt like they were misrepresenting their intentions a bit. I wonder what Danielle thought about that moment when she watched it back.
The reunion looks heated, to say the least. Everything that I’ve seen and heard about it indicates that Lindsay and Danielle did not end that reunion taping in a good place, which I understand — but it still makes me sad. Sigh.
New York Things
Read two very New York real estate-y stories this week that I found interesting for very different reasons:
“It’s Millionaire vs. Billionaire in the Battle of the SoHo Pergola” by (The New York Times)
“A Sale and A Suicide on East 12th Street” by Bridget Read (Curbed)
Currently
Counting down the hours until I finally get to go see Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour at MetLife on Sunday night. This will be my 11th time seeing her live, dating back to seeing her open for Rascal Flatts back in 2008. Praying we get “Long Live” as one of our surprise songs. I’ll watch the “Succession” series finale first thing Monday morning to avoid spoilers…